Role of Elected Local Representatives in Social Protection Strategies of Children

Introduction

Our study understand the role of elected ULB representatives in addressing the social protection needs of children. As part of the study, we examine the roles, powers, knowledge base, and motivation of local representatives and how these influence the parts they play in the implementation of social protection schemes for children. The study focuses on elected representatives in urban local government in Ahmedabad city, with their role in access to basic education as a case study.

The study finds that the councillors mediation depends on many factors such as experience, access and membership within committees, interests and motivation. Awareness about social protection schemes relies primarily on the information disseminated within political parties with very little institutionalized information dissemination or training on program and policies targeted at their constituencies. The extremely limited engagement with schooling that councillor’s report is not surprising given their preoccupation in ensuring basic facilities like water, healthcare and sanitation and absence of involvement in the formulation of social protection programs.