A guidance note on designing Cash Transfer Programmes to achieve
Child Protection Outcomes in Emergencies
Objectives and purpose of this Guidance Note
This guidance note will help Child Protection managers working in emergency settings to
establish whether or not Cash Transfer Programmes would be a useful tool for them to use as
part of their Child Protection in Emergencies Response. It will also indicate where you can find
key resources, tools and support that will help you start using cash transfer programming as an
element of your response.
This guidance note highlights specific and additional areas of work for the use of Cash Transfer
Programming to enable Child Protection in emergency contexts. It seeks not to repeat the
detailed material which exists elsewhere on how to plan, set up manage and run a Cash Transfer
Programme and thus it is not a stand-alone tool on how to set-up a Cash Transfer Programme.
It must be read in conjunction with other guidance on Cash Transfer Programming. It is essential
that CP staff using this guidance adhere to the “Child safeguarding in cash transfer
programming” checklist as this highlight key areas of risk for children in CTP and how to prevent
those risks.
Definitions used in this Guidance Note
This guidance note uses the following definitions:

Cash transfers are sums of money provided to beneficiaries (individuals or households) by
government or non-government agencies. This may be either as emergency relief intended
to meet their basic needs for food, non-food items or services or to buy assets essential for
the recovery of livelihoods.

Cash Transfer Programmes (CTP) are the use of cash or vouchers as a means of enabling
households to have access to their basic needs for food and non-food items or services, or
to buy assets essential for recovery. CTP includes cash grants, cash for work and
vouchers.1

A Child is any individual under the age of 18, irrespective of local cultural or country legal
definitions of when a child reaches adulthood.

Child Protection (CP) in Emergencies is the prevention of and response to abuse, neglect,
exploitation of and violence against children in emergencies. Where an emergency is
defined as ‘a situation where lives, physical and mental wellbeing, or development
opportunities for children are threatened as a result of armed conflict, disaster or the
breakdown of social or legal order, and where local capacity to cope is exceeded or
inadequate.’2

Child Safeguarding: All agencies working with children, young people and their families
taking all reasonable measures to ensure that the risks of harm to children's welfare are
minimised. Where there are concerns about children and young people's welfare, all
agencies taking appropriate actions to address those concerns, working to agreed local
policies and procedures in full partnership with other local agencies.3

Child Labour is the term “child labour” is often defined as work that deprives children of their
childhood, their potential and their dignity, and that is harmful to physical and mental
development.

It refers to work that:
o Is mentally, physically, socially or morally dangerous and harmful to children; and
o Interferes with their schooling by:
1
Definition from Save the Children Draft Cash Transfer programming Emergency Standard Operating
Procedures, “Annex 11: Glossary”, August 2011
2 http://resourcecentre.savethechildren.se/cpi/march-newsletter/minimum-standards-cpie/child-protectionworking-group-aims-set-minimum-standard
3
http://www.charitycommission.gov.uk/charity_requirements_guidance/charity_governance/managing_risk/protecti
on.aspx
Page 1 of 15
December2011
o
o
o
Depriving them of the opportunity to attend school;
Obliging them to leave school prematurely; or
Requiring them to attempt to combine school attendance with excessively long and
heavy work.
Legend of the symbols used in this Guidance Note
Throughout this note we will use the following symbols to indicate the Actions you should take,
the resources available, the people to contact or the websites where more information is
available.
Symbol
Meaning

Action
Resource
tools
Resource
people
www
Websites
Questions
to ask
yourself
We will now look at each stage of the programme cycle in turn identifying additional steps and
ways in which you need to adapt the standard Cash Transfer Programming processes in order to
take into account the fact that you are programming to achieve Child Protection outcomes.
Assessment and Early Response
Identifying the Needs

Carry out a CP Rapid Needs Assessment:
Before you start including Cash Transfer Programming in your child protection in
emergencies response carry out a CP rapid needs assessment. Include
questions on traditional coping methods after emergencies or economic shocks.
Once you have the needs assessment results, ask yourself if the CP problems
observed are caused by a lack of food, non-food items or services. If so, then
CTP maybe able to help address the concerns.
Use the latest version of the Child Protection Working Group’s Child Protection in
Emergencies Rapid Assessment Tool as this includes questions on sexual
exploitation, child labour and children on the move
www
The “Child Protection Rapid Assessment: Short Guide”is available at:
http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=child%20protection%20rapid%20asses
sment%20%09%20%09%20a%20short%20guide&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CB0
QFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fchildprotection.wikischolars.columbia.edu%2Ffile%
2Fview%2FDraft%2BChild%2BProtection%2BRapid%2BAssessment%2BToolkit.
docx&ei=d5nbTo4NIe_8wOfrpzODQ&usg=AFQjCNEhJb_0TOh1mNyIuEMKV9csvLAKjg
www
The annexes to the Guide are at:
http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=child%20protection%20rapid%20asses
sment%20%09%20%09%20a%20short%20guide&source=web&cd=2&ved=0CC
Page 2 of 15
December2011
QQFjAB&url=http%3A%2F%2Fchildprotection.wikischolars.columbia.edu%2Ffile
%2Fview%2FAnnexes%2Bto%2BUNICEF%2BChild%2BProtection%2BToolkit.pd
f&ei=uJjbTpucHsSC8gP81cmDCA&usg=AFQjCNHvdGaK3h1ljsJRMpfzQ6g88t8c
3Q

