Displaying 1 - 10 of 193
Recognizing the increasing number of orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) and the need to provide standardized and quality alternative childcare and support services, The Ministry of Women and Social Affairs (MOWSA) in collaboration with pertinent child welfare stakeholders, took the initiative to produce a Directive on Alternative Childcare and Support.
The Directive serves as a comprehensive legally binding document aiming to reduce reliance on institutional care services by standardizing alternative care service…
These guidelines provide minimum standards to be adhered to in the provision of Child Welfare Programmes; The guidelines will also provide a framework within which state and non-state actors shall develop, design, and implement childcare and welfare programmes to enhance child rights, strengthen family and community-based care. They further provide for the coordination of the implementation of child welfare programmes, eventually enhancing monitoring and evaluation, reporting and effective service delivery.
It is envisaged that these guidelines will streamline the provisions of care and…
Accelerating momentum towards child-sensitive, shock-responsive social protection
Social protection has emerged as a crucial policy and programme measure to reduce poverty and help those impacted by crises to prepare for, cope with and recover from shocks. Despite the recognition of the value of social protection, only 26.4 per cent of children globally receive social protection benefits. Global data on access to social protection for displaced children is not available, but gaps are likely even higher as displaced children and their families are often excluded in policies and…
Social protection is increasingly being used in Eastern and Southern Africa to address economic and social vulnerability. Many governments in the region are also engaged in care reform to prevent family separation, support families to care for children well and provide quality alternative care. The same frontline workers are also often engaged in these two streams of work. This paper provides an outline of the key concepts and processes involved in social protection system strengthening and care reform and makes an argument for encouraging greater synergies between these two systems.
Globally, during the COVID-19 pandemic there have been disruptions to initiatives, services, and programmes that promote and protect nurturing care for young children. While necessary to reduce transmission of SARS-CoV-2, strategies such as complete or partial lockdown, physical distancing measures, and school and childcare closures, have made it increasingly difficult to reach children and caregivers. At the same time, the social and economic ramifications of the pandemic have put families in even greater need of parenting and family support. In response to the COVID-19 crisis, many…
Abstract
The Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) program is Ghana's first social protection program to provide cash and health insurance to the poor and vulnerable. This study looks beyond the direct impact of the program and examines the indirect impacts on labor transitions as well as the engagement of children and the elderly in the labor market. The study employs the combined propensity score matching and difference‐in‐difference technique to obtain robust estimates in examining the effect of the cash transfer program on labor shifts of beneficiaries. Overall, the paper finds…
This paper draws on two case studies – South Africa and Kerala, India – to discuss the gender implications of social protection responses to Covid-19 in 2020. The impacts of the crisis have been strongly gendered. The rapid onset of the crisis in early 2020 severely disrupted livelihoods, and these impacts were strongly mediated by existing gender inequalities in the labour market, gendered roles and responsibilities around care work, and also household composition. The high number of female-headed households in South Africa, for example, and the role of women as the main providers of food…
The COVID-19 pandemic has placed a heavy toll on the human and economic development of many countries around the world. As of 31st December 2020, Ghana had the second-highest number of coronavirus cases in the region of West and Central Africa with 54,771 persons having tested positive. Acknowledging the multiple efforts made by the Government of Ghana, the paper calls for further investment and actions to address the adverse effects of the pandemic, especially on children.
This briefing paper was developed by UNICEF and the Social Policy Research Institute, in collaboration with the…
This report explores children and young people’s views and experiences related to COVID-19 and its indirect impacts. Firstly, it looks at children and young people’s perceptions of how COVID-19 has had an impact on their lives and countries. Secondly, it seeks to highlight the ways in which they are working to help to stop the spread of the virus and lessen its impacts.
This research included individual and group interviews with 160 children and young people (80 girls and 80 boys) between the ages of of nine and 18 from eight countries across West Africa: Central…
This paper assesses the impact of Ethiopia's flagship social protection program, the Productive Safety Net Program on the adverse impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the food and nutrition security of households, mothers, and children. The analysis uses pre-pandemic, in-person household survey data and a post-pandemic phone survey. Two-thirds of the respondents reported that their incomes had fallen after the pandemic began, and almost half reported that their ability to satisfy their food needs had worsened. Employing a household fixed effects difference-in-difference approach, the study…