Global Social Policy Forum- New Directions for Social Policy

Helsinki - November 5, 2013

Child Sensitive Social Protection:

a key strategy to reduce child poverty

Experiences from South Asia

Dr Disa Sjoblom

Senior Adviser Social Protection, Save the Children Finland

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Key conclusions based on experiences from South Asia

• Child Sensitive Social Protection (CSSP) is a key strategy to address child

poverty

• For CSSP policy & programmes to be purposefully designed in a

country/project area, there is a need to understand:

– How existing social protection programmes are addressing child

poverty and their impact

– How social protection programmes can better respond to various

dimensions of child poverty

• Ensure that social protection policy & programmes for children are aligned

with and complement other development policies, programmes and

services for children

• Promote non-child focused social protection programmes to have a

positive impact on children

• Develop mechanisms that promote transparency & accountability in

delivery of social protection to ensure access for the poor

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Child poverty – some basic facts

Childhood is the most vital period of physical and mental development -shocks and stresses during childhood have detrimental consequences throughout life ( WHO, 2009)

Children who experience persistent poverty are much more likely to be

poor as adults (World Bank, 2013)

Increase in household income levels does not automatically translate into child poverty reduction (e.g Rabbani et al 2006)

Childhood poverty poses economic costs - reduced productivity and output, increased cost of crime, increased health expenditure. Child poverty lowers the GDP (Child Trends, 2009)

1.2 billion people live in extreme poverty : 400 million (1/3) are children (World Bank, 2013)

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Child poverty reduction – now a global focus

“ The finding that over 400 million children live in

extreme poverty and children are more likely to be poor

than adults is disturbing, since this can exacerbate child

labor and create inter-generational poverty traps. Hence,

if we want to make a sustainable dent on global poverty,

this is where we need to focus our attention.”

Kaushik Basu, World Bank Chief Economist and Sr. Vice President,

10 October, 2013

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What causes child poverty?

• Household chronic poverty, shock and stress

• Lack of awareness of and/or sensitivity towards

children’s development needs; family, community

and other duty bearers

• Lack of appropriate and adequate basic services –

education, health

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The link between household shock/stress, chronic

poverty - and child poverty

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Stress/Shock: risky

events that induce

vulnerability

• Death of a parent(s),

marital breakdown,

abandonment of children

(by one or both

parents/caregivers)

• Accident, illness,

disability of an earning

member/adult

•Crop failure, death of

livestock, loss of

labor/job

Chronic Household

poverty

Adverse coping

strategies adopted –

based on immediate

needs

• Sale of assets

• Take a loan

• Reduce food /nutritional

intake

• Irregularity/taken out of

school - (at home, going

out for earning)

+ Lack of

prioritization for

children’s long term

developmental needs

Child Poverty

• Malnourishment

• Poor health

• Children

permanently out of

school

• Child labor

Risk

Household stress- poor health of the father

The father is suffering from TB and

is no longer able to work.

• Sangeeta , Kokila and their

younger brother Pankesh have left

school.

• The girls have joined their mother

as construction workers in Gujarat.

• Pankash stays at home to look

after his father, a younger sister and

also manages household chores.

(Dungarpur, India)

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What is social protection?

Broadly

A set of public actions that

address:

– poverty, vulnerability,

exclusion and

– provide means to cope with

risk throughout the life cycle

(Unicef et al 2009)

Specifically

Social protection measures:

– Social assistance

– Social insurance

– Targeted and time bound

social services

– Labour market interventions:

to promote employment and

protect people at the

workplace -focus on the

informal economy (ILO, WB)

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Global evidence suggests that social protection can

reduce child poverty

• Social assistance programmes (cash and kind) focused on children have a

proven impact on children’s multiple needs and rights including

investments in education, nutrition, health, and child protection

• Programme design, targeting, delivery and contextualisation are key

elements for success

• Social protection programmes which are linked to relevant social services

generally work better (e.g links to social workers)

• Outcomes arising from programmes not directly focused on children are

mixed. Can result in positive spill-over effects for children (pensions in

South Africa) but can also have unintended negative impacts,( eg public

works can result in child labour). ( see eg Unicef, 2012)

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Impact of MGNREGA (India) on children

• Nani (to the right) is 3.5 years old -

shoulders the responsibility of two

younger siblings while parents are

working

• Her father migrates and her

mother works at MGNREGA-

employment guarantee site

• Her mother comes home once

during the day to feed the youngest

child

Child Sensitive Social Protection (CSSP) –

an emerging and diverse agenda

1. A set of principles (Joint Statement, Unicef et al 2009)

2. An integrated and coordinated systems approach to

evolving needs and vulnerabilities of children over the life

cycle (Unicef and WB, 2013)

3. A development policy framework -social protection and

social services for orphans and other vulnerable children

(e.g Zimbabwe)

4. An approach that recognises the multidimensional

aspects of child poverty and children’s dependency on

adults (Roelen and Sabates-Wheeler, 2011)

