Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-mlc7c Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T12:28:43.208Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Social protection and children's rights in developing countries

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 March 2020

Shirley Gatenio Gabel
Shirley Gatenio Gabel*
Affiliation:
Graduate School of Social Service, Fordham University, 113 West 60 Street, New York, 10023New York, USA
*
*Email: gateniogabe@fordham.edu
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Children are one of the most vulnerable groups in almost any population because of their physical and emotional dependence on adults and social status. Their vulnerability is greater in many developing countries because of the higher incidence of poverty and nascent social protection mechanisms. Social protection can serve as a tool to perpetuate inequities or can be used to promote human rights, equality, and inclusiveness. This paper looks at how social protection evolving in four developing countries, Ethiopia, Ghana, Indonesia, and Bangladesh, affects the realization of children's rights. Each country's social protection efforts are analyzed according to the type of effort and then compared to indicators measuring the realization of children's rights. The analysis indicates that well-coordinated social protection systems with wide coverage that include social assistance, social insurance, as well as human capital and empowerment efforts are more likely to result in the progressive realization of children's rights.

Keywords

children's rightssocial protectionchildren's well-beingdeveloping countriesIndonesiaBangladeshEthiopiaGhana
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of International and Comparative Social Policy , Volume 30 , Issue 3 , October 2014 , pp. 199 - 216
Copyright
Copyright © 2014 Taylor & Francis

