The main purpose of FAO’s Social Protection Framework is to serve as a basis for the provision of more effective support to countries in delivering social protection to fight hunger, malnutrition and poverty in coherence with agricultural, food security, nutrition and rural development efforts. The document provides elements for an answer to the following question: ‘If the declared objective of the Social Protection interventions is to reduce vulnerability and food insecurity, does it make more sense to invest money on widening the rights based approach to natural resources, land in particular (in other words improving land governance), or in social protection schemes?’. The specific case study of Mozambique is taken as an example of a country dealing with strategies aimed at the eradication of hunger and reduction of poverty, through land-based resources policies and programmes. It analyses ways to minimize livelihood insecurity of rural people, addresses unfair causes of their socio-economic situation and suggests the promotion of their own initiative to get rid of poverty, thanks to land rights and social protection programmes.