Social Protection Policies and Programmes

Poverty affects both the quality and length of children’s lives, reduces the ability of families to adequately provide for their children, and is a significant cause of family breakdown and child separation. Social assistance programmes aim to reduce child poverty and act as a safety net for families with minimal resources.

Such programmes include in-kind and in-cash transfers, and food for work initiatives. Social assistance programmes are a part of social welfare and must include clear child care policies that protect children and strengthen family and community capacities to access services and provide care.

Cash transfers are a means of financially supporting the most vulnerable households to improve the child’s access to essential goods and services, such as health and education. They include the use of child support grants, child and family allowances and targeted and conditional cash transfers. They may be combined with investment in child education and health services, and redistributive tax policies.

In-kind transfers provide access to essential goods and services instead of cash payments. Conditional cash transfers provide money to poor families on achieving certain actions, such as sending children to school.

Social assistance programmes may struggle to target those most in need, and provide sustainable support. Economic policies, including social assistance, and household economic strengthening, require substantial research, monitoring, and gatekeeping to ensure that the poorest and most vulnerable are reached and that long term benefits can be achieved for families, including child headed households.

The literature in this section provides country examples and analyses of social assistance programs, focusing primarily on cash transfer schemes.

Displaying 361 - 370 of 455

Browse Other Topics

Cambodia Inter-Country Adoption (ICA) Assessment and Action Plan

UNICEF Cambodia, 01 Jun 2008

Evaluation of need for systemic strengthening and partnering to ensure protection of children without parental and children involved with ICA

Situation Faced by Institutionalized Children and Adolescents in Shelters in Guatemala

Office of Social Welfare of Guatemala, Holt International and UNICEF, 01 Jun 2008

Assesses the causes and realities of children living in institutions in Guatemala with recommendations for systemic reform.

Strategy development for the reform of the state care system for children deprived of parental care living in state care institutions

Andy Bilson and Richard Carter , 01 Jun 2008

This report written for UNICEF identifies the key elements for a strategy to take forward the Government of Ukraine’s programme for the reform of child welfare.