Household Economic Strengthening

Poverty is a leading cause of child separation. Families may be torn apart by the stresses of trying to provide for their basic needs, and children may be abandoned or exploited for financial purposes. Household economic strengthening aims to reduce a family’s vulnerability to poverty, increase economic independence, and improve people’s ability to provide for their children.

Economic strengthening alone will not prevent separation or protect children, and should form part of a comprehensive support package, including psychosocial work, community mobilisation, education, health, and family support. Household economic strengthening should also complement the wider government social assistance programmes, welfare sector initiatives, and child care policies. Beneficiaries should include those families which are destitute, poor, or vulnerable to poverty, including child headed households.

Economic empowerment is not possible without the active participation of the community in ensuring that those most in need are identified and that families are willing to commit to projects. Any initiative must have sustainability at its core; there must be a market demand for products and services, and activities should build on the existing strengths and resources of the community.

Household economic strengthening includes activities which help a family restore, improve and maintain their income, and build savings and assets. Projects may consist of relief assistance, grants and loans for income generating activities, technical and skills training, registered credit and savings associations, and legal advice on inheritance and property rights. Ideally such guidance and resources should come from specialised local organisations that can facilitate market research, identify those in need and the type of assistance required, and provide sustainable long-term support to beneficiaries.

The literature contained in this section offers recommendations and examples of household economic strengthening projects which support the protection of children.

Displaying 21 - 30 of 264

Browse Other Topics

Country Care Review: Albania

Better Care Network , 25 Sep 2019

This country care review includes the Concluding Observations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child and the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The Committees' recommendations on the issue of Family Environment and Alternative Care, and other care relevant issues, are highlighted.

ASPIRES Family Care Summary Research Report

Emily Namey & Lisa Laumann - FHI 360, 01 Sep 2019

The Accelerating Strategies for Practical Innovation and Research in Economic Strengthening (ASPIRES) Family Care Project focused on how economic strengthening (ES) interventions can help prevent unnecessary separation of children from families as well as support the reintegration into family care of children who were already separated. This mixed methods evaluation was implemented alongside programming that included longitudinal quantitative data collection with all participating FARE and ESFAM households at three time points to assess a range of indicators related to household economic and family well-being, as well as in-depth, longitudinal qualitative research to help understand how (well), from participants’ perspectives, the FARE and ESFAM interventions aligned with perceived drivers of separation and families’ experienced child-level effects of programming.

ASPIRES Family Care Qualitative Research Report

Emily Namey, Lisa Laumann, Crissi Rainer, Carissa Novak, Anna Lawton - FHI 360, 01 Sep 2019

In support of the Accelerating Strategies for Practical Innovation & Research in Economic Strengthening (ASPIRES) project's objective to assess the effects of different types of economic strengthening activities integrated with family support activities among targeted families, the Family Care project designed a mixed methods evaluation to be implemented alongside programming. The findings presented in this report are derived from the longitudinal descriptive data generated as part of the evaluation design.

Strengthening Caregiver Parenting Skills for Family Reintegration

Coordinating Comprehensive Care for Children (4Children), 01 Sep 2019

This Practitioner Brief from the the Coordinating Comprehensive Care for Children (4Children) project presents key learning and recommendations from the Keeping Children in Healthy and Protective Families (KCHPF) project in Uganda, which supported the reintegration of children living in residential care back into family care through the provision of a household-based parenting program, individualized case management support and a reunification cash grant aimed at strengthening the reintegration process.

ASPIRES Family Care Family Resilience (FARE) Project: Endline Quantitative Findings Report

Emily Namey, Lisa Laumann, Eunice Okumu, Seth Zissette - FHI 360, 01 Sep 2019

The Family Resilience (FARE) project was developed to help build the evidence base on how to appropriately match economic strengthening (ES) activities with families at risk of family-child separation and with families in the process of reintegrating a previously separated child. The project offered an opportunity for learning about how to provide ES and other family strengthening services and how well they worked. This report focuses on the latter and summarizes changes in key indicators related to family-child separation over the course of the project.

ASPIRES Family Care: Economic Strengthening Interventions to Prevent Family Separation and Support Reintegration of Children in Family Care (ESFAM) Project Endline Quantitative Findings Report

Emily Namey, Lisa Laumann, Eunice Okumu, Seth Zissette, Christian Zaytoun - FHI 360, 01 Sep 2019

The Economic Strengthening to Keep and Reintegrate Children in Family Care (ESFAM) project was developed to help build the evidence base on how to appropriately match economic strengthening (ES) activities with families at risk of family-child separation and with families in the process of reintegrating a previously separated child. In addition to supporting families, ESFAM offered an opportunity for learning about how to provide these services and how well they worked. This report focuses on the latter and summarizes changes in key indicators related to family-child separation over the course of the project.

Meeting the Costs of Family Care: Household Economic Strengthening to Prevent Children’s Separation and Support Reintegration - A Resource Guide

Lisa Laumann and Emily Namey, FHI 360, 01 Sep 2019

This resource guide aims to assist program designers, funders, and implementers to select and incorporate appropriate and effective household economic strengthening (HES) measures into programs to preserve or reestablish family care for children.

Let’s Raise Children in Families Programme Case Study: Divine

National Commission for Children, UNICEF, USAID, 01 Aug 2019

This case study profiles the reintegration experiences of one child who has participated in the Tubarerere Mu Muryango (Let’s Raise Children in Families - TMM) programme in Rwanda.

Let’s Raise Children in Families Programme Case Study: Thierry

National Commission for Children, UNICEF, USAID, 01 Aug 2019

This case study profiles the reintegration experiences of one child who has participated in the Tubarerere Mu Muryango (Let’s Raise Children in Families - TMM) programme in Rwanda.

Factors Influencing Performance of Orphans and Vulnerable Children Programmes in Kenya: A Case of Unbound Project in Tharaka Nithi County, Kenya

Doreen Nkirote & Dr. Mercy M. Mugambi - International Academic Journal of Information Sciences and Project Management, 31 Jul 2019

The purpose of this study was to investigate factors influencing performance of orphans and vulnerable children Programmes in Kenya focusing on unbound project in TharakaNithi County, Kenya.