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.

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The Economic Case for the Expansion of Social Protection Programmes

Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations and UNICEF, 18 May 2017

This brief brings together the critical mass of evidence emerging from recent rigorous impact evaluations of government-run cash transfer programmes in seven countries in sub-Saharan Africa.

Prohibiting all corporal punishment of children in Africa: an essential step towards fulfilling the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development

Global Initiative to End All Corporal Punishment of Children, 01 May 2017

This briefing highlights how prohibition of all corporal punishment of children in Africa is an essential step towards fulfilling the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development - particularly target 16.2 to end all violence against children, and targets related to health, well-being and quality education - and Africa’s Agenda for Children 2040: Fostering an Africa Fit for Children.

Assessing the capacity of local administration and community structures to deliver social protection programmes

Andrew Kardan, Andrew Wyatt, Ramla Attah and Paul Quarles van Ufford - Oxford Policy Management, 01 May 2017

This working paper assesses the performance of local and community-based structures in Kenya and Zambia in delivering the government social protection systems that they are tasked to support.

Identifying Households Needing Services for Orphans and Vulnerable Children – Guidelines for Adapting a Beneficiary Identification and Prioritization Tool from Uganda

MEASURE Evaluation, 01 May 2017

This document describes and provides guidelines for countries to implement the Household Vulnerability Prioritization Tool (HVPT), a tool developed in Uganda to identify and prioritize vulnerable households for enrollment in OVC programming.

A Kinship Navigator Program: A Comprehensive Approach to Support Private and Voluntary Kinship Caregivers

Rushovich, Berenice R.; Murray, Kantahyanee W.; Woodruff, Kristen; Freeman, Pamela Clarkson - Child Welfare Journal, 01 May 2017

This article from the Special Issue on Kinship Care of the Child Welfare Journal explores the Family Connections Discretionary Grant Program in the US.

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Where Past and Future Meet: The 84th International Session of the European Youth Parliament Resolution Booklet

European Youth Parliament, 29 Apr 2017

This Resolution Booklet includes the motions and resolution adopted by the European Youth Parliament at its 2017 meeting.

Understanding the linkages between social safety nets and childhood violence: a review of the evidence from low- and middle-income countries

Amber Peterman, Anastasia (Naomi) Neijhoft, Sarah Cook, Tia M Palermo - Health Policy and Planning, 22 Apr 2017

This paper reviews evidence and develops a framework to understand linkages between non-contributory social safety nets (SSNs) and the experience of childhood emotional, physical and sexual violence in low- and middle-income countries.

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Together. Creating change for children: Strategy 2017 – 2020

Family for Every Child , 30 Mar 2017

This document describes the 2017-2020 strategy of Family For Every Child. The Strategy paper highlights the mission and vision of Family For Every Child, provides examples of past work and key lessons, and describes its approach and goals to create change toward better care for children.

Case study on child protection within OVC programs: Integrated programming for improved child outcomes in Namutumba, Uganda

Suzanne Andrews - Catholic Relief Services , 01 Mar 2017

This case study describes the process, methods and results of the approach promoted by World Education’s Bantwana Initiative under two USAID/PEPFAR-funded consortium projects in Uganda: SUNRISE-OVC and STAR-EC.

Ending violence in childhood: A global imperative

A. K. Shiva Kumar et al. - Psychology, Health and Medicine, 01 Mar 2017

This editorial explores the experience and impact of childhood violence around the world and calls for a coordinated and multi-sectoral response to prevent violence, recognizing the need to identify and address the root causes of family separation and institutionalization.