Publications

Comparative case studies involve the analysis and synthesis of the similarities, differences and patterns across two or more cases that share a common focus or goal in a way that produces knowledge that is easier to generalize about causal questions – how and why particular programmes or policies work or fail to work. They may be selected as an appropriate impact evaluation design when it is not feasible to undertake an experimental design, and/or when there is a need to explain how the context influences the success of programme or policy initiatives. Comparative case studies usually utilize both qualitative and quantitative methods and are particularly useful for understanding how the context influences the success of an intervention and how better to tailor the intervention to the specific context to achieve the intended outcomes.

This report reviews the implementation in Canada of the general measures of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. It recalls the recommendations made by the Committee on the Rights of the Child and by Canada’s Senate Standing Committee on Human Rights to bolster Canada’s legal and institutional arrangements to build a truly protective and rights-enabling framework for all children.

This study addresses one of the greatest challenges of our time: the damage caused by HIV and AIDS to the well-being of children and families. With 38.6 million people affected by HIV in 2006, with HIV prevalence at antenatal clinics exceeding 40 per cent in areas of Botswana and KwaZulu-Natal (South Africa), with nationwide adult prevalence in excess of the critical threshold of 20 per cent in several countries, and with the prospect of a rapid spread of the disease in large swathes of India, China and the Russian Federation, the future of child well-being is seriously threatened. Certainly, in the 50 or so countries affected by the disease, the Millennium Development Goals in the field of child survival, education, poverty and basic rights will be missed, often by a large margin.

This publication samples current thinking on the critical relationship between child work and basic education. The contents are thematically broad-ranging: case studies and country-specific analysis rub shoulders with papers at the theoretical core of the subject. 'Learning or Labouring' should provide busy programme planners, project workers and students with both a practical working tool and an innovative source of information.

The 1990 World Summit for Children set in motion the development of what were called ‘National Programmes of Action’ in a number of countries. In the Philippines the birth of the overall government plan has been accompanied by that of a number of supporting schemes at the provincial level. This paper examines the preparation and content of these local initiatives. It provides, in so doing, a clear picture of the Philippine experience of ‘decentralisation’ - the process whereby emphasis is transferred from large-scale capital development projects to more sustainable, community-based services for children.