Livelihoods, Economic Strengthening and Child Protection in Western Uganda: Preliminary Findings from Evaluation Research

The CPC Network seeks to evaluate programmes to build evidence on how livelihoods and economic strengthening projects affect the care and protection of children, and link these lessons back to the field to improve programming. This report describes initial findings from an evaluation study aimed at identifying the relationships between household livelihoods and child protection outcomes (child labour, exposure to violence, being barred from schooling, etc.) and child well-being (nutrition, clothing, shelter, schooling, health, etc.) in Western Uganda. Livelihood strategies were measured by recent changes in productive household activity and investment strategy. Livelihood status was measured in terms of income and assets. Preliminary analysis suggests that both household income and adoption of certain livelihood strategies predict outcomes in child protection and child wellbeing. Households in the project areas receiving economic strengthening and child protection services from community-based organizations were more likely to see improved outcomes in child protection and well-being.