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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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.

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 Deliver

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

Missing: Children without Parental Care in International Development Policy

EveryChild, 19 Nov 2009

Explores the negative impacts of loss of parental care on children. Advocates for reform for children based on assertion that failure to keep children in families, out of residential institutions and off the streets, will be another barrier to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals

Reforming Social Welfare: A New Development Approach in Malawi's Ministry of Gender, Children and Community Development

USAID, UNICEF Malawi, 01 Nov 2009

Despite its importance to the poorest in society, the social welfare sector in Malawi has not been performing well. Recognising this, the Principal Secretary (PS) in the Ministry of Gender, Children and Community Development (MoGCCD) requested support from United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and United States Agency for International Development (USAID), who have taken a new approach: supporting the Government of Malawi (GoM) to build a better social welfare system starting at the top, within the Ministry.