Review secondary data
Review existing baseline data on social and gender power relations, religion,
culture and kinship structures as this can help you understand the cultural norms,
and identify negative coping mechanisms previously employed when there are
emergencies and shocks. It can also help to inform decisions you will make on
selection of beneficiaries (for example to identify who is most vulnerable, and if
working with one particular group may put them at risk) and help develop a
method for distributing money (for example if it is culturally inappropriate for
women to handle money, maybe vouchers are better, cash-for-work options can
be influenced by what work is considered suitable for which gender).
Check the countries labour laws and information on working children.
www
See the
country-specific “Child labour data country briefs” on the International Programme
on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC) website for details on existing national
legislation: http://www.ilo.org/ipec/Regionsandcountries/lang--en/index.htm
Ask yourself why you want to use Cash Transfer Programming for a Child
Protection in Emergencies Programme
The decision to use Cash Transfer Programming as a tool should be based on a
clear problem that CTP can address. Remember that CTP meets basic needs for
food, non-food items or services or enables beneficiaries to buy assets essential
for the recovery of livelihoods.
Understanding Cash Transfer Programming
If after analysis of your needs assessment data you feel the Child Protection problems identified
in this emergency are as a result of lack of resources or inability to access services due to
financial constraints then consider using CTP as a tool in your response plan. The steps to
follow to be able to implement a CTP programme are outlined in a variety of guidance materials,
on-line resources and training.

Get yourself informed on what Cash Transfer Programming is and how to
implement CTP
 There is very detailed and extensive information on each step of the process
of setting up a Cash Transfer Programme outlined in “Cash Transfer
Programming in Emergencies” by Paul Harvey and Sarah Bailey (Good
Practice Review 11, June 2011, Humanitarian Practice Network) available at:
 http://www.cashlearning.org/resources/library/1-good-practice-review-11cash-transfer-programming-in-emergencies
 The Cash Learning Partnership (CaLP) website also has a list of key tools at:
 http://www.cashlearning.org/resources/tools
 Save the Children has an Emergency Standard Operating Procedure (ESOP)
which covers all the operational aspects of CTP, taking you step by step
through the process from preparedness, assessment, planning,
implementation to monitoring and evaluation

Given historically many CTP have been part of livelihoods
programming, ask for support from staff within your organisation in the
Livelihoods, or Food Security Livelihoods (FSL) Team.

If there are no FSL staff in your country programme,
Page 3 of 15
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contact your Head Office
If your country agency’s country programme and Head
Office do not have FSL staff, if the Cluster Approach is set up, get in touch
with the Livelihoods working group in the country in which you are working.
Livelihoods working groups typically sit under the Early Recovery Cluster.

Request a support visit from a livelihoods consultant or
staff in your organisation to ensure quality design and set-up of your
programme as well as initial training for all staff. Getting it right in the initial
stages is crucial, it determines the ability to meet your objectives and thus
influences the success of your whole programme.

www
Introduction to Cash Transfer Programming. A free online, two-hour course is
available at the International Federation of the Red Cross Learning Platform. It is
free to register to use the site. http://www.ifrc.org/learning

Get training for you and your team
If you can, take part in some more in-depth training. Get in touch with the Cash
Learning Partnership (CaLP) who can advise on the trainings currently available
training@cashlearning.org. It is even better if you can get some in-country or
external expert to provide training for you and the team who will implement the
cash transfer programmes.
Market assessment

Carry out the market assessment according to the guidance given in CTP
tools mentioned above
Identifying Cash Transfer Programming Options

Identify and assess the CTP modalities you will use within your Child
Protection in Emergencies programme by consulting with children

Ask children for their inputs on their needs to help you determine programme
design (e.g. asking them about their needs can help determine cash grant
amounts, asking about the child population so you can identify hidden
vulnerable groups) this will help avoid potential Child Protection problems.
It may also increase benefits for children who are a particularly vulnerable
group.

