Social Protection
Simply put, social protection entails offering a helping hand to someone in need. This can be in form of grants to businesses, providing food in schools and supporting vulnerable families. Social protection is key to reducing both monetary and multidimensional poverty and reduces inequalities. The importance of social protection has been confirmed by many international treaties, agreements, and international law.
Child-sensitive social protection encompasses policies and programmes that address or at least recognize and respond to the specific patterns of children’s poverty and vulnerability. It also recognizes the longer-term developmental benefits of investing adequately in children.
The Global Coalition End Child Poverty reports that Just 26.4 per cent of children globally receiving a child or family benefit, and there are significant regional disparities, and in addition headline regional figures can mask major differences in coverage within regions and within countries.
The gaps in coverage of social protection for children stems from major underinvestment in social protection as a whole and particularly for children. Globally, just 1.1% of GDP is spent on child related social protection.
States have a legal obligation to ensure everyone has access to social protection. Article 26 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) affirms every child’s right to benefit from social security, including social insurance, and confirms every State’s obligation to take all necessary steps to realise this right.