Improving Social Protection’s Response to Child Poverty and Vulnerability in Nepal

Social protection in Nepal has rapidly expanded to become part and parcel of the response to poverty and vulnerability. It is also considered a key policy option for addressing issues of child poverty and deprivation. Evidence that social protection interventions, depending on their design, implementation, and delivery, lead to positive impacts on child outcomes such as nutrition, health, education, and child labour is rapidly expanding. Social protection has the potential to break the intergenerational transmission of poverty and create long-term economic benefit.

This report aims to assess to what extent social protection in Nepal addresses child poverty and vulnerability, secondly, it considers how much of this social protection is ‘child-sensitive’, and lastly, how social protection can be further strengthened to improve children’s lives.