There is no one face of poverty, or just one trigger that changes how it impacts a family living with constant vulnerability. The reality is that the risk of poverty, and deeper poverty, has different faces across Asia and the Pacific today.

• A farmer who still has land, but fertilizer has doubled in price, so she cannot grow all she wants to.
•  A tuk-tuk driver who still has work, but rising fuel costs mean every trip leaves a little less to take home.
•  A youth running a small business, but who is one shock away from falling into debt and debt repayment rates would burn a hole in the small profits made.
• Or a family hit by floods that lost their home and their livestock and cannot afford to rebuild.

Poverty is about income but also about so much more. It is about the ability to anticipate and plan for risk, and if people have the means to absorb or fast adapt to it.

Across Asia and the Pacific, with climate shocks colliding with rising food and fuel prices, insecure work and limited social protection are not adequate buffers. Savings, affordable insurance, access to basic services, become lifelines, without which a setback becomes a protracted period of remaining poor.

UNDP looks at what sustains decent jobs and incomes and then beyond, to address the multiple risks people face.

• For the small farmer, it could mean affordable crop insurance and climate-resilient seeds.
• For the tuk-tuk driver, it could be a temporary targeted fuel subsidy and skills training for other jobs.
• For young people in business, it could be incentives to save plus low-cost credit; with access to digital and other tech to improve business efficiencies and expand market reach.
• For the family in the flood zone, early warning systems and support that arrives before the water does. With legal and financial support for reconstruction, and possibly for relocation.

This means multiple policy and support instruments at play that can be called on to build capabilities to withstand shocks better, and to respond and recover faster when disaster does strike. This goes beyond traditional anti-poverty programmes to build around justice and security.

Next week, UNDP will release its Asia Pacific regional flagship report on Redefining Security that unpacks this as a win-win and demonstrates security-with-development outcomes in practice.