ILO and UNICEF are Hosting an International Conference on Child Grants
The ILO, UNICEF and the Overseas Development Institute are hosting an International Conference on Universal Child Grants from 6-8 February in Geneva, Switzerland.
Universal child grants have the potential to help millions of children enjoy their right to social security and other related rights, including adequate food and nutrition, education, and housing. According to ILO’s 2017-19 World Social Protection Report, 4 billion people worldwide lack access to social protection; 1.3 billion of these being children.
Cash transfers are growing in popularity around the globe by governments who see it as part of a comprehensive social security system, while acknowledging that there is no one-size-fits- all solution: “Key issues around targeting and universalism, conditionality, policy financing, the positioning of cash transfer schemes within wider social and fiscal policy, variations in cash transfer core design features (such as the level of transfers, duration of participation) and their implications for policy impact on children’s outcomes and policy sustainability are widely debated”.
This conference brings together researchers, policy makers and practitioners to explore the arguments and evidence emerging from alternative cash transfer schemes, and promote informed policy debate and decision-making with regards to cash transfers, social protection and improving wider outcomes for children.
Some sessions will be live-streamed on socialprotection.org.