1 Welcome to the webinar The webinar has not started yet, we are waiting for others to join before we begin. Today’s webinar will be recorded and available on the Global Coalition to End Child Poverty’s website here: Please kindly mute your microphones.
2 Introduction Richard Morgan Director, Child Poverty Global Theme
3 Evidence on What Matters from Young Lives data (4 countries)Paul Dornan Young Lives
4 Key arguments in the chapterYoung Lives is a research study following experiences of children in Ethiopia, India, Peru and Vietnam. The strength of the study is the life course approach. Argument line Great expectations: “If one can learn and study hard, they will always have a good job … that can change their family’s life.” (Fatuma, 15 year old girl, Ethiopia) How do inequalities in ‘human capital’ develop over the life course? Early disadvantages have long term consequences. But potential to support recovery. Learning gaps exist before children go to school. Differences in opportunities to learn at school, but these are country specific differences. Adolescence is a pivotal decade. Growing social roles and responsibilities. Importance of social norms & increasing gender based differences. Implications Life opportunities shaped by social, economic and a household context Children more likely to be poor than other age groups. Damaging but not inevitable – social protection Increase access to quality preschool for poorer children Take the opportunity of increased school enrolment for learning and wider gains
5 Future research Large research programme – see or get in touch Young Lives has been collecting data since 2002, the current phase ends in Key aim is to synthesize evidence child poverty and the life course, and speak to the best policy approaches to interrupt disadvantage. Future work: Specific areas – nutrition and growth; education/ schooling; early marriage; adolescence; employment. Key outputs Country specific synthesis reports (end 2017) Tracing the consequences of child poverty (end 2017/start 2018) Thematic reports (end 2017/start 2018) Nutrition and growth: ‘The earlier the better, but it’s never too late’ ECD and Education: ‘Quality education across childhood to sustain early gains’ Pathways to young adulthood: ‘Shaping adolescent outcomes through integrated approaches’
6 Child impact findings from Microeconomic InterventionsCali Mortenson Ellis PhD University of Southern California Josh Chaffin Women's Refugee Commission
7 Systematic search for high-quality evidence (RCTs), 1990-2014Children 0-18 CCT, UCT, Training, Savings, Microcredit (not large-scale) 46 reports coded for interventions and outcomes Key findings All types of ES studied have had one or more positive effects No clear “winner” among ES types
8 Child impact findings from Microeconomic InterventionsPotential Negative Effects 20% of studies had at least one negative effect Microcredit interventions can reduce school attendance (Bosnia Herzegovina) Schooling-conditional CCTs can cause psychological distress is adolescents (Malawi) Age-based CCTs can cause reallocation of resources within families (Colombia) Current Research Expand to include studies through 2016 Preliminary findings show similar results Next Steps Many studies did not collect data on how children were affected Include children’s outcomes in standard indicators for ES program evaluation
9 Child Sensitive Social ProtectionKatherine Richards Save the Children
10 Lessons from Practice in Child Sensitive Social ProtectionAn increase in investment and coverage is essential Analysis into risks and vulnerabilities children face and integrated measures to address them should be the foundation of a child sensitive social protection system An integrated, systems approach should inform social protection programming, including a single registry to improve linkages Efforts should be made to strengthen child focused accountability, especially in building the extent to which civil society organisations are able to hold public officials to account Consider linkages, through case management, referrals and support to access services promote access to social services, and shared messaging, for greater impact Use broad targeting criteria rather than targeting based on poverty or income Efforts should be taken to minimise barriers to access and to support access of groups that face particular constraints Transfer sizes should take into account costs of accessing social services and a nutritious diet, and the programme should be of a sufficient duration to address children’s needs These unintended outcomes should be monitored, and addressed through programme design Children at Shimukunami rural health centre, Copperbelt province, Zambia
11 New and upcoming research plans for child povertyInclusive social protection systems Achieving the Social Protection Floor guarantees for children and pregnant women Children’s voices A child participation project, based on qualitative research, to provide target countries with a better understanding of the nutritional needs of children from age 5 to 18 Tum Lang, who lives in a small village in Myanmar, knows the importance of eating nutritious foods while pregnant. But food is scarce and people don’t have much choice about their diet
12 Questions and answers Please ask the presenters questions by typing them in the chat box on the bottom left hand corner of your Skype for Business window.
