The Vietnam National Programme of Action: A decentralization study

The Vietnam National Programme of Action: A decentralization study

AUTHOR(S)
Kiri Evans; Adam Rorris

The 1990 World Summit for Children set in motion the development of what were called ‘National Programmes of Action’ in a number of countries. The Vietnamese government has taken its programme a step further than most, having actively encouraged the growth of sub-programmes at the provincial level. This paper examines the then current stage in the country’s experience of this ‘decentralisation’ process; the opportunities it had created and the difficulties hindering its continued progress.
Cite this publication | No. of pages: 28 | Thematic area: National Development Programmes | Tags: decentralization, national policies, National Programme of Action | Publisher: UNICEF ICDC, Florence
Decentralization of Services for Children: The Spanish experience

Decentralization of Services for Children: The Spanish experience

AUTHOR(S)
Ferran Casas

The ‘Plan Of Action’ adopted at the 1990 World Summit for Children recognised the importance of grass-roots initiatives for children at the provincial level. In many countries, this call for ‘decentralisation’ has triggered the beginnings of an entirely novel process. In Spain, a general trend toward the provincial and the participatory had already begun - the effect of the NPA has been to strengthen an already existent phenomenon. This paper documents Spain’s extensive experience of decentralisation and the influence it has had upon policy and services for children.
El Trabajo Infantile y la Educación Básica en America Latina y el Caribe

El Trabajo Infantile y la Educación Básica en America Latina y el Caribe

AUTHOR(S)
James R. Himes; Vicky Colbert de Arboleda; Emilio Garcia Mendez

Published: 1994 Innocenti Essay
Crisis in Mortality, Health and Nutrition (Russian version)

Crisis in Mortality, Health and Nutrition (Russian version)

Published: 1994 Regional Monitoring Report
After the collapse of the communist system in 1989, most Eastern European countries experienced a mortality and health crisis. However, this did not hit the traditionally most vulnerable groups - children, adolescents, women and the elderly - but male adults in the 20-59 age group. The Report indicates that the surge is largely dependent on three transition-related factors: widespread impoverishment, erosion of preventive health services, sanitary and medical services and social stress. Although infants, children and young adolescents have not been greatly or directly affected by the mortality crisis, the Report points out that their situation has been severely threatened by more frequent sickness and greater nutritional imbalances, while the upturn in adult deaths is leading to a considerably heightened risk of poverty, abandonment or orphanhood.
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child: Three essays on the challenge of implementation

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child: Three essays on the challenge of implementation

AUTHOR(S)
James R. Himes

Published: 1993 Innocenti Essay
The Convention on the Rights of the Child has been variously hailed as ‘the cornerstone of a new moral ethos’ and a ‘milestone in the history of mankind’. But laws and treaties are as nothing without adequate practical follow-up. The real results will depend not upon the high-mindedness of the ideals themselves, but upon the action taken to achieve them. The ‘challenge of implementation’, is the subject of the three papers collected here. The CRC must not be dismissed as ‘another Utopia’ and it is argued that, with the right policy decisions, the convention’s initial momentum can be sustained.
Cite this publication | No. of pages: 38 | Thematic area: Convention on the Rights of the Child | Tags: convention on the rights of the child, implementation of the crc | Publisher: UNICEF ICDC, Florence
Education and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child: The challenge of implementation

Education and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child: The challenge of implementation

AUTHOR(S)
Frank Dall

Home-Based Community Day Care and Children's Rights: The Colombian case

Home-Based Community Day Care and Children's Rights: The Colombian case

AUTHOR(S)
Carlos Castillo Cardona; Nelson Ortiz Pinilla; Alejandra Gonzales Rossetti

Over recent years demographic trends in Columbia (such as the increased participation of women in the workforce) have led to an increased demand for a viable day care system for 3-6 year olds. This has largely been met by an innovative programme set up by the Colombian Family Welfare Institute. The idea at the basis of their initiative is simple yet effective: mothers are given the training and support to enable them to offer day care within their homes to the children of other families from their own communities. This paper describes in detail the design and implementation of this programme. It is hoped international organisations and other countries will draw inspiration from this Colombian success story.
Education and the Market: Which parts of the neo-liberal solution are correct?

Education and the Market: Which parts of the neo-liberal solution are correct?

AUTHOR(S)
Christopher Colclough

Cite this publication | No. of pages: 46 | Thematic area: Economic Development | Tags: economic development, education, liberalism, market economy | Publisher: UNICEF ICDC, Florence
The Decline of Infant Mortality in Europe, 1800-1950: Four national case studies

The Decline of Infant Mortality in Europe, 1800-1950: Four national case studies

AUTHOR(S)
Pier Paolo Viazzo; Carlo A. Corsini

Published: 1993 Historical Perspectives
The basic facts about the secular decline of infant mortality in Europe have been known for nearly a century. Regristration series show that the levels of infant mortality in the late nineteenth century were still extremely high and could vary quite markedly from one country to another, ranging from about 100 per 1,000 live births in Norway and Sweden to 200 or even 250 per 1,000 in countries such as Germany, Austria and Russia. At the turn of the century, however, infant mortality began to fall almost right across the continent. By the 1950s, when national rates of infant mortality ranged between 20 and 50 per 1,000, the process of convergence was nearly completed. The fall in infant mortality, which was paralelled by a simultaneous and equally pronounced decline in fertility, was responsible for raising life expectancy in many European countries by more than 10 years over a remarkably short period of time. The countries reviewed in this publication are Sweden, England, France and Austria.
Cite this publication | No. of pages: 86 | Thematic area: Early Childhood | Tags: child development, health policy, historical analysis, infant mortality, social policy | Publisher: UNICEF ICDC, Florence
Public Policy and Social Conditions

Public Policy and Social Conditions

Published: 1993 Regional Monitoring Report
In the early 1990s considerable attention was given to the issues of stabilization, privatization, taxation and labour market adjustment in the Eastern Europe transition, but demographic and welfare issues received less attention. While the economic and social reforms undertaken were desirable they faced severe problems of implementation and involved economic, social and political costs far greater than anticipated. This first Report highlights the fact that initial hopes for rapid transformation and economic prosperity were quickly tempered by a considerable decline in output, employment and incomes, a worsening of some social indicators, and the appearance of new welfare problems. The Report warns against neglecting the social costs of transition which affect children and adults, but also threaten the entire reform process.
Urban Stress and its Effects on Children's Lifestyles and Health in Industrialized Countries

Urban Stress and its Effects on Children's Lifestyles and Health in Industrialized Countries

AUTHOR(S)
Solvig Ekblad

Cite this publication | No. of pages: 70 | Thematic area: Urban Child | Tags: child welfare, industrialized countries, urban children | Publisher: UNICEF ICDC, Florence
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