This document outlines UNICEF’s global social protection programme framework. It addresses key areas for humanitarian and social protection practitioners seeking to implement effective strategies at the country level. The framework offers a comprehensive approach to bridge the gap between immediate crisis response and sustainable support systems, and it is specifically useful for program designers, field coordinators, and policy makers working in areas where humanitarian assistance connects with national protection frameworks.
Key Insights
A Foundation of Evidence
Child poverty analysis and systems assessments create national measurement analysis of child poverty and implications for social protection. Impact evaluations assess programme impacts using evaluation designs.
Policy, Legislation and Financing
Strategies and policy frameworks support national dialogue on social protection laws and strategies. Coordination assesses and supports development of national capacities and coordination mechanisms. Domestic financing targets sector expenditure reviews, costings of programmes and fiscal space analysis to work with governments to increase resource allocation for social protection.
Programme Areas for Child-Sensitive Social Protection Systems
These encompass social transfers, social insurance, labor and jobs, and the social service workforce. Social transfer programs focus on political support and building beneficiary ID systems. Social Insurance increases coverage to poor and marginalized populations.
Action Area: Connecting Cash Transfers to Information, Knowledge and Services
Providing recipients with information, knowledge and connections to services helps understand the non-financial needs of beneficiaries and to build the evidence base on best practices.
Action Area: Expanding and Improving Health Insurance
Increasing coverage to poor and marginalized populations and defining health services included in health insurance helps support the health insurance expansion through beneficiary-linked cash transfers and non-contributory health insurance.
Building and Strengthening the Social Welfare Workforce
Includes clarifying roles and responsibilities, and expanding the workforce and training.
Administration and Integrated Service Delivery
The key emphasis is improving integrated management information systems (MIS). This includes needs assessments and grievance and redress mechanisms.
Social Protection in Humanitarian, Fragile and Risk-Prone Contexts
Focuses on strengthening national shock-responsive social protection systems.
Action Area: Linking Humanitarian Cash Transfers to Social Protection Systems
Designing humanitarian cash transfers to achieve sectoral outcomes and determining the role of national systems in implementation of a humanitarian cash transfer programme.
Key Statistics & Data
- 385 million children globally struggle to survive on less than PPP$1.90 per day.
- Children are more than twice as likely to be living in extreme income poverty as adults.
- 665 million children are estimated to be living in multidimensionally-poor households.
- 27 OECD countries have child poverty rates above 10 percent.
- About 45 percent of children are living in households subsisting on less than US$3.10 a day compared to 27 percent of adults.
Methodology
The document provides a framework and does not explicitly detail a specific methodology. It synthesizes existing research, evaluations, and best practices in social protection to provide guidance.
Implications and Conclusions
This framework outlines UNICEF’s commitment and contribution to social protection for children, including our key action areas and the activities we undertake. It also hopes to contribute to a global understanding of child-sensitive social protection and encourage national and international partners to work together to strengthen these systems. Social protection is the right of every child, it is the foundation of a country’s social contract, and requires national and international collaboration and commitment to provide every child with coverage and give every child an equal chance.
Key Points
- UNICEF advocates for universal social protection grounded in the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC).
- The framework identifies economic and social vulnerabilities, including inequality, discrimination, and humanitarian crises, that social protection programs must address.
- Key elements of integrated social protection systems include a foundation of evidence, policy coordination, program areas (social transfers, social insurance, labor, and social service workforce), and administration.
- UNICEF's ten key action areas span poverty analysis, policy development, cash transfers, health insurance, childcare, and shock-responsive systems.
- The report emphasizes the importance of partnerships with governments, UN agencies, and other organizations to strengthen national social protection systems.
- The document promotes social protection to address monetary poverty directly and highlights the importance of integrated social protection interventions like "cash plus" programs.
- Achieving universal coverage for social protection is a long-term goal, requiring collaboration with international partners.