Objectives:
Prevent and combat child poverty and social exclusion by guaranteeing children and young people at risk of poverty and social disadvantage access to a range of essential services:
1.Effective and free access to early childhood education and care, education and activities in a school context, at least one healthy meal every school day and healthcare.
2.Effective access to healthy food and adequate and decent housing.
Access to these essential services combats child poverty tout court and promotes equal opportunities from an early age, breaking intergenerational cycles of poverty.
Within the scope of children and young people in situations or at risk of poverty and social disadvantage, there are those who, due to additional vulnerability factors, are subject to specific disadvantages.
These include children and young people who are homeless or in a situation of severe housing deprivation; those with disabilities; those with mental illness or long-term illness; migrant children and young people or those from ethnic minorities; children and young people in residential care; children from single-parent households; unaccompanied foreign minors.
Existing mechanisms:
A) Automatic cash benefit
For families to supplement existing family subsidies, ensuring they receive no less than EUR 1.464 annually (to a total of 140,000 children currently covered by the Child Guarantee allowance). Payments are made automatically to the beneficiary's bank account, and require no action, as long as the beneficiary receives the family benefit.
B) Local Centres
Local policies duly adapted to the specific circumstances and problems of the various territories and, at the latter level, through social intervention that ensures children's effective access to essential services, in a logic of close, integrated intervention monitored by the Local Centres.
C) Free childcare
This initiative, outside the scope of the Portuguese Child Guaranteed but connected to it and that could be later added, aims to reframe the perception of early childhood education and care because research has shown its pivotal role in children’s social and cognitive development. Covered 89,000 children in 2023 and are expected to reach 120,000 in 2024.A) The first level of data collection includes the identification and characterisation of vulnerable children.
It should be noted that some constraints and omissions regarding disaggregated information have been identified in the context of the work already developed, which make it impossible to provide a faithful portrait of certain subgroups, such as children with mental health issues, children in severe housing deprivation and children with a migrant background or minority ethnic origin, particularly illegal immigrants and Roma children. Work is underway regarding these issues.
The mitigation of these data gaps, taking into account the extent and cross-cutting nature of the information to be collected regarding the areas responsible for the essential services mentioned in the Recommendation and the specific features of the national organisation of these services, implies the construction of a Monitoring System, which is already being designed, based on joint work between the various sectoral areas with a view to a greater and better data interconnection.
On the other hand, the difficulty of accurately characterising certain specific realities requires in-depth work with each of the sectoral areas, which may involve the need to develop characterisation studies and specific surveys.
B) At a second level of data collection, there is the perspective of assessing the impact of the implementation of measures that meet the objectives set out.
The Child Guarantee monitoring framework will involve access to different results plans, beginning with the European plan, using a battery of dedicated indicators, which are being defined by the Social Protection Committee.
At the same time, the definition of monitoring and evaluation indicators, sources of information and reporting frequency to the relevant services is also underway, to assess the quantitative and qualitative targets (interim and final).
The monitoring of the Action Plan implementation will be carried out by a set of indicators associated with each of its objectives and measures, which focus on the impact and main results achieved by the implementation of the measures according to the fulfilment of the enforcement targets defined in the respective core strategic initiatives and programmes and that contribute to the achievement of the Action Plan objectives.
C) A third and final level of data analysis concerns the local dimension of the Child Guarantee.
It is embodied in the construction of a monitoring matrix at the municipal level, which allows classifying and identifying the different municipalities in terms of the vulnerability of their children and the respective households, to rank the territories according to intervention priorities, as well as to evaluate the evolution of the identified problems.
To build such a matrix, the Child Guarantee is carrying out work at the level of the construction of a composite indicator that allows an ordinal and quantitative assessment of the vulnerability of children and young people in the territory.
This indicator called the Vulnerability Indicator, aims to summarize in a single metric the information from the various attributes pre-selected as relevant to the determination of the vulnerability situation of children and young people. In parallel, the local monitoring model also aims to find a set of indicators that allow us to portray the evolution of the particular social fragilities of the territories, such as the unemployment and poverty levels, supporting the intervention at every moment.
In Portugal, children and young people aged between 0 and 17 now represent around 17% of the total Portuguese population, corresponding to around 1,7 million people.
