Childhood Wellbeing and Social Protection Andy Sumner 20 July 2009

Buzz groups 5 mins activity in pairs How does childhood poverty differ to adult poverty? Identify 3-5 ways childhood poverty differs

Key messages Childhood poverty, vulnerability and wellbeing are distinct from adult poverty and wellbeing, so policy design, and implementation processes need to be informed accordingly; A ‘3-dimensional’ human wellbeing lens (3D WB) is useful to capture that distinctiveness in a holistic way because a 3D WB approach builds on minimum or ‘basic’ needs and rights to a focus on the enabling conditions for a ‘flourishing childhood’. A 3D WB lens implies different ways of thinking about the causes of child poverty, types of policy intervention, and advocacy.

Contents 1.What is child poverty? How does childhood poverty differ to adult poverty? 2.What is a ‘wellbeing’ lens? 3.What is 3D child wellbeing (3D WB)? 4.How does 3D WB add value? 5.Does 3D WB helps us with: – causes of child poverty? types of child policy intervention? thinking about children and social protection? thinking about child advocacy? 6.A work-in-progress model of child advocacy 7.Conclusions

1. Defining child poverty “Children living in poverty are deprived of nutrition, water and sanitation facilities, access to basic health- care services, shelter, education, participation and protection, and that while a severe lack of goods and services hurts every human being, it is most threatening and harmful to children, leaving them unable to enjoy their rights, to reach their full potential and to participate as full members of the society”. UN General Assembly (10 Jan. 2007)

1b. How does childhood poverty differ to adult poverty? ‘Traditional’ income proxies (even more) problematic Dynamic life stage – different/evolving needs, and socially determined rights/responsibilities Greater heterogeneity – age, parental status + gender, ethnicity, disability status, etc Relational nature - greater vulnerability and less autonomy in decisions effecting their lives Long run impacts and inter-generational transmissions

1c. In sum, childhood poverty is… More subjective: Differing needs depending on the stage of lifecycle; heterogeneous nature - gender, ethnicity, disability status, age and parental status, etc. childhood meaning defined by context/culture. More relational: Greater vulnerability for physiological and psychological reasons; reliance on adults/carer; less autonomy/power - the conventional voicelessness of children has a particular quality and intensity; childhood meaning defined by context/culture.

2. What is a ‘wellbeing’ lens? Material wellbeing i.e. practical welfare and standards of living Subjective wellbeing i.e. values, perceptions and experiences Relational wellbeing i.e. personal and social relations Wellbeing is… What a person has; What a person can do with what they have; How they think about what they have and can do. McGregor (2007:317) Wellbeing research seeks to build on human development, basic needs and rights approaches

3. What is ‘3D child wellbeing’? 3D child wellbeing arises from a combination of: what a child has; what a child can do with what they have; and how a child thinks about what they have and can do. It involves the interplay of: the resources that a child is able to command; what they are able to achieve with those resources and what needs and goals they are able to meet; the meaning that they give to the goals they achieve and the processes in which they engage. Source: Adapted from McGregor (2007:317).

3b. What is a ‘3D child wellbeing’ lens? Material wellbeing i.e. MDGs and UNCRC child survival; child development Subjective wellbeing i.e. UNICEF Innocenti score card – SWB of health, personal and schooling Relational wellbeing i.e. UNCRC - child protection; participation and Innocenti Scorecard peer/family relationships, behaviours/risks What a child has; What a child can do with what they have; How a child thinks about what they have and can do.

4. How does a ‘3D WB’ lens add value? Generally: integrates relational and subjective perspectives on human wellbeing and positive perspective - what people can rather than can’t do, be or feel and three domains dynamically interact. For children: Research suggests that insufficient attention given to subjective and relational dimension of children’s wellbeing such as time to play, affection from family members, feelings of social exclusion by peers, and shabby and/or dirty clothing are equally important concerns but also the material domain is determined in part by the relational and subjective domains (Redmond, 2007; UNICEF; 1999).

4b. How does a ‘3D WB’ lens add value? Inter-generational transmission (IGT) of poverty: Most recent review of empirical work notes material and non-material determinants: – Relational aspects - quality of parenting, nurturing and socialisation, early exposure to violence, fostering, adoption and orphanhood, class and caste, religion and ethnicity; – subjective aspects - early childbearing, education and skill acquisition and child labour, cultural and psychosocial factors, religion, ethnicity. Source: Bird (2007).

