Social protection and climate resilience among informal workers in Pakistan: a qualitative study from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

Background Informal sector workers in low- and middle-income countries are disproportionately vulnerable to climate shocks due to precarious livelihoods, limited social protection, and structural inequities. In Pakistan, the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) and one-time cash grants are the primary safety nets, yet their contribution to climate resilience remains underexplored. This study examined how socio-economic incentives influence resilience among informal workers in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Methods A qualitative phenomenological design was applied between April and June 2025 across three climatic zones of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (north, central, south). A multistage purposive sampling strategy was used to ensure diversity across geography, occupation, gender, and urban-rural residence. Thirty in-depth interviews were conducted with informal workers (≥ 18 years, directly affected by a climate shock in the past five years), and six focus group discussions with 36 institutional stakeholders from social protection, disaster management, health, and local government sectors. Data were collected in Pashto and Urdu, transcribed, translated into English, and analysed using reflexive thematic analysis. Results Thematic analysis identified five themes and ten sub-themes: (1) Inadequate and inflexible financial support (static assistance amid dynamic crises; debt, instability, and recovery fatigue); (2) Barriers to accessing social protection (digital gaps and bureaucratic complexity; cultural and logistical barriers); (3) Gendered constraints and local power structures (aid without autonomy; gatekeeping and informal exploitation); (4) Everyday adaptation and informal resilience (social networks and mutual aid; flexible routines and low-tech innovations); and (5) Towards responsive and climate-sensitive aid (disaster-specific, localised relief; early warning and infrastructure gaps). Conclusions Pakistan’s social protection systems provide critical but limited relief against climate shocks for informal workers. To build long-term resilience, reforms are required to make these systems climate-sensitive, adaptive, and gender-transformative. The findings offer policy lessons for other LMICs seeking to strengthen social protection as a pathway to climate resilience.