Child support grant proves essential
The first six years of life is the most critical age for human development. This is when a child’s brain develops faster than at any other time. During these first years of life, we have a onetime window of opportunity to lay the foundation for that child’s future of life-long learning and development. This is an opportunity that Thailand cannot afford to miss.
Over the past years, Thailand has taken some very significant steps, strengthening the focus on early childhood development and increasing investment. Most recently is the Child Support Grant, introduced in 2015 for one year to support poor children up to age one.
Under the scheme, families with children born between 1 Oct 2015 and 30 Sept 2016 and living in households earning less than 3,000 baht per month per family member, receive a monthly cash grant of 400 baht. Six hundred and twenty million baht have been allocated to the scheme and it is expected to benefit an estimated 128,000 vulnerable infants across Thailand.
To families living in poverty, such a grant can make a huge difference in a child’s wellbeing and development, enabling mothers to purchase basic necessities. These might include nourishing food, clothes and stimulating toys; all of which are essential to a child’s healthy development. In some cases, the grant can be literally lifesaving. When Apinya Sattarom’s four-month old baby, Jessada, fell dangerously ill one night last month, she used the cash she had just received under this scheme to pay for transportation to the hospital.
An initial assessment of the Child Support Grant scheme by the Thailand Development Research Institute (TDRI) and the Economic Policy Research Institute (EPRI) three months after implementation began indicates that significant benefits for young children are likely, and that initial implementation has been effective.
By the beginning of March, more than 64,000 mothers and pregnant women had registered for the cash assistance, accounting for just over 50% of the vulnerable infants that the scheme currently targets. Within just five short months, Thailand’s rapid roll-out and registration process has become an exemplary model that other countries can learn from.
The next step is to extend the Child Support Grant scheme to children up to at least three years of age, ideally up to six years, and to increase the grant from 400 baht per month to 600 baht. Last month, the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security submitted a policy and budget proposal to the Cabinet to expand the coverage of the scheme in this way. Unicef wholeheartedly supports this proposal. Here are the reasons why:
First, as the critical age for child development is up to age six, the existing age coverage of zero to one year will not result in the maximum benefits for children. Children up to the age of six need adequate nutrition, proper care and constant stimulation for their cognitive, physical and mental development. Without it, they will not have the foundation that they need to live a life of ongoing development and learning.
Second, the current Child Support Grant scheme only benefits a small proportion of vulnerable children in Thailand. Most of these children are still being left out. Four million children under age five in Thailand are not covered by any social welfare programmes. While existing programmes cover other age groups — universal free education, a monthly allowance for the elderly, people with disabilities and people living with HIV — our youngest, most vulnerable children are still not fully covered. This is a major gap in what is arguably the most important element of any country’s social protection system. An extended Child Support Grant programme for children up to age three, as is now being considered, will help to fill this gap.
Third, a significant number of children in Thailand are still not receiving the quality of care they deserve. Cash assistance programmes have been proven to help parents and caretakers provide appropriate care for their children. A national survey conducted by the National Statistical Office and Unicef in 2012 found that 16% of children under five are stunted due to inadequate nutrition. Only 44% of children under five have at least three children’s books at home, and a quarter have not attended any form of early childhood education before reaching the age of three.
An expanded Child Support Grant programme in Thailand will be a highly cost-effective way of addressing inequality and persistent child poverty. If expanded to children up to three years of age and with an increase of the grant to 600 baht per month, such a scheme is expected to be six times more effective than the current scheme in reducing the likelihood of children in Thailand falling below the poverty line.
Investing in our children in the earliest years of their lives, while they are in their most critical period of development, is a smart, longterm investment in a prosperous economic and social future for Thailand. An expanded Child Support Scheme should be a core component of Thailand’s efforts to achieve its longterm human development objectives. Investment in early childhood development is not only right in principle, it is also right in practice.
To families living in poverty, such a grant can make a huge difference in a child’s well-being and development.