After two webinars on the South African Child Support Grant and the Uruguayan Family Allowances, the 3rd webinar of the Series is dedicated to Mongolia’s Universal Child Allowance Programme. 

In this third presentation, Ms. Lakhagvasuren Munkhzul (Director of the Social Protection Department in the Ministry of Population Development and Social Protection, Mongolia) will present the Child Money Programme experience and future plans. 

Mr. Bjorn Gelders (Senior Social Policy Specialist, Development Pathways) will discuss the presentation. 

Ms. Judith Bruno (UNICEF Mongolia Deputy Representative) will serve as the moderator. 

The Mongolian Child Money Programme is a particularly interesting case, being the first universal child allowance programme in the developing world. So far only a few OECD countries have introduced child grants with universal coverage, while developing countries have mainly opted for targeting their programmes to the poorest parts of the population. Since 2005, when the CMP has been introduced, Mongolia has gradually moved from a targeted and conditional to an universal and unconditional approach. The webinar will present first-hand insights on the Mongolian experience with the CMP, and in particular address the following questions: 

• Which are the advantages and disadvantages of targeted vs. universal child allowance programmes? 
• Why did Mongolia decide to adopt a universal approach? 
• On which institutional framework is the programme built? 
• The costs and financing of the programme 
• The CMP’s impact on child poverty and deprivations in the fields of education, health, and nutrition 
• Future plans for developing and improving the programme