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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Advancing Child Sensitive Social Protection

DFID, Help Age, Hope and Homes for Children, IDS, ILO, ODI, Save the Children UK, UNDP, UNICEF and World Bank., 01 Sep 2009

Joint statement among UN agencies and NGO partners to build greater consensus on the importance of child-sensitive social protection.

Policy and Analysis Tools for the Manual for the Measurement of Indicators for Children in Formal Care

Better Care Network and UNICEF Headquarters, 01 Sep 2009

Policy/analysis tools for manual to assist countries in strengthening their information system around children in formal care through data collection around 15 global indicators

HIV/AIDS, declining family resources and the community safety net

Jody Heymann and Rachel Kidman - AIDS Care, 01 Aug 2009

This study uses recent data from published studies in sub-Saharan Africa to illustrate deficits and document community responses for children who have lost parents to the HIV/AIDS pandemic.

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HIV/AIDS, declining family resources and the community safety net

Jody Heymann and Rachel Kidman - AIDS Care, 01 Aug 2009

This study uses recent data from published studies in sub-Saharan Africa to illustrate deficits and document community responses for children who have lost parents to the HIV/AIDS pandemic.

View Article

Advancing Child-Sensitive Social Protection

DFID, HelpAge International, Hope & Homes for Children, Institute of Development Studies, International Labour Organization, Overseas Development Institute, Save the Children UK, UNDP, UNICEF and the World Bank, 01 Jun 2009

This joint statement aims to build greater consensus on the importance of child-sensitive social protection.

The Job that Remains: An Overview of USAID Child Welfare Reform Efforts in Europe and Eurasia

USAID, 01 May 2009

Examined the eight countries in which USAID supported significant child welfare reform programs: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Georgia, Romania, Russia, and Ukraine. The paper discusses population issues, the current system of child welfare, USAID-funded activities, lessons learned, and best practices.

A Model for Assessing Social Care Services for Children: Lessons from Kyrgyz Republic and Tajikistan

Oxford Policy Management, 01 Apr 2009

Analysis of policy and service model used to identify barriers in the delivery of alternative care services for children.

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When the Safety Net Fails: Children in West and Central Africa and the Risk of HIV Infection

Plan West Africa, 01 Mar 2009

Study investigating the psychosocial impact of different high risk situations in West and Central Africa such as trafficking, ethnic cleansing, armed conflict or parental loss.

Promoting Synergies between Child Protection and Social Protection: West and Central Africa

UNICEF Regional Office for West and Central Africa, 01 Feb 2009

Focuses on children’s vulnerabilities and risks related to an absence of protection from violence, abuse and neglect, and the ways in which measures to address such vulnerabilities and risks can be more effectively integrated into social protection policy frameworks in the West and Central Africa region.

Communiqué: Social Welfare and Cash Transfer Meeting, Carmona Spain

Carmona Social Welfare and Cash Transfer Meeting Participants, 04 Jan 2009

Experts gathered in Carmona Spain to examine the results of policy relevant systemic reviews on social welfare and cash transfers. Meeting delegates explored the findings of reviews on integration of social welfare services and cash transfers in Ghana, Chile, Zimbabwe, Malawi and Kenya.