Children and Economic Strengthening Programs: Maximizing Benefits and Minimizing Harm

"The households of children at risk, as well as working adolescents themselves, should have access to adequate economic strengthening support."

From the Child Protection in Crisis (CPC) Livelihoods and Economic Strengthening Task Force: "This guide is designed for practitioners designing or implementing economic strengthening (ES) programs in low-income settings that are sensitive to the protection needs and well-being of vulnerable children. The guide provides an overview of key learning about how ES can achieve better outcomes and impacts for children aged 0-18, both within and outside of household care, whether the direct program beneficiaries are adults or adolescents (aged 10-18) themselves. It provides guidance on mitigating threats to children’s well-being that may be an unintended consequence of ES interventions and discusses what is currently known about ways to maximize benefits to children from ES interventions.... [T]his guide [is designed to] help practitioners be more effective in recognizing, monitoring, and mitigating the major risks to child protection and well-being from ES programs. This guide comes primarily from a child protection orientation..."

ES approaches include:

• Skills training
• Loan-led microfinance
• Income-generation schemes
• Savings-led microfinance
• Cash transfers
• Job development
• Agricultural development
• Cash-for-work
• Small business support
• Financial education
• Food-for-work
• Value chain development

Principles and standards for programmes include these from Economic Strengthening for Vulnerable Children: Principles of Program Design and Technical Recommendations for Effective Field Interventions:

1. Take a multi-sectoral approach and ensure open dialogue throughout the program
2. Base programme design on sound market analysis
3. Weigh the benefits and risks of targeting
4. Identify best practices in ES and adapt them to the specific vulnerabilities of children and households
5. Know what you can do yourself and build partnerships to implement the rest
6. Develop interventions for sustainability and scalability
7. Identify robust indicators to track performance and outcomes

Key points of engagement for programmes include engaging caregivers, engaging children, and engaging those that aim to build systems to benefit both. Assessing needs and risks includes consulting with those potentially affected - families and community members - using participatory assessment tools that include questions for children and adults about working and obtaining money and goods, in addition to obtaining demographic data on children in the household. Agencies should review existing data on social norms, gender power relations, religion, culture, and kinship structures to understand local norms and avoid harm to children and youth. Children should be included in needs assessments and focus groups. Livelihoods assessments can be used to identify negative coping mechanisms as such as child labour or transactional sex and should identify economic opportunities for older adolescents, as well as assess financial literacy and savings practices. Marketing assessments can help to determine demand for labour and goods, local market conditions, and value chain opportunities, as well as build partnerships with potential ES colleagues.

Programmes should be part of a holistic approach including multi-sector referral pathways between health and nutrition, education, protection, psychosocial, and ES.  Combined interventions may encourage key behaviours, for example, an education-focused conditional cash transfer (CCT) and a business grant with education on savings practices that will allow children and youth to better sustain themselves during a crisis. As part of a wider child rights education campaign, agencies should engage families and communities to understand the importance of children’s development, including children’s physical, mental, and social health and well-being so that they are not working in family businesses to the detriment of their development.

Approaches should consider gender relations and gender equity in their design. Community dialogue around gender inclusion and engaging women to design the intervention and talk through the risks that may arise are possibilities, as well as including men in programmes formerly organised for women and children, such as child feeding programmes. Also, recruitment of female instructors for programmes, timing them to include consideration of women's and girls’ schedules, and placing meetings in safe locations with well-lighted routes and with safe latrines may enable attendance. Loans, savings schemes, and cash transfer may result in gender-based violence; thus, working through representative and inclusive women's groups might be necessary.

Older adolescents may benefit directly from skills training, savings schemes, apprenticeships, and other activities to develop their livelihoods. When engaged directly, they should be made aware of their programme entitlements, so they do not expect to have to give anything (cash, gifts, favours, sex) in exchange for services or goods - possibly by posting an illustrated sign with a description. Programme partners need training on child protection, rights, exploitation, and abuse and should sign a code of conduct. A clear reporting route for confidential complaints is needed. Protection, especially for girls, should be monitored - including inability to repay loans (which may lead to transactional sex). Safe community support platforms in neighbourhoods, including same-gender and mixed-gender clubs should focus on positive relationships and gender equity and can involve making sure children have identity cards or birth registration and parent permission when appropriate.

Programmes can enhance financial literacy, enable savings opportunities, and open apprenticeships and work opportunities where it is possible to monitor them. Negative outcomes to avoid and tools for monitoring and evaluation using child-friendly methods are described and listed as resources.