Study on Cash Transfers for Vulnerable Children

Aims & Objectives: This assignment aimed at providing a forum for policy dialogue, sharing knowledge and experiences on cash transfers for vulnerable children in India. The workshop identified opportunities and challenges to initiate improvements in the implementation of specified State schemes, action to build more child‐sensitive social protection systems and innovative modalities and potential for scaling‐up the scheme.

Methodology: A synthesis paper based on ten analytical case studies on State‐level cash transfer schemes for children was developed using primary interviews with administrators and secondary literature reviews. A policy brief on cash transfers for the children in India was also developed.

Findings: Major findings of this study included:

• Cash transfers can be effective in channelizing scarce resources to the poor and vulnerable households so that the children could benefit from full immunisation, nutritious food, education etc.;
• Ensuring adequate public provisioning of quality additional services by the State to assure that the cash transfers are converted into tangible benefits;
• Effective administration of the schemes that includes systematic monitoring, mechanism for redressing grievances and better inter sectoral coordination;
• Improvement in online registration and web based monitoring systems for cash transfer schemes, which need to be complemented by more broad‐based programmes that empower and support vulnerable families;
• Comprehensive evaluation of on‐going schemes of cash transfer from both the administrative and beneficiary perspectives.