Abstract
In most countries, the social protection and welfare system is directly responsible for addressing issues of destitution, poverty, and risk management. Currently, an undesirable gap exists between traditional policies in social protection and the need to make specific provision for early childhood. This chapter helps close this gap, hoping to enhance the interest and ability of social protection systems to effectively address serious constraints on early childhood development (ECD) caused by long-term poverty, income instability, and adverse shocks. Specifically, the chapter describes the recent history and multiple functions of social protection and explains their importance to ECD; identifies critical challenges to and promising practices in closing the gap between social protection and ECD; and analyzes and discusses key issues requiring new research initiatives (research agenda) and/or immediate cross-system collaboration (policy agenda) to advance the capacity of social protection systems to protect and promote ECD.
Original language | English (US) |
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Title of host publication | Handbook of Early Childhood Development Research and Its Impact on Global Policy |
Publisher | Oxford University Press |
ISBN (Electronic) | 9780199980420 |
ISBN (Print) | 9780199922994 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Jan 24 2013 |
Keywords
- Early childhood development
- Policy agenda
- Research agenda
- Social protection
- Welfare systems
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- General Psychology