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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From Evidence to Action: The Story of Cash Transfers and Impact Evaluation in Sub-Saharan Africa

Edited by Benjamin Davis, Sudhanshu Handa, Nicola Hypher, Natalia Winder Rossi, Paul Winters, and Jennifer Yablonski – The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, The United Nations Children’s Fund, and Oxford University Press, 12 Jul 2016

This book published jointly by FAO, UNICEF, and Oxford University Press presents the findings from evaluations of the Transfer Project, a cash transfer project undertaken in the following sub-Saharan African countries: Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, South Africa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. It concludes that cash transfers are becoming a key means for social protection in developing countries.

Reaching and Investing in Children at the Margins: Workshop Summary

Rapporteur; Forum on Investing in Young Children Globally; Board on Global Health; Board on Children, Youth, & Families; Health & Medicine Division; Division of Behavioral & Social Sciences & Education; National Academies of Science, Engineering, Medicine, 20 Jun 2016

To examine the science, economics, and politics of investing in the health, education, nutrition, and social protection of children at the margins, the Forum on Investing in Young Children Globally (iYCG Forum) held a workshop in Prague, Czech Republic, on November 3–4, 2015, titled, “Reaching and Investing in Children at the Margins.” This report summarizes the workshop and highlights the key learning from the event.

Social Protection as a Component of Child Care Reform in Zambia

Irene K. Munga - Chief Social Welfare Officer, Department of Social Welfare, Zambia, 04 May 2016

This presentation from the Department of Social Welfare, given at the Zambia National Consultation to Accelerate Care Reform, describes the Zambia Law Development Commission and its work, discusses the need to integrate social protection with child protection to meet the needs of vulnerable children and families in Zambia.

Basic facts about the Public Welfare Assistance Scheme (PWAS)

Republic of Zambia: Ministry of Community Development , Mother and Child Health & Department of Social Welfare, 01 May 2016

This brochure outlines the Public Welfare Assistance Scheme, including its objectives, types of assistance provided, social and educational support provided, eligibility and how to access services.

Reintegration as an Emerging Vision of Justice for Victims of Human Trafficking

Luke S Bearup - International Migration, 04 Apr 2016

This article examines the discoursal shift to “reintegration” within trafficking protection programmes and policy, with emphasis upon Cambodia.

Researching the linkages between social protection and children’s care in South Africa: The Child Support Grant and Foster Child Grant and their effects on child well-being and care

Keetie Roelen, Helen Karki Chettri, Suzanne Clulow, Camilla Jones, Payal Saksena and Emily Delap - Family for Every Child, 01 Apr 2016

This report presents research on the impact of two cash transfer programs for vulnerable children in South Africa on children’s care.

Innocenti Adolescence Research Digest: Issue 1

Innocenti, 01 Apr 2016

The Adolescence Research Digest is a new quarterly publication by UNICEF’s Office of Research-Innocenti. This synthesizes the latest research evidence, resources and news related to adolescent well-being in low- and middle-income countries.

The Landscape of UK Child Protection Research 2010 to 2014: A Mapping Review of Substantive Topics, Maltreatment Types and Research Designs

Jones, C., Taylor, J., MacKay, K., Soliman, F., Clayton, E., Gadda, A. M., Anderson, A., and Jones, D., 03 Feb 2016

This paper reports selected results from a mapping review of research conducted in the UK and published between January 2010 and December 2014. The purpose of the review was twofold: to develop a typology of child protection research; and to use this typology to describe the features and patterns of empirical research undertaken recently in the UK in order to inform a future research agenda.

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Community-based organizations for vulnerable children in South Africa: Reach, psychosocial correlates, and potential mechanisms

A.R. Yakubovich, L. Sherr, L.D. Cluver, S. Skeen, I.S. Hensels, A. Macedo, M. Tomlinson, 21 Jan 2016

Community-based organizations (CBOs) have the potential to provide high quality services for orphaned and vulnerable children in resource-limited settings.

Children’s Rights in Poland and Russia in the Context of Janusz Korczak’s in heritage

Edyta Januszewska - International Journal of Environmental & Science Education, 2016

The aim of this article is to study the situation on realizing children’s rights in Poland and in Russia in the context of Janusz Korczak’s principles.