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The SRM Approach and Children
The World Bank framework for analyzing social protection issues is the
social risk management (SRM) approach (more on SRM: The
Social Risk Management Website). A central part of the SRM framework
focuses on household and community mechanisms for managing risk. A low-cost
and often more sustainable way to protect children from (increased)
vulnerability is to take a look at traditional household risk management
mechanisms and consider how these can be improved or supplemented to
prevent the worst outcomes from occurring in the first place or to deal
adequately with them once they have occurred. The types of instruments
available to households will shape the way in which they manage social
risks, which, in turn, will affect the vulnerability of their children.
Households and communities in all cultures have their traditional ways
to manage social risks and shocks. Most commonly, they will concentrate
on coping with shocks once they have occurred (e.g., borrowing money
to pay for medical care or sending children to work to make up for lost
income), but solidarity networks, as a way to be prepared when the crisis
strikes, are also common (e.g., funeral societies). The shocks that
hit households can be idiosyncratic (striking an individual family household),
or covariant (striking the community collectively). The impact of negative
shocks that strike only a household or a family (like illness or unemployment)
can often be curbed by support from the local community or the extended
family through some sort of a mutuality arrangement. However, when a
whole community is struck (as in the case of natural disasters), local
mutual support systems may become ineffective because almost everyone
will need help at the same time.
An analysis of the most common risks in a given country or region, and
of the main ways in which they are addressed, can be useful for targeting
purposes (which type of household is most vulnerable? Which type of
OVC?) and for identifying specific interventions to reduce the vulnerability
of households in general and of children in particular. In principle,
this should be done through a full-fledged Risks and Vulnerability Assessment,
but shortcuts are an option.
The attached worksheets can prove helpful for an initial analysis of
the risks facing OVC:
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