13 Responsible finance and Child LabourPatricia Richer ILO
14 ! Latest estimates for child labourers in the world: 168 million !What do we know about child labour… ! Latest estimates for child labourers in the world: 168 million ! Child labour… is work which is harmful to the child or interferes with his / her education. The ILO Minimum Age Convention No. 138 (1973) marks out minimum age limits for different types of employment. The minimum ages applicable in each country are set by national labour or child protection laws. The minimum working age cannot be less than the age set for completion of compulsory schooling. Main international conventions Convention on the Rights of the Child ILO Convention No. 182 on the Worst Forms of Child Labour ILO Convention No. 138 on the Minimum Age for Admission to Employment
15 Costs & Quality of EducationAccess to Finance and Child Labour: Causes of child labour and effective entry points for responsible finance LAPO Nigeria: -Associated school fees loan -Awareness campaign Social Norms Demand Costs & Quality of Education Nyèsigiso Mali: Integrated client training on child labour, financial education, and improvements in working conditions and productivity Vulnerability Income Poverty NRSP Pakistan: Upgraded health and accident insurance
16 Capacitate, replicate, further innovateAccess to Finance and Child Labour: Causes of child labour and effective entry points for responsible finance Possible Interventions: Raise awareness / sensitization of management and staff of financial service providers and Associations of MFIs on causes & forms of child labour Coordinate/cooperate with local/international partners to raise awareness on child labour among clients of financial service providers (offer training with ILO child labour tools, public awareness campaign via radio broadcast or theatre plays etc.); Offer financial services that are conditioned on attending education/training on child labour; and Develop, together with clients or the community, a code of conduct to which clients of financial service providers shall adhere. Possible Interventions: Financial education to understand that school expenditures can be planned; Provision of school savings accounts; Provision of educational loans (over longer terms); Provision of school fees loans (loans to cover associated costs); Link social government transfers (G2P) for schooling to bank account. Possible Interventions: MFIs can target specific industries or sectors where child labour is prevalent with: education attached to loans / conditional loans; awareness campaigns; and exclusion of clients. Social Norms Demand Costs & Quality of Education Possible Interventions: Empower women with responsibilities of monetary decision-making; Offer productive loans / leasing for income-generation based on proven entrepreneurial capacity; and Link productive loans to business / management training or financial education. Income Poverty Vulnerability Possible Interventions: Access to protective financial services to provide safety nets against income and expenditure shocks: Savings (highly accessible, secure, and liquid) Insurance (health, business, credit & death) Emergency loans Incentivise innovative distribution channels for insurance and use of technology to minimise admin costs Link protective financial services with financial education or business development services. Capacitate, replicate, further innovate
17 Supporting working children through microfinance (Egypt)Richard Carothers PPIC-Work
18 Recognizing that children are there …Microfinance programs can draw children in to workplaces
19 Supporting working childrenSupporting working children ... Microfinance institutions are well placed to support working children … positive relationships with business owners means to make change ongoing monitoring self financing and scale PPIC- Work: - 9 interventions developed through a participatory process with children 19
21 Where next ? Engaging in the children and work policy debate: Open Democracy https://www.opendemocracy.net/open-letter-better-approach-to-child-work
22 Impact of wealth increases on school enrolment (Bangladesh)Munshi Sulaiman Save the Children
23 Contribution Poverty is a commonly identified constraint for greater investment in human capital Anti-poverty programs address income poverty Not automatic: Income growth greater human capital for children Large scale randomized control trial of a program for ultra-poor in Bangladesh Accelerated income growth Not significant effect on children’s education Income effect vs. demand for child labour Other binding constraints
24 Research Plans How to maximize effects of food security and livelihood programs on child wellbeing? [Fragile contexts] Monitoring children’s wellbeing in FSL Introduce small nudges Conditionality in cash transfers Integrate with education program
25 Questions and answers Please ask the presenters questions by typing them in the chat box on the bottom left hand corner of your Skype for Business window.
