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Global press release - innocenti report card 14

(New York/Florence, 15 June 2017) 1 in 5 children in high-income countries lives in relative income poverty and an average of 1 in 8 faces food insecurity, according to the latest Report Card issued by the UNICEF Office of Research - Innocenti. Building the Future: Children and the Sustainable Development Goals in Rich Countries is the first report to assess the status of children in 41 high-income countries in relation to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) identified as most important for child well-being. It ranks countries based on their performance and details the challenges and opportunities that advanced economies face in achieving global commitments to children. “Report Card 14 is a wake-up-call that even in high-income countries progress does not benefit all children,” said Sarah Cook, Director of UNICEF Innocenti. “Higher incomes do not automatically lead to improved outcomes for all children, and may indeed deepen inequalities. Governments in all countries need to take action to ensure the gaps are reduced and progress is made to reach the SDGs for children.” Key results on selected SDG indicators for children and adolescents in rich countries include:End poverty: On average 1 in 5 children in high-income countries lives in relative income poverty, though there is wide variation, from 1 in 10 in Denmark, Iceland and Norway to 1 in 3 in Israel and Romania. End hunger: An average of 1 in 8 children in high-income countries faces food insecurity, rising to 1 in 5 in the United Kingdom and the United States, and to 1 in 3 in Mexico and Turkey. Ensure healthy lives: Neonatal mortality has dramatically fallen in most countries; and rates of adolescent suicide, teenage births and drunkenness are declining. However, 1 in 4 adolescents reports two or more mental health issues more than once a week.Ensure quality education: Even in the best-performing countries, including Japan and Finland, around one fifth of 15-year-olds do not reach minimum proficiency levels in reading, mathematics and science. Achieve gender equality: On average, 14 per cent of adults surveyed in 17 rich countries believe that boys deserve preference for university education, and in the majority of these countries the belief is higher among males. In ranking 41 countries, the league table reads well for those countries that frequently appear at the top of recent comparisons of human and child development – the Nordic countries, Germany and Switzerland – and less well for lower-income countries in the group, such as Romania, Bulgaria and Chile. However, a closer look reveals room for improvement across the board as all countries rank in the mid- or bottom-third on two or more goals.For some indicators – income inequality, adolescent self-reported mental health and obesity – the trends suggest cause for concern in a majority of rich countries. In 2 out of 3 countries studied, the poorest households with children are now further behind the average than they were in 2008. The rate of obesity among 11–15 year olds and the rate of adolescents reporting two or more mental health problems a week is increasing in the majority of countries. Although many countries have seen broad progress in a number of indicators, there are still wide gaps between them in other areas. National income levels fail to explain all of these differences: for example, Slovenia is far ahead of much wealthier countries on many indicators, while the United States ranks 37 out of 41 in the summary league table. Based on the results presented in Report Card 14, UNICEF calls for high-income countries to take action in five key areas: Put children at the heart of equitable and sustainable progress – Improving the well-being of all children today is essential for achieving both equity and sustainability.Leave no child behind – National averages often conceal extreme inequalities and the severe disadvantage of groups at the bottom of the scale.Improve the collection of comparable data – in particular on violence against children, early childhood development, migration and gender.Use the rankings to help tailor policy responses to national contexts – No country does well on all indicators of well-being for children and all countries face challenges in achieving at least some child-focused SDG targets.Honour the commitment to global sustainable development – The overarching SDG framework engages all countries in a global endeavor.