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CSSP as interpreted by SC Finland

• Social protection measures = social assistance, social

insurance and targeted social services are designed in such a

way that they result in positive development outcomes for

poor and vulnerable children

• Includes child focused sp (school meals, school stipends,

cash transfer for orphans) and household/ adult focused such

as public works and cash transfers

• CSSP = social protection + sensitivity towards children’s

needs and rights

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CSSP – mitigate the risk of adverse coping strategies to

be adopted

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Stress/Shock: risky

events that induce

vulnerability

• Death of a parent(s),

marital breakdown,

abandonment of children

(by one or both

parents/caregivers)

• Accident, illness,

disability of an earning

member/adult

•Crop failure, death of

livestock, loss of

labor/job

Chronic Household

poverty

Adverse coping strategies

adopted – based on

immediate needs

• Sale of assets

• Take a loan

• Reduce food /nutritional

intake

• Irregular/taken out of school

- at home, going out for earning

+ Lack of

prioritization for children’s

long term developmental

needs

Child Poverty

• Malnourishment

• Poor health

• Children

permanently out of

school

• Child labor

Risk

How to mitigate the risk?

Child Sensitive Social Protection

CSSP programme components in South Asia

Component 1:

Improve access to

social protection

programmes

1. Social assistance

2. Social insurance

3. Targeted social

services

(government programmes,

only 2 exceptions- child

endowment fund in

Nepal, health protection

in Rajasthan)

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Component 2: Enhance child

sensitivity of

parents, caregivers,

community and

selected service

providers

1. Communication

dialogues and tools

2. Community-based

norms and

practices

Component 3:

Advocate with

governments for more

child sensitive sp

policies and

programmes:

1. Document experiences

2. Analyse gaps in design

and delivery of existing

sp programmes

3. Engage in

state/national dialogues

CSSP programme location in South Asia

1. Two projects in

India

2. One project in

Nepal

3. One project in

Bangladesh

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CSSP Approach Dungarpur, India

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Scheme-based approach to CSSP

National Rural Employment

Guarantee Scheme

• Facilitating local government to

develop soft conditions i.e.

employment is linked to children

being in school and in appropriate

child care

• Introduce maternity cover ?

• Awareness at the work site of the

ill-effects of child labour and

importance of education

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Scheme-based approach to CSSP

• • Cash transfer scheme for orphans & other

vulnerable children

(OVC)

– Identification & access to the

scheme

– Develop the role of the

caregiver

– Engage the school, preschool

and local government in

ensuring OVCs are cared for

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Target group based approach to CSSP

Child labour • Raise awareness on the adverse

impact on children’s development

• Campaign against child labour

• Collaboration with Police,

District Administration and

school

• Aware and facilitate access to

social protection

• Cost benefit analysis – child

labour vs school

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Target group-based approach to CSSP

Malnourished children

• Strengthen delivery and uptake of

Integrated Child Development

Services (ICDS) scheme and

Malnutrition Treatment Centres

• Malnutrition Campaign

• MoUs with government

departments to increase

collaboration

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Key achievements across the CSSP programme

Influencing government

• Replication of Child Endowment Fund

in Nepal by local government

• Improved design of a government cash

transfer programme for orphans &

other vulnerable children in 2 states

of India

• MoU with World Bank in Bihar, India,

to integrate CSSP as an approach into

a govt. livelihood project

• Acceptance of child sensitivity in the

National SP strategy in Nepal, under

way in Bangladesh

In numbers: Jan 2011 to Jun 2013

• Supported 20 500 poor people,

including children, to access

government social protection

• At least 6000 children have been

brought out of child labour and

into school

• 1500 children have or are being

weaned out of severe

malnourishment

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Impact on children

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References

• WHO, 2009 http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs332/en/

• World Bank, 2013 http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2013/10/10/report-

finds-400-million-children-living-extreme-poverty

• Rabbani, M. , Prakash, V.A., Sulaiman, M. (2006). Impact Assessment of CFPR/TUP: A

Descriptive Analysis Based on 2002-2005 Panel Data

• CFPR/TUP Working Paper Series No. BRAC Research and Evaluation Division

• Child Trends, 2009

http://www.sp2.upenn.edu/ostrc/docs/document_library/cci/Children%20in%20Poverty/Child

ren%20in%20Poverty%20-%20Trends,%20Consequences,%20and%20Policy%20Options%20-

%202009.pdf

• Unicef , 2012 http://www.unicef-irc.org/publications/pdf/iwp_2012_06.pdf

• Unicef 2009 http://www.unicef.org/socialpolicy/index_50745.html

• Unicef and World Bank, 2013 http://www.unicef.org/socialpolicy/files/UNICEF-

WB_systems_note_formatted.pd

• Roelen and Sabates-Wheeler, 2012

http://testing.ids.ac.uk/files/dmfile/AChildSensitiveApproachtoSocialProtection.pdf

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