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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Situation Analysis and Recommendations: Dampier Peninsula Indigenous Parenting Support Services

Save the Children, Australia, 01 Dec 2010

This report, published by Save the Children Australia, analyzes the situation of the parenting support services for Indigenous communities in the Dampier Peninsula of Australia.

After the Earthquake: A Bulletin for Child Welfare Organizations Assisting Haitian Families in the United States

Annie E. Casey Foundation , 09 Jul 2010

Practical information for agencies and advocates working with this Haitian children and families following the January 2010 earthquake, with special guidance on filing federal Temporary Protective Status applications.

Gender-sensitive social protection and the MDGs: Gender dynamics cut across all eight of the Millennium Development Goals

Overseas Development Institute , 01 Jul 2010

This briefing paper draws on ODI’s research on social protection and gender in eight countries and three regions funded by DFID and AusAID and discusses how social protection interventions can promote an inter¬linked gender-sensitive approach to the MDGs.

Towards a Social Protection Strategy for the Poor and Vulnerable: Outcomes of the consultation process

Council for Agricultural and Rural Development, Cambodia, 01 Jul 2010

This Note provides background and technical information on social protection in Cambodia to inform the development of a national social protection strategy for the poor and vulnerable by the Council for Agricultural and Rural Development (CARD).

Establishing, reviewing and implementing National Plans of Action for Orphans and Vulnerable Children in Southern and East Africa

Save the Children UK, Southern and Eastern Africa Regional Office , 30 Apr 2010

This report focuses on the experiences of Save the Children in monitoring, implementing and reviewing NPAs in Angola, Ethiopia, South Africa, Swaziland, Mozambique, Uganda and Zimbabwe. Each of the country offices commissioned the documentation of case studies to identify promising practices and challenges around effective implementation of NPAs.

LEGE Nr. 123: cu privire la serviciile sociale

Republic of Moldova, 2010

This document presents the law on social services of Moldova.

World Social Security Report 2010/2011: Providing Coverage in Times of Crisis and Beyond

International Labor Organization , 31 Dec 2009

This report from the International Labor Organization is the first in a series of the World Social Security Reports whose chief aim is to present the results of regular statistical monitoring of the state and developments of social security in the world. It presents the knowledge available on coverage by social security in different parts of the world and identifies existing coverage gaps. It also examines the scale of countries’ investments in social security, measured by the size and structure of social security expenditure and the sources of its financing.

Children and AIDS: Fourth Stocktaking Report

Unite for Children; Unite Against AIDS, 20 Dec 2009

Offers updates, authoritative data, evidence and recommendations on key areas including prevention of mother-to-child transmission, paediatric care and treatment, preventing infection among adolescents and young people, protection, care and support for children affected by HIV and AIDS, programme monitoring and evaluation.

U.S. Government and Partners: Working Together on a Comprehensive, Coordinated and Effective Response to Highly Vulnerable Children

USG Secretariat for Orphans and Vulnerable Children , 01 Dec 2009

Provides global estimates of the number of highly vulnerable children; a summary of United States Government (USG) assistance programs for highly vulnerable children; a summary of progress coordinating the response among USG agencies; key strategic issues and opportunities; priorities for 2009–2010 and beyond; and a summary of the results and achievements of USG assistance

The Practical Guide of the Professional Supervision Mechanism in Social Assistance (Moldova)

Ministry of Social Protection, Family and Child (Moldova) and OPM/EveryChild Moldova, 01 Dec 2009

The Practical Guide of the Professional Supervision Mechanism in Social Assistance was developed in cooperation with the Ministry of Social Protection, Family and Child (Moldova), with the technical support of the "Support in the Delivery of Effic