Call for Papers on Social Protection in Contexts of Fragility and Forced Displacement

(7 April 2017) Humanitarian challenges of protracted fragility and conflict-related crises, and the recent unprecedented migration and refugee movement around the globe, underscore the need to break down the barriers between humanitarian and development work. In fragile contexts and protracted crises, such as in Afghanistan and Somalia, responsive long-term systems are needed to reach affected vulnerable populations consistently. Acute and extended crises such as in Syria, have contributed to migration flows, which also highlight the need for long-term solutions in countries of destination. Over 65 million individuals were estimated to have been forcibly displaced worldwide as a result of prosecution, conflict, generalized violence, or other human rights violations in 2015, representing an increase of almost six million compared to the previous year (UNHCR, 2016).Social protection is increasingly considered a policy response in contexts of fragility and displacement. In non-fragile contexts, extensive evidence demonstrates that social protection helps reduce poverty and inequality, enhances livelihoods, and has long-term positive impacts on human capital development (ODI, 2016; UNICEF, 2015; Davis et al., 2016). As part of the commitments under Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 1, the global community pledges to expand the coverage of social protection measures for all, and achieve substantial coverage of the poor and the vulnerable by 2030. This expansion must include scale up of social protection in contexts of fragility and forced displacement, to ensure no one is left behind. Concomitantly, development actors recognized the importance of social protection at the 2016 World Humanitarian Summit (WHS), and committed through the Grand Bargain to “increase social protection programmes and strengthen national and local systems and coping mechanisms in order to build resilience in fragile contexts” (World Humanitarian Summit, 2016).While establishing effective social protection in the context of protracted instability and displaced populations is more complex, it is also increasingly viewed as an essential mechanism to bridge the humanitarian-developmental divide. However, despite the increasing use of social protection in these settings, we know comparatively little from rigorous research regarding what works, and why. Within acute crises, actors have an increased responsibility to ensure that evidence-based learning is followed such that aid is delivered in a way that not only maximize benefits to affected populations, but also at the same time minimizes risks. As sources of conflict and instability are likely to be context specific, an increased investment is needed to produce evidence filling these gaps. For example, Doocy and Tappis (2016) carry out a systematic review of cash-based approaches in humanitarian and emergency settings with the primary objective of synthesizing evidence of impacts on individual and household-level outcomes, and a secondary objective of identifying program factors that hinder and facilitate programme implementation. For the first objective, out of over 4,000 studies identified in a first search, only five studies were identified which rigorously measured impact of cash-based schemes, while ten studies measured efficiency and 108 operational components. Of the five studies identified, the majority assessed outcomes of household-level food security, poverty and other economic outcomes, leaving large gaps in terms of human capital, child protection and other social or psychological well-being outcomes. The conclusion of large geographic and sectoral gaps is also shared by a review completed by the World Bank for the Inter-Agency Standing Committee in 2016, focused on scaling up cash transfers in humanitarian settings.While significant challenges arise in conducting research in fragile contexts, and among mobile and marginalized groups, there are increasing examples of how ethical and rigorous research can be done – often utilizing creative research designs and technology to facilitate data collection in safe modalities. Where achieved, this research should be made accessible within a short time frame to fill knowledge gaps to increase informed decision making for policymakers and practitioners.Call for papers: themes and research questionsThis call for papers aims to assemble high quality papers that will increase our understanding of: 1) the role