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.

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Case Study on Improving HIV Testing and Services for Children Orphaned or made Vulnerable by HIV (OVC): Approaches of the Yekokeb Berhan Program for Highly Vulnerable Children in Ethiopia

Francesca Stuer & Kate Greenaway - 4Children/CRS, 25 Aug 2017

In this case study, Coordinating Comprehensive Care of Children (4Children) documents and evaluates the work of Pact's Yekokeb Berhan Program for Highly Vulnerable Children in Ethiopia.

Catawba County Child Wellbeing Project

Kyle McCarthy, Christina Triplett, Heather Ball and Sarah A. Morrison - Catawba County Social Services & Center for the Study of Social Policy , 01 Aug 2017

This report is a case study of the Child Wellbeing Project, which sought to address the reduction of services to families post-care compared to available in-care services to prevent foster care re-entry, ensure permanence, and improve long-term outcomes for children.

How to Make ‘Cash Plus’ Work: Linking Cash Transfers to Services and Sectors

Keetie Roelen; Stephen Devereux; Abdul-Gafaru Abdulai; Bruno Martorano; Tia Palermo; Luigi Peter Ragno - UNICEF Office of Research, 01 Aug 2017

This paper aims to identify key factors for successful implementation of increasingly popular ‘cash plus’ programmes, based on (i) a review of the emerging evidence base of ‘cash plus’ interventions and (ii) an examination of three case studies, namely, Chile Solidario in Chile, IN-SCT in Ethiopia and LEAP in Ghana.

Supportive housing program for homeless families: Foster care outcomes and best practices

Sonja Lenz-Rashid - Children and Youth Services Review, 17 Jul 2017

This study observes foster care re-entry for young people whose families participated in Cottage Housing Incorporated's Serna Village Program (CHI), a supportive housing program serving homeless families in Sacramento, California.

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2017 Home Visiting Yearbook

James Bell Associates with the Urban Institute - National Home Visiting Resource Center, 01 Jul 2017

The 2017 Home Visiting Yearbook presents, for the first time, the most comprehensive picture available of home visiting on the national and state levels, revealing the breadth of home visiting in the United States and identifying the gaps in practice.

Building a User-Friendly and Government-Owned Case Management System for Highly Vulnerable Children: The Yekokeb Berhan Program Experience in Ethiopia

Kelley Bunkers & Suzanne Andrews - 4Children/CRS, 01 Jun 2017

This case study describes the coordinated care and case management system for highly vulnerable children and their caregivers implemented by the Yekokeb Berhan program in Ethiopia.

Working Paper: Myth-busting? Confronting Six Common Perceptions about Unconditional Cash Transfers as a Poverty Reduction Strategy in Africa

Sudhanshu Handa, Silvio Daidone, Amber Peterman, Benjamin Davis, Audrey Pereira, Tia Palermo, and Jennifer Yablonski on behalf of the Transfer Project - UNICEF Office of Research - Innocenti, 01 Jun 2017

This report summarizes evidence on six perceptions associated with cash transfer programming, using eight rigorous evaluations conducted on large-scale government unconditional cash transfers in sub-Saharan Africa, under the Transfer Project.

From Assessment to Graduation: Comprehensive Case Management for Vulnerable Children and Households – The Score Project in Uganda

Suzanne Andrews - 4Children/CRS, 01 Jun 2017

This case study describes the case management system developed by the Sustainable Comprehensive Responses for Vulnerable Children and their Families (SCORE) project in Uganda.

The Economic Case for the Expansion of Social Protection Programmes

Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations and UNICEF, 18 May 2017

This brief brings together the critical mass of evidence emerging from recent rigorous impact evaluations of government-run cash transfer programmes in seven countries in sub-Saharan Africa.

Household Economic Strengthening Interventions in Programs to Reintegrate Children in Family Care and Prevent Family-Child Separation: A Brief Report on Responses to an Online Survey

Lisa Laumann, Emily Namey and Eunice Okumu, FHI 360, 01 Mar 2017

In November 2015, ASPIRES launched an online survey of practitioners to identify potential sources of learning and to assess needs for improving the use of economic strengthening (ES) interventions in reintegration and prevention of separation programming. This brief report summarizes the findings of this survey.