Both the global recession in 2008–2010 and the COVID-19 pandemic have demonstrated the critical role of social protection systems in safeguarding children’s well-being during times of crises. A key lesson learned was that countries can cushion themselves against future economic shocks if they invest in comprehensive social protection systems.33 For example, in countries with higher precrisis social protection spending, children were less likely to fall into poverty during the global recession.34 In many European nations, permanent social protection mechanisms kicked in to off set some of the increases in child poverty associated with the financial crisis.35 The importance of social protection is not limited to times of crisis. Social protection is particularly important for children because they are more vulnerable to poverty and its consequences than adults. The levels of poverty in a country, be it during times of stability or crisis, are highly dependent on the effectiveness of the social protection system. This section will demonstrate that developments in child poverty up to and during the recent crises did not merely depend on countries’ financial resources, but also on the ways they invested in social protection systems for children. When discussing the efforts countries make to directly alleviate children’s income poverty, cash benefits deserve particular attention due to their immediate effect on household resources – which will therefore be the focus of this section. Nevertheless, in-kind social transfers (for example, school meals) and social services remain essential safeguards to children’s well-being and are integral parts of Report Card countries’ social protection systems. Box 4 What is social protection? Different organizations have different definitions of social protection. UNICEF defines social protection as the set of public and private policies and programmes aimed at preventing, reducing and eliminating economic and social vulnerabilities to poverty and deprivation. The countries included in the Report Card represent a variety of traditions and trajectories when it comes to social protection. Overall, however, they share a toolkit from which their systems are assembled. Broadly speaking, this toolkit includes cash benefits transferring income to households (contributory, e.g., parental leave, and non-contributory, e.g., child benefits), labour market policies and social services. The analysis presented in this report focuses on cash benefits due to their immediate impact on income poverty. All 43 Report Card countries have systems that include regular income transfers for households with children in the form of cash benefits. Moreover, they all have a form of child or family benefit anchored in national legislation.36 There is, however, large variation in how eligibility for these programmes is determined. First, it is important to distinguish between contributory and non-contributory programmes. → Eligibility for contributory programmes is earned by paying social security contributions over a required amount of time. Contributory programmes are most commonly financed through national systems of social security, but there are countries where benefits are administered and paid by employers. → Non-contributory programmes, on the other hand, provide social transfers that are generally financed from the government budget and do not require a history of employment or social security contributions. Child or family benefits are a form of such non-contributory, periodic cash benefits. 34 Child Poverty in the Midst of Wealth Innocenti Report Card 18