South Asia Regional Child Poverty Network Meeting Venue TBD, 7-9 May 2008 Child Poverty and Disparities Study Country Progress Raj Gautam Mitra and Preet Rustagi

Source : Population projections , Office f the RGI

Indias progress is key to achieving MDGs

India is not likely to achieve MDG SRS IMR trends in India 290 thousand Infant deaths 440 thousand Infant deaths

Percentage of children in different quintiles of MPCE class Percentage of children age 0-14 years in the total population 33 percent Source : NSSO 61 st round survey and RGI

IMR in states 2006 Health Deprived SRS

Nutrition deprived NFHS

Sanitation deprived NFHS

A child born in the poorest household is three times as likely to die before s(he) reaches her/his fifth birthday compared to a child born in the richest household NFHS 3

The disparity in provision of health service is evident. A child living in the richest 20 % household is three times likely to get all the recommended vaccinations as compared to a child living in the poorest 20% household NFHS Full immunization rates by various background characteristics

Musahars in Bihar and UP Census 2001 Education deprived Population 2.1 million Female literacy rate 3.9% Children (5-14 years) attending school 9.8%

Research processes Input into the 11 th Five Year plan ( ) process started in 2006; opportunity for UNICEF to build a cross-sectoral dialogue with planners to look at overall policy environment and well-being of children Study to contribute to wider discourse within which sectoral policy and programming takes place; Study to deepen focus on interconnections between livelihoods, expansion of economic opportunities and human development outcomes for children Study preparation began in March Focus is first on collecting data and policy information, before the second stage analytical work UNICEF-IHD partnership to carry out the research, analysis, report preparation and dissemination to jointly reach a wide audience Advisory Group will be put in place in July, under stewardship of new Representative, and with government participation to guide the analytical work

Concepts and methodology Developing a coherent account of child poverty from macro, household and individual perspectives is both an opportunity and a challenge Indias size and diversity defies generalisation, and so analysis must be context-specific for the report to be relevant and useful at the state and national levels Focus on social exclusion Focus on overall country data plus statistical data analysis for 16 largest states For policy methodology though focus on national frameworks and programmes (with some reflection of state-specific innovations, if and where relevant)

Data collection and processing India has one of the richest sources of secondary information. –NFHS; Census; NSSO and so on –Except from Census, generating absolute numbers a challenge –Especially from NFHS, which is a sample based dataset –Wherever possible, we should use percentages and proportions –Country too large, major states also need to be considered

Data analysis Child poverty and deprivations – two separate aspects Poverty a household concept, therefore children in poor households considered Deprivations – a larger set, encompassing education, health, shelter, sanitation, water, and so on All analysis has the potential to inform national development policy processes

Policy advocacy Value-added of this study is seen as opportunity to broaden approach from technical/sectoral to wider understanding of human development and children Particular value-add is the opportunity to discuss child- friendly and inclusive social protection as a framework to draw together sectoral challenges (as poor and socially excluded groups bear significant burden of policy weaknesses in the social and economic sectors) Bring children more forcefully into centre of policy discussions on growth and human development Emphasize importance of multi-sectoral and coordinated actions for children Bring discussions on child-friendly and inclusive social protection into development dialogue

Programming Internal cross-section group will be constituted to review the analysis in parallel with the formal advisory group Study would provide important pointers about the interlinkages between different MDGs and different sectoral goals, as well as the importance of strengthening anti-poverty/social protection measures to leverage them better for childrens well-being By helping build analytical evidence-based clarity on these linkages, internal process will also be steered towards a discussion on mechanisms and ways to strengthen the links between FA 1-4 and FA 5.

Communication and advocacy strategy High-profile national launch Public discussions and dissemination workshops in states where UNICEF has an active policy and programme presence Policy briefs and other shorted outputs planned, e.g. one for each key recommendation 7 technical papers commissioned to cover issues such as child friendly: poverty measures, legislative frameworks, social protection, urban planning, macro-economic growth strategies will be published as a stand-alone series to accompany the report launch and will be used as background papers for the report Shorter opinion pieces from leading practitioners, thinkers and policy makers are to be commissioned, covering issues such as: childrens aspirations, emerging public health issues, street children, mental health, governance, right to food, early childhood education, child sexual abuse and approaches to discipline in the private and public domains – for use in report and as op-eds in and around the time of the reports publication

Questions Correlations and Odds Ratios - ? How essential Sample size relevant in case of survey data, not in the context of secondary data If data is to be internationally comparable..