Pathways to stronger futures? The role of social protection in reducing psychological risk factors for child development in Haiti

Keetie Roelen and Amrita Saha ()

World Development, 2021, vol. 142, issue C

Abstract: It is widely recognised that poverty undermines early childhood development (ECD). In turn, poor childhood development reinforces the intergenerational transmission of poverty. Social protection could break this negative cycle by reducing poverty and addressing biological and psychosocial risk factors. In this study, we examine the effects of a relatively new wave of social protection and anti-poverty interventions – so-called ‘graduation programmes’ – on psychosocial risk factors in a context of widespread poverty and poor outcomes for children in rural Haiti. Using a mixed-methods approach, we find positive effects on maternal mental health and on children’s exposure to harsh corporal punishment. We find no discernible impact on exposure to violence inside and outside of the home, attitudes to child disciplining practices or child stimulation practices. Greater ability to meet children’s basic needs and positive support from programme staff contribute to positive effects. The ubiquity of violence, notions of play being replaced with a focus on discipline as babies turn toddlers and women struggling to combine child care with paid work and domestic chores serve as explanations for lack of impact. Findings point to the potential and limitations of social protection and anti-poverty interventions to address pernicious issues such as poor ECD outcomes and highlight the importance of a multi-sectoral approach.

Keywords: Social protection; Anti-poverty interventions; Early childhood development; ECD; Mental health; Caribbean; Haiti; Evaluation; Mixed methods (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305750X21000358
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:wdevel:v:142:y:2021:i:c:s0305750x21000358

DOI: 10.1016/j.worlddev.2021.105423

Access Statistics for this article

World Development is currently edited by O. T. Coomes

More articles in World Development from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().