There is an increasing global recognition within governments and partners on the potential linkages between social protection and disaster risk management (DRM) in responding to and mitigating shocks. The case study in this report focuses on the protracted drought in Central America in the region known as the Dry Corridor. The El Niño phenomenon has worsened the situation in the region and for the third consecutive year there has been a very strong prolonged drought that has affected the harvest of hundreds of thousands of subsistence farmers in Guatemala. The experience of the drought in the Dry Corridor provides a useful case study because: first, it allows the assessment of a prolonged, slow-onset shock and its emergency response; second, it provides an insight into a complex vulnerability context which will allow an analysis of the response through a resilience lens, and not only from a shock-response perspective; thirdly, the Dry Corridor integrates other countries in the region1 , and this case study could provide lessons applicable to them as well, and fourth, the fieldwork was conducted while the emergency response of the World Food Programme (WFP) was still ongoing, providing a deep understanding of the case study.