According to data collected in 2020, 21,9% of children and young people in Portugal were at risk of poverty or social exclusion, a figure below the European average of 24,2% (Eurostat) and according to the latest national data this figure has increased by 1 p.p., which means that 22,9% of children aged under 18 are in a poverty or social exclusion situation (INE – National Statistics Institute - Portugal).
While the poverty risk of the total population currently stands at 18,4%, the poverty risk of children reaches 20,4%, being this age group the one with the greatest vulnerability in concerns this indicator.
This will be the targeted population. For the beneficiaries or the proportion of the population covered, more information can be found on the Child Guarantee on the website.
The construction of a Child Guarantee in Portugal is based on various financial resources that enable the implementation of the measures set out in the Action Plan by 2030. For more details, please consult the document below (Chapter 10. p. 52):
The implementation, management and operation of the Child Guarantee Action Plan requires a governance model that includes cooperation and coordination between its four levels:
Level I – Political Coordination
Ensured by the government member responsible for the solidarity and social security area.
Level II – Strategic and Technical Coordination
Ensured by the National Coordinator and his/her team, assisted by the Technical Support Committee (CTA), composed of representatives from the government areas responsible for the actions’ implementation within the respective intervention areas.
Level III – Operationalisation
Carried out by the bodies responsible for the measure’s implementation within the Child Guarantee Local Centres (NLGPI), created within the scope of the Social Action Local Councils (CLAS), as representative structures to implement the Council Recommendation at the local level.
Level IV – Advisory
It is composed of the Intersectoral Advisory Board (CCI), a body that issues opinions and recommendations and is aimed to ensure the mobilisation, participation and contribution of organisations representing civil society, as well as children, young people and families.
To achieve the objectives of the Child Guarantee, it is essential to ensure an integrated social intervention, based on local action and proximity to the poverty and social exclusion phenomena, considering the specific needs of families, children and young people to ensure adequate identification and mobilization of resources and interventions to address the problems.
In this context, coordination with city councils is particularly important, given their privileged proximity to people, particularly those with higher poverty or social exclusion rates.
Coordinated social interventions at the local level are crucial for the effective implementation and application of policies to combat poverty, but also for preventing and combating the intergenerational nature of poverty phenomena.
An integrated and community-based approach will thus contribute to the effective fulfilment of the life projects of those who constitute the most vulnerable segment of society as a whole and which are decisive for the development of the Country.
The intervention of local authorities, in addition to national public policy measures, makes it possible to identify and respond promptly and stringently to the main challenges and to ensure a concrete mobilization of effective and necessary resources.
The local structure that is most effectively able to respond is the Social Network by promoting, through its bodies, a broad partnership work that focuses on the strategic planning of local social intervention, involving the various social actors, of different natures and intervention areas, to contribute to the eradication of poverty and social exclusion and the promotion of social development at the local level.
The designation of local focal points and the development of a local intervention model make it possible to maximize human and financial resources, avoid the duplication of responses and qualify intervention at the level of prevention and monitoring of poverty and social vulnerability situations, focusing on children and young people, their families and the community.
Therefore, within the scope of the Social Action Local Councils, it is crucial to create Child Guarantee Local Units (NLGPI) aimed at children and young people and families in social vulnerability, that, through the optimisation of existing resources, the boosting of synergies and in a context of effective cooperation and joined implementation of national and local policies, paying particular attention to the specific features of each territory, and based on an integrated and multidisciplinary approach, allow an effective response to the needs of children and their families, promoting cohesion and social development by fostering an effective social integration.
The implementation of the intervention model implies compliance with the following social network methodological assumptions:
1. The existence of a diagnosis must include a description of the child poverty phenomenon in the territory and the problems identified in terms of ensuring access to essential services;
2. The social development plan with a strategic axis of prevention and intervention within the scope of the child poverty phenomenon;
The establishment of the Local Child Guarantee Units (NLGPI) must be carried out at the plenary sessions of the Social Action Local Councils (CLAS) and their composition should include partners involved in early childhood care, education, health, nutrition, housing, the promotion of social inclusion and integration, the protection of the rights of children and young people, non-discrimination and the promotion of equality.
All children covered by the new child guarantee social benefit must be accompanied by the Child Guarantee Local Centres in cooperation with the National Coordination of the Child Guarantee, to ensure their effective access to essential services, following the recommendations for integrated intervention and monitoring.
