This Project Briefing synthesises findings from a study mapping social protection in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region,1 with a particular focus on policies and programmes that impact children and how these might be strengthened. The study was conducted by the Overseas Development...

This paper was commissioned by the UN Children’s Fund’s (UNICEF’s) regional office in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). UNICEF’s rationale for engagement in social protection is grounded in its commitment to human rights, and recognition of the contribution social protection can...

A series of economic and transformational crises in Latin America during the 1990s and the early 2000s pushed many households into poverty. In this paper we look at the two most significant of those crises that took place in Mexico and Argentina and explore the policy measures that were put in...

Cash transfers are an increasingly popular approach to poverty and vulnerability reduction, including, more recently, in humanitarian contexts. In the Occupied Palestinian Territories, the National Palestinian Cash Transfer Programme provides quarterly payments to extremely poor households. As...

Drawing on Save the Children's experience of working with three social fund financed programmes, this paper examines their potential for reducing childhood poverty. Examining direct and indirect effects on children it discusses the relevance and impact of activities supported, the extent to...

Caroline Harper and Rachel Marcus explore why child poverty – so detrimental to both individual children and to society – is often invisible, and why many contemporary trends and policies exacerbate it. They argue that child poverty is a potential time bomb, an urgent developmental priority...

Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs) are currently at the centre of development assistance and planning in many countries and donor agencies. As such, they are potentially of enormous significance for children living in poverty. Based on a review of PRSP documents, authors' experiences and...