Social Protection Programs

Social protection policies protect the most vulnerable in society, and provide income or in-kind support to households, or increase access to other kinds of services like health, education, or nutrition. This is most closely linked to SDG 1, No Poverty. Poverty in high-income countries is a form of relative poverty. Poverty in low- and middle-income countries is absolute poverty; in the case of extreme poverty, this is defined as living below US$1.90 a day per capita. Children are at a higher risk of living in extreme poverty, and while the Millenium Development Goals saw success in lowering the rates of poverty for children in China and India, Latin America and Sub-Saharan Africa saw only modest declines. The effects of poverty in ECD are especially severe. Policies that tackle poverty include conditional cash transfers or child grants, and an example of a program from Mexico is given. Social protection programs exist for socially excluded populations, and examples of two such populations-the Roma in Eastern Europe and children living with disabilities-are given as examples. Disability is defined as something that creates some form of impairment in physical function, but also a limitation in everyday activity, and children with disabilities experience stigma from birth. Societies can take action through legislation and social protection programs to address issues of equity and access in ECD.

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