We are happy to contribute to The International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth’s (IPC-IG) latest Policy in Focus issue, which presents a collection of 15 articles from leading scholars, researchers and policy practitioners, shedding light on the key challenges of promoting social protection programs for children.
Social protection comprises a set of public policy instruments aiming to reduce people’s exposure to risks, assist them in dealing with their consequences and enhance their attitudes, knowledge, skills and material resources so that they can actively contribute to the reduction of risk exposure and better deal with the consequences of bad luck and adverse shocks. Moreover, social protection should be understood as both an investment and an obligation to meet children’s rights. Organisations concerned with the latter, such as UNICEF, have long promoted a universal approach to social protection.
Yet, while evidence points to the benefits of universal child grants, there is still much to be discussed in terms of gaps in knowledge. Irrespective of the type of social protection policy being considered, the articles in the latest Policy in Focus issue show that child poverty assessments can play a crucial role in informing the design of programs.
Our article explores how recent insights stemming from multidimensional child poverty research led to specific arguments in favor of child-sensitive social protection and a further elaboration of its focus. Read it now by downloading the report from IPC-IG.