How can measures to address the vulnerabilities and risks faced by children be more effectively integrated into social protection policy frameworks in West and Central Africa? This report focuses on children’s vulnerabilities and risks related to violence, abuse and neglect. Existing child protection systems in the region face numerous challenges in addressing these vulnerabilities. Building links between child protection and protection more generally requires integrated strategy development and the use of innovative, low-cost approaches.
At the core of social protection is a concern for addressing vulnerability and risk. It is increasingly understood that social protection policy frameworks and programmes must be informed by a recognition of the diversity of vulnerabilities and risks. Child protection systems comprise the set of laws, policies, regulations and services needed across all social sectors to support prevention and response to protection-related risks. A review of the literature and of findings from Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Ghana, Mali and Senegal reveal major drivers of children’s protection-related vulnerabilities:
- Economic poverty and experience of household and community-level shocks: These may be manifested in child labour, child trafficking or sexual exploitation.
- Rapid urbanisation and economic globalisation: These have had a major impact on informal social protection mechanisms.
- Discriminatory socio-cultural attitudes concerning age (as well as gender, indigenous or ethnic minority status, disability and sexuality). A related driver is harmful religious attitudes and practices.
- Armed conflict: This continues to be a key underpinning factor of protection-related violations and related consequences for children in the region.
- Institutional weaknesses: State institutions fail to provide adequate protection. For example, access to birth registration is often limited and provision for children within the justice system insufficient.
- Health shocks and chronic illnesses: These include HIV/AIDs, which has left millions of children orphaned in the region.
Findings highlight the fragmented nature of existing child protection services in the region, severe under-resourcing, high levels of reliance on international agencies and NGOs to fill gaps in services, and limited coordination across agencies. Links between child protection and social protection strategies and programmes are generally weak. In the few countries with cash transfer programmes, such links are being built, but this is rare. Gaps in terms of data collection, monitoring and evaluation and knowledge management contribute to the challenges to be tackled.
Entry points for strengening links between child protection and social protection include: social transfer programmes; social health insurance; social welfare services; stakeholder involvement; and the development of a robust evidence base and knowledge management system. Building these links will require more integrated strategy development. Innovative low-cost approaches to using existing social protection mechanisms are needed to address the multidimensionality of child-specific economic and social vulnerabilities.
