Strengthening the Economic Imperative for Social Protection

Strengthening the economic imperative for social protection.pdf

The OECd’s most recent Development Co-operation Report presents evidence identifying the role of social protection in reducing poverty and achieving progress towards the millennium development goals while accelerating pro-poor and inclusive economic growth. The report cites successful African examples — including Ghana, Kenya, Mozambique, Rwanda, South Africa, Uganda and Zambia — of the potential economic gains from child-sensitive social protection.

Social protection interventions delivered to children have the potential to tackle inequity in a meaningful and sustainable manner. early interventions during crucial developmental stages generate the highest returns on this investment, increasing adult productivity and earning potential and contributing to the competitiveness of Africa’s workforce.

While conventional thinking sometimes posits a trade-off between equity and growth, African nations are increasingly consolidating a strong foundation for economic progress by investing in their most productive asset—their human resources. Across the continent the number of core social protection programmes has increased ten-fold, from 25 in 2000 (in nine countries) to 245 in 2012 (in 41 countries).

Reflections on Africa’s Indigenous knowledge on parenting

Indigenous knowledge of parenting.pdf

The publication  by PAN presents snapshots of indigenous parenting practices of different communities in Africa. 

Africa is blessed with diverse cultures and tribes, these rich traditions play a critical part in shaping the lives of communities and the family unit.

Indigenous positive parenting practices in Africa are under threat because of modernisation. People are moving to the cities, and the close community, and family ties of the past, is under pressure. In this Brochure, you see highlight, how the pastoralist community of the Gabra and the Maasai people in Kenya, East and the horn of Africa region; Bozo community in Mali, West Africa; Ndebele of South Africa, and the Swahili of the coastal strip of Africa parented. 

Progress for children: Achieving the MDGs with equity, number 9, September 2010

Progress for children: Achieving the MDGs with equity, number 9, September 2010

When world leaders adopted the Millennium Declaration in 2000, they produced an unprecedented international compact, a historic pledge to create a more peaceful, tolerant and equitable world in which the special needs of children, women and the vulnerable can be met. The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are a practical manifestation of the Declaration’s aspiration to reduce inequity in human development among nations and peoples by 2015.

The past decade has witnessed considerable progress towards the goals of reducing poverty and hunger, combating disease and mortality, promoting gender equality, expanding education, ensuring safe drinking water and basic sanitation, and building a global partnership for development. But with the MDG deadline only five years away, it is becoming ever clearer that reaching the poorest and most marginalized communities within countries is pivotal to the realization of the goals.

In his foreword to the Millennium Development Goals Report 2010, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon argues that “the world possesses the resources and knowledge to ensure that even the poorest countries, and others held back by disease, geographic isolation or civil strife, can be empowered to achieve the MDGs.” That report underscores the commitment by the United Nations and others to apply those resources and that knowledge to the countries, communities, children and families who are most in need.

‘Achieving the MDGs with Equity’ is the focus of this ninth edition of Progress for Children, UNICEF’s report cardseries that monitors progress towards the MDGs. This data compendium presents a clear picture of disparitiesin children’s survival, development and protection among the world’s developing regions and within countries.

While gaps remain in the data, this report provides compelling evidence to support a stronger focus on equity for children in the push to achieve the MDGs and beyond.

Violence against primary school children with disabilities in Uganda: a cross-sectional study

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Devries 2014 Good Schools disability.pdf

150 million children live with disabilities globally, and a recent systematic review found 3 to 4 times the levels of violence versus non-disabled children in high income countries. However, almost nothing is known about violence against disabled children in lower income countries. This research aims to explore the prevalence, patterns and risk factors for physical, sexual and emotional violence among disabled children attending primary school in Luwero District, Uganda.

In Uganda, disabled girls are at particular risk of violence, notably sexual violence. Schools may be a promising venue for intervention delivery. Further research on the epidemiology and prevention of violence against disabled and non-disabled children in low income countries is urgently needed.

Devries et al.: Violence against primary school
children with disabilities in Uganda: a cross-sectional study. BMC Public
Health 2014 14:1017.

Setting up community health programmes

Setting Up Community Health Programmes is a detailed, simply written how-to manual that covers all the basic principles of community based health care, setting up specific programs, and then maintaining them.

Designed for both urban and rural locations, this book addresses the needs of health workers, program managers, doctors, nurses, health planners, and all those who seek an evidence-based and practical approach to health care in the developing world.

More information on how to access the book is available here.