5. Does 3D WB helps us with causes of childhood poverty? The case of the IGT of child malnutrition Material Dimensions of Wellbeing – standard of living Relational Dimensions of Wellbeing – personal and social relations Subjective Dimensions of Wellbeing – values, perceptions, experiences What is transmitted? Under-nutrition as measured by age- specific height and weight Rules about who deserves the most and best food in the household Eating down in pregnancy (avoiding too much weight gain) How is it transmitted? Physiological mechanisms, via growth in the womb; Differential wages for males and females, dowry and property IGT Lack of external norms about healthy child size Determinants of transmission (policy interventions) Lack of information on what a healthy baby looks like Lack of agency of women to negotiate child care. Inability or unwillingness to interact with more diverse group of people, ideas;

5b. Does 3D WB help with types of policy? Material Dimensions of Wellbeing – standard of living Relational Dimensions of Wellbeing – personal and social relations Subjective Dimensions of Wellbeing – values, perceptions, experiences Capabilities Interventions Asset transfer schemes; credit and savings schemes (e.g. MDG 1) Human and skills development schemes; Empowerment programmes (e.g. MDG 2). The social and cultural dimensions of education programmes (e.g. MDGs 2, 3, 5, 6). Conditions Interventions Land reform; The regulation of markets (e.g. monopoly regulation) Legal Reform; Rights-based approaches; Governance Reforms. Societal campaigns for social and cultural reform (e.g. dowry campaign)

5c. Does 3D WB help with social protection? Type of SP Material Dimensions of Wellbeing – standard of living Relational Dimensions of Wellbeing – personal and social relations Subjective Dimensions of Wellbeing – values, perceptions, experiences Protective (social assistance) social transfers; disability benefit; pension schemes; social services Preventive (Insurance and diversification) social transfers; - funeral societies livelihoods diversifica- tion; social insurance; savings clubs; Promotive (economic opportunities) social transfers; school feeding; starter packs; public works programmes access to credit; asset transfers; access to common property resources Transformative (addressing underlying social vulnerabilities) Land reform; The regulation of markets (e.g. monopoly regulation) Legal Reform; Rights-based approaches; Governance Reforms. Societal campaigns for social and cultural reform (e.g. dowry campaign); promotion of minority rights

5d. Does 3D WB help with child advocacy? Child wellbeing dimension Which types of power prevail in that dimension? What to change? Implications for child advocacy? MaterialMaterial political economy (Marx) Control over resources. Promote changes to ‘voice’ - children’s direct participation in policy processes and greater use of all kinds of child evidence in policy processes SubjectiveDiscourse (Foucault)Control over values, identities, conditionings. Promoting changes to ‘values’ – greater generation and use of participatory research in policy processes. RelationalInstitutions/formal and informal ‘rules of the game’ (Bordieu or North) Control over norms, conventions, behaviours. Promoting changes to ‘visibility’ - via research evidence use in policy processes

What are the ingredients of child advocacy? NetworkingMessaging Opportun- ism What determines policy change? Policy actors (i.e. material political economy) Policy narratives (i.e. discourse) Political context (i.e. institutions) Types of policy change Policy content Changes in policy procedures Changes in policy implement ation Agenda setting Policy framing 6. An w-i-p approach to child advocacy

6b. Ingredients of influence?  Networking - actors/networks: ‘Knit-working’ or the building of coalitions of champions around ideas, that lead to change.  Messaging - narratives/stories: Sticky stories’ or ‘rallying ideas’ in the content and processes of knowledge generation and translation play a role in whether research is used.  Opportunism - Institutions/contexts: ‘Strategic opportunism’ or the role of mapping contexts to identify windows of opportunity for influence (and not forgetting the role of serendipity).

7. Conclusions Childhood poverty, vulnerability and wellbeing are distinct from adult poverty, and wellbeing, so policy design, implementation processes need to be informed accordingly; A ‘3-dimensional’ human wellbeing lens (3D WB) is useful to capture that distinctiveness in a holistic way because a 3D WB approach builds on minimum or ‘basic’ needs and rights to a focus on the enabling conditions for a ‘flourishing childhood’. A 3D WB lens implies different ways of thinking about the causes if child poverty, types of policy intervention, and advocacy.