Figure 2. Difference in height for age between Oportunidades
treatment (joined 1998) and control (joined 2000) groups in 2003 for
2 - 6 year oldsSource: Gertler, P. and Fernand, L.C. (2005).Impacts of social protection on female infants, schoolchildren
and adolescents
The gender impacts of social protection programmes vary
depending on objectives and design. Programmes focused on
children’s development usually route the transfers through the
mother, with the expectation that they will ensure the additional
resources are used effectively. In some human development
focused programs, improving girls’ development is reflected in
differential transfer amounts. Because women live, on average,
longer than men, a majority of direct beneficiaries from social
pensions are women. This has some implications for girls’
outcomes. In South Africa, for example, girls show improved
schooling and nutrition in households with female pensioners. The
challenge is to further strengthen the gender dimension of
programme objectives and design.
Social transfer programmes and effects on child labour
Few social protection programmes aim to reduce child labour
explicitly, although programmes focused on raising school
enrolment and attendance do so implicitly. The issue is that