Selected indicators (represent available data as of today)
i) Cross-cutting monitoring indicators
-At-risk-of-poverty rate after social transfers:
18,4% 2020
17,0% 2023
ii )Social protection and social action
-Number of families with children accompanied by the social action information and support services:
Mainland - 59909
Azores (ISSA) - 2564
Madeira (ISSM) - 3243
(2021)
Mainland - 72574
Azores (ISSA) - 1767
Madeira (ISSM) - 2429
(2023)
iii) Quality services
-Coverage rate of early childhood social responses on the Mainland:
48,8%
(2020)
51,3%
(2022)
55,2%
(2023)
-Number of children aged 0-3 covered by the free access to early childhood education and care :
31 589
(Dec. 2021)
91 150
(Dec. 2023)
-Pre-schooling rate (Groos enrolment rate in pre-schooling):
Total - 96,2%
(2020/21)
Total – 98,3%
(2021/22)
Total – 99,4%
(2022/2023)
-Number of students enrolled in mainland Portugal, beneficiaries of school social assistance, per education level, study cycle and income level:
Total: 357347
(2019/20)
Total: 416952
(2021/22)- An analysis on the evolution of the poverty risk over the years shows that children are the most affected in crises affecting the population;
- In families with children, the household composition is a worsening factor of exposure to poverty or social exclusion.
-National Coordination of the Child Guarantee and the Social Security Institute, I.P. (ISS).
SDG 1 - No poverty
- Target 1.1 - By 2030, eradicate extreme poverty for all people everywhere, currently measured as people living on less than $1.25 a day.
- Indicator 1.1.1 - Proportion of the population living below the international poverty line by sex, age, employment status and geographical location (urban/rural)
- Target 1.2 - By 2030, reduce at least by half the proportion of men, women and children of all ages living in poverty in all its dimensions according to national definitions.
- Indicator 1.2.1 - Proportion of population living below the national poverty line, by sex and age
- Indicator 1.2.2 - Proportion of men, women and children of all ages living in poverty in all its dimensions according to national definitions
- Target 1.3 - Implement nationally appropriate social protection systems and measures for all, including floors, and by 2030 achieve substantial coverage of the poor and the vulnerable.
- Indicator 1.3.1 - Proportion of population covered by social protection floors/systems, by sex, distinguishing children, unemployed persons, older persons, persons with disabilities, pregnant women, newborns, work-injury victims and the poor and the vulnerable
SDG 4 - Quality education
- Target 4.2 - By 2030, ensure that all girls and boys have access to quality early childhood development, care and pre-primary education so that they are ready for primary education
- Indicator 4.2.1 - Proportion of children aged 24–59 months who are developmentally on track in health, learning and psychosocial well-being, by sex
- Indicator 4.2.2 - Participation rate in organized learning (one year before the official primary entry age), by sex.
SDG 1 – No poverty
- Target 1.1 – By 2030, eradicate extreme poverty for all people everywhere, currently measured as people living on less than $1.25 a day.
- Indicator 1.1.1 – Proportion of the population living below the international poverty line by sex, age, employment status and geographical location (urban/rural)
- Target 1.2 – By 2030, reduce at least by half the proportion of men, women and children of all ages living in poverty in all its dimensions according to national definitions.
- Indicator 1.2.1 – Proportion of population living below the national poverty line, by sex and age
- Indicator 1.2.2 – Proportion of men, women and children of all ages living in poverty in all its dimensions according to national definitions
- Target 1.3 – Implement nationally appropriate social protection systems and measures for all, including floors, and by 2030 achieve substantial coverage of the poor and the vulnerable.
- Indicator 1.3.1 – Proportion of population covered by social protection floors/systems, by sex, distinguishing children, unemployed persons, older persons, persons with disabilities, pregnant women, newborns, work-injury victims and the poor and the vulnerable
SDG 4 – Quality education
- Target 4.2 – By 2030, ensure that all girls and boys have access to quality early childhood development, care and pre-primary education so that they are ready for primary education
- Indicator 4.2.1 – Proportion of children aged 24–59 months who are developmentally on track in health, learning and psychosocial well-being, by sex
- Indicator 4.2.2 – Participation rate in organized learning (one year before the official primary entry age), by sex.
Objectives:
Prevent and combat child poverty and social exclusion by guaranteeing children and young people at risk of poverty and social disadvantage access to a range of essential services:
1.Effective and free access to early childhood education and care, education and activities in a school context, at least one healthy meal every school day and healthcare.
