Human rights

Dignity and justice for all.

Social protection

There is now strong evidence that social protection – such as small but regular transfers of cash – has huge benefits for poor people. Social protection reduces hunger and boosts incomes. It helps families send their children to school, helps women to use health services, and helps people with AIDS to get treatment. It injects cash into local economies, creating demand for goods and services that help small businesses grow. And it helps tackle the inequalities that trap successive generations in long-term poverty.

Social transfers in poor countries are a realistic option. The International Labour Organisation has shown that providing small cash transfers to the poorest 10% of people in most African countries would cost less than 3% of government budgets. And for sub-Saharan Africa as a whole, reaching 10% of the population would cost $760 million each year. This is just 3% of the $25 billion of additional aid to Africa agreed by the G8 at Gleneagles.

Transfers can be made to everyone (such as a pension for all older people) or can be targeted at the very poor (such as households with orphans and vulnerable children). Communities can help identify those in need, or the providers of transfers can identify families directly. Local government and social welfare departments have a big role to play, but they often need more staff and money. And private organisations, like banks, can be highly effective at distributing transfers.

In recent years, a number of developing countries have shown that there are effective ways of providing social protection. The Ethiopian Government has established the Productive Safety Nets Programme to help over 8 million people with regular cash payments and food. This is reducing hunger, and helping families buy livestock. Countries such as Bangladesh, Brazil and Mexico have linked cash transfers for poor families to children using health and education services. In Nepal and Bangladesh, voucher schemes are helping women to access family planning. The UK supports many of these schemes, and we are working with partners in Kenya, Zambia and Pakistan to develop new ones.

Case study:

Maria and Carlos Oliveira da Silva live with their two children near the town of Formosa, in central Brazil. The family gets support from the Government’s Bolsa Familia programme. This provides a monthly grant to poor families with children – on the condition that their children attend school and use local health services. “For us the best thing is the certainty,” says Maria. “We know that each month we can afford to buy enough food and school supplies for our children. This means that we can plan for the future. Even when all of our chickens died, we had enough spare money to pay off our loans without selling our land.”

Links

Women villagers in Tangail, Bangladesh

Women villagers in Tangail, Bangladesh take part in a programme to receive small cash loans through the Grameen Bank. In 2006 Grameen Bank, and its founder Dr. Mohammad Yunus, were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Image credit: G M B Akash/Panos Pictures

For us the best thing is the certainty. We know that each month we can afford to buy enough food and school supplies for our children.

Maria da Silva Brazil

Fighting Poverty Index