If children are to be the direct beneficiaries of your CTP ensure they are
conditional, either as conditional grants, vouchers or cash-for-work.
Generally it is recommended that there are conditions attached to transfers
for children and that the CT programme is linked with social work style
interventions, so that regular monitoring of the child’s progress against wellbeing indicators takes place
 Identify & assess delivery mechanisms


Explore children’s views on the different delivery mechanisms commonly
used: Direct cash distribution, Post office, Transfer companies (including
smart cards), Bank accounts and Mobile phone providers. Explore how
accessible each of these options is to children and how comfortable they feel
in using services of these kinds. Do they feel there are any risks involved
with any of these mechanisms? (Link with next action point)
Break down cash transfers into smaller amounts. Children are among the
most vulnerable, if it is known in the community that children have been
given large sums of money this will put them at risk. Giving smaller sums
spread over time also allows for closer monitoring of the child’s wellbeing
and the programme impact
Page 4 of 15
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 Have children’s views influence your decision on cash grant amounts


Cash transfer amounts should in part be determined by information given by
children on their needs. Discuss with them the different goods and services
they need, where the household shortfalls lie, what they have to do
contribute to the household? Ensure the amount of the grants will be able to
support the essentials of children’s lives; food, health care, water and
education
When making the final choice on the form of Cash Transfer you will use,
ask yourself the following questions:
Cash versus vouchers:

Are their risks with regards to children having this amount of cash?

If we give them vouchers, can they be exploited or influenced by the
tradesmen?
Cash for work:

What hours is the work?

Are they going to school? Will this interfere with studies?

Will this be a pull-factor attracting children to drop-out of school?

What are the risks for the child if they take part in the cash for work activity?

Can the forms of work they do build their skills?
Cash transfers to carers

Will there be false fostering, where babies are passed from one family to the
next each claiming to be fostering a child?
Risk assessment

Engage children in the risk assessment process
Carry out a risk assessment according to the CTP guidance given. However as
you will be seeking to achieve child protection outcomes you will also need to
engage children in the risk assessment process.
Ensure that staff working with children have previously had training on FGD
techniques. Notechildren will be especially vulnerable as you are in a postemergency context

Assess risks for children when selecting sites of work and ensure dangers
are addressed. This requires discussions with community and children
before work starts in order to assess the level of risk to children

Ask children for their inputs on possible risks of the different cash transfer
programming options (unconditional cash, cash, vouchers, cash-for-work)
Planning
Establishing the delivery mechanism to be used
Once you have become more informed on what CTP is and how to go about it, you have carried
out a market assessment to ensure CTP is a viable option, and you know the risks involved in
different options you now need to address the question of how you will implement your
programme. You need to think through how you will adapt Cash Transfer Programming to the
needs of children and consider the different CP issues you would like to address.

Adapt your CTP based on feedback from children and depending on the
Child Protection outcomes you are trying to achieve

Evidence to date indicates that different forms of CTP are suitable for
different Child Protection situations:
o Children in foster care: Conditional cash transfers to be given to foster
Page 5 of 15
December2011

carers (the children in their care may have been trafficked, association
with armed forces or groups, or engaging in transactional sex)
o Children who were associated with armed forces and groupsshould not
be given cash transfers of any kind. There are high risks involved in
giving cash to ex-associated children and support for their reintegration
is best given through communities as a whole. Instead consider
supporting other members of the household into which the released
child has been reintegrated
o Children who were engaged in sexually exploitative activities: Best
supported through conditional cash transfers and appropriate, adapted
cash-for-work
o Severely distressed children: Any form of CTP but this should be given
to the carers not the child
o Child-headed households: Conditional cash transfers and adapted
cash-for-work programmes are most suited
o Families with extremely vulnerable children who are susceptible to CP
issues can receive any of the forms of CTP support you are using in
your programming in order to prevent them engaging in negative coping
strategies, such as sending their children away, putting their children to
work, encouraging girls to engage in transactional sex
Closely monitor cash grants to adults if they are to contribute to child
protection outcomes

Break the payments down into tranches so that there is less chance of
misuse

When providing grants to foster carers monitor and support (through training
and distributions of food or non-food items) the care they give to children for
a short period before starting the cash grants, this enables you to ascertain
that there motivations are not purely financially driven
Developing a strategy and writing proposals



Set realistic Child Protection objectives for your Cash Transfer Programme

Given the fact that CTP in emergencies is a short-term intervention, ensure
that the CP outcomes you are seeking are not long-term, deep, structural
changes, such as shifts in community behaviours. Identify things that can
realistically be prevented, such as secondary separation, forced early
marriage, or school drop-out. Or seek to address child protection situations
that can be more quickly improved, such as children engaging in dangerous
early recovery activities and minor distress caused by parental anxiety.
When justifying the programme approach in your strategy and proposals
explain clearly the links between the child protection objectives you are
trying to achieve and the evidence from previous emergencies on the
outcomes of CTP