2.Effective access to healthy food and adequate and decent housing.
Access to these essential services combats child poverty tout court and promotes equal opportunities from an early age, breaking intergenerational cycles of poverty.
Within the scope of children and young people in situations or at risk of poverty and social disadvantage, there are those who, due to additional vulnerability factors, are subject to specific disadvantages.
These include children and young people who are homeless or in a situation of severe housing deprivation; those with disabilities; those with mental illness or long-term illness; migrant children and young people or those from ethnic minorities; children and young people in residential care; children from single-parent households; unaccompanied foreign minors.
Existing mechanisms:
A) Automatic cash benefit
For families to supplement existing family subsidies, ensuring they receive no less than EUR 1.464 annually (to a total of 140,000 children currently covered by the Child Guarantee allowance). Payments are made automatically to the beneficiary’s bank account, and require no action, as long as the beneficiary receives the family benefit.
B) Local Centres
Local policies duly adapted to the specific circumstances and problems of the various territories and, at the latter level, through social intervention that ensures children’s effective access to essential services, in a logic of close, integrated intervention monitored by the Local Centres.
C) Free childcare
This initiative, outside the scope of the Portuguese Child Guaranteed but connected to it and that could be later added, aims to reframe the perception of early childhood education and care because research has shown its pivotal role in children’s social and cognitive development. Covered 89,000 children in 2023 and are expected to reach 120,000 in 2024.A) The first level of data collection includes the identification and characterisation of vulnerable children.
It should be noted that some constraints and omissions regarding disaggregated information have been identified in the context of the work already developed, which make it impossible to provide a faithful portrait of certain subgroups, such as children with mental health issues, children in severe housing deprivation and children with a migrant background or minority ethnic origin, particularly illegal immigrants and Roma children. Work is underway regarding these issues.
The mitigation of these data gaps, taking into account the extent and cross-cutting nature of the information to be collected regarding the areas responsible for the essential services mentioned in the Recommendation and the specific features of the national organisation of these services, implies the construction of a Monitoring System, which is already being designed, based on joint work between the various sectoral areas with a view to a greater and better data interconnection.
On the other hand, the difficulty of accurately characterising certain specific realities requires in-depth work with each of the sectoral areas, which may involve the need to develop characterisation studies and specific surveys.
B) At a second level of data collection, there is the perspective of assessing the impact of the implementation of measures that meet the objectives set out.
The Child Guarantee monitoring framework will involve access to different results plans, beginning with the European plan, using a battery of dedicated indicators, which are being defined by the Social Protection Committee.
At the same time, the definition of monitoring and evaluation indicators, sources of information and reporting frequency to the relevant services is also underway, to assess the quantitative and qualitative targets (interim and final).
The monitoring of the Action Plan implementation will be carried out by a set of indicators associated with each of its objectives and measures, which focus on the impact and main results achieved by the implementation of the measures according to the fulfilment of the enforcement targets defined in the respective core strategic initiatives and programmes and that contribute to the achievement of the Action Plan objectives.
C) A third and final level of data analysis concerns the local dimension of the Child Guarantee.
It is embodied in the construction of a monitoring matrix at the municipal level, which allows classifying and identifying the different municipalities in terms of the vulnerability of their children and the respective households, to rank the territories according to intervention priorities, as well as to evaluate the evolution of the identified problems.
To build such a matrix, the Child Guarantee is carrying out work at the level of the construction of a composite indicator that allows an ordinal and quantitative assessment of the vulnerability of children and young people in the territory.
This indicator called the Vulnerability Indicator, aims to summarize in a single metric the information from the various attributes pre-selected as relevant to the determination of the vulnerability situation of children and young people. In parallel, the local monitoring model also aims to find a set of indicators that allow us to portray the evolution of the particular social fragilities of the territories, such as the unemployment and poverty levels, supporting the intervention at every moment.
- An analysis on the evolution of the poverty risk over the years shows that children are the most affected in crises affecting the population;
- In families with children, the household composition is a worsening factor of exposure to poverty or social exclusion.
Conditional cash transfer (CCT); Access to basic education; Access to adequate housing; Integrated programmes for human capital development, including health and education and early childhood development
-National Coordination of the Child Guarantee and the Social Security Institute, I.P. (ISS).
The implementation, management and operation of the Child Guarantee Action Plan requires a governance model that includes cooperation and coordination between its four levels:
Level I – Political Coordination
Ensured by the government member responsible for the solidarity and social security area.
