UNICEF Global Study on Child Poverty and Disparities: Country Analysis, Statistical and Policy Template

1. UNICEF GLOBAL STUDY ON CHILD POVERTY AND DISPARITIES Country Analysis, Statistical and Policy Template – how do the pieces fit together? Sharmila Kurukulasuriya Policy and Practice, June 2008

2. Agenda • Child Poverty Approach • Policy Template • Statistical Template • Using Data to inform Policy

3. What do we mean by child poverty? • Model A. Child poverty = overall poverty • E.g. World Bank: $1 a day per person • Model B. Child poverty = poverty of households with children • E.g. OECD: children in hholds <50% of median income • Model C. Child poverty = the ‘flip side’ of child well-being • E.g. Bradshaw & al. composite indices

4. Advantages of a three-part approach • Connects, complements (and challenges, forces to ‘re-think?’) different poverty conceptualizations – from a child perspective • Considers the many actors and influences that simultaneously impact a child’s life • Thinks multisectorally - how do policies and trends at different levels interact? • Fosters partnerships - how can interventions at different levels be complementary rather than competitive or disruptive A: national/macro C: individual child A-C C-B B: household/ micro

5. “Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted.” • Albert Einstein

6. Policy Template • PART A: Context, Macroeconomics and Fiscal Space • Key contextual factors • National Poverty Reduction and/or development strategy • PART B: Policy Objectives, implementation, declared responsibilities, resources: • to support access, use, equity and efficacy of: • Child Nutrition • Health services for children and women • Child protection • Education services • to prevent/mitigate impact of risk/adversity and disadvantage through: • Family/household income and/or employment support • PART C: National Programme Inventory – including public private partnerships aimed at supporting outcomes by improving: • access to and use, equity and efficacy of social services • protection from risk, adversity and chronic poverty

7. Statistical Template • Follows the proposed country analysis outline: • Chapter 1 - Children and Development • Chapter 2 - Poverty and Children • Chapter 3 - Pillars of Well-being • Chapter 4 - A Strategy for Results • At three levels of analysis: • National/sub-national (region, residence) • Household and community (income poverty, size, work) • Individual characteristics (nutrition deprived, education deprived)

8. Statistical Template (example-part 3) • Five outcome areas and 20 indicators proposed to look at disparities by subnational/household/child correlates • Nutrition: • Child nutrition (stunting, wasting, underweight) and its correlates • Health: • Young child health (diorrhoea, ORT, fever, pneumonia treatment) and correlates • Adolescent health (HIV knowledge, counseling coverage on MCT) and correlates • Child protection: • Birth registration and its correlates • Orphanhood, vulnerability and its correlates • Child labour (total, paid) and its correlates • Early marriage (before 15 and 18) and its correlates • Education: • Net primary school attendance and correlates • Social Protection/income: • Women covered by health insurance • Children receiving free medical supplies

9. Child Outcomes and the Policy Process Descriptive and evidence-based analysis of child poverty and disparities in outcomes Child and gender equality policy effort Child and gender equality outcomes Policy Template Statistical Template

10. Anthropometric failure and breastfeeding practices in Tajikistan Nutritional status by breastfeeding pattern for children less than 18 months Source: MICS 2005 and Angela Baschieri and Jane Falkingham (University of Southampton), 2007

11. Breastfeeding practices in Tajikistan • Most women in Tajikistan stop exclusively breastfeeding and switch to a mix feeding pattern relatively early • Amongst children aged 6-23 months under 5 percent are either ‘exclusively’ or ‘almost exclusively’ breastfed. • As a result many children are exposed to the risk of poor nutrition and associated adverse developmental consequences. Is family land ownership an effective policy against child malnutrition? (results of multivariate analysis) • They control for children age (months), region, mother education, wealth quintile, ethnicity, sanitation, household access to land, ownership of livestock • They found that children living in a households with access to land have higher probability of being underweight that those without access to land

12. Child Outcomes and the Policy Process • Policies: • What goals are set for improving child outcomes? Relevant Laws? Government expenditure? Are existing interventions reaching the poor? • Outcomes: • Who are the disadvantaged children? What about disparities in outcomes and service/benefit use? • Causality: • What are the principal barriers that prevent services and benefits from reaching the poor? What decision making power do women have in the family or household? Impact on child outcomes? • Strategy: • Is the evidence on policy limitations sufficient to propose alternative policies? Which providers and decision makers are in the best position to do more? Scaling up of interventions? Inter-sectoral arrangements?