These have been extraordinarily difficult times for kids. While we have emerged from the COVID-19 pandemic, children are still reeling from its effects on their well-being and education. A world still beset by poverty is now facing daunting global climate and conflict associated risks. But there is hope. While our sector is small, it is remarkably able. Maestral and its many partner organizations have individually and collectively worked hard – and effectively – to develop cutting-edge innovations that can bring hope and support to even the most vulnerable.
If children are facing complex adversities, they need a range of programs and services that can be tailored to address those adversities. These include a combination of economic supports to address poverty-related stressors on households, and non-cash social services to respond to needs that require more than a periodic payment or labor market program. We like to call this approach ‘integrated social services,’ though it is more commonly referred to as ‘cash plus care.’ An emerging body of evidence shows that this approach is much more effective than relying on siloed cash or care interventions. For example, a recent study in Niger found that a multi-faceted integrated approach with cash and care (psychosocial) components led to an impressive internal rate of return of from 21% to 44% depending on the assumed duration of its effects. Maestral is excited to be part of a team of multilateral, bilateral, and academic organizations working to explore how best to promote these approaches globally.
But what social services are needed on the ground to complement cash social protection? This obviously depends on the context. Maestral teams are increasingly developing the concept of identifying a ‘minimum’ or ‘base’ package of services tailored to the particular needs of communities and regions.
With our partners in the USAID Global Development Alliance Changing the Way We Care, we assisted the Government of Moldova to identify a package of social services to support and strengthen family-based care and to continue the country’s path towards reduced reliance on residential care for children. In June, we presented an economic model showing a 17% internal rate of return from investing in those services – a strong incentive for the Ministry of Finance and external funders to take note of during budget planning. Most of those returns were from children’s improved health and education status.
Such programming requires holistic approaches on the ground. One of our best tools for assessing the complex needs of a child and household is case management. Case managers (typically social workers and related professions) are trained to review children’s circumstances, to develop a case plan for the child and household, to refer them to available resources, and to provide ongoing monitoring and support. This multi-sectoral approach recognizes that children can experience their own unique mix of adversities and avoids the trap of trying to address a single issue at a time. Maestral has continued to work intensively to develop tools and approaches that can be utilized in a wide array of contexts, in partnership with Changing the Way We Care, the Global Social Service Workforce Alliance, and other organizations.
We often note that national or local strategies and plans mean nothing without resources. While UNICEF estimates that 1 billion children are subjected to violence and abuse annually, this barely registers in most public budgets around the world. Maestral is working to change that. Protecting and nurturing children promotes human capital and the future of society and is thus worthy of investment. It is time for governments and their partners to consider more seriously the role of child protection in overall social welfare, the interrelationships between protection, education, and health, and how meaningful budgetary allocations might be secured to strengthen child protection systems. We are seeing increasing interest in this area and see it as key to addressing the long-term needs of today’s children.
We would like to end on one more note of hope. We have never seen such high levels of collaboration and coordination between organizations in our sector. Our times demand that we pool our limited organizational resources, and we have seen our many partners doing just that. Day after day, we are inspired by watching our colleagues around the world doing their best, and more. Collectively we are getting smarter, we are getting better at what we do, and we are becoming more effective at making the case for children. In a world that can sometimes seem dark, Maestral is privileged and humbled to be part of a global child protection community that works tirelessly to shine a light. Let’s make it even brighter in 2024.