|
Lunchtime
Meeting Series: Summer 2005
Social protection: Making child poverty history?
This was a joint series of lunchtime discussion meetings Organised
by Plan International and ODI. 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. 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. |
 |
 |
|
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.
This meeting series is being hosted
by ODI and the Chronic Poverty Research Centre (CPRC). It
aims to examine different challenges in the design and implementation
of social protection interventions that will impact on child
poverty. Each session will bring together a combination of
speakers with different backgrounds and perspectives.
|
Programme
and Reports (with
Audio) (click meeting
title for these) |
|
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 and Francis Sathya - Plan International
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?
|
|
|
|