Strengthening collective efforts to make Africa a better place for children: Report of the 5th CSO Forum

Strengthening collective efforts to make Africa a better place for children: Report of the 5th CSO Forum

Report on the 5th Civil Society Organisations (CSO) Forum held in Addis Ababa, from 22-25 November 2011. The theme of the conference was ‘One Voice for Children in Crisis’, and focused on the realization that while every child is vulnerable to different types of risks, due to difficult and often desperate living conditions, many children face “extraordinary hardships' and are therefore children in crisis.

The conference focused specifically on two out of several crisis conditions namely; child imprisonment and hunger. It also looked at a number of other topical areas such as the extent to which recommendations from the past CSO Forums have been implemented by the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of Children (ACERWC), an assessment of progress in the last decade since the adoption of the African common position on an Africa fit for children, the progress and challenges faced by the ACERWC in executing their mandate, Education of the African Child, the plight of children in the horn of Africa, child imprisonment, Justice and protection in Africa, child participation and capacity building of CSOs.

Scaling Up Paediatric HIV Care with an Integrated, Family-Centred Approach: An Observational Case Study from Uganda

Family-centred HIV care models have emerged as an approach to better target children and their caregivers for HIV testing and care, and further provide integrated health services for the family unit’s range of care needs. While there is significant international interest in family-centred approaches, there is a dearth of research on operational experiences in implementation and scale-up. Our retrospective case study examined best practices and enabling factors during scale-up of family-centred care in ten health facilities and ten community clinics supported by a non-governmental organization, Mildmay, in Central Uganda. Methods included key informant interviews with programme management and families, and a desk review of hospital management information systems (HMIS) uptake data. In the 84 months following the scale-up of the family-centred approach in HIV care, Mildmay experienced a 50-fold increase of family units registered in HIV care, a 40-fold increase of children enrolled in HIV care, and nearly universal coverage of paediatric cotrimoxazole prophylaxis. The Mildmay experience emphasizes the importance of streamlining care to maximize paediatric capture. This includes
integrated service provision, incentivizing care-seeking as a family, creating child-friendly service environments, and minimizing missed paediatric testing opportunities by institutionalizing early infant diagnosis and provider-initiated testing and counselling. Task-shifting towards nurse-led clinics with community outreach support enabled rapid scale-up, as did an active management structure that allowed for real-time review and corrective action. The Mildmay experience suggests that family-centred approaches are operationally feasible, produce strong coverage outcomes, and can be well-managed during rapid scale-up

Regional Brief - Children and youth orphaned or made vulnerable by HIV and AIDS in the Southern African Development Community (SADC)

Regional Brief - Children and youth orphaned or made vulnerable by HIV and AIDS in the Southern African Development Community (SADC)

In response to the need to support Member States to further address OVC&Y issues in a harmonised and comprehensive manner, the SADC Framework and Plan of Action for Comprehensive Care and Support for OVC&Y (2008-2012) (Framework) was developed in 2008 and an accompanying business plan in 2009. Using a multisectoral approach, the Framework outlines priorities for a common, comprehensive response to address the challenges faced by OVC&Y, their families and caregivers. The Framework has stimulated the development of a number of more specific SADC guidelines and conceptual frameworks for OVC&Y

SADC HIV and AIDS Unit work plan 2012/13

SADC HIV and AIDS Unit work plan 2012/13

This document is the work plan for the SADC HIV and AIDS Unit for the year 2012/13. The plan is drawn from the SADC HIV and AIDS Implementation Plan and the integrated SADC HIV and AIDS Business plan for the period 2010 to 2015. 

Strengthening Child Protection Systems in Sub- Saharan Africa: A Call to Action - Joint Inter-agency Statement

This Statement draws on a growing body of practice and evidence on child protection systems strengthening in Sub-Saharan Africa,1 and is inspired by the dialogue and findings of a multi-agency conference on the topic that took place in Dakar, Senegal in May 2012. Ten organisations convened on April 10–11, 2013 in Dakar to determine the technical content of this Statement.2 Readers may wish to refer to the substantial body of literature and resources on child protection systems in sub-Saharan Africa that was assembled and organised after the Dakar conference, including the Working Paper on Child Protection Systems Strengthening in Sub-Saharan Africa.

