Social Policy

©UNICEF/China/2010/Jerry Liu Enhance equal access to basic social services.

Protection of children’s rights requires child-centered social policies, budgets and laws. Every child has the right to survival, growth, development and participation. Developing social policy to provide equitable and comprehensive services to vulnerable children is necessary for the exercise of these rights.

Social policy for children in China, along with budget allocations for implementation, has improved over the last ten years. UNICEF works with the Chinese government to strengthen policies, laws and national plans for the equitable realization of child rights.

Our Social Policy programme helps children across China, including in remote rural areas, among ethnic minority groups, and in urban migrant communities. We work on a wide range of projects, including:

• collaborating on piloting a comprehensive child welfare system that sets the benchmark for providing social services to vulnerable children,
• supporting research about how to eliminate disparities in delivery of social services among socioeconomic groups and across geographic regions,
• developing Child Welfare Activity Centres where children can play and learn livelihood skills, and
• study of the features and the extent of child poverty in China, and advocacy for and support to development of new approaches to alleviating childhood deprivations

You can help improve China’s child-related social policies. Take action by learning more about how social policies can improve the lives of impoverished children. Or find out how you can support UNICEF today.