Social protection to tackle child poverty in Equatorial Guinea

The rapid economic growth of Equatorial Guinea is unparalleled almost anywhere in the world. From one of the world's poorest countries in the 1970s and 1980s, it became the first ever high-income country in sub-Saharan Africa in the 2000s. However, while the country has flourished economically as a result of oil revenues, it is dangerously over-dependent on this single non-renewable commodity and has very poor social indicators. This paper, based on a recent research report on social protection and children in Equatorial Guinea, discusses how the country could develop a social protection system that would help reduce childhood poverty and vulnerability and translate the high rate of economic growth into broader human development.