Social policy
For every child, an equitable chance in life
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The challenges
Children are more likely to live in poverty than adults, and they are also more vulnerable to its effects. How governments spend public resources is critical to providing them with the things they need to survive and thrive. Social protection programmes such as cash transfers help give every child an equitable chance in life.
Many children in Thailand remain left behind despite economic growth in recent decades, and the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed these existing vulnerabilities. It is expected that an additional 1.5 million people have been plunged back into poverty.
The far south shows the highest poverty rate, and rural areas are more disadvantaged than urban areas. Migrant families, especially those from Myanmar, and children living with disabilities are vulnerable to poverty and face a higher risk of violence, exploitation, trafficking and child labour.
About 1 in every 5 children are living in multidimensional poverty, which means they face multiple disadvantages at the same time, such as poor health, lack of education and inadequate living standards. These inequalities can be passed down for generations and have far-reaching economic, political and social consequences.
The solutions
UNICEF supports the Government in strengthening policies across all sectors to reduce the poverty gap. This is possible through generating quality data on child poverty and well-being through the Thailand Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey to monitor progress and advocate for decisions based on robust evidence. We focus especially on analysing the situation of the most disadvantaged, namely children with disabilities, children in poor urban communities and slums, and children from stateless, migrant and ethnic minority communities.
UNICEF helps strengthen a coordinated approach to social protection across all sectors, so that the needs of children can be met fully throughout times of crisis. We also advocate for more of the national budget to be invested in meeting their needs and support monitoring and evaluation so that public investments in children can go further.
To break the vicious cycle of generational poverty, UNICEF supports expanding social protection schemes to all young children and those most disadvantaged. Having supported the introduction and progressive expansion of the Child Support Grant in 2015-2019, we are now working with the Government to expand coverage for children from poor families to all children under 6.