Ep. 3 | Global trends in (near) universal child grants

In March, the United States brought in a temporary, near-universal child benefit as part of the American Rescue Plan, enacted as a response to COVID-19. Many in government are pushing to make it permanent, and that would make it a significant change in US social policy. But, of course, child-focused social protection benefits are relatively common in other countries, including lower and middle income countries. And even if the contexts are different, the debates may be familiar.

In this episode, we explore the debates around universality and investment in early childhood in the US. We compare them with those in upper-middle income Argentina, which has had near-universal child allowances since 2009. And, we'll talk about how these developments fit with global trends.

Our guests this week are:

• Sophie Collyer, Research Director at the Center on Poverty and Social Policy at Columbia University in New York.
• Oscar Cetrangolo, Director at the Faculty of Economics at the University of Buenos Aires
• David Stewart, Chief of Child Poverty and Social Protection at UNICEF headquarters in New York.

Links from episode:

Unicef Case Study - Towards universal social protection for children: Achieving SDG 1.3

Plus our monthly round up of ‘Quick Wins’, highlighting news, achievements and research that have sparked our interest.

Quick Wins from Dr Keetie Roelen from Institute of Development Studies:

• Resources by the Global Coalition to End Child Poverty
• Brief on child-sensitive social protection
• Recent episode of Poverty Unpacked
• Resources on Covid-19 and social protection published by SPACE
• The new COVID-19 page on socialprotection.org
• Research by Marion Ouma, a political scientist from Kenya, who wrote about how social protection took shape in Kenya