- Families throughout AFRICA are
grappling with severe poverty;
- AIDS and other illnesses have
caused unfavorable demographic changes; created more vulnerable groups such as
Poor orphaned and vulnerable children who are often cared for by grandmothers,
the chronically ill, and disabled
- There are unsustainable household
structures
- About 50% of the population in
sub-Saharan Africa living on less than $1.25 per day. But, among the most
vulnerable
- Children lack basic necessities
- There is a pervasive inter-generational transmission of poverty,
- Children and families suffer or die from common health
problems,
- There is a chronic lack of health care for the most vulnerable
groups
- Children leave school to work,
- There is painful pervasive food insecurity so that millions of
families and children are hungry every day, when they get up in the morning and
go to bed at night
- And countries lack human development within their populations;
children face bleak futures
- Among vulnerable groups, basic
rights are not fulfilled
While
the world responds (Over $1 billion invested in OVC programs to date) Often
programmes fail to reach the poorest and most vulnerable OR they do little to
support them. Despite
this massive investment, there is painfully little evidence or information on
impact.
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I argue that part of the solution is through Social protection
Policies and programs. SP policies and programs are designed to respond to:
- Poverty and vulnerability in an integrated & coordinated manner
- Emphasizes
long term,
predictable interventions
- Contribute
to asset creation and
protection
- Strengthen
human capital
development
- Break
the cycle of poverty
- Support
the fulfillment of human
rights and freedoms
- Tackle
social exclusion and
marginalization of women, children, the disabled, those affected by HIV/AIDS
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The right to social welfare or social protection is within our
human rights documents
- The Universal Declaration on Human Rights (Article 22)
- Article 25 STATES: “Everyone, as a member of
society, has a right to social security…. to a standard of living
adequate for health and well-being of self and family, including food,
clothing, housing, medical care and necessary social service
- The right to social welfare is in
- ARTICLE 9 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and
Cultural Rights
- ARTICLE 26 OF THE Convention on the Rights of the Child
- ARTICLE 13 The Convention on the Elimination and Discrimination
against All Women
- In the Livingstone Call for Action, drafted in Zambia in 2006,
Countries pledged to develop social protection policies
- The more recent Social Protection Floor Initiative was drafted
to guide countries as they develop minimum standards in social protection
To remind you, Western & Northern nations have had social
welfare systems for a century or more
- European countries direct 15%+of GDP to social welfare
expenditures (e.g. Austria, Belgium,
Denmark, France, Germany)
- UK 13.7%
- Canada 8.4%
- US 8%
- The poorest nations (Ethiopia, Kenya, Mozambique, and Zambia)
direct only 0.7-5% of GDP to social welfare
- Still, Brazil manages to reach 25% of the population for only
0.5% of GDP
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Brazil manages to respond to the most vulnerable households
through Cash transfers
SO let me talk a minute about Cash transfers as one possible
instrument or Protection tool. I am talking about
- Government implemented, country owned social welfare programs
akin to social security in the US. (for older people, disabled, orphans)
- Cash transfer programs are being implemented throughout Africa;
adapted from conditional cash programs in Latin America and elsewhere where
they are the cornerstone of poverty reduction and human capacity development
programs
- Because transfers are based within a human rights framework in
Africa, there are no conditions put upon recipients
- In South Africa, where social welfare system is well developed,
there is a constitutional right to social welfare
- In Latin America, programs are evaluated and thus have an
evidence base on impacts and implementation; African programs are being
evaluated, but literature is still sparse
- CTs are targeted to recipients through a variety of ways
(sometimes to elderly through pensions as in Botswana or Lesotho, sometimes to
poorest households as in Malawi and Zambia; Uganda plans to test the two
strategies)
- Transfer benefits range from between $4 to $30 per month and are paid on a regular basis
- Recipients are urged to use the money to feed their families,
send children to school, plant gardens and invest in their future
- Cash transfer programs tend to be evaluated using rigorous
study designs, including randomized control trials
The
Impacts of Cash transfers, one possible social protection strategy, are
impressive. Cash transfer programs yield a range of Impacts; For example,
IN MALAWI, we found
- Reduced malnutrition in young children, greater growth in older
children,
- Reduced number and severity of illnesses
- Greater access to health services
- Household food security, food diversity, increase in food
stores
- Asset accumulation including basic household necessities,
livestock, productive assets
- Greater agricultural production
- Reduced exclusion,
- Greater hope, wellness, optimism for future
- Impacts on local community through hiring of workers, giving of
loans, gifts and food
- Impacts on businesses
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Of course there are issues and challenges with cash transfers
- Governments lack capacity to implement, including basic
computer skills, so major investments are needed in capacity building within
government
- Programs need systems to measure and reduce fraud, errors and
corruption. This is complicated for sure.
