 There is no such thing as a child-neutral policy  Every policy positively or negatively affects the lives of children  To comply with the CRC, the impact on children of policies, laws and budgetary decisions must be assessed

 Child impact assessment  Is a concrete way to ensure children are placed at the forefront of political and decision-making agendas  Can help prevent harm and minimize the risks of costly mistakes  Is an opportunity to systematically examine the potential impacts of policies and programmes ex ante – as they are being developed – rather than after they have been put into effect  Serves the best interests of the child and enhances compliance with international commitments to child rights

 Ensure children are at the heart of policies and projects  Without a specific focus on them, children are likely to be missed.  Help governments meet their obligations under the CRC  To meet that commitments under the CRC, they must first understand what potential impacts their actions may have on children – both positively and negatively

 The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child recommends that Child IAs be undertaken:  When preparing or implementing new guidelines or programmes  When preparing or implementing new legislation, regulations or resolutions  When preparing or implementing budgets or other financial estimates on a national, regional and local level.  Whenever there are public proposals that are likely to have a significant impact on children and their families, including in subject areas that are not necessarily child specific.

 Can be integrated into the evaluation level of programme and project cycle management by:  Identifying whether a recent Child IA has been conducted in the country Ensure its findings can be used for sectoral and programme accountability and improving the overall responsiveness of programmes  Ensuring findings can be used for lessons learned and directly influence design of new programme priorities  Using CHILD IA to link child rights-related policies to measurable results and impacts.

Group Activity

 Proposed tax policy in Serbia In 2010, to mitigate the effects of falling revenues due to the global economic crisis, the Serbian Government proposed a 4% increase in value added tax (VAT) and a series of other fiscal reforms. UNICEF Serbia commissioned a Belgrade-based research institute to conduct an ex-ante Child IA of the proposed taxation reform.

 Key stakeholders should be children themselves, as they are best placed to provide information on issues that concern them  Children can improve the quality of impact assessments by, for example:  Highlighting issues not considered by others  Providing insights into the impacts of policies on different members of the household  Providing insights into issues not seen as priorities by adults  Identifying effective mitigation strategies and small- scale approaches  Enabling research on impacts affecting significantly disadvantaged groups

 See Tool 5.2 for the elements of drafting terms of reference for a Child IA expert or team to conduct the assessment.