Access to inclusive social protection and lives free from poverty
Every child, including adolescents, has access to inclusive social protection and lives free from poverty
- Português
- English
UNICEF works closely with the Government of Mozambique to strengthen social protection systems, focusing on programming that is child sensitive, inclusive, and shock responsive. Special emphasis is also placed on advancing equitable, efficient, effective and sustainable public spending in all social sectors, and generation of disaggregated data to inform needs, programmes and policy for vulnerable children, with a focus on gender and disability.
Strong social protection systems, alongside access to quality public services, are key to tackling child monetary and multidimensional poverty. UNICEF is currently working with the Government of Mozambique for an expansion of the Child Grant programme, supporting vulnerable families with children under the age of 2 years to combat stunting and support families to address financial barriers to access nutritious food and basic services for children. The Child Grant programme not only supports families with cash transfers but also promotes improved childcare practices at home through Social and Behaviour Communication sessions and provides case management support through home visits by a community-based social workforce.
With a high demographic growth rate of 2.9 per cent a year, demand for social services in Mozambique will increase further, and UNICEF is working with the Government to ensure that coverage of social services is adequate to meet this growing demand. This includes working to further reinforce the national social protection system, so that it can adequately respond to recurrent shocks, including natural disasters and conflict.
UNICEF works closely with the Ministry of Economy and Finance to support planning and budget analysis, making sure that regions with greater needs are prioritized and that resources get to the children who need them the most. UNICEF also supports the National Statistics Office to carry out the Demographic Health Survey (DHS), providing quality household data and allowing gender, disability and vulnerability analysis. This data is essential for identifying and responding to the needs of children and sound policy making.
THE CHALLENGES
- High prevalence of monetary and multidimensional poverty: The latest available data on poverty show high prevalence of monetary and multidimensional poverty, with 45.5 per cent of children experiencing monetary poverty and being deprived across at least two dimensions (such as education, health, nutrition, housing, etc.)
- Wide structural and geographical disparities: Rates of multidimensional poverty among children are higher in rural areas than in urban areas (54.2 per cent vs 43.4 per cent, respectively), although the divide is less marked among children than for the population as a whole (50.1 per cent compared to 37.4 per cent, respectively). On average, well over half of children in the north and centre of the country are multidimensionally poor, compared to over one third in the south. (59.8 per cent and 50.2 per cent, compared to 38.7 per cent).
- Social protection system requiring reinforcement: There is a need to further strengthen coverage of social protection programmes to meet demand. This will require additional financing and improvements in budget execution.
- Lack of flexibility and shock resilience: While the national social protection system is evolving, current programmes do not always adequately respond to recurrent shocks, including natural disasters and conflict, in a flexible, timely and effective manner.
- Limited fiscal space to increase social sector spending: The share of spending in priority social areas stands at 30.3 per cent of the 2023 budget, in a context of persistent fiscal pressures and increasing cost of debt servicing. Sustained levels of demographic growth coupled with underspending on capital investments and the persistence of the geographical divide require rebalancing of investments. Critical enablers for this will include expected revenues from the development of the extractive sector, particularly the liquified natural gas industry, and plans to establish a sovereign wealth fund to manage part of those revenues for future generations.
- Insufficient use of evidence and limited generation of data: Disaggregated data, especially on children with disabilities, remains limited. A recent monitoring and evaluation capacity assessment conducted by the Government of Mozambique, UNICEF and CLEAR LAB identified strong demand among line ministries for in-depth monitoring and evaluation training and guidance in on-site project monitoring tools and guidelines. Generating accurate data is essential for identifying priorities and gaps and ensuring efficient resource allocation. UNICEF provides technical and financial support to Mozambique’s National Statistics Office (INE) to carry out key nationwide surveys such as the Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) and the Household Budget Survey (IOF), which provide quality, statistically valid data, fully owned by the Government. Solid data and indicators are essential to enable deeper analysis that advise policy making and efficient resource allocation, with the aim of promoting sustainable change that benefits the most vulnerable.
Story: Cash and care for every child – the golden recipe?
Mozambique’s Child Grant, targeting children aged 0-2 years, is showcasing how cash transfers, in combination with nutrition information and case management services, not only reduce poverty, but also improve child well-being on several levels within the critical first 1,000 days’ window.
The strong November sun is shining over the village of Mecuburi Sede in Mozambique’s Nampula Province. Despite the early morning hour, 266 women are already waiting at the village center under lush tamarind trees. They are all carrying newborns, wrapped in colourful capulana fabrics. In a few minutes, they will be receiving their first monthly cash transfers, delivered thanks to a recent expansion of the Government’s Child Grant programme for children aged 0-2 years.
The programme includes three main components which together make up the “Cash & Care” model. The first is a cash transfer of approximately 540 meticais (around US$9) per month (paid quarterly), distributed unconditionally throughout the year to primary caregivers of children between ages 0 and 2 in targeted districts. The second component focuses on social behaviour change communication (SBCC) on nutrition, WASH, and childcare practices, implemented by community social protection volunteers. The third component is a case management component, offered to beneficiary households classified as most vulnerable to common protection risks, based on a rapid assessment implemented at the time of enrolment.
