Paper short abstract:

This paper examines how social protection is integrated into the broader climate change resilience-building strategies, assessing its capacity to address the long-term psychological effects on displaced children.

Paper long abstract:

Social protection is central to the global commitment to “leave no one behind,” offering a critical safety net against poverty, shocks, and enhancing resilience to climate-related stresses. While the existing framework primarily focus on economic support through cash transfers and livelihood support, it offers a crucial but underutilized mechanism for addressing the psychological health needs of displaced children as a result of climate change. In sub-Saharan Africa where adaptive capacity remains limited, displacement due to climate hazards exacerbates health inequalities, disproportionately affecting vulnerable populations.

The Volta Delta, within Ghana’s southeastern coastal region is among the most climate-vulnerable regions, facing recurrent flooding, sea-level rise, and coastal erosion. These climate hazards force families into cyclical displacement, disrupting access to essential services such as mental healthcare. Drawing on a mixed-method approach, findings indicate that for children, the instability and weakened social and caregiving structures associated with displacement leads to significant psychological distress, including heightened levels of anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). However, there are significant challenges to accord social protection to safeguard the rights of children in these communities. This paper examines how social protection is integrated into the broader climate change resilience-building strategies, assessing its capacity to address the long-term psychological effects on displaced children. Strengthening the Adaptive Social Protection framework by integrating comprehensive psychological health services is crucial to upholding children's fundamental rights to health and well-being, and reinforcing children's resilience, dignity, and agency in the face of displacement as a result of the ongoing climate crisis.