Safety Nets
Safety net programs are designed to reduce the impact of disasters on vulnerable populations and to prevent them from falling into poverty. Like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (formerly Food Stamps) in the United States, these programs help vulnerable people in developing countries meet their basic needs during difficult times. For example, consider a poor family that just purchased its first cow after months of saving. In the wake of a famine, a safety net program helps ensure that family is able to keep its cow, rather than having to slaughter or sell it. By helping vulnerable people maintain a basic level of self-sufficiency and food security, these programs reduce the need for more costly emergency interventions and help provide a foundation for future development efforts.
What is the U.S. government’s role? Virtually all countries seek to establish safety net programs, but less than 80 percent of the world’s people currently have access to any form of a safety net program. The U.S. government is playing a leadership role in supporting safety net programs in the world’s poorest countries. Through the McGovern-Dole International School Meals Program, the United States helps ensure that the world’s poorest children have access to at least one nutritious meal per day in schools. The United States is also working with developing countries to develop their own safety net programs, including school meals programs.
