This study was conducted as part of a UNICEF-commissioned review of social protection measures reaching the increasing numbers of vulnerable children in east and southern Africa. The components completed in 2005 looked at three types of social protection interventions: cash transfers, public works programmes (UCT, 2005) and measures that ensure access and retention for educationally marginalised children (MTT/HEARD, 2005). Save the Children UK and HelpAge International (HAI) were commissioned to carry out the unconditional cash transfer component of this review.
Save the Children and HAI share programming and policy engagement agendas focussing on inclusive and intergenerational approaches to poverty reduction in the context of international development goals and the rights of young and older people. Save the Children works on different aspects of social protection policy and practice including food security and vulnerability, HIV and AIDS and support for vulnerable children, and health and education, including cash transfers in both humanitarian and development contexts. HAI has carried out comprehensive research and policy analysis on the need for and feasibility of social pensions both for vulnerable older people and children, many of whom live with older relatives.
Both organisations are long-standing partners of the Chronic Poverty Research Centre (CPRC) in the UK, and Save the Children is the home of the Childhood Poverty Research and Policy Centre (CHIP). The Institute of Development Studies (IDS), represented by Stephen Devereux, brought extensive knowledge of food security and social protection in Africa, strong research and analysis skills to the project.
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