The Child Grant constitutes a key part of the Government of Mozambique’s social protection strategy. Since 2017, UNICEF has supported the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Action (MGCAS) and its operational arm, the National Institute of Social Action (INAS) in the design, implementation, and evaluation of the pilot phase of this ‘cash plus’ programme. The pilot phase was initiated in September 2018 and reached 15,345 children in four districts in Nampula, one of the poorest provinces in Mozambique, with the largest child population.
“This programme is unique, because of its comprehensive “Cash & Care” design. The typical ‘cash plus’ model includes behaviour change communication for stunting reduction. But this programme also has a strong case management component,” says Maki Kato, Chief of Social Policy at UNICEF Mozambique.
“With this money, I hope that I will be able to buy food and clothes for my little girl, and also to buy nutritious food for myself so that my milk is healthy and strong for the child,” says 23-year-old Sonia, who is waiting for her turn to receive the grant for her 3-month-old daughter. A government technician counts out the subsidy to which Sonia is entitled and hands her the monthly payment.
To influence and inform expansion, the pilot was accompanied by a rigorous impact and process evaluation over 24 months (2019-2021), which measured results on target children, main caregivers (mothers), households and older children in the household.
Besides a reduction in poverty, increases in savings and household expenditures, which are common results of cash transfers, we saw several positive and rarer impacts. Some examples included a sharp increase in birth registration, increase in dietary diversity and frequency of meals of target children, decrease in stress, depression, and experience of intimate partner violence among caregivers, and, to the surprise of most sceptics of cash transfer programmes, a reduction in pregnancies.
This clear evidence in the form of hard data and qualitative reports from field level, together with strong support from partners and leadership from the Government, was crucial to the success and expansion of the Cash Plus programme, representing a key moment of success for UNICEF, but most of all, for the children of the country. The programme will be expanded gradually, giving priority to provinces with high rates of poverty and malnutrition. Between 2022-2024, the Government plans to reach about 250,000 families with children aged 0-2 in Zambezia, Nampula and Cabo Delgado.
WHAT NEEDS TO HAPPEN?
- Investment is needed to reinforce and expand national systems, while supporting the roll-out of child-sensitive, inclusive and shock-responsive approaches to reducing multidimensional vulnerability and child poverty.
- Further expansion of Mozambique’s Child Grant, featuring cash transfers in combination with nutrition information and case management services, will further reduce vulnerabilities and build resilience.
- Improving the efficiency, effectiveness, sustainability and equity of public spending, by building stronger linkages between planning and budgeting systems as well as by supporting oversight functions within and outside Government.
- Ensuring that resources produced by the growing extractive industry contribute to supporting the growth of the country’s human capital by investing steadily in the social sectors and supporting the capacity of service delivery to meet the growing needs.
- Supporting the implementation of the decentralization agenda to strengthen service delivery managed and financed by institutions closer to the citizens in the provinces, districts and municipalities of the country.
- Capacity of government agencies, academic institutions, and civil society partners needs to be reinforced, allowing generation of high-quality statistical data at national and sub-national levels, and identification and filling of gaps in data availability. Promoting use and dissemination of data and evidence will also be critical.
The Mozambique Child Grant provides support for children 0-2 years old and is particularly focused on helping to prevent malnutrition. When a mother or caregiver receives a monthly cash amount, we find that they use it to purchase better quality food, and to seek medical care when the child is sick. The grant also provides a source of income, 540 meticais a month (about US $9), which is a substantial amount in rural areas. As many people farm, the grant allows them to increase their farming capacity and expand production. The cash grant is supplemented with a care component, ensuring recipients receive the support and information they need. Recipient families are selected based on two criteria: having a child aged under 2 years, and living in a highly vulnerable situation, for example living in areas with high rates of poverty, food insecurity and malnutrition.
An impact evaluation of the pilot phase of the Child Grant programme (2019-2021) has shown very positive outcomes. The second phase of the programme will build on the first, while strengthening linkages with other interventions, including nutrition, WASH, and behaviour change communication activities using community radio.
UNICEF’S RESPONSE
UNICEF works to strengthen social protection systems by focusing on child-sensitive programming and shock responsiveness. With support from partners, UNICEF prioritizes:
- Supporting the expansion and strengthening of inclusive, shock-responsive social protection systems, including the Mozambique Child Grant, that reach the most vulnerable children.
- Supporting efficiency and transparency of the Social Protection System, by promoting standardized operations procedures, strengthening the management information system, promoting complaints and grievance mechanisms and producing and disseminating technical evaluations. Promoting equitable and efficient budget allocations and expenditures, with the objective of strengthening inclusion, transparency, accountability of public spending earmarked for child protection.
- Generation, analysis, and use of data, with the objective of producing quality data in order to inform policymaking and legislation.
