About the project
Across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, millions of children face risks to their safety, well-being, and future due to inadequate investment in child protection systems. Governments and partners are committed to change, but in order to secure and sustain the resources needed, strong, evidence-based advocacy is essential.
This project, led by Cornerstone Economic Research in partnership with UNICEF’s MENA Regional Office, aims to equip child protection practitioners with the knowledge, skills, and tools to make compelling, data-driven investment cases for child protection. It will combine capacity building, country-level application of Public Finance for Children (PF4C) tools, and the development of a regional advocacy paper focused on strengthening the social service workforce (SSW). Our work will directly support governments and other key actors in Iraq, Jordan, Morocco, and Tunisia, while generating evidence and tools relevant to the entire MENA region.
Why this project matters
Child protection systems require adequate and sustained public investment to prevent harm, respond effectively to cases of abuse, and provide children with safe, nurturing environments. The social service workforce (social workers, child protection officers, community-based case managers, and related professionals) forms the backbone of these systems.
However, across the MENA region, the SSW often operates with:
- Too few staff for the size and needs of the child population.
- Uneven distribution, leaving some regions underserved.
- Limited budgets for recruitment, training, supervision, and service delivery.
- Fragmented data on workforce capacity, budgets, and outcomes.
Without robust evidence on the cost of strengthening the SSW and the benefits such investment brings, it is difficult for governments to prioritise and protect these budgets in a competitive fiscal environment.
This programme addresses that gap by combining economic analysis, policy engagement, and training, giving decision-makers the means to advocate effectively for child protection investment.
Our objectives
The overall objective is simple yet transformative:
To strengthen the technical capacity of child protection practitioners within UNICEF and governments in the MENA region to apply PF4C tools and approaches to advocate for increased budgets for child protection.
We aim to:
- Build capacity of child protection practitioners to use Public Finance for Children (PF4C) tools.
- Apply PF4C methods in Iraq, Jordan, Morocco, and Tunisia to create country-specific analyses, costing tools, and investment cases.
- Develop a regional advocacy paper making the economic case for strengthening the SSW.
Our approach
The project is rooted in UNICEF’s 2020 technical paper The Contribution Public Finance for Children can Make to Realising Child Protection Objectives (a paper authored by members of our team). It sets out a systematic approach that moves from mapping and analysis, to costing, to developing a persuasive investment case.
Our approach will be participatory, evidence-driven, and regionally adaptable, recognising that each country has its own structures, policies, and budget processes.
Expected impact
By the end of the project this work will help secure increased, better-targeted, and sustainable public investment in child protection, translating into more and better-resourced professionals on the ground, and better outcomes for children.