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The visibility of child rights in Official Development Assistance

To complement ongoing research on child poverty and analysis on the implementation of the CRC, this research gives particular attention to article 4 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) on the allocation of resources to support the realization of child rights to the maximum extent possible.

The research cluster addresses issues of budgetary allocation for the realization of economic, social and cultural rights, including with a view to ensuring that each child has access to basic social services of quality to provide for the child's adequate standard of living, development to the fullest potential, and protection from neglect, exploitation, abuse and discrimination.

In their implementation efforts and reporting to the Committee on the Rights of the Child, States Parties are expected to address the role of international cooperation in promoting the realization of children's rights. However, from the Committee's work, it is difficult to identify a systematic approach for monitoring donor country efforts in terms of estimated spending and shares in total Official Development Assistance (ODA).

To support this process, UNICEF IRC is undertaking a study exploring the visibility of children's rights in donor countries development assistance, both at donor headquarters and at the country programme level. This research reviews the action of donor agencies in six countries (Austria, Belgium, Canada, Germany, Sweden and the United Kingdom) and assists the European Union to assess and compare their approach. The donor level perspective is complemented by five case studies reflecting the perspective on countries which receive aid (Ethiopia, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Nicaragua and Vietnam). The research discusses various ways in which the visibility of child rights can be conceptualized, from which a seven-fold visibility framework is developed. The framework is then adopted to discuss - with a comparative approach - the experience of the different donor countries.

Research is carried out by a team at the Overseas Development Institute (ODI) and has received contributions by the Governments of Italy, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland, the German Technical Cooperation (GTZ) and the Belgian National Committee for UNICEF.

Publications

The Impact of the Indonesian Financial Crisis on Children: An analysis using the 100 villages data
Publication

The Impact of the Indonesian Financial Crisis on Children: An analysis using the 100 villages data

This paper examines the impact of the Asian crisis on children in Indonesia. School attendance dropped slightly after the onset of the crisis but has since rebounded to higher than pre-crisis levels. Fewer children are now working, although the older children who are working and are not attending school seem to be working longer hours.
Beyond Krismon: The social legacy of Indonesia's financial crisis
Publication

Beyond Krismon: The social legacy of Indonesia's financial crisis

Most of the countries caught up in the Asian financial crisis appear to have weathered the storm. But Indonesia's prospects are far more uncertain. The financial turbulence of the Krisis Moneter, or Krismon, set off a dramatic social and political chain reaction, with effects on children that could reverberate for years to come.
Implementing the Convention on the Rights of the Child: Resource mobilization in low-income countries
Publication

Implementing the Convention on the Rights of the Child: Resource mobilization in low-income countries

This title focuses on the implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child as it relates to children's basic economic and social rights in developing countries in terms of the obligations placed by the Convention on both States and the international community.
Implementing the Convention on the Rights of the Child: Resource mobilization in low-income countries. Summary
Publication

Implementing the Convention on the Rights of the Child: Resource mobilization in low-income countries. Summary

This title focuses on the implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child as it relates to children's basic economic and social rights in developing countries in terms of the obligations placed by the Convention on both States and the international community.
Macroeconomic Policy, Poverty Alleviation and Long-term Development: Latin America in the 1990s
Publication

Macroeconomic Policy, Poverty Alleviation and Long-term Development: Latin America in the 1990s

This Innocenti Occasional Paper examines the social and economic dynamics of poverty in Latin America from the late 1970s onward. The author’s analysis shows clearly the forces at work behind the observed changes in the nature and extent of poverty in the region.
Resources and Child Rights: An economic perspective
Publication

Resources and Child Rights: An economic perspective

This paper first examines the use of human, economic and organizational resources in producing social outputs, in terms of the two main forms that resources take: 'stocks' and 'flows'. Based on this framework, several key measures are identified for increasing the availability of resources for the implementation of child rights, including changes in technologies and processes, and the expanded use of 'non-traditional' resources for children.
Tax Reforms and Equity in Asia: The experience of the 1980's
Publication

Tax Reforms and Equity in Asia: The experience of the 1980's

The 1980s witnessed a number of important shifts in fiscal policy in both the developed and the developing world. This paper examines the Asian experience of this process of change - identifying key reforms and assessing their effectiveness. Particular emphasis is placed throughout upon the equity implications of the various tax systems.
Tax Reforms and Equity in Latin America: A review of the 1980s and proposals for the 1990s
Publication

Tax Reforms and Equity in Latin America: A review of the 1980s and proposals for the 1990s

This paper focuses on the equity aspects of tax systems in Latin America. Aftrer reviewing quantative characteristics regarding the level and composition of tax structures, the paper analyses recent country experiences of tax reforms and attempts to show how the design of instruments has coped with distributional issues in taxation.