Social Protection for Child Development in Crisis: A Review of Evidence and Knowledge Gaps

Abstract

Globally, humanitarian needs have reached an historically unprecedented scale, undermining the ability of affected children to survive, grow, and thrive. Social protection holds the promise of addressing acute needs and risks faced by children in crisis contexts, while allowing for human capital investments. We review evidence of the impact of emergency cash, food, and other in-kind transfers implemented by governments or humanitarian actors on child development in different contexts. Compared with development settings, rigorous evidence for crises is limited. Most existing studies focus on either schooling or acute malnutrition, highlighting that transfers can mitigate the detrimental effects of crises on these outcomes. Evidence on linear growth, micronutrient deficiencies, health, labor, learning, psychosocial outcomes, and child protection is limited. Also, most studies are set in contexts characterized by high institutional fragility in which emergency social protection is undertaken by international organizations, while evidence from settings where institutional capacity for shock-responsive social protection exists is scarce. Further gaps relate to the cost-effectiveness of alternative program designs and delivery modalities; heterogeneity by child and household backgrounds; and longer-term effects of interventions. Filling these gaps is critical to support child-sensitive approaches to social protection in crises to effectively pursue Sustainable Development Goal 1.