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Alam, S. M. N. (2007). Whose public action? Analysing inter-sectoral collaboration for service delivery Bangladesh country review, History of state-NSP relations (Working Paper). Dhaka: International Development Department.Google Scholar
Alderman, H., Hoddinott, J., & Kinsey, B. (2006). Long term consequences of early childhood malnutrition. Oxford Economic Papers, 58(3), 450–474.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barrientos, A., & DeJong, J. (2004). Child poverty and cash transfers (CHIP Report No. 4). Childhood Poverty Research and Policy Centre.Google Scholar
Carneiro, P. M., & Heckman, J. (2003). Human capital policy (IZA Discussion Paper No. 821). Retrieved from http://ssrn.com/abstract=434544Google Scholar
Case, A. (2001, October). Does money protect health status? (Working Paper, no. 8495). National Bureau of Economic Research.Google Scholar
Case, A., Hosegood, V., & Lund, F. (2005). The reach and impact of child support grants: Evidence from KwaZulu-Natal. Development Southern Africa, 22(4), 467–482.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Devereux, S. (2001). Social pensions in Namibia and South Africa (IDS Discussion Paper, no. 379). Institute of Development Studies.Google Scholar
Devereux, S., & Sabates-Wheeler, R. (2004). Transformative social protection (IDS Working Paper 232). Brighton: Institute of Development Studies.Google Scholar
Gabel, S. G. (2009). A global review of new risks and new responses for children and their families. Asian Social Work and Policy Review, 3(1), 1–21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gabel, S. G. (2012a). Social protection and children in developing countries. Children and Youth Services Review, 34, 537–545.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gabel, S. G. (2012b). Evolution of social protection in developing countries. Country case study report: Indonesia (Working Paper). UNICEF.Google Scholar
Gabel, S. G. (2012c). Evolution of social protection in developing countries. Country case study report: Bangladesh (Working Paper). UNICEF.Google Scholar
Gabel, S. G. (2012d). Evolution of social protection in developing countries. Country case study report: Ghana (Working Paper). UNICEF.Google Scholar
Gabel, S. G. (2012e). Evolution of social protection in developing countries. Country case study report: Ethiopia (Working Paper). UNICEF.Google Scholar
Gabel, S. G., & Kamerman, S. B. (2012). Assessing child well-being in developing countries: Making policies work for children. In Nandy, S. & Minujin, A. (Eds.), Child poverty: A global perspective (pp. 245–262). Bristol: Policy Press.Google Scholar
Galasso, E. (2006, March). With their effort and one opportunity: Alleviating extreme poverty in Chile. Development Research Group, World Bank.Google Scholar
Grantham-McGregor, S., Cheung, Y. B., Cueto, S., Glewwe, P., Richter, L., Strupp, B. (2007, January). Developmental potential in the first 5 years for children in developing countries, child development in developing countries series 1. The Lancet, 369, 60–70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Handa, S., Devereux, S., & Webb, D. (2010). Social protection for Africa's children. Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harper, C., Jones, N., Pereznieto, P., & McKay, A. (2011). Promoting children's wellbeing: Policy lessons from past and present economic crises. Development Policy Review, 29(5), 621–641.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hodgkin, R., & Newell, P. (2007). Implementation handbook for the Convention on the Rights of the Child: Fully revised third edition. UNICEF.Google Scholar
Hossain, N., & Eyben, R. (2009). Accounts of crisis: Poor people's experiences of the food, fuel and financial crises in five countries. Brighton: Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex.Google Scholar
ILO (2012). Tackling child labour: From commitment to action, Policy Note. IPEC, ILO.Google Scholar
Jones, N., Ahadzie, W., & Doh, D. (2009). Social protection for children: Opportunities and challenges in Ghana. UNICEF, the Ministry of Employment and Social Welfare, Ghana, and Overseas Development Institute.Google Scholar
Jones, N., & Marsden, H. (2009). Assessing the impacts of and policy responses to the 1997–1998 Asian financial crisis through a child rights lens. UNICEF.Google Scholar
Meaney, M. (2001). Maternal care, gene expression and the transmission of individual differences in stress reactivity across generations. Annual Review of Neuroscience, 24, 1161–1192.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pathey, P. (2006). Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey Volume I: Technical report. Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, Planning Division, Ministry of Planning, Government of the People's Republic of Bangladesh and UNICEF.Google Scholar
Sabates-Wheeler, R., Devereux, S., & Hodges, A. (2009). Taking the long view: What does a child focus add to social protection? IDS Bulletin, 40, 109–119.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Samson, M., Heinrich, C., & Williams, M. (2008). Quantitative analysis of the impact of the child support grant. United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF).Google Scholar
Shonkoff, J. P., Boyce, W. T. & McEwen, B. S. (2009). Neuroscience, molecular biology, and the childhood roots of health disparities: Building a new framework for health promotion and disease prevention. JAMA, 301(21), 2252–2259.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Shura, E. (2008). New strategies for progressive realization assessments of economic, social, and cultural rights: Cambodian AIDS-related orphans and vulnerable children as the hard case. Fordham International Law Journal, 32(5), 1657, Article 7.Google Scholar
Todres, J. (2003). Human Rights Brief (Vol. 10(3), pp. 32–35). American University Washington College of Law.Google Scholar
UNICEF. (2004). The state of the world of the children 2005 – childhood under threat. New York, NY: UNICEF Headquarters.Google Scholar
UNICEF. (2005). The state of the world of the children 2006 – excluded and Invisible. New York, NY: UNICEF Headquarters.Google Scholar
UNICEF. (2009). Progress for children: A report card on child protection. Author.Google Scholar
UNICEF. (2012). Integrated social protection systems: Enhancing equity for children. New York, NY: Author.Google Scholar
UNICEF. (2013). The State of the World's Children 2013. Author.Google Scholar
UNICEF Ghana. (2009). Global study on child poverty and disparities: National Report Ghana. Author.Google Scholar
United Nations Children's Fund. (2012). Children in an urban world. Retrieved from http://www.unicef.org/sowc2012/pdfs/SOWC%202012-Main%20Report_EN_13Mar2012.pdfGoogle Scholar
United Nations Children's Fund & World Health Organization. (2012). Immunization summary: A statistical reference containing data through 2010 (2012 ed.). Retrieved from http://www.childinfo.org/files/immunization_summary_en.pdfGoogle Scholar
United Nations High-Level Panel of Eminent Persons on the Post-2015 Development Agenda. (2013). A new global partnership: eradicate poverty and transform economies through sustainable development. United Nations.Google Scholar
Veras, F., Soares, S., Medeiros, M., & Osório, R. F. (2006). Cash transfer programmes in Brazil: Impacts on inequality and poverty (International Poverty Centre Working Paper, no. 21). UNDP/IPEA, International Poverty Centre.Google Scholar
World Development Indicators Database. (2013). World Bank. Retrieved from http://databank.worldbank.org/data/views/variableselection/selectvariables.aspx?source=world-development-indicatorsGoogle Scholar