The reduced migration of families, increase in school enrolment or reduction
in school drop-out rates, improved child well-being are all proven outcomes
of micro-credit schemes and cash transfer programmes and thus can be
seen as potential outcomes of CTP.
Include contingency funding for CP cases in all donor proposal budgets
Building a programme of other activities alongside the Cash Transfer Programming
It is important to note that Cash Transfer programmes alone cannot help to resolve Child
Protection concerns. The child’s wellbeing can only be significantly improved if their needs are
addressed holistically. Cash Transfers thus work best if they are used in conjunction with a
package of other support, including for example case management and psychosocial support for
children and their families.
Page 6 of 15
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Recommended complementary programming:
 If you are carrying out Cash for Work programming with child beneficiaries consider
providing skills building or non-formal education that complement the working hours

Child Friendly Space psychosocial support activities could be part of the package of support
for all children benefitting from CTP

Collaboration with other response sectors, such as Health (to ensure free emergency health
care access), Nutrition and Livelihoods (to integrate any CTP work and jointly decide
beneficiary selection criteria), Education (to identify need for Child Friendly Spaces and non
formal education), and Shelter, Early Recovery and WASH (to explore cash for work
possibilities for vulnerable children and their families in their programmes).

Sensitisation and awareness raising activities with caregivers
Segregation of duty

Separate case management from cash distribution functions for staff

The staff who are carrying out case management support for individual child
cases are not best placed to deliver the cash grants or vouchers. If the
social work staff are seen to be the ones delivering and disbursing cash,
their regular contact with children, their families and communities may put
them at risk or persuasion and coercion.
Implementation
Targeting
Child Protection outcomes can be achieved through direct targeting of children with conditional
cash transfers or by providing cash transfers to parents and caregivers of vulnerable children, if
these have suitable conditions applied and / or are closely monitored.

Decide on your target beneficiaries

When establishing your targeting criteria consider carefully the above
guidance on what forms of child protection concern can most realistically be
addressed in CTP work, see section “Adapt your CTP based on feedback
from children and depending on the Child Protection outcomes you are trying
to achieve”
 Engage diverse groups of community members (including women and girls,
marginalised groups) to inform the decision on targeting and to explain the
goals of the CTP to the community

Communicate your targeting methods in a way that children with varying
levels of skill and understanding can comprehend

Target children with a wide range of vulnerabilities

Targeting should always include children with a wide range of vulnerabilities,
a programme targeting only those who have survived sexual abuse or
exploitation, for example, would lead to all those benefitting from the
programme suffering stigmatisation.
In addition systems based
programming recognises that children can be multiply vulnerable, so those
that are separated from families are, for example, very vulnerable to
trafficking and gender-based violence

When children are your beneficiaries ensure that parents or caregivers are
aware of the programme and, where possible, have given written consent for
the child to be involved
Page 7 of 15
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When deciding between targeting children or adults ask yourself the
following questions:

Think of the child’s role within the family. Is the child the primary incomegenerator for the household? Is the head of household disabled, elderly,
living with HIV, a girl or a single female? Is the child supporting a family with
a head of household whowould not be able to work or go out to collect the
vouchers? If yes, target the child and not the head of household

Is the child going to school? If yes, cash-for-work may not be suitable, but a
cash transfer keeping the child in school could help

What age is the child? If the child is 15 years or older Cash for Work is
suitable. If the child is 11 years or older, depending on their age and level of
ability cash grants or vouchers may be suitable.

Is the child too young to do cash-for-work but you still feel a cash grant is
suitable and necessary? If yes, consider splitting the cash grant between
the child and the caregiver.

If you are giving CT to adult foster-carers is it possible that biological parents
who have also suffered an economic shock as a result of the emergency will
send children to live with others so they can benefit from foster support and
cash transfers that come with that?
Ensure
consistency in approach


Make sure that you do not have a situation where children in one household
are directly receiving cash grants or vouchers, children in another household
are expected to be supported by the adults benefitting from CTP and those
in yet another home benefit from both sources of support
Registration and verification
In addition to the standard practice to adhere to when registering Cash Transfer Programme
beneficiaries, there are factors specific to Child Protection programmes that should be
considered.
 Eligibility for the programme should not be affected by lack of formal documentation and/or
birth registration.
 Use age verification techniques 4 to ascertain the age of child beneficiaries to determine
whether or not they can take part in the programme
 If project specific ID cards are made ensure not to include vulnerability information on the
cards as this can stigmatise or put children at risk.

