Rethinking Poverty: Making Policies that Work for Children

The conference, 'Rethinking Poverty", the fourth international conference held jointly by the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) and the New School University in New York City (New York, United States), included new research methodologies, exploratory research, and policy options applied to child poverty issues. This post-conference summary highlights approaches in the development environment, including situations of post-conflict or food insecurity, countries working in the context of Islamic law, and countries under economic and political transition, as well as western, industrialised countries. [Note: Click here to view the presentations and papers from the Conference in their full form. This website is a collaborative endeavour housed at The New School, and it is focused on child rights, poverty, and development.]

The first conference keynote speaker, Deb Matthews, Minister of Children and Youth Services, Ontario, Canada, discussed how poverty reduction became a political priority in Ontario, and emphasised the need for rigorous data analysis and policy evaluation, including calculating the economic costs of ignoring children, and for "wraparound" supports of comprehensive benefits to families. The second keynote speaker, Ambassador Moushira Khattab, Secretary General of the National Council for Childhood and Motherhood, Egypt, highlighted the importance of recognising children as distinct rights holders and active participants, not passive subjects. He pointed out that, in some places, 'childhood' is a relatively new cultural construction, requiring a need for the awareness of national variations in the discourse on childhood and citizenship. The third keynote speaker, Dr. Safwan Masri, Director, Columbia University Middle East Research Center, spoke about the potential for international education initiatives to foster research and facilitate exchange of knowledge in developing and middle-income countries, including Columbia University’s plans to open global centres to extend its teacher training and faculty research globally.

The panel for session 1 discussed the impact of poverty on children, including factors that have been typically associated with children's well-being, such as under-five mortality rate, as well as factors that are typically not examined in this context, such as children's self-esteem, aspirations, and other psychosocial abilities, and the effect of current political events, including the perceived rise in natural and man-made disasters and conflict around the world, and their implications for securing social development. Session 2, 'The multidimensional nature of poverty and children', included the macro-level context of Islamic law, the micro-level effects observed in intra-household resource allocation, and a conceptual model of child poverty that could bring together the macro, household, and child- and family-centred dimensions of poverty. Session 3, 'Measuring child poverty', presented ongoing initiatives in measuring child poverty, namely the European Union’s benchmarking of commonly agreed upon indicators to monitor child poverty and social exclusion and UNICEF's Global Study on Child Poverty. Session 4, 'Using data and analysis to inform policy', featured a discussion of efforts to compile and use data for advocacy and policy-making.

In a presentation session, Jo Boyden described the objectives and findings of the Young Lives project, which aims to provide qualitative and quantitative evidence to inform policy debates for children by tracking the changing outcomes and impact of poverty on children in Ethiopia, India (Andhra Pradesh), Peru, and Vietnam. Gaspar Fajth discussed the UNICEF Global Study on Child Poverty. Carried out in 40 countries and seven regions in 2007-2008, the Global Study examines gaps and opportunities in national poverty reduction strategies, focuses on the poverty and disadvantage faced by families with children, and examines how public policies could reduce child deprivation. A second presentation on communication, knowledge transfer and online networks discussed The Drum Beat, equityforchildren.org, and the Global Study blog, as three web-based communication and networking strategies that could raise awareness on child poverty issues and foster exchange and transfer of knowledge.

Session 5 explored the initial results from the UNICEF Child Poverty study, including results from the Congo that showed how decomposing deprivation along its multiple dimensions could help identify priorities for policy interventions. The attempt to relate income and non-income poverty in Cameroon framed questions about how the location of the household, ethnicity, and gender of the household head could impact child poverty. Session 6 examined how social services could more effectively help to reduce child poverty. In Turkey, a survey of children and child rights practitioners showed that children were unaware of available social services and that practitioners were unaware of certain basic child rights principles. The seventh panel analysed the impact of economic policies on children. Session 8, the final panel, shifted the focus from policy analysis to advocacy.

In the closing discussion, held as an open debate, conference participants were asked to propose actions, both recommendations for organisations and personal commitments, which could move the policy agenda forward. Proposals included the following:

• "Rather than advocating for specific policies, put together a comprehensive “child poverty reduction strategy” which the government can commit to.
• Conduct cross-country comparisons within a meaningful universe/region, and foster discussion among policymakers from within a region.
• Involve policy makers into global discussions such as the present conference. Also invite people who may not agree with us.
• Make better connections between the field and academia. Cultivate new practitioners and scholars who will take on this issue, e.g. university students. Add teachings on child poverty to school curricula.
• Engage religious groups in policy discussions.
• Build capacity among professionals working on children’s rights.
• Empower women, which is essential for eradicating child poverty.
• Given the multidimensional nature of poverty, find an institutional anchor for interventions, potentially at the sub national level, to which we can map back or relate the whole set of policies. Monitor global goals at the sub national level.
• Derive and agree upon a common set of child poverty indicators; everyone is presently starting from scratch. Recently there has been an explosion of interest in childhood indicators: Take advantage of the platform this has created.
• Seek policy coherence: Filter all policies, including macroeconomic policies, through the lens of children.
  
• Evaluate the process of implementation; discuss what is feasible and workable."

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