Child poverty: a role for cash transfers in West and Central Africa? - Briefing paper

The document looks at the impact of cash transfers on child poverty. This type of social assistance is still marginal in the region, but is attracting growing interest. It can have a number of positive impacts: enabling families to invest in their children's education, health and nutrition, reducing child labour, etc. In order to verify these assumptions, the document simulates the ex ante impact of two types of transfers (universal and targeted) on child poverty in three countries (Congo, Mali and Senegal). Costs and budget feasibility of these programmes are also estimated. The results show that universal systems have greater positive impacts, but are more expensive than targeted systems, which make them less feasible unless the necessary fiscal space is created.

 UNICEF, ODI - 2009