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Regional Conceptual Framework for Psychosocial Support for Orphans and other Vulnerable Children and Youth

Book_1_SADC_framework_e_web.pdf

The SADC region is facing an unprecedented increase in the number of children and youth who are deprived of basic services which they need to survive and grow up well, in particular, food, education and life skills, health care, clean water and sanitation, protection from situations of abuse, denial of their basic liberties, and from extreme poverty. Deprivation and vulnerability of children and youth in the region is largely caused by HIV and AIDS which have been recorded to be more prevalent in SADC than in any other region globally, high levels of poverty (which has been exacerbated by the global financial and economic crisis), and in some cases conflict and natural disasters. The majority of the youth are unemployed. Compounded by all these challenges and in the absence of safety nets, employment and other livelihood earning opportunities, the majority of the affected children and youth have strained their capacity to respond to the psychological, social, emotional and spiritual needs. As a result, they are engaging or more likely to engage in socially deviant and risky behaviours such as criminal activities, transactional sex, conflict and violence, early marriage, alcohol and substance abuse, as well as depression and suicide.

If these challenges continue and are not addressed comprehensively, they pose a serious threat to socio-economic development, peace and security of the region. As a result, SADC has developed a conceptual framework for psychosocial support. The framework provides common understanding of psychosocial challenges facing children and young people, and the interventions that are required to ensure psychosocial wellbeing [Taken from the foreword]. 

United Nations declaration of commitment on HIV/AIDS: Five years later

United Nations declaration of commitment on HIV/AIDS: Five years later

The present report provides an update on progress in the global AIDS response since the 2001 special session, identifies critical challenges that must be addressed and makes urgent recommendations to strengthen efforts at the global, regional and country levels.

SADC Business Plan on Orphans and other Vulnerable Children and Youth 2009-2015

SADC_OVCY_Bus_Plan_ENGLISH_indd.pdf

Poverty and under development remain daunting challenges for the SADC region. About two thirds of the population in the region live below the international poverty line of US1$ per day. Poverty in SADC is exacerbated by several factors among which are: (a) high levels of diseases in particular HIV and AIDS, Malaria and Tuberculosis. These have resulted in unprecedented levels of morbidity and mortality among the people of productive and reproductive age; (b) social conflict and in some cases war; (c) natural disasters such as recurrent droughts and floods associated with climate change which impact negatively on food security; (d) unemployment; (e) and low industrial growth and productivity which is reinforced by high levels of migration of skilled labour from the region. The combined impact of these factors is evident in the increasingly high numbers of orphans and other vulnerable children and youth (OVCY) and the often acute violation of human and child rights. The recent global economic turmoil is compounding on the already dire situation in the region. Health, social and economic forecasts suggest that household poverty and orphaning will remain high in the foreseeable future. Vulnerable and poor households such as those headed by children, women, older people, people living with disabilities and HIV and AIDS and the unemployed bear the brunt of these numerous challenges, with often little or no options to cope.

In view of these challenges, SADC developed specific interventions focusing on OVCY, elaborated through the Strategic Framework and Programme of Action for OVC, 2008 -2015 that was approved by SADC Ministers of Health and HIV and AIDS in November 2008 -2015. The Framework and this Business Plan, mark the first deliberate effort to mount a regional response on OVCY in SADC. The premise of the SADC approach to the care and support for OVCY is the recognition that people in particular children and young people who comprise the demographic majority, are the real wealth of SADC Member States (MS). Thus, the fundamental purpose of development should be directed at enlarging their human freedoms and capabilities by expanding the choices that they have, to live full productive and creative lives, contributing to sustainable development in SADC [Taken from the introduction].

UNAIDS Investment framework for AIDS: Questions and answers

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Investment Framework on AIDS: Questions and answers

This document provides a series of frequently asked questions and answers relating to the New Investment Framework for the global HIV response.

Date: 

November 2011

Author(s): 

UNAIDS

Publisher: 

UNAIDS

Thematic areas: 

Increasing effectiveness of services and funding

Categories:

• Resource tracking and aid effectiveness

Regions: 

Global resources and key documents

Strategic plan of action for orphans and other vulnerable children 2007-2011: Republic of Rwanda

Strategic plan of action for orphans and other vulnerable children 2007-2011: Republic of Rwanda

The Government of Rwanda is committed to ensuring that the fundamental rights of all children are realised. However, in Rwanda we have 1.26 million orphans and countless vulnerable children whose rights have been violated as a result of the combined effects, especially the consequences of the genocide; the chronic poverty experienced by some households; and the threat of HIV/AIDS.

One of the guiding principles of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Rwanda National Policy on Orphans and other Vulnerable Children, 2003, is the principle of participation of the child in the actions and decisions that concern him or her. The two National Children’s Forums organised in April 2004 and in January 2006 respectively have provided an opportunity for children’s voices to be heard about issues affecting them and for them to make some key recommendations which have been used to inform the National Plan of Action for Orphans and other Vulnerable Children.