Link registration with case management processes, where they exist

If you have a case management system that is supported by case management
software this can be adapted to include information on cash transfers to which the
beneficiary is entitled and monitor what has been received. Case management
generated child identification numbers can then be used in all documentation
regarding the cash distributions so as to protect the identity of the child.
Cash distribution
4
Asking indirect questions can allow you to calculate and verify their age yourself. For example ask the following:
(Ask the age when they started school, the number of years at school and the number of years since they left
school; Ask the age of their siblings and ask their position in the family, or; Ask about events that occurred the
year they were born, or the age they were when a specific memorable event occurred (a drought, a natural
disaster, etc)
Page 8 of 15
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With regards to cash distributions key things to consider when Cash Transfer are a tool
within a child protection programme are as follows:







Carry out a CP briefing for all staff involved in CTP distributions’ within first week of their
employment
Ensure the team is gender balanced, with equal numbers of men and women in the team.
Women should take part in assessments, co-lead focus groups, and support distributions in
order to make programme more representative of and approachable to the community
Consider very carefully the location of distribution points or places where work is going to be
done. In consultation with women, girls and other community members ensure that:
o The routes to be taken to distribution sites do not expose women, men, boys or girls to
risk of violence or abuse, especially if it is known that they will be carrying money
o The route is not too far to walk, considering children and their different abilities
Take into account safety concerns at different times of day and adapt the hours of work (for
CfW) or times of distribution accordingly. Certain sites are safe in the day, but at dawn,
dusk or night they may present a danger. Consider the distances to be walked in
conjunction with the timing of your activity to make sure neither you nor the beneficiaries will
be in a dangerous area at a dangerous time of day, that the work ends with adequate time to
reach home before dark
Ensure that the distribution takes a ‘client-centered’ approach that is friendly to children,
adolescents, women and vulnerable groups (note this can be covered in staff training above,
but also needs to be supervised). Engage clients and staff to design a system of orderly
distribution that avoids having to resort to even the mildest form of violence to control the
crowds
Ensure that the most vulnerable are brought to the front of the distribution line so they can
go home earlier (pregnant women, elderly, child-headed households, those caring for
children)
Train any police or armed forces who have to support distributions for security reasons on
the Child Safeguarding / Child Protection Policy.
Note: the choice to work with armed security forces should be a last resort
Accountability mechanism
There are three key aspects to ensuring you put in place a suitable accountability mechanism for
a Cash Transfers within in a Child Protection Programme: participation of children throughout the
programme cycle, establishment of referral pathways and complaints mechanisms which are
adapted to the abilities of children and include identification and referral of child abuse and
exploitation and community engagement. We will discuss each in turn.
Participation
 Ensure child participation in all stages of the programme cycle, from assessment and needs
identification, programme design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation.
 Ask children for their inputs on needs, possible risks and programme design (e.g. asking
them about their needs can help determine cash grant amounts, asking about population so
you can identify hidden vulnerable groups) this will help avoid potential Child Protection
problems. It may also increase benefits for children who are a particularly vulnerable group.
 Engage children in M&E in order to identify outcomes, sometimes unplanned, which benefit
children.
 Ensure that there are parental consent forms for children’s involvement in any aspect of the
CTP they are engaging in, including having them as beneficiaries.
Referral pathways and complaints mechanisms
In-depth step-by step guidance on setting up complaints mechanisms is given in the Good
Enough Guide and on the Humanitarian Accountability Partnership website. Information on
useful references is given at the end of this document.
Page 9 of 15
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For
guidance
on
setting
up
Complaints
mechanisms
see
http://www.hapinternational.org/case-studies-and-tools/handling-complaints.aspx,
in
particular Guide to a child friendly complaints system. Lesson learnt from Dadaab Refugee
Camps (Save the Children, 2011). This case-study highlights how a child-friendly system
has been set up in Dadaab Refugee camps in northern Kenya and how children and caregivers have responded to it.)
Below is a checklist regarding integrating child safeguarding into these systems.









