Protecting the Vulnerable: The Case of IDPs in Pakistan

Vulnerability as a measure of human deprivations is a more comprehensive and value-laden term than poverty. While the poverty analysis provides a profile of the characteristics of the poor people, vulnerability analysis explains, among other factors, the role of risk in creating the dynamics that contribute to the observed poverty level. Social protection is an important concept in the policy dialogue on the vulnerabilities of the people and is aimed at finding ways to help the vulnerable people in managing the risks and becoming less susceptible to the welfare losses. Vulnerability takes a number of forms and requires different types of social protection mechanisms. This paper analyses the vulnerabilities of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Pakistan and identifies the social protection delivered by various government and non-government stakeholders. The paper also reviews the literature on the vulnerabilities of the IDPs in different parts of the world to explore the best practices in providing social protection to IDP