Women, power, sex and politics: a political manifesto

Series title: 

AIDS Today: Tell no lies and claim no easy victories

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INSIGHT2_SisonkeMsimang_original.pdf

More than 20 years into the epidemic, women account for 52% of people living with HIV worldwide. In sub-Saharan Africa, women constitute 57% of those living with the virus. Most dramatically, 76% of young people aged 15–24 living with HIV are women. This essay is interested in how we reverse it. 

Sisonke Msimang's insight is a part of nine essays  published by the International AIDS Alliance, that aims to spark a debate on the global Aids response: what it has achieved, what it can teach others fighting for health and justice, and what remains to be done to bring about a sustainable end to AIDS.

Regional policy brief - Children and older carers affected by HIV and AIDS

Regional policy brief - Children and older carers affected by HIV and AIDS

RIATT-ESA has recently published a regional policy brief on the priorities for regional and national legislation, policy and programming for children affected by HIV and AIDS living with older carers.

The brief is based on a study by RIATT-ESA and HelpAge International entitled "Intergenerational issues between older caregivers and children in the context of AIDS in eastern and southern Africa."

Through the study, older carers and children living in the region were asked about their lives, and their responses provided a deeper understanding of this common living arrangement which emphasised the fact that every effort should be made to support olderheaded households through the urgent provision of external forms of support, especially social transfers.

SADC business plan on orphans and other vulnerable children and youth 2009-2015

SADC business plan on orphans and other vulnerable children and youth 2009-2015

Poverty and under development remain daunting challenges for the SADC region. The combined impact of these factors is evident in the increasingly high numbers of orphans and other vulnerable children and youth (OVCY) and the often acute violation of human and child rights. The SADC business plan links with other strategic frrameworks to provide a roadmap of the SADC approach to the care and support for OVCY. 

About two thirds of the population in the region live below the international poverty line of US1$ per day. Poverty in SADC is exacerbated by several factors among which are: (a) high levels of diseases in particular HIV and AIDS, Malaria and Tuberculosis.

These have resulted in unprecedented levels of morbidity and mortality among the people of productive and reproductive age; (b) social conflict and in some cases war; (c) natural disasters such as recurrent droughts and floods associated with climate change which impact negatively on food security; (d) unemployment; (e) and low industrial growth and productivity which is reinforced by high levels of migration of skilled labour from the region.

The recent global economic turmoil is compounding on the already dire situation in the region. Health, social and economic forecasts suggest that household poverty and orphaning will remain high in the foreseeable future. Vulnerable and poor households such as those headed by children, women, older people, people living with disabilities and HIV and AIDS and the unemployed bear the brunt of these numerous challenges, with often little or no options to cope. 

In view of these challenges, SADC developed specific interventions focusing on OVCY, elaborated through the Strategic Framework and Programme of Action for OVC, 2008 -2015 that was approved by SADC Ministers of Health and HIV and AIDS in November 2008 -2015. The Framework and this Business Plan, mark the first deliberate effort to mount a regional response on OVCY in SADC.

The premise of the SADC approach to the care and support for OVCY is the recognition that people in particular children and young people who comprise the demographic majority, are the real wealth of SADC Member States (MS). Thus, the fundamental purpose of development should be directed at enlarging their human freedoms and capabilities by expanding the choices that they have, to live full productive and creative lives, contributing to sustainable development in SADC.

They think we are children with a ‘street-mind’: Report on participatory workshops with children living on the streets of Durban

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They think we are children with a ‘street-mind’: Report on participatory workshops with children living on the streets of Durban

Thousands of children live on Southern Africa’s city streets. These children have commonly been referred to as ‘street children’. Although South African NGOs and human rights organizations asked for this phrase to be rejected as negative labelling during revision of the Child Care Act it has been retained but a specific description has been appended.1 The children arrive on the streets due to a perceptible array of social problems, most of which tend to be directly or indirectly attributed to poverty. However, social research and especially studies on child labour, have shown that families do not necessarily collapse under the stress of undefined ‘poverty,’ nor are children from poor families inevitably abused, abandoned or discarded; cultural understandings have been little explored in relation to this phenomenon (Ennew and Swart-Kruger 2003).

Universal birth registration: The challenge in Africa

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Universal birth registration: The challenge in Africa

Birth registration is the official recording of a child’s birth by the State. It is a permanent and official record of a child’s existence. Nothing would seem simpler than recording the name, sex, parentage, and time and place of a child’s birth, but the reality in Africa is complex. Progress towards universal birth registration in Africa is painfully slow and the gap between promise and achievement remains wide.