This is the area where the conceptual linkages between social protection and food and nutrition security are the strongest. The main mechanisms by which social protection programmes improve household access to food are through instruments that focus on “protection” or “prevention” objectives through i) the direct transfer of food, ii) smoothing or raising household income and iii) improving subsistence farming production. Across the range of programmes that increase household income or transfer food, such as cash transfers in Latin America, public works programmes (PWPs) such as the Productive Safety Nets Programme (PSNP) in Ethiopia, supplementary feeding, fortified school meals and take-home rations (Freeland & Cherrier, 2012), improvements in diet in terms of quality, quantity and diversity, including greater access to micronutrients, can often be seen.