The traditional definition of social protection _labor market interventions, social insurance, and social safety nets may be partly responsible for the tension. First, the traditional definition over emphasizes the role of the public sector. Second, the common conceptualization of social protection tends to emphasize net costs and expenditures while overlooking potential positive effects on sustainable economic development. Third, categorizing social protection interventions into sectoral programs obscures what they have in common and how they can support each other. Fourth, but most importantly, they traditional thinking provides limited guidance for a strategic outlook on effective poverty reduction beyond the general exultations not to forget the poor who cannot participate in a labor intensive growth process.