Anticipatory Social Protection Index for Resilience — ASPIRE

Climate change is delivering increasingly severe and frequent shocks to people and communities around the world. The 2023 Synthesis Report published by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warned that climate impacts on people and ecosystems are already more widespread and severe than expected, and future risks will quickly escalate as warming continues.

The Anticipatory Social Protection Index for Resilience (ASPIRE) diagnostic tool is designed to assess the readiness of a country's existing social protection programmes to deliver climate resilience. Working at two levels, the tool assesses a country's overarching social protection policies and systems, guided by 36 indicators that cover policy objectives, innovation, risk definitions, target specifications, planning and budgeting process, and types of assistance.

At the second level, ASPIRE examines specific programmes being implemented, evaluating their design features and functions using a combined set of 33 indicators. These indicators cover aspects such as cash transfers, public works, food assistance and their efficacy in delivering resilience outcomes such as prevention, protection and promotion.