Social protection: making child poverty history?

Social protection

Social protection interventions are essential to address the needs of children with specific vulnerabilities such as orphans and street children. However they can also be effective mechanisms to address childhood poverty and may offer effective strategies to prevent intergenerational transmission of poverty, thus breaking the poverty cycle. 

Social protection has undergone a redefinition since the debates of the 1990s which focused narrowly on the provision of social safety nets and dismissed them as unaffordable. Current approaches have broadened the definition and emphasise both social and economic aspects of the concept while new research has shown that basic social protection packages can be affordable even for low income countries. 
 
2005 is the year to make poverty history by developing an international development agenda based on sustainable solutions to poverty. The publication in March of Our Common Interest by the Commission for Africa, which stresses the role of social protection interventions in long term poverty reduction will guide the UK discussions within the G8 and the European Union, the review of the Millennium Development Goals by the United Nations later this year should offer an opportunity to re-focus priorities to ensure that sustainable anti-poverty strategies are implemented, plus new research demonstrating viability all mean that a new approach to social protection is on the agenda.

Plan organised in collaboration with the Overseas Development Institute and the Chronic Poverty Research Centre (CPRC) brief lunchtime lectures in June and July. The aims was examine different challenges in the design and implementation of social protection interventions that will impact on child poverty. Each session has brought together a combination of speakers with different backgrounds and perspectives.

Click meeting titles for programmes and reports

Wednesday 8 June 1pm Can low income countries effectively deliver cash transfers which impact on child poverty? Speakers: Armando Barrientos - CPRC; Sylvia Beales - HelpAge Intl; Sonya Sultan - DFID Chair: Tamsyn Barton - Plan UK trustee State funded financial support to poor people in low income countries was previously dismissed as too expensive to be viable, however new research conducted by the ILO has shown that a package of basic social protection measures, including a child care payment, social pension and disability allowance, is affordable even for low income countries. This session will examine some of the key issues surrounding cash transfers including: How do they impact on child poverty? Which are the most effective and efficient ways to ensure they reach the poorest people: universal, targeted or conditional measures? Are countries with weak infrastructures able to deliver them? Are they sustainable, and how can they empower rather than stigmatise those who receive them?
Wednesday 15 June 1pm How can the abolition of user fees and the provision of in-kind support impact on child poverty? Speakers: Dr Josef Decosas - Plan West Africa Regional Office, Francis Sathya - Plan International and Christina Behrendt, Social Security Department, International Labour Office Chair: Angela Penrose - Grow Up Free From Poverty Coalition Links between poverty and lack of access to basic services are uncontested, however there is a contentious debate about whether abolition of fees is the best way to increase accessibility. Lack of direct cost for the service may obscure the limits to accessibility imposed by related costs of related items or associated services. Plus abolition of fees does not address the issue of quality of the available services. Addressing these issues within a social protection package will increase the cost. This session will present Plan's research on the issue of user fees and discuss the best ways of delivering basic services that meet the needs of poor children. The key questions in this session will focus on viability and affordability of the abolition of user fees, targeting mechanisms and the impact of such measures on quality.
Wednesday 22 June 1pm Rights and social protection for children: addressing inequality Speakers: Hon. Irene Ovonji-Odida - FIDA; Rachel Sabates Wheeler - IDS; Fauzia Shariff - DFID Chair: Angela Penrose - Grow Up Free From Poverty Coalition Social protection is primarily viewed as an economic investment, however, taking a rights based approach necessitates a focus on broader issues of social justice. While legislation has a role, a rights based approach to social protection empowers poor people to claim their rights from their governments who are the duty bearers, accountable under international and domestic law. This session will explore how social protection interventions can ensure the realisation of human rights for the poorest people and the specific attention to children's rights required in order to guarantee their enjoyment of equal rights.
Friday 8 July 1pm What is the role of the community in the effective delivery of social protection for children? Speakers: Nikhil Roy - Anti-Slavery International; Roger Hart - Children's Environment Research Group; Chikonde Chiweze - Malawi; Gordon Oyoo - Kenya. Chair: Pauline McKeown - Plan Intl While statutory intervention should guarantee the widest coverage, difficulties in reaching rural populations or oversight of particular groups may mean that effective delivery of certain forms of social protection to the most vulnerable can only be assured by local communities. This session will identify the community support institutions and mechanisms that deliver social protection for children most effectively, in addition to the challenges posed by the impact of HIV/AIDS, the potential reinforcement of gender inequalities and the potential for community exclusion to hinder the delivery of social protection to those in greatest need will be explored. Rather than just being seen as beneficiaries, how can children and young people effectively participate in community-delivered social protection?