of social protection in fragile contexts and settings of forced displacement and migration; and 2) synergies across the humanitarian and development divide in both contexts. The aim is to assemble 8 to 10 papers of sufficient quality to be jointly submitted for a special issue to the Journal of Development Studies, or featured in an edited book. An introduction to the special issue or book will summarize the volume, draw out policy implications and lay out key areas of future research. Reviewed and approved papers will also be featured in the UNICEF Office of Research–Innocenti working paper series.Some submissions are expected to draw on evidence presented at an International Conference focusing on the same themes organized by UNICEF, the European Commission and partners (Finland, Germany, the World Bank, the World Food Programme, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, and others) to take place in July 2017 in Brussels, Belgium. It is expected that these papers and others coming from outside the conference will include quantitative and mixed methods work, focusing on diverse social protection research resulting in policy-relevant lessons for governments, humanitarian and development actors, and the larger donor and stakeholder communities.Examples of research questions to be addressed in paper submission include (but are not limited to):What are the relative impacts and cost-effectiveness of diverse social protection designs in fragile contexts (e.g. cash versus in-kind or vouchers; use of mobile transfer technology) on dimensions of well-being for families and children, including over the long-term, to build resiliency?What role can social protection play in preventing forcibly displaced children from becoming a ‘lost generation’?What are the conflict, political stability, local economy and governance implications of government and NGO provision of social protection in the context of fragility? How can social protection facilitate access to larger social systems for refugees and protect against discrimination, marginalization and impoverishment? Does social protection mitigate against forced displacement, or address drivers of migration and inequalities in countries of origin, transit, and host countries?Expected timeline and processBelow is the proposed timeline for submitting the assembled papers as a potential Special Issue. 7 April 2017: Call for papers announced through the UNICEF Innocenti website, alongside announcement of International Conference on the same thematic topics through multiple channels15 July 2017: Deadline to submit extended abstract to Guest Editors (proposed length of 1,000 words) by email: jdehoop@unicef.org 15 August 2017: Decision papers communicated. Shortlisted authors requested to prepare their full-length draft papers15 November 2107: First draft of papers due to Guest Editors. Papers to undergo rapid feedback and requests for essential revisions returned to authors15 December 2017: Final drafts of papers alongside Introduction of Special Issue submitted to journal for review UNICEF Innocenti and Guest EditorsThe UNICEF Office of Research—Innocenti is UNICEF’s dedicated research arm. The office is a small group of interdisciplinary researchers, of which the Social and Economic Policy (SEP) Unit makes up the largest research cluster (15 individuals). Under the umbrella of the Transfer Project, SEP has engaged in over a dozen mixed-method evaluations of government social protection programmes, primarily in Sub-Saharan Africa, and is expanding its focus to encompass fragile contexts. UNICEF works on social protection programmes in over 100 countries, and is one of the only large international actors with presence bridging both the humanitarian and development divide. As part of the Grand Bargain, UNICEF has committed to scaling up the use of cash in emergencies and is committed to systems building to improve lives of children and families. Thus, the UNICEF Office of Research - Innocenti is well positioned to convene and to disseminate policy-relevant research on this topic.The special issue will be edited by a team of social policy and migration specialists at the UNICEF Office of Research–Innocenti composed of Drs. Jose Cuesta, Bina D’Costa, Jacob de Hoop and Amber Peterman. Shortlisted papers will be reviewed by Professor Brück is Director of the International Security and Development Centre (ISDC) and group leader at Leibniz-Institut für Gemüse- und Zierpflanzenbau (IGZ). Dr Ugo Gentilini is a Senior Economist at the World Bank.