Ensure that the complaints mechanism set-up as part of your CTP also encourages the
reporting of abuse and a referral pathway, which outlines the response and who to contact if
child protection cases are identified through the complaints mechanism. Where possible
involve communities and children in its design and keep it regularly up to date.
Ensure staff are aware of the need to keep all complaints highly confidential
Display the child protection referral pathway in each site (in different locations where
programmes are being implemented such as each community, IDP or refugee camp), on a
clearly visible notice board
Raise awareness of what constitutes abuse, exploitation and violence among communities
and children. Work with the Protection team to develop illustrated posters to be displayed at
distribution sites which clearly show acts of abuse during distribution which will not be
tolerated
Tell children and the wider community who is benefitting from the CTP and why. You need
to ensure that the programme beneficiaries are not ostracised or castigated as they received
something others did not. You also need to ensure that all those who are entitled are
reached
Ensure communities and children know what their beneficiary entitlements are, so they do
not expect to have to give anything (pay cash, give gifts or services) in exchange for
services or goods received from the humanitarian community. This includes putting up
signs - with pictures not just text - about the aid available and making announcements on
radio and in other forms of media. Include these messages in all other forms of community
awareness raising activities
Ensure that children and communities are aware of to who they should report which forms of
concerns
Ensure feedback is given to those that do put in complaints on how their complaint was dealt
with, this encourages response from others
Include contingency budget in grant proposals for follow up on any child protection cases
identified during implementation of the programme. If a child abuse case is identified you
may need budget for transport and hospital fees
Community engagement and information sharing
 Consult and brief communities (and children) on the cash transfer programme, ensure the
community agrees with and is clear on beneficiary selection to prevent further stigmatisation
of already vulnerable groups
 Ensure that committees established to support the set up and monitoring of CTPs link with
or join child protection committees and children’s clubs. The child protection committee and
children’s clubs will be able to share their views regarding vulnerable groups and why and
how to ensure those who are vulnerable are best supported through effective programme
design
Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E)
Monitoring and evaluating the programme progress is vital, it can confirm that you have selected
the most suitable modalities for the cash transfer programme, it can help you identify any
changes that need to be made to the design (changes in beneficiary targeting criteria, transfer
Page 10 of 15
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modality and grant amount), it can flag risks or problems early in the implementation and it can
demonstrate the positive outcomes on children’s wellbeing and given there is so little data on
Child Protection outcomes of Cash Transfer Programmes, the data gathered can also serve as
leverage for increased resourcing for your work.
Baseline survey
A baseline is vital to be able to understand the initial well-being levels of children in your
programme and then monitor and observe changes over time. Donors are especially keen to
understand the way in which cash transfers are used and the potential outcomes they can
deliver. The form of data you collect will depend on your objectives and the monitoring tools you
intend to use during the lifetime of the programme.
 Carry out a baseline survey

Carry out a baseline survey with a sample of children who will be benefitting
from your programme. A sample baseline survey tool is in Annex 1.
Monitoring methods
The methodology used to measure child protection outcomes of your cash transfer programme
can take varying forms. The choice you make will depend on the other components of the
programme, which you also want to monitor and evaluate. Here we will discuss three main ways
in which you can gather data to assess progress towards objectives, M&E through case
management process, use of surveys and indicator frameworks. Note that these are not your
only available options to monitor your programme and that these tools can be used
independently or in conjunction with one another. This is not an exhaustive or detailed
explanation of monitoring and evaluation, we are simply highlighting some tools, which may be
especially helpful in monitoring the outcomes of cash transfers used in child protection
programmes. Support from an information management expert would help you to tailor the M&E
tools you use to the context in which you are working as well as help you establish your sample
size, methods and frequency of data collection.
M&E through your case management process:
M&E can be integrated into your case management process, where case management is a
process of routine data collection to document specific characteristics of an individual child
protection case. See Annex 2, the Case Management Forms from the Interagency Child
Protection Information Management System.
The information collected on individual children can be aggregated in a database, identifying
information extracted and analysis can then be done to determine broader trends and changes in
characteristics of your caseload. The regularity at which data is fed into the case management
system allows for reports and analysis to be run regularly at intervals showing change.
This can give information such as: the number of children reunified with their families or placed in
foster care; the number of children attending school, or started school during a certain time
interval; and, the number of children reporting violence.
Survey:
This is an instrument that collects structured information from individuals, usually as part of
broader data collection from a sample or population. The information can be collected on each
individual child in your programme, at the same time as completing case management
information. Surveys to assess child wellbeing can be composed of a set of questions clustered
around a variety of different indicators of wellbeing, which you are monitoring to assess your
programme’s impact. Categories of well-being questions include the following: Health; Economic
condition; Family relations; Community acceptance; Psychological and interpersonal
competencies; Sexual life, Sanitation and Hygiene; Nutrition. Children and the community
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December2011
should influence the survey design by inputting on what they see as key determinants of
children’s wellbeing.
The survey would not need to be completed every time there is follow-up on a child’s case.
Instead this should be done at set intervals of time, taking advantage of caseworkers contact
with children as an opportunity to gather this information one on one. Home visits would allow
the caseworker to also note the conditions of the household, which can also indicate changes in
well being. Having a survey for other family or community members would give a broader sense
of the child’s wellbeing and would allow for triangulation.
Indicator Framework:
We are using the term indicator framework here to refer to a structured listing of measurable
variables indicative of the progress of an individual or programme. Data is collected from
different sources against each of these different variables. This can include school attendance
rates by age and gender, aggregate health data (under-age pregnancy rates, number of clinic
visits, number of reported cases of child sexual exploitation), children’s hours of work, early /
forced marriage rates.Using the survey and case management data outlined above may also
help monitor progress against the indicators.
The indicators should be context specific and developed as a result of discussions with children
and communities. Ensure they fit with the objectives outlines in the strategy and are achievable
over the lifetime of the project, given emergency programmes are often quite short in duration.
Example Child Protection Outcome indicators include:
Care