26 Fostering economic opportunities for youth in Africa: A comprehensive approachKaren Moore Programme Manager – Youth Livelihoods, The MasterCard Foundation
27 Youth employment challenge significant globally; in sub-Saharan Africa, vulnerable employment and working poverty particularly significant. Chapter examines The MasterCard Foundation’s evolving approach to fostering youth livelihoods in Africa through its partnerships. Barriers to accessing sustainable livelihoods are many, so effective approaches tend to be holistic: a combination of training in a range of market-relevant technical and transferable skills; access to job and business opportunities; and appropriate formal and informal financial services. In sub-Saharan Africa, important: to recognise the role of ‘mixed livelihoods’ in contexts where formal jobs are lacking, and to support youth engagement in agriculture and agribusiness as viable livelihood opportunities. (see The challenge can only be adequately addressed through meaningful collaboration among a range of stakeholders, including the private sector, government and civil society, and, especially, youth themselves. Questions remain, especially how to reach scale with our combined efforts
28 Selected recent and forthcoming youth livelihoods research in partnership with The MasterCard Foundation ILO’s School-to-Work Transition surveys (53 surveys across 34 developing and transitional countries), country and regional reports, and particularly the thematic reports (e.g. gender, financial inclusion, rural development, informality, education, working conditions), : work-transitions/ IDRC’s work on youth employment in sub-Saharan Africa (Côte d’Ivoire, Rwanda, Tanzania, Zambia), 2015. https://www.idrc.ca/en/article/addressing-africas-youth-employment-challenge The MasterCard Foundation Youth Think Tank reports ( and forthcoming) think-tank-report/; The ODI’s work as part of The MasterCard Foundation’s Youth Forward Initiative, focused on youth employment in the agriculture and construction sectors in Ghana and Uganda (2016 and forthcoming) https://www.odi.org/projects/2787-youth-forward-learning-partnership The ODI’s work Exploring the Gendered Dimensions of Youth Livelihoods Programming (expected early 2017) – please contact me for further details.
29 Impact of Youth Savings initiativesRani Deshpande (Richard Morgan speaking on behalf of) Save the Children Contact Rani:
30 Why youth savings? YouthSave: a multi-country project to understand how to offer sustainable, impactful youth savings accounts Results >150k accounts, $1.2M in savings, ~700k individuals reached with financial education Greater uptake through school-based transactions FE appeared to produce durable changes in knowledge, attitudes, behaviors 48% of account holders under $2.50/day pc 43.5% girls Areas for future work Gender-inclusivity Depth of outreach Account usage Impact on non-financial outcomes
31 Lessons, current research and methodsComplement good product design with accessibility and motivation Optimize the role of adults in youth savings Provide financial education to ensure youth understand how to safely use savings accounts Deploy tailored strategies and dedicated resources to reach the most deprived youth To impact non-financial outcomes, consider resource transfers and integrated programming Current research Current research questions Does layering saving promotion schemes and financial education onto the regular Skills to Succeed program lead to improved employability and employment outcomes for youth? Do soft skills make a difference for employment outcomes? How does the medium of instruction for employability skills affect students’ employment outcomes? What combination of program elements leads to the strongest employment outcomes? Methods
32 Questions and answers Please ask the presenters questions by typing them in the chat box on the bottom left hand corner of your Skype for Business window.
33 Thank you! Clare Tawney Practical Action PublishingThe Child Poverty Challenge can be purchased from: If you quote the voucher code PAPCONF2016 at checkout you can get a 25% discount on a paperback copy. You can also download individual chapters from this book from our online digital book platform: More information about Practical Action Publishing if you are an author: Clare Tawney Practical Action Publishing Richard Morgan save the children