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Construire l’avenir : Les enfants et les objectifs de développement durable dans les pays riches
Costruire il futuro: I bambini e gli Obiettivi di Sviluppo Sostenibile nei paesi ricchi
Comparing Child-focused SDGs in High-income Countries: Indicator development and overview
Prevalence and Correlates of Food Insecurity among Children across the Globe
Myth-busting? Confronting Six Common Perceptions about Unconditional Cash Transfers as a Poverty Reduction Strategy in Africa
Adolescents’ Mental Health: Out of the shadows. Evidence on psychological well-being of 11-15-year-olds from 31 industrialized countries
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Sustainable Development Goal 1.2: Multidimensional child poverty in the European Union
Child Malnutrition, Consumption Growth, Maternal Care and Price Shocks: New Evidence from Northern Ghana
Improving the Methodological Quality of Research in Adolescent Well-being
Data and Indicators to Measure Adolescent Health, Social Development and Well-being
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Research with Disadvantaged, Vulnerable and/or Marginalized Adolescents
Adolescent Participation in Research: Innovation, rationale and next steps
2016 Results Report
Children and the Data Cycle:Rights and Ethics in a Big Data World
Building the Future: Children and the Sustainable Development Goals in Rich Countries
Construir el futuro: Los niños y los Objetivos de Desarrollo Sostenible en los países ricos
Construire l’avenir : Les enfants et les objectifs de développement durable dans les pays riches
Costruire il futuro: I bambini e gli Obiettivi di Sviluppo Sostenibile nei paesi ricchi
Comparing Child-focused SDGs in High-income Countries: Indicator development and overview
Prevalence and Correlates of Food Insecurity among Children across the Globe
Myth-busting? Confronting Six Common Perceptions about Unconditional Cash Transfers as a Poverty Reduction Strategy in Africa
Adolescents’ Mental Health: Out of the shadows. Evidence on psychological well-being of 11-15-year-olds from 31 industrialized countries
Children’s Involvement in Housework: Is there a case of gender stereotyping? Evidence from the International Survey of Children's Well-Being
Is University Education More Important for a Boy than for a Girl? Social approval of unequal educational opportunity across 21 countries
Quality of Childcare and Pre-Primary Education: How do we measure it?
Sustainable Development Goal 1.2: Multidimensional child poverty in the European Union
Child Malnutrition, Consumption Growth, Maternal Care and Price Shocks: New Evidence from Northern Ghana
Improving the Methodological Quality of Research in Adolescent Well-being
Data and Indicators to Measure Adolescent Health, Social Development and Well-being
Inclusion with Protection: Obtaining informed consent when conducting research with adolescents
Research with Disadvantaged, Vulnerable and/or Marginalized Adolescents
Adolescent Participation in Research: Innovation, rationale and next steps
2016 Results Report

