More specifically, we start with the two traditional functions of social protection: (a) social assistance, and (b) social insurance. Social assistance is by no means the most traditional function of social protection, it includes benefits provided to the most vulnerable in society and is financed by the public sector or by donors. Our database collects information over a range of different social assistance instruments - from cash or in kind transfers to social pensions, grants, school feeding or public works - with the primary objective of improving demand and access to services and which are also complemented by supply side interventions in an integrated approach to social protection.