Social and Economic Policy

Introduction

© UNICEF/NYHQ2009-0231/Josh Estey

UNICEF focuses on the critical impact social and economic policy issues have on children. Our work is centered around child poverty and disparities, child-sensitive social protection, migration and social and gender-sensitive budgeting. This site explains how these issues affect children and the work UNICEF is doing to address them. The social and economic updates below highlight some important recent additions to the site.

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Social and Economic Policy Updates

Global economic crisis

The current global economic crisis threatens to undo many of the world’s recent gains in child survival and well-being. Learn more about:

• The impact of the crisis on children;
• Including children in the policy response;
• UNICEF's response to the crisis, and;
• Additional resources to learn more.

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© Overseas Development Institute

Meetings and events

UNICEF and ODI were pleased to host the conference 'The global economic crisis: Including children in the policy response', which will took place in London. The conference was held November 9-10, 2009. For more information, please contact us at globalpolicy@unicef.org. Please our conference website to see all the conference logistics, e-proceedings, and papers being presented. 

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© UNICEF

Country spotlight: The global economic crisis and Tajikistan

In Tajikistan's isolated Rasht Valley, families rely almost entirely on remittances sent back from Russia, where Tajik men work in the construction industry - but the economic downturn means less work and fewer paychecks. Learn more about how the global economic crisis is effecting the country.

Country spotlight: Situation ananlysis in Senegal

Etude sur la pauvreté et les disparités chez les enfants au Sénégal, 2009 (in French) is a recently published study that seeks to raise awareness of policies and programmes that support more effectively the rights of all children, boys and girls, in Senegal. The situation of children has been analyzed in multiple dimensions including monetary, education, health, water and sanitation and shelter but also comfort.

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© UNICEF

Joint Statement on Child-Sensitive Social Protection

In recent years, social protection has emerged as a major new focus in efforts to reduce poverty around the world. Social protection is generally understood as a set of public actions that address poverty, vulnerability and exclusion as well as provide means to cope with risks throughout the life cycle. Investing in social protection not only supports progress towards a range of Millennium Development Goals, it has the potential to reduce poor people's vulnerabilities to global challenges such as aggregate economic shocks, instability in the price of food or other essential commodities, and climate change. Many societies recognize that such provision can also contribute to social cohesion and broader national socio-economic development and security.

In the current economic and financial crisis, social protection strategies will be a crucial element in effective policy responses. Child sensitive social protection systems mitigate the effects of poverty on families, strengthen families in their child care role, and enhance access to basic services for the poorest and most marginalized, including at-risk children living outside family care. UNICEF works together with a large number of partners - central and local governments, civil society organizations, the private sector and international agencies - for enhancing crisis support and making social protection more child, age and gender-sensitive in all major regions of operation.  Download the Joint Statement.

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© UNICEF

Publications

UNICEF Publications

UNICEF's working papers and working briefs address crucial issues facing the world's children. Recent publications include:

• Working brief: How Economic Shocks Affect Poor Households and Children
• Working brief: Economic Update: Countries' Evolving Vulnerability from a Child's Perspective
• Working paper: Human Development in Crisis: Insights from the Literature, Emerging Accounts from the Field, and the Correlates of Growth Accelerations and Decelerations

External Publications

The Human Development Research Paper Series features recent research commissioned to inform the global Human Development Report and further research in the field of human development. The upcoming reports focus on the theme of human mobility and development.

Papers from the series include: Migration and the Asia-Pacific Region: Trends, Factors and Impacts; Current Trends in Migration in the Commonwealth of Independent States, and; Information and Communication Technologies and Migration. See a complete list of reports in the series here.