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RC14 launch London - panel group med wide

Global launch of Innocenti Report Card 14 on children and SDGs in rich countries

Sarah Cook, Director of UNICEF’s Office of Research-Innocenti in Florence, Italy. (22 June 2017) The global launch of Innocenti Report Card 14, Building the Future: Children and the Sustainable Development Goals in Rich Countries, was held 15 June at the Royal Society in London. Each year the report is launched at an international event designed to promote discussion and exchange of views on policy implications for child well-being that can be drawn from the Report Card findings.Dr. Sarah Cook, Director of UNICEF Innocenti, delivered the keynote presentation. She stressed the universality of the SDG’s which are applicable to all countries regardless of income level, and provided details of how a high level of national income is not a guarantee of sustainable development. “The SDGs give us an opportunity to identify the gaps in global monitoring of child well-being. How do we measure that? Where are the gaps? Where we may need new data, or we need better policies to improve trends?” said Cook in her keynote remarks. (View presentation below)Innocenti Report Card 14: Children and the Sustainable Development Goals in Rich Countries from UNICEF Office of Research - Innocenti “The report helps to put children firmly in the centre of achieving the sustainable development goals, achieving equity and sustainability for all children, leaving no child behind, recognizing that meeting the sustainable development goals requires a focus on every child, in order for us to achieve sustainability in the future, but also to improve their well-being today.”Jan Vandemoortele, Independent expert, PhD in Development Economics, served in various capacities with the United Nations for over 30 years. Following the keynote presentation an expert panel discussion was organized and moderated by UK social affairs journalist and writer Louise Tickle. Panelist Jan Vandemoortele, independent expert, observed: “I think the value of this report is that is shows the member states of the OECD and the EU that these SDGs are truly universal in the sense that they apply as much to rich countries as they apply to poor countries, in different ways of course. It’s not only an agenda about development assistance.”Panelist Romina Boarini, adviser and researcher with OECD noted: “When you start looking at the details of the performance, let’s say the less traditional categories brought up by the SDGs, we start learning very interesting and surprising results. Norway, that actually tops the league, does poorly on goals such as peace, justice and institutions… And there are opposite examples, because you have countries that are classified at the bottom of the table, countries like Mexico and Portugal, that actually do pretty well in some of the dimensions.”Romina Boarini, Senior Advisor to Secretary General and Coordinator of the Inclusive Growth Initiative, OECD. Portugal’s average rank was 1st among all countries in health and Mexico’s average was 4th in education in the Report Card 14 League Table. Norway’s average rank in peace, justice and strong institutions was 30th out of the 41 countries measured.“If you were to look at the 41 countries in the Report and if you were to look at their newspaper headlines during their most recent election campaigns, just to see the number of times that children were in the newspaper… I think you would find that it was very rare that children made the headlines,” said panelist Richard Morgan, Global Director for child poverty at Save the Children. “The most practical thing is to get children at the centre of our policy concerns in each of our countries, in the rich world as well as the less fortunate societies around the world," said panelist Richard Morgan, Global Director for child poverty with Save the Children. “It’s only by making children, and the complexity of the problems they face, visible, that we are going to get public policy to address them through government spending, through legislation, through data collection… I think the starting point is that we make sure children are not getting poorer, that we have policies that don’t make children poorer.”Lily Caprani, Deputy Executive Director, UNICEF UK. Lily Caprani, Deputy Executive Director of UNICEF UK highlighted the significance of the Report Card findings for the United Kingdom. “The positive news in here is that the UK, as you would hope, does find itself, overall, in the upper third…I’m not, unfortunately, surprised to see across the OECD countries there are really big stresses and strains on adolescent mental health. …That’s storing up huge problems for the future. That is, in my view, an emergency, and I don’t mean than in terms of a UN emergency, it is an urgent policy priority.” The UK average ranking on the Report Card league table was 16th in poverty, 34th in hunger and 6th in reduced inequalities.Panelist Richard Morgan highlighted the significance of findings in the Report Card on the effectiveness of social transfers in reducing child poverty: “The report also shows that where you have effective, adequate social protection transfers to the poorest households then you make a big dent in child poverty…I think it is very important that we subject every policy measure including on the economic front, every big economic decision to a test: is it going to harm children? And if it is we need to modify it.”On the alarming data in Report Card 14 showing that 1 in 5 children live in poverty, combined with the widening gap in income inequality across most high income countries, Lily Caprani reflected: “This is based on an understanding of children’s lived experience, and when they tell us they are missing out, when they’re in relative poverty it’s not about whether they’ve got this pound or not, it’s about whether they can be involved in the life they expect to be involved in, it’s about 'do they have the same kind of opportunities to be involved in'…It’s about being able to fulfill their potential.”Finally, when asked if the SDGs were realistic given the recent climate of retreat in many countries from the international order where sustainable development goals were unquestioned, Jan Vandemoortele sounded an optimistic note: “We live in a world where nationalism is resurgent, all over the world. The US is the best example. We saw it recently, they walked away from an international agreement on climate change, the Paris Accord. The good news is: What did the others do? Did the others run away? They stayed with it and actually they probably bonded stronger… We all know, deep down, that this is serious, that the situation calls for us to act. We have no choice but to deliver on the sustainable development agenda.”

The why and how of measuring sustainable development goals for children in high income countries

