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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Innocenti Adolescence Research Digest: Issue 1

Innocenti, 01 Apr 2016

The Adolescence Research Digest is a new quarterly publication by UNICEF’s Office of Research-Innocenti. This synthesizes the latest research evidence, resources and news related to adolescent well-being in low- and middle-income countries.

Researching the linkages between social protection and children’s care in South Africa: The Child Support Grant and Foster Child Grant and their effects on child well-being and care

Keetie Roelen, Helen Karki Chettri, Suzanne Clulow, Camilla Jones, Payal Saksena and Emily Delap - Family for Every Child, 01 Apr 2016

This report presents research on the impact of two cash transfer programs for vulnerable children in South Africa on children’s care.

The Landscape of UK Child Protection Research 2010 to 2014: A Mapping Review of Substantive Topics, Maltreatment Types and Research Designs

Jones, C., Taylor, J., MacKay, K., Soliman, F., Clayton, E., Gadda, A. M., Anderson, A., and Jones, D., 03 Feb 2016

This paper reports selected results from a mapping review of research conducted in the UK and published between January 2010 and December 2014. The purpose of the review was twofold: to develop a typology of child protection research; and to use this typology to describe the features and patterns of empirical research undertaken recently in the UK in order to inform a future research agenda.

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Community-based organizations for vulnerable children in South Africa: Reach, psychosocial correlates, and potential mechanisms

A.R. Yakubovich, L. Sherr, L.D. Cluver, S. Skeen, I.S. Hensels, A. Macedo, M. Tomlinson, 21 Jan 2016

Community-based organizations (CBOs) have the potential to provide high quality services for orphaned and vulnerable children in resource-limited settings.

Children’s Rights in Poland and Russia in the Context of Janusz Korczak’s in heritage

Edyta Januszewska - International Journal of Environmental & Science Education, 2016

The aim of this article is to study the situation on realizing children’s rights in Poland and in Russia in the context of Janusz Korczak’s principles.

Case Management in Child and Family Support Centre / Pusat Dukungan Anak dan Keluarga (PDAK)

Tata Sudrajat, Dr. Kanya Eka Santi, Nurjannah - Yayasan Sayangi Tunas Cilik , 2016

This book introduces the PDAK – Pusat Dukungan Anak dan Keluarga (Child and Family Support Centre) in Indonesia and the case management system utilized within the centre.

Families in the economic crisis: Changes in policy measures in the EU

Eurofound, 2016

This report describes the situation and experience of families during the economic crisis and examines how family-focused policies have changed since 2010 in the European Union.

End Violence Against Children Now

Save the Children, 2016

This booklet is based on a recent internal desk review of Save the Children’s and partners’ work against physical and humiliating punishment of children, commissioned by Save the Children Sweden. It aims to present best practices, to show what methods have worked around the world, and to spread knowledge about results achieved and lessons learned when it comes to law reform and positive discipline.

Un Autre Futur est Possible: Promouvoir la Vie une Famille pour les Enfants Handicapés en Institution - Manuel à l’usage des professionels (sic)

Service Social International, 2016

Ce manuel fournit des conseils aux professionnels qui travaillent avec les enfants handicapés dans les soins en établissement.

TransMonEE 2016 Database

TransMonEE, 2016

The Transformative Monitoring for Enhanced Equity (TransMonEE) Database, established in 1992 by the UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre, captures a vast range of data relevant to social and economic issues relevant to the situation and wellbeing of children, young people and women in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. The 2016 database includes data on children in alternative care for Eastern and Central Europe and Central Asia, as well as data on child protection, social protection, and other topics.