Improving the Lives of Poor Children Living In MENA Cities: Learning from Global Experience

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Improving the Lives of Poor Children Living In
MENA CitiesLearning from Global Experience
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Two part presentation Part 1 A quick review of
the circumstances and Challenges facing children
in MENA cities Part 2 Some guidelines and
approaches to help Provide for and protect
children drawing from International experience
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Part 1 CHILDREN IN MENA CITIESWHAT ARE THE
CIRCUMSTANCES?

• Rapidly growing urban populations
• Urban poverty falling but still significant
• Improving Human Development Indicators, but still
  pockets where services are lacking
• Children are vulnerable and at risk to disease,
  crime, lack of employment opportunities, natural
  disasters etc.

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• URBAN POPULATION
• Size of the child population (ages 0 to 18 years)
  in the MENA
• region is about 130 million and growing
• The regions population doubled between
  1970-2000, and it is expected to double again in
  many countries over the next 30 years
• Children represent over 40 of the total
  population MENA is a young region
• About 50 million children live in MENA cities
• This demographic profile poses big challenges for
  provision of services and facilities for children
  and youth

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FIGURE 1 CUMULATIVE IMPACTS OF URBAN POVERTY
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• HUMAN DEVELOPMENT
• Basic human development indicators rank high in
  comparison to South Asia and Sub-Saharan
  Africa, but less well than Latin America, East
  Asia and Eastern Europe
• Primary education enrollment estimated at 95
  percent
• Infant mortality is 44 (per 1000 live births) and
  under-5 mortality is about 55 (per 1000 live
  births) Over 90 percent children are immunized
• About 12 percent of children suffer from
  malnutrition
• But disparities exist among countries
• Countries with low GDP per capita (Yemen) have
  higher under-5 mortality (95) and infant
  mortality rates (67), lower school enrolment
  rates
• Disparities also exist within countries
• Children in rural areas in Yemen, Egypt, Jordan,
  Morocco do not have similar access to basic
  education and health services Urban areas are
  generally better served but there too are pockets
  of under-served populations

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CHILDREN ARE VULNERABLE THE MOST VULNERABLE ARE

• Children living in poor and marginalized
  households there are around 34 million children
  in poverty (less than 2/day), of which around
  one third are in urban areas
• Children living in Slums, where crime and disease
  are rife
• Children out of school never went to school and
  dropouts amounting to close to 5 million in
  MENA cities
• Child laborers estimates suggest 10-15 percent
  of the labor force is children under the age of
  15 years
• Street children
• Disabled children
• Youth in general unemployed youth in particular

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MANY OF THE UNEMPLOYED ARE YOUNG
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CHILDREN FACE DIFFERENT VULNERABILITIES AT
DIFFERENT AGES
The main stages in the lifecycle
Perinatal period
Neonatal period
Pregnancy
Birth
7 days
Early neonatal period
Infancy
28 days
Death
Aging
1 year
Adulthood
"Pre-school years
5 years
20 years
Reproductive period
10 years
Childhood
Adolescence
"School-age"
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WHAT ARE THE CAUSES ?

• Child vulnerability is a growing phenomenon due
  to
• Increase in absolute poverty (Morocco, Yemen)
• Stagnant economic growth (Egypt, Jordan) large
  budget deficits
• Increase in youth and adult employment despite
  government employment schemes (Egypt, Yemen)
• Adult illiteracy (Yemen, Egypt)
• Persisting conflict and war (WBG, Jordan)
• Weak social protection mechanisms (Yemen, Egypt,
  Jordan)
• Inadequate funding for social services, leaving
  poor people least well provided for (Egypt,
  Yemen, Morocco, Jordan)
• Private costs and poor access to schooling and
  health care (Yemen)

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2. Providing for and Protecting Children In MENA
Cities A Daunting Challenge.but Feasible
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• SOME OF THE BASIC GUIDELINES
• Multi-sectoral approach thus avoiding single
  sector silos and pre-judging best intervention
• Comprehensive framework a place for everyone,
  and each playing to their comparative advantage
• Protect families so they in turn can protect and
  nurture their children avoid children becoming
  risk coping instruments, and prevent children
  from leaving the domain of the family
• Balance coping (ex-post) interventions with
  up-stream (ex ante) preventative interventions
• Public-private-NGO-community partnerships

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PUBLIC-PRIVATE-NGO-COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIPS

• Key ingredients for success
• Seeks balance between prevention and coping
• Is decentralized to local community (not
  centralized)
• Uses multi-agency funding including private
  sources
• Provides co-ordinated services (not sector
  specific)
• Customer driven (not focused on an agency)
• Is driven by the search for good outcomes and is
• judged by outcomes (not inputs)
• Service delivery by teams that include
  professionals, parents and other stakeholders
• Seeks institutional change and can be
  mainstreamed
• Family oriented (not focused on an individual)
• Suitably trained and motivated public sector
  workers

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• COMMUNITY BASED PROGRAMS LEARNING FROM GLOBAL
  EXPERIENCE
• Start as pilots, community based initiatives
  supported by NGOs, Foundations only go to scale
  when positive impact and cost-effectiveness has
  been demonstrated
• Integrated and multi-sectoral in nature
• Complement basic service provision by government
  agencies do
• Not substitute - reach out to groups that are
  beyond government provision
• Involve a spectrum of partners
• Governments role is to provide basic services
  wherever possible, and ensure sound policy,
  regulatory and financing framework to facilitate
  the work of other partners

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Interventions to Improve Child Care, Nutrition,
Education and Child Development, and Health for
Poor Urban Children Program methodology approach
participation sustainability factors
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• SOME EXAMPLES OF SUCCESSFUL PROGRAMS
• Community Day Care Centers in the slums of
  Guatemala City support for working mothers, with
  nutritional gains for children and increased
  household income. Partners include local
  government, community and beneficiaries
• Early childhood education for young children in
  disadvantaged urban areas in Istanbul, Turkey.
  Intervention gives young children from poor
  families an equal footing when they start primary
  school. Local and national government, together
  with NGO and community
• Integrated child development services in many
  parts of urban India. Health, nutrition and
  education services for poor and disadvantaged
  children. Local and national government, local
  community groups
• Adolescent heath services in Malaysia.
  Government, NGOs, community groups and religious
  leaders work together to promote healthy
  lifestyle for teenagers
• Maternal and child health care in urban Honduras.
  Initially aimed at growth monitoring and
  nutrition programs for very young children, the
  program expanded to a wider age group.

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• Take aways
• MENA cities face multiple challenges children
  are a large share of the population and are
  especially vulnerable and at risk
• 2. City governments can only do so much
  themselves to provide essential services and
  protect children (fiscal and capacity
  constraints). But by creating the right policy,
  regulatory and financing framework they can
  involve a spectrum of partners (NGOs, private
  sector, the general population).
• Community-based local solutions show huge
  promise best ones can be scaled-up.
• Essential for government officials to have the
  right mind set help facilitate good outcomes
  irrespective of who provides. A small amount of
  public sector funding and support can go a long
  way!