- Programs need to be monitored using sophisticated systems that
have feedback loops so that monitoring data is used to improve implementation
- Programs must be well run if they are to garner political
support from governments, citizens and donor partners
- Governments need a plan for long-term sustainability of social
protection policies and programs
Currently, there are many heated cash transfer Policy debates
- What is the optimal transfer size vs. the number of recipients;
how to balance these two
- What is the best way to target, considering costs,
vulnerability and need
- What frequency of cash delivery will optimize impacts, yet
reduce implementation burden
- What should Cash be linked to?
Cash-plus what? Savings groups,
HIV prevention activities, vaccination campaigns, prenatal care, agricultural
supports etc.
- What Supply side accompaniments are needed (schools, health
services, agriculture programs)
- Graduation
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Call to Action (Globally)
- Our job as implementers, evaluators, policy analysts,
advocates, mothers and fathers should be to move the global response towards
programs and policies that reduce poverty and build human capital
- Policies must be situated in a human rights framework
- To be funded or implemented…….Programs and policies should ensure access to the basic
goods and services required for survival. They should fulfil needs for food,
clothing, blankets, soap, shelter, water and sanitation, health services,
education
- Move away from programs that don’t meet the minimum standard of
reducing poverty and building human capital
- Move away form programs where there is no clear evidence of
impacts in these areas
- Away from program that aren’t evaluated;
- Away from programs where no one can really explain what they do
- Away from programs that are so expensive that only a handful of
children can benefit, including some of the more famous orphanages
- Away from programs that are not coordinated with larger system
of support
- AS solutions are developed, they must be developed using a
rights based framework.
- Solutions must help vulnerable groups reach a minimum standard
of living necessary for development
- Before funding, before implementation, Answer the questions:
Does this program or policy fulfill rights? How can we measure it?
- Only implement if at scale and continuously if it works
- Within poor villages throughout Africa, the difference between
whether children and families Survive or Thrive can be determined by
$14 per month
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The Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989) and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (1999) are human rights instruments that provide a universal framework for connecting the rights and health of children with the duties and responsibilities of states, setting standards in healthcare, social services, and courts of law.
The underlying premise of a human rights approach is that all people, including orphaned and vulnerable children, have the right to the conditions necessary for survival and development. Nations heavily impacted by AIDS carry an extra burden because the AIDS increases the vulnerability of children and families. Nevertheless, states are legally responsible for taking the administrative, legislative, and budgetary actions required to realize the rights of the child and reduce the vulnerabilities that negatively impact human development.
All children, including those who are orphaned, vulnerable, or living in poverty, have a right to the highest attainable standard of health, to adequate healthcare facilities, to special protection when deprived of their parents’ care, and to a standard of living adequate for development.
Ratifying states pledge to deliver adequate services to vulnerable populations, and demonstrate improvements in their actions to realize these rights. States agree to set benchmarks and targets, articulating what services will be provided by when. Governments must reported to the Committee on the Rights of Child to describe the ways in which they are in compliance with the CRC. States are held to these standards when citizens, NGOs, CBOs, the international community, journalists, and human rights bodies put pressure on them.
Additionally, states are legally obligated to develop the systems and monitoring procedures that improve child welfare, using a process that is transparent and allows accountability for actions.
At the same time, the international community, including resource-rich countries, is obligated to support poorer nations in working towards the goals enshrined in human rights instruments in the context of AIDS.
While this list is not exhaustive, the actions that are central to ensuring the survival and development of children affected by AIDS include:
- Adequately coordinating and implementing policies and programmes;
- Sufficiently funding public services; and
- Collecting, monitoring and evaluating child welfare indicators (Committee on the Rights of the Child, 2004; UNICEF, 2004; Woll, 2000).
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