(15 June 2017) For the 14th edition of the Innocenti Report Card – a nearly annual publication ranking the high income countries of the world on a topical aspect of child well-being – our research team has chosen to take on a set of sizable challenges. We are publishing here, in full, the introduction of the Report to provide an accessible explanation of how this edition came to be. (Download the full report in English, French, Spanish or Italian here)This Report Card offers an assessment of child well-being in the context of sustainable development across 41 countries of the European Union (EU) and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). This group includes both high- and middle-income economies, but here we refer to them all as ‘high-income countries’ – or ‘rich countries’, for convenience. The concept of child well-being is rooted in the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) but the Agenda for Sustainable Development adds new dimensions. Progress across all these dimensions will be vital to children, and advanced economies will therefore need to monitor the situation of children and young people both nationally and globally. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) agreed by the international community in 2015 represent an ambitious effort to set a global agenda for development that is both equitable and sustainable, in social, economic and environmental terms. The earlier Millennium development Goals (MDGs) prioritized the reduction of poverty, as well as progress in related social indicators. The 17 goals of the SDGs add to this a series of outcomes associated with inequality, economic development, the environment and climate change, as well as peace and security. In contrast to the MDGs, which primarily applied to low- and middle income countries, the ambitious agenda of the SDGs is of necessity universal; it thus applies to rich countries, as well as poor.The stronger focus of the SDGs on equitable development and on leaving no one behind also demands attention to inequalities along multiple dimensions – of income and wealth, health and educational opportunity, as well as voice and political participation – both within and between countries. Addressing rising inequality and its related problems requires a focus not just on the conditions of the poorest, but also on the consequences of wealth accumulation by the richest. As countries seek to meet the SDGs, so the changing political landscape will require new approaches to ensure inclusive and sustainable outcomes. Long-term, inclusive and sustainable social goals are best met through attention to the needs of children. Ensuring the well-being and realizing the rights of all children (including migrants and refugees) is not only a commitment made by those states that have signed the CRC, but is also an essential condition for achieving long-term development goals. Every high-income country invests in its children: healthy, educated children are better able to fulfil their potential and contribute to society. By contrast, problems of child development often carry through into adulthood, with the resulting social costs accruing to the next generation, too. Indeed, achieving the SDGs is about ensuring that future generations have the opportunities enjoyed by the present generation: successful outcomes for today’s children will build the foundations for the wellbeing of our societies tomorrow. Commitments to the SDGs made by governments now need to be translated into programmes and public investments that can deliver on this wide-ranging set of goals and their 169 accompanying targets. While many goals require commitment at the global or multilateral action level if they are to be achieved (particularly those associated with climate change and the global economy), they also demand national action. If countries are to be held to account for their progress towards these goals, appropriate indicators for monitoring that progress are necessary. UNICEF has long been at the forefront of global efforts to monitor life outcomes and social progress for children, and it now plays a leading role in monitoring child-related SDG indicators (see Box 2: UNICEF’s global role in SDG monitoring, page 6). Many of the SDG indicators proposed by the global community are most appropriate for lower income contexts. Report Card 14 proposes an adapted set of indicators to assess countries’ performance against the promise of “leaving no one behind” when national circumstances, ambitions and existing levels of social progress are already well advanced (see Box on the right: How have Report Card 14 indicators been selected?). Specifically, this report seeks to bring the SDG targets for children in high-income countries into meaningful operation (while staying true to the ambitions of the global agenda) and to establish a point of departure for reviewing the SDG framework in these contexts. It focuses on those goals and targets with most direct relevance to the well-being of children in high-income settings. Where appropriate, it adapts the agreed SDG indicator, the better to reflect the problems facing children in such countries (see Table 1 pages 4-5).Although limited by the lack of comparable data in some domains, this report compares 41 countries across 25 indicators. As in other Report Cards, countries are ranked on their achievements in well-being for children according to the selected indicators. The Report Card cannot provide an in-depth analysis of the reasons behind differences, nor of the policy options available for making progress on selected indicators. Nonetheless, by illustrating variation along key dimensions of child well-being related to the SDGs – from ending poverty to promoting peaceful and inclusive societies – it suggests areas where policy efforts or public investment may be targeted to improve outcomes, and reveals where data inadequacies still need to be addressed.

Ideology or evidence? What does research tell us about common perceptions of cash transfers?

