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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Strategie de la Protection Sociale au Burundi

Government of Burundi, 2015

Le présent rapport décrit la stratégie du Burundi pour le renforcement des initiatives nationales de protection sociale, y compris le soutien aux orphelins et aux enfants vulnérables.

Child Protection: UNICEF Country Programme 2016-2018

UNICEF, 2015

This document serves as a brief of the UNICEF Child Protection Programme provided in Cambodia.

Children First: Better Public Spending for Better Outcomes for Children & Families - Eurochild Conference Report

Eurochild, 2015

This report summarizes the discussions and activities held at Eurochild’s 11th Annual Conference, co-hosted by Hope and Homes for Children in Bucharest, Romania on 26-28 November 2014.

Early Childhood and family life: Guide of good practices for the right of young children to live in a family and a community - Spanish

RELAF and UNICEF, 2015

This Guide, written in Spanish, features a compilation of several social protection programs, services and public policies that resulted in the prevention of family breakdown and in the support of families and communities in caring and protecting their children. All these examples are taken from the Latin American region, Italy and Romania.

Bridging the gap: The impact of home visiting programs for orphans and vulnerable children on social grant uptake in South Africa

Tonya R. Thurman, Rachel Kidman, Tory M.Taylor -Children and Youth Services Review, 12 Dec 2014

This article presents results from a quasi-experimental study in South Africa examining differences in grant uptake over a two year period among 1487 children enrolled in one of two types of supportive home visiting programming: volunteer-based or paraprofessional.

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Ending the Institutionalisation of Children: A Summary of Progress in Changing Systems of Care and Protection for Children in Moldova, the Czech Republic and Bulgaria

Lumos, 11 Nov 2014

This report presents a summary of progress in Lumos’ first three country demonstration programmes – the Republic of Moldova, the Czech Republic and Bulgaria.

Discussion Paper: Cash Transfers and HIV Prevention

Brian Lutz and Roy Small - United Nations Development Programme, 01 Oct 2014

This paper from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) offers some recommendations on optimizing cash transfers in order to have the greatest impact on those affected by HIV/AIDS.

Hague Note on the Financial Aspects of Intercountry Adoption

Permanent Bureau, Hague Conference on International Private Law, 01 Jun 2014

To address the issues related to the financial aspects of intercountry adoptions, the Hague Convention initiated an Experts’ Group, which met in October 2012 and produced nine Conclusions and Recommendations, which they brought to the Permanent Bureau to publish as a “Note”.

Family support and social protection

Elana Gaia & Denise Stuckenbruck - Innocenti’s Expert Consultation on Family and Parenting Support, 27 May 2014

This presentation from Innocenti’s Expert Consultation on Family and Parenting Support includes an overview of family trends in the CEE/CIS region, some promising practices in social protection, and thoughts for going forward.

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Why Care Matters: The importance of adequate care for children and society

Family For Every Child, Corinna Csaky, 01 May 2014

This report highlights the needs of children without adequate family care, the impact inadequate care on children and society, and why family care is important. In this report, Family for Every Child also issues several recommendations for those in all sectors of society and an example of care reform from Brazil.