Cash transfer-based social protection mechanisms for household climate resilience in Global South countries: a systematic review

Cash transfer-based social protection programs have increasingly been implemented as climate adaptation strategies in Global South countries for their capacity to address both climatic and non-climatic shocks. This systematic review investigates the role of cash transfer-based social protection programs in enhancing household climate resilience, based on 35 empirical studies retrieved from Web of Science and Scopus databases and snowball searches. Findings indicate that cash transfer social protection measures can predominantly improve households’ absorptive and adaptive capacities, despite some advancements in anticipatory capacities and limited transformative capacities due to systemic challenges. Key local constraints related to socioeconomic and political conditions can limit the positive effects of cash transfers. The pathways through which cash transfers contribute to enhancing household climate resilience include household welfare and income, livelihoods, savings, agricultural productivity, livestock, prevention of adverse coping strategies, reduction of debt accrual, increased tree coverage, relaxing migration, health, and life skills training. However, cash transfer programs demonstrate limited effectiveness in enhancing resilience where poverty and vulnerability are pervasive, cash benefits are insufficient or inconsistent, negative coping strategies persist, political capture constrains access, and gender inequalities remain entrenched. This review suggests that the design and delivery of cash transfers consider these challenges in climate-integrated adaptation programs to realize climate-resilient objectives, focusing on multidimensional factors that improve both ex-ante climate preparation and ex-post climate response capacities. However, more research on cash transfer-based social protection measures for climate resilience using qualitative or mixed-methods designs is needed in contexts other than African countries, especially in informal urban settings.