Does the child support grant contribute towards resilience in poor households in Mitchell’s Plain? A sustainable livelihoods approach

Abstract

This thesis draws on three concepts, Social protection, Sustainable Livelihoods Approach and Resilience, to portray how the Child Support Grant (CSG) may lead to resilience in poor households. Various definitions of social protection can be observed in literature by different development agencies. Most of the definitions of social protection steer towards enhancing human capital, by means of public activities to reduce risk and vulnerability, against declining or low living standards. The working definition that will be used for social protection, would be to define social protection as enhancing human, social, physical and financial capital, by means of public interventions (such as South Africa’s CSG), to reduce the risk and vulnerability of households (build resilience) and ensuring sustainable livelihoods.