(6 June 2017) A new UNICEF Innocenti Working Paper, Mythbusting? Confronting Six Common Perceptions about Unconditional Cash Transfers in Africa, summarizes evidence on six common assumptions about cash transfer programmes in Africa. The paper uses data from eight in-depth evaluations conducted on large government-run unconditional cash transfer projects in sub-Saharan Africa, under the Transfer Project. The arguments supporting unconditional cash transfer programming for poor households in developing countries are numerous. Evidence shows cash transfers are effective in reducing poverty and also have widespread social and economic benefits – often larger than traditional forms of development assistance. An increasing body of evidence also shows that cash transfers may provide protection during humanitarian crises, as reflected in the high-level commitments at the World Humanitarian Summit, and the Grand Bargain.Despite their widening application, and growing robust evaluation-evidence base, some skeptical policymakers cite anecdotal evidence that cash is wasted or mis-used. Others claim that beneficiaries use cash to purchase alcohol or tobacco, or that cash transfers create dependency or make beneficiaries lazy. Doubts have also been expressed regarding the cost of financing such programmes, along with fears that beneficiary households will decide to increase fertility in an effort to qualify for benefits (particularly in child-grant models).According to the Transfer Project: “These narratives influence public perception of cash transfers and can play an important role in the political and social acceptability of financing, piloting and scaling up such programmes. What does the evidence say about these and other perceptions and claims around cash transfers? Are these anecdotes actually representative of systematic behaviour by programme recipients within large-scale, representative surveys?”Making use of data drawn from eight rigorous evaluations on large-scale government unconditional cash transfer in sub-Saharan Africa, conducted by the Transfer Project, the new working paper summarizes evidence on six common perceptions about cash transfer programmes targeted to poor and vulnerable households. Namely that cash transfers: Induce higher spending on alcohol or tobacco;Are fully consumed (rather than invested); Create dependency (reduce participation in productive work); Increase fertility; Lead to negative community-level economic impacts (including price distortion and inflation); and Are fiscally unsustainable. “We present evidence refuting each of these claims. We complement our evidence with summaries of other review papers and prominent literature, which has examined these questions, both in sub-Saharan Africa, and globally. We conclude that these perceptions are myths, and that they present a distorted picture of the potential benefits of these programmes,” say the authors of the new UNICEF Innocenti ‘Mythbusting’ working paper. Since such mis-perceptions often affect policy debates, they can unjustifiably limit the range of policy options low- and middle-income country governments have at their disposal to accelerate poverty reduction. The paper concludes by suggesting areas for future research on topics that are insufficiently studied, and calls for stakeholders to keep in mind the growing evidence base when informing programming and resource allocation, instead of relying on dated studies with little applicability to current programming, as well as on anecdotes, opinion or speculation. Efforts are required by all actors to ensure that ideology does not outweigh evidence.

Dakar Transfer Project Workshop: The State of Evidence on Social Cash Transfers in Africa

