Children stand near their family's associated with targeting. however, countries can realize social protection by house in the Muhamasheen area taking incremental approaches that work within their resource and capacity of Mathbah, in Sana'a, yemen. constraints – as well as their social and economic policy frameworks – towards the ultimate goal of universal coverage. © UNICEF/UN013965/Shamsan for rich countries, the immediate challenge is to repair and strengthen the A boy trying to earn money by safety nets and benefits that were eroded in the wake of the global financial weighing people in the street, in crisis. for many middle-income countries, the architecture of existing cash Sana’a, yemen. transfer programmes provides a basis for further expansion. Governments in low-income countries face starker choices. With limited budgets and high levels © UNICEF/UN018345/Altwaity of child poverty, there are tensions between targeted transfer approaches and universal approaches. These tensions have to be addressed on a case-by-case basis. in the end, however, social protection programmes are just one tool in the wider effort to address the underlying issue of child poverty. in adopting the SdGs, world leaders recognized the central importance of that issue. Goal 1 aims to effectively end extreme poverty by 2030 (Target 1.1) and to reduce by at least half the proportion of men, women and children living in poverty in all its dimensions under national definitions (Target 1.2). The goals also emphasize that no country is immune to the impact of poverty, underscoring the fact that ending child poverty is a universal challenge. Working towards the 2030 goals, governments will have to recognize and respond to the distinctive challenges of child poverty in all its dimensions and make explicit commitments to end it. failing to do so in this generation will transmit the human, social and economic costs to future generations. The STaTe of The World’S Children 2016 85