Child-sensitive social protection: policy and practice in South Asia seminar 05.04.2016

1.
Promoting Social and Economic Justice
Child-Sensitive Social Protection: policy
and practice in South Asia
@IDS_UK
#CSSP

2. Keetie Roelen and Helen Karki Chettri
IDS and Save the Children seminar
5 April 2016
Promoting Social and Economic Justice
Improving social protection’s response to
child poverty and vulnerability in Nepal

3.
Outline
How can social protection better respond to
child poverty in Nepal?
1. Impact of social protection on child poverty and vulnerability
2. Challenges
3. Recommendations

4.
Social protection in Nepal
“In Nepali context, social protection is defined
as a set of policies and actions aiming at reducing
poverty and multi-dimensional deprivations to ensure
a basic minimum livelihood for all citizens.”
National Social Protection Framework (draft)
definition of social protectiondefinition of social protection

5.
Social protection in Nepal: life-cycle approach
National Social Protection Framework (draft)

6.
Child-sensitive social protection
Child-Sensitive Social Protection (CSSP) refers to social protection
programmes or a system of programmes that aim
(i) to maximise positive impacts on children, when and where
appropriate and
(ii) to minimise potential unintended side effects or perverse
incentives.
This encompasses both direct interventions (i.e. child-focused or
targeted) and indirect interventions.

7.
Child-sensitive social protection in Nepal

8.
Child-sensitive social protection in Nepal
child poverty and vulnerability
poverty
nutrition
education
health
child labour
child care
+ positive impact
+ fairly positive impact
+/- maintenance of status quo
- negative impact
? no information available

9.
Infants – Child Grant
• low amount
(R200 per month per child)
“In Dolpa (Karnali), one egg costs
R50, what can R200 do?”
[District coordinator, KIRDARC]
• irregular payments
• administrative delay
• low quality of services
• birth registration
modest impactmodest impact
poverty +
nutrition +
education ?
health +
child labour ?
child care ?

10.
Infants – Child Grant
>> sensitisation can
extend impact beyond
cash in a sustainable
way
>> information about
eligibility criteria and
registration processes
improves inclusion
Child Grant plus sensitisation in SindhupalchowkChild Grant plus sensitisation in Sindhupalchowk

11.
School-age children - scholarships
• low amount
(R350 per annum per child)
• does not address other
barriers to education
• may reinforce stigmatisation
• inclusion errors
“the schools divide it to all children
because there is a lot of debate
and political pressure” [Director,
CCWB]
• untimely delivery
very limited impactvery limited impact
poverty ?
nutrition ?
education +/-
health ?
child labour +/-
child care ?

12.
Working age – Public Works
• low number of working days
for short period of time
• low wage rate
• inclusion and exclusion errors
• mismanagement of funds at
VDC level
 new implementation and
payment models are tested
 introduction of childcare
centres
limited impactlimited impact
poverty +
nutrition +
education +
health ?
child labour ?
child care +/-

13.
Working age – Public Works
>> child care centre can support care for children but centre needs to provide
quality care, and caretaker needs to be paid equal wage
>> more work days across longer time period can prevent family separation
Karnali Employment Programme (KEP) in Kalikot districtKarnali Employment Programme (KEP) in Kalikot district

14.
Elderly – Old Age /Single Women’s Allowance
• R1000 (OAA)/ R500 (SWA) per
month
• average 9% spending on
grandchildren (OAA)
• potential broader impacts due
to universal coverage of
elderly
“If a mother who loses her husband and
gets money, she can spend it on her
children’s education, books and
clothes so it is child-sensitive.”
[Undersecretary, MoFALD]
modest impactmodest impact
poverty +
nutrition +
education +
health +
child labour ?
child care +

15.
Challenges
 Proliferation, fragmentation, lack of coordination
“We have a system but it is a system-less system.”
[Director, CCWB]
 Lack of capacity
 Budget constraints and limited coverage
 Inclusion and exclusion errors
 Irregular cash flows leading to delayed and irregular payments
 Inflexible registration and delay in data processing
institutional and administrativeinstitutional and administrative

16.
Challenges
 Low transfer amounts (child grant, scholarship, KEP)
 Limited awareness of programmes
 No sensitisation activities on use of transfers
“Most parents are uneducated and don’t realise the real situation of homes
for their children.” [Director KIRDARC, Kalikot]
 Lack of grievance and complaints procedures
 No linkages to social work or child protection services
design and implementationdesign and implementation

17.
Recommendations
 Strengthen the functioning and implementation of existing
social protection programmes
 Expand coverage: twin-track approach
 Increase transfer amounts
 Make programme registration more responsive and flexible
 Strengthen sensitisation and awareness raising regarding use
of funds and child wellbeing

18.
Recommendations
 Improve link to child protection
 Establish grievance mechanisms
 Raise awareness and voice
 Create clarity about the purpose of social protection, and
about child-sensitive social protection

19.
Thank you!
QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS?
@IDS_UK
#CSSP