# children newly placed in foster care, kinship care or adoptive care who are
receiving support in the form of Cash Transfers (reference period is last 12 months)

# children in agency’s operational areas removed from residential care and
reintegrated into a family placement receiving Cash Transfer Support

# children newly placed in residential care since the emergency

% separated children who are receiving direct or indirect CTP assistance who are
accessing support services (counselling, medical, legal etc)
Child labour

# and % returnee children who are receiving CTP assistance who are accessing
basic education

# and % affected/displaced/returnee/refugee children who were accessing basic
education before the emergency and are now no longer doing so

# child who report starting to work since emergency who were not working before
Children associated with armed forces or groups

# CAAF reintegrated into their own community or a satisfactoryalternative care
placement
Violence
 Proportion of children, who have indicated via self-reports that they have been
victims of violence at home/school in the last x months
 # of children who report being sexually abused or harassed since the emergency
The indicators developed for monitoring purposes would also ideally include “red flag” indicators.
These identify possible negative impacts of your programme and pin-point ways in which
programme design needs to change or in a worst case scenario, activities that need to be
stopped.
Red flag indicators could include:
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December2011



# children receiving cash transfers dropping out of school to carry out income
generating activities
# of reported incidence of adult carers taking funds from children in their care
# of children whose cash has been stolen
Use of control groups
In order to ascertain the impact of the cash transfers the M&E system can use a control group for
comparison purposes. A control group would be a sample of children who have similar
characteristics to the beneficiaries. The main substantial difference between the control group
and the CTP beneficiaries would be the receipt of cash transfers. Not all the beneficiaries in the
child protection programme will benefit either directly or indirectly (through caregivers) from cash
transfers, some will be attending child friendly spaces, will be participating in children’s clubs or
be reunified with their families and will not need cash transfer support. A sample of these other
child beneficiaries, not receiving cash transfers, can also be monitored for changes in wellbeing
using the same methods as the sample who are included in the M&E for the CTP. This would
allow the evaluation process to identify what outcomes can be attributed to the fact that the child
benefitted from a CTP intervention. It is often considered inappropriate to have control groups in
humanitarian responses as requesting time of individuals who will not benefit from the
organisation’s work raises expectations. The fact that the control group can be made up of
beneficiaries of other activities in your programme removes this problem.
Confidentiality
Confidentiality is an underlying principle of work in the child protection sector. It can be defined
as the restrictive management of sensitive information (names, incidents,locations, details,
violations witnessed or suffered by girls and boys) collected about children either for
assessment, monitoring or case management purposes. This sensitive information must be
protected and shared only with those persons (such as other service providers or the family of
the child) who need to know in order to carry out actions, which ensure the wellbeing of the child.


Data collection methods must ensure confidentiality

Conduct discussions in private settings

Record group discussions without identifying individual participants’names, or any
other identifying details
Secure any data collected on the children benefitting from your programmes

Develop an alpha-numeric coding system for children’s files

Any identifying information, information that can help you work out the identity of an
individual, should not be included in programme monitoring or evaluation reports

It is very important that the monitoring system you use keeps the data on children
secure. Lock filing cabinets containing paper case management forms and all other
information gathered for analysis. Use passwords to protect information in
databases
Programme handover or closure
It is important to consider from the outset how long you will be delivering cash transfers and how
you will phase out of the programme.

