Are social protection programmes child-sensitive?

Abstract

There is no doubt that child focus in the social protection agenda makes development and economic sense, yet child-sensitive social protection still remains elusive in some African country programmes. The case study of the Productive Safety Net Programme in Ethiopia discussed in this paper shows that the child-conditioned component in both the design and the implementation of this huge social protection programme is largely absent. Child-sensitive social programming, which discretely improves children's schooling and access to basic health care services and protects them from child labour, is recommended, with prioritisation of child labour saving assets as one of the key interventions.