Social protection measures are riding high on the international development policy agenda as the cornerstone of social policy in low-income countries. This has led to a rapid increase in the number of state-led schemes aimed at alleviating chronic poverty and vulnerability, with a growing focus on conditionality. A key policy message is that countries with established social protection systems in place were better able to react more quickly to the global economic crisis. Social protection has been positioned as a key tool to help countries and households cope with crisis and to deliver more 'inclusive development'. There is also an increasing recognition that one-off or patchwork solutions to social protection challenges are inadequate, and that more comprehensive systems are needed.
A growing number of social protection schemes in developing countries now use a conditional element as a mechanism to meet objectives beyond the income needs of beneficiaries. This chapter draws on evidence from Young Lives to review the impact of conditionality on children. It discusses some of the different types of scheme used to deliver social protection, and the different conditionalities employed. In particular, it seeks to document the positive effects, but also possible unintended and negative consequences for household members.
Book chapter: 'The implications of conditionality in social assistance programmes' by Paul Dornan and Catherine Porter in Social Policy in a Developing World, edited by Rebecca Surender and Robert Walker (Edward Elgar, 2013).
Social protection measures are riding high on the international development policy agenda as the cornerstone of social policy in low-income countries. This has led to a rapid increase in the number of state-led schemes aimed at alleviating chronic poverty and vulnerability, with a growing focus on conditionality. A key policy message is that countries with established social protection systems in place were better able to react more quickly to the global economic crisis. Social protection has been positioned as a key tool to help countries and households cope with crisis and to deliver more 'inclusive development'. There is also an increasing recognition that one-off or patchwork solutions to social protection challenges are inadequate, and that more comprehensive systems are needed.
A growing number of social protection schemes in developing countries now use a conditional element as a mechanism to meet objectives beyond the income needs of beneficiaries. This chapter draws on evidence from Young Lives to review the impact of conditionality on children. It discusses some of the different types of scheme used to deliver social protection, and the different conditionalities employed. In particular, it seeks to document the positive effects, but also possible unintended and negative consequences for household members.
Book chapter: 'The implications of conditionality in social assistance programmes' by Paul Dornan and Catherine Porter in Social Policy in a Developing World, edited by Rebecca Surender and Robert Walker (Edward Elgar, 2013).