Social protection

Social protection, commonly understood as government schemes to mitigate risk and reduce vulnerability and/or chronic poverty, has moved up the policy and research agenda in recent years. There is an active debate about whether the focus should be more on asset-building or ‘safety-net’ activities, whether and how conditions are attached to cash transfers, and about the underlying assumptions about decision-making within households and their ability to take advantage of such schemes. Further, there have been calls to make social protection more predictable, increase coverage and improve delivery.

Most research and policy debate focuses on the effects of social protection on households, with children assumed to be passive beneficiaries. In Young Lives we look at intra-household dynamics, the impact of programmes on children, and how evidence can be used to develop policies that are more child-sensitive.

We are currently running a series of sub-studies, looking in particular at the impact of the Protective Safety Net Programme (PSNP) in Ethiopia, the National Rural Employment Guarantee scheme (NREGS) in India, the cash transfer scheme Juntos in Peru, and the health insurance scheme in Vietnam.

Our research finds that social protection schemes have both intended and unintended consequences for children, mostly positive but highlighting areas of concern that should be prioritised in programme design. For example, many social protection programme have moved in the direction of conditional cash transfers (CCTs) and the conditions attached to receipt of benefits are often directly aimed at child ‘welfare’, such as school attendance or visits to the health clinic. However, insights from qualitative analysis and child perspectives are useful to assist with better programme design.

These findings must also be considered along with other evidence that documents how children are contributing to the household economy and managing risks themselves and with their families, and limited evidence on the extent to which increased work impacts on children’s schooling.

Overall, child-focused research on social protection can provide important insights that can make social protection more inclusive of children’s needs. This can improve programme design to make better use of scarce resources, and invest in the future of children in very poor communities.