Level II – Strategic and Technical Coordination
Ensured by the National Coordinator and his/her team, assisted by the Technical Support Committee (CTA), composed of representatives from the government areas responsible for the actions’ implementation within the respective intervention areas.
Level III – Operationalisation
Carried out by the bodies responsible for the measure’s implementation within the Child Guarantee Local Centres (NLGPI), created within the scope of the Social Action Local Councils (CLAS), as representative structures to implement the Council Recommendation at the local level.
Level IV – Advisory
It is composed of the Intersectoral Advisory Board (CCI), a body that issues opinions and recommendations and is aimed to ensure the mobilisation, participation and contribution of organisations representing civil society, as well as children, young people and families.
To achieve the objectives of the Child Guarantee, it is essential to ensure an integrated social intervention, based on local action and proximity to the poverty and social exclusion phenomena, considering the specific needs of families, children and young people to ensure adequate identification and mobilization of resources and interventions to address the problems.
In this context, coordination with city councils is particularly important, given their privileged proximity to people, particularly those with higher poverty or social exclusion rates.
Coordinated social interventions at the local level are crucial for the effective implementation and application of policies to combat poverty, but also for preventing and combating the intergenerational nature of poverty phenomena.
An integrated and community-based approach will thus contribute to the effective fulfilment of the life projects of those who constitute the most vulnerable segment of society as a whole and which are decisive for the development of the Country.
The intervention of local authorities, in addition to national public policy measures, makes it possible to identify and respond promptly and stringently to the main challenges and to ensure a concrete mobilization of effective and necessary resources.
The local structure that is most effectively able to respond is the Social Network by promoting, through its bodies, a broad partnership work that focuses on the strategic planning of local social intervention, involving the various social actors, of different natures and intervention areas, to contribute to the eradication of poverty and social exclusion and the promotion of social development at the local level.
The designation of local focal points and the development of a local intervention model make it possible to maximize human and financial resources, avoid the duplication of responses and qualify intervention at the level of prevention and monitoring of poverty and social vulnerability situations, focusing on children and young people, their families and the community.
Therefore, within the scope of the Social Action Local Councils, it is crucial to create Child Guarantee Local Units (NLGPI) aimed at children and young people and families in social vulnerability, that, through the optimisation of existing resources, the boosting of synergies and in a context of effective cooperation and joined implementation of national and local policies, paying particular attention to the specific features of each territory, and based on an integrated and multidisciplinary approach, allow an effective response to the needs of children and their families, promoting cohesion and social development by fostering an effective social integration.
The implementation of the intervention model implies compliance with the following social network methodological assumptions:
1. The existence of a diagnosis must include a description of the child poverty phenomenon in the territory and the problems identified in terms of ensuring access to essential services;
2. The social development plan with a strategic axis of prevention and intervention within the scope of the child poverty phenomenon;
The establishment of the Local Child Guarantee Units (NLGPI) must be carried out at the plenary sessions of the Social Action Local Councils (CLAS) and their composition should include partners involved in early childhood care, education, health, nutrition, housing, the promotion of social inclusion and integration, the protection of the rights of children and young people, non-discrimination and the promotion of equality.
All children covered by the new child guarantee social benefit must be accompanied by the Child Guarantee Local Centres in cooperation with the National Coordination of the Child Guarantee, to ensure their effective access to essential services, following the recommendations for integrated intervention and monitoring.
In Portugal, children and young people aged between 0 and 17 now represent around 17% of the total Portuguese population, corresponding to around 1,7 million people.
According to data collected in 2020, 21,9% of children and young people in Portugal were at risk of poverty or social exclusion, a figure below the European average of 24,2% (Eurostat) and according to the latest national data this figure has increased by 1 p.p., which means that 22,9% of children aged under 18 are in a poverty or social exclusion situation (INE – National Statistics Institute – Portugal).
While the poverty risk of the total population currently stands at 18,4%, the poverty risk of children reaches 20,4%, being this age group the one with the greatest vulnerability in concerns this indicator.
This will be the targeted population. For the beneficiaries or the proportion of the population covered, more information can be found on the Child Guarantee on the website.
The construction of a Child Guarantee in Portugal is based on various financial resources that enable the implementation of the measures set out in the Action Plan by 2030. For more details, please consult the document below (Chapter 10. p. 52):