Communicate phase out strategy to children and their families or caregivers
from the beginning of the Cash Transfer Programme so that they do not grow
to dependent on this additional support

Communicate from the outset the planned timeframe for the CT programme.
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December2011


Ensure that all beneficiaries, including the young, have understood when and why
your CTP will end
Carry out a final meeting with the child protection committee, children’s clubs or a
sample of children to invite concluding feedback
You can during the course of the programme carry out advocacy to influence donors and
government policy, trying to encourage them to support on-going Social Protection programmes
after the emergency response as delivered by humanitarian agencies is phased out. This is best
done with substantial evidence of the benefits and positive outcomes of the programme so far.
Specific measures with regards to complaints about the CTP that may be pending are as
follows:
 Ensure that any final complaints have been wrapped up and feedback given to the
community
 If your operations are closing in that area, inform the community on how they can share any
complaints that may come to light after you are gone and how they will be dealt with
 If the government is taking on the CT programme ensure the referral pathways and
complaints mechanism are adjusted and the community is aware of new ways of sharing
concerns
Further reference material that may be of use
The following resources can provide you with some key guidance in setting up complaints
mechanisms, understanding child protection/ safeguarding and working with children.
Complaints mechanisms

For further information on setting up and running complaints mechanisms see: Impact
Measurement and Accountability in Emergencies: The Good Enough Guide: Tool 12: How
to set up a complaints and response mechanism. The Good Enough Guide is available for
free download at: http://www.ecbproject.org/download-pdf/download-pdf

See also tools for developing and running complaints handling mechanisms on the
Humanitarian Accountability Partnership (HAP) website, in particular “Guide to a child
friendly complaints system. Lesson learnt from Dadaab Refugee Camps (Save the
Children, 2011).” This case-study highlights how a child-friendly system has been set up in
Dadaab Refugee camps in northern Kenya and how children and care-givers have
responded
to
it.http://www.hapinternational.org/case-studies-and-tools/handlingcomplaints.aspx
Child Protection / Safeguarding tools and training materials

UK Charity Commission gives guidance on what Child Safeguarding is, what expectations
are of different charities and how to go about ensuring your organisation prevents
exploitation
and
abuse
of
children.
See
their
website:
http://www.charitycommission.gov.uk/charity_requirements_guidance/charity_governance/m
anaging_risk/protection.aspx

Keeping Children Safe: The toolkit provides practical guidance, tools, support materials
and an easily digestible DVD. The standards and exercises provide a good basis for the
development of effective measures to prevent and respond to violence: from awareness
raising strategies to safeguarding measures. They offer an excellent opportunity not only for
the improvement of the quality and professionalism of those working with children, but most
importantly, it will help to achieve a greater impact for children. Available to buy at:
http://www.keepingchildrensafe.org.uk/toolkit

Building Safer Organisations: Since 2004, Building Safer Organizations (BSO) has been
helping organisations apply principles of good complaints handling to cases of sexual
exploitation and abuse by staff, giving guidance on preventing and responding to sexual
exploitation and abuse. “Building Safer Organisations Guidelines: Receiving and
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December2011

investigating allegationsof abuse and exploitationby humanitarian workers” by the
International
Council
of
Voluntary
Agencies
is
available
from:
http://www.hapinternational.org/projects/complaints-handling/building-saferorganizations.aspx
Child-Safe Organisations: Training toolkit and safe study manual: This toolkit,
developed in Thailand and with case studies from different countries, helps local
organisations working with children to develop and apply effective child protection policies.
This can be found at: http://www.savethechildren.org.uk/resources/online-library/child-safeorganisations-training-toolkit-and-safe-study-manual
Working with children, ensuring Child participation

For information on how to appropriately ensure child participation in your programmes see
Save the Children’s “Practice Standards in Children’s Participation” available from their online resource centre at:
http://resourcecentre.savethechildren.se/content/library/documents/practice-standardschildrens-participation

UNICEF’s guidance “The Participation of Children and Young People in Emergencies” which
can be found on their website at:
http://www.unicef.org/adolescence/cypguide/resourceguide_emergencies.html
Training on Child rights

Action on the Rights of the Child (ARC) Resource Pack provides an essential collection
of information and training material to strengthen people’s capacity on the following subjects:
to tackle the root causes of children’s vulnerabilities, to build effective child protection
systems for use in emergencies and long-term development, and, to ensure that no activities
inadvertently compromise children’s rights or safety.
It is available at:
http://www.savethechildren.net/arc/using/index.html
Child labour

Questions and answers on children in hazardous labour are discussed on the International
Labour Organisation website at
http://www.ilo.org/ipec/Informationresources/WCMS_155246/lang--en/index.htm

See also the country-specific “Child labour data country briefs” on the International
Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC) website for details onexisting national
legislation: http://www.ilo.org/ipec/Regionsandcountries/lang--en/index.htm
Annexes
I will include:


Baseline tools – Cote d’Ivoire, Uganda and Sierra Leone (still trying to track it
down – have read several reports about it, but not found the actual tool yet) –
note these are all conflict settings – not yet found one for non-conflict setting
Sample Case management forms
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December2011