(23 May 2017) There is more evidence now than ever before that cash transfers can empower families to improve their lives. In Africa, cash transfers are rapidly expanding as a key social protection tool for reducing chronic poverty and hunger and increasing investment in human capital. After nearly a decade, policymakers, researchers and staff from UN Agencies and NGOs will come together next month in Dakar, Senegal to discuss the evidence, share their experiences and look to new ways forward. The 2017 workshop, “The State of Evidence on Social Cash Transfers in Africa,” will take place from June 7-9, for the first time hosted in Francophone West Africa. The nearly 125 participants from 30 countries across the African region and beyond will gather with the objectives of: Increasing awareness of cross-regional evidenceIdentifying gaps for future researchMaking evidence-based recommendations for governments to improve design, implementation and integration of cash transfer programmes.The workshop comes on the heels of a recently published book highlighting the Transfer Project experience of social protection stakeholders working together to improve cash transfers. The authors reveal that one of the key components of successful cash transfers in Africa has been the transparency of knowledge sharing that occurs in the region – the upcoming workshop reinforces the strong collaboration among policymakers, development partners and researchers as they work together to improve policy, implementation and evaluation. Participants joining this year’s workshop will share the most up-to-date evidence on social, economic and productive impacts, continue to dispel myths, and address current challenges. In addition, it will feature presentations on innovative topics around targeting, fragile settings, mobile payments and local economy impacts, challenging participants to think more creatively about the next generation of programming and evaluation potential. George Okech, FAO Representative, ZambiaThe Dakar meeting happens at a strategic time when social protection initiatives – especially cash transfers – continue to gain steam throughout the world. Giving cash has been shown as an effective strategy in developing contexts and is being scaled-up in humanitarian and fragile settings. Additionally, albeit controversially, governments are experimenting with the idea of providing a universal basic income in industrialized countries as well.By taking the opportunity to debate, discuss and reflect on topics such as “cash plus” and others, stakeholders will advance their knowledge, be more equipped to make evidence-informed decisions and improve the implementation and the scale-up of social protection strategies. The Transfer Project offers just one example of a platform that provides space for honest discussions about the successes and challenges of cash transfers, while pushing the boundaries to explore alternative large-scale options that hold potential for being effective. By providing participants with practical and actionable recommendations, the workshop demonstrates how experts can come together to effectively exchange information and work on research uptake to improve the lives of children and their families and contribute to the realization of global development goals.However, experts will tell you that giving cash is not a “silver bullet” - it is one tool in a social protection package. One of the many topics that will discussed is the latest research on the potential of linking cash to services in the social, health and agricultural sectors, for example. These more comprehensive social protection packages being initiated by governments are known as “cash plus” interventions. As George Okech, FAO Representative in Zambia, describes: "We have realized that there are (anti-poverty) programmes that run parallel. If two different programmes are targeting the same community and they talk to one another, you get more benefits. So, these are things that can be improved; that’s why we need to have some coordination efforts…linking two or three programmes together (can have) a catalytic effect.” As social protection initiatives evolve, researchers will need to investigate how and to what extent cash plus programmes have greater effects than programmes operating separately in the most vulnerable communities. 2016 Transfer Project Workshop Participants, Addis Ababa, EthiopiaStay tuned for more information on the exciting activities in Dakar! Follow the event on social media: #TPDakar17 You can also view highlights from the 2016 workshop held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia through the UNICEF Office of Research – Innocenti Youtube Channel: In English or in French.Since 2008, UNICEF has partnered with the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) and Save the Children UK through the Transfer Project to gather rigorous evidence on national cash transfers throughout the region.

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LATEST PUBLICATIONS

Children and the Data Cycle:Rights and Ethics in a Big Data World

Building the Future: Children and the Sustainable Development Goals in Rich Countries

Construir el futuro: Los niños y los Objetivos de Desarrollo Sostenible en los países ricos

Construire l’avenir : Les enfants et les objectifs de développement durable dans les pays riches

Costruire il futuro: I bambini e gli Obiettivi di Sviluppo Sostenibile nei paesi ricchi

Comparing Child-focused SDGs in High-income Countries: Indicator development and overview

Prevalence and Correlates of Food Insecurity among Children across the Globe

Myth-busting? Confronting Six Common Perceptions about Unconditional Cash Transfers as a Poverty Reduction Strategy in Africa

Adolescents’ Mental Health: Out of the shadows. Evidence on psychological well-being of 11-15-year-olds from 31 industrialized countries

Children’s Involvement in Housework: Is there a case of gender stereotyping? Evidence from the International Survey of Children's Well-Being

Is University Education More Important for a Boy than for a Girl? Social approval of unequal educational opportunity across 21 countries

Quality of Childcare and Pre-Primary Education: How do we measure it?

Sustainable Development Goal 1.2: Multidimensional child poverty in the European Union

Child Malnutrition, Consumption Growth, Maternal Care and Price Shocks: New Evidence from Northern Ghana

Improving the Methodological Quality of Research in Adolescent Well-being

Data and Indicators to Measure Adolescent Health, Social Development and Well-being

Inclusion with Protection: Obtaining informed consent when conducting research with adolescents

Research with Disadvantaged, Vulnerable and/or Marginalized Adolescents

Adolescent Participation in Research: Innovation, rationale and next steps

2016 Results Report