Integrating a Child Lens into Economic & Social Policy Analysis – using the Poverty &

Social Impact Analysis (PSIA) model-- A Child Rights Impact Assessment (CRIA) Tool

for Economic & Social Policies

Margaret Wachenfeld – UNICEF Brussels Office & Rachel Marcus, Consultant

Integrate consideration of children into key policies especially policies where they are not typically considered

Analyse & highlight the impact of policies on children

Integrate children into the work of other key players

Looking for Upstream Leverage

Rationale for Developing Child Rights Impact Assessment (CRIA) Toolkit

Effects of policy reforms on children not routinely assessed ex ante Although this is an obligation under UN Convention on the

Rights of the Child

Conceptual Constraints Children’s lack of voice & relative powerlessness of

child advocates Lack of understanding of importance of protecting

children at early stages of their lives – negative impacts can have long-term effects on individuals and society

Disciplinary bias tending to concentrate on economic effects

Technical Constraints Data constraints (much data is at household level) but

greater disaggregation often possible

Response: Developing Child Rights Impact Assessment (CRIA) Tool

Integrate consideration of children into key policies

Highlight the impact of policies on children

Integrate children into the work of other key players

Added Bonus

Build on & integrate into existing approaches to analyse impacts of proposed policies on the poor & vulnerable -- Poverty & Social Impact Analysis (PSIA)

Modify the approach to include specific consideration of & impacts on children

Tool can be integrated into PSIA or used as stand-alone tool

PSIA used by World Bank & other donors (UK, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, Norway)

Improving on approaches used in existing CRIA tools by basing analysis on rigorous analysis (quantitative & qualitative)

Integrating Key Frameworks & ToolsIntegrates

Key Foundation: UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) Key Analysis Framework: Poverty & Social Impact Analysis (PSIA) Key Tool: Social scientific analysis of intra-household dynamics

and outcomes for children – both qualitative and quantitative

Using the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child as the overarching framework

Using Poverty & Social Impact Analysis Approach to illuminate impacts on children

Putting child at the centre of considerations, alongside other stakeholders

Existing Poverty & Social Impact Analysis (PSIA) Conceptual Framework

Policy Reforms &

Programmes

Transmission Channels:

•Employment

•Prices

•Assets

•Transfers & Taxes

•Access to goods & services

•Public Financing

•Authority

Impacts transmitted through

CRIA Conceptual

Framework

Summary diagram here (will be slightly revised version)

Child Specific

What is Different About a Child Lens?

Expanding Attention to Children in PSIA

Key Concepts: Challenging assumption that impacts on

children mirror impacts on households more generally – disaggregating beyond household level

Paying attention to possible impacts of policies on all areas of children’s rights

Involving children as participants in policy making process as stakeholders

What is Different About a Child Lens?

Understanding Impacts on Children at All Levels:

*Micro-level: Expands understanding of intra-household processes that lead to impacts on children

Meso-level: Focusing on transmission channels that have a particular importance for children such as access to services or transfers to households

Macro-level: Highlighting how macroeconomic policy & trends acts through transmission channels to have an impact on the proximate causes of child well-being eg policy changes such as devaluation can affect prices of key goods, and thus consumption patterns and children's wellbeing.

What is Different About a Child Lens?

Addressing Missing Dimensions that are Important to Children

Considering not just short or medium term, but also longer-term effects of policy, including inter-generational effects

Deepening the analysis of indirect, 2nd & 3rd order effects of policy that are often important for children

Highlighting the role of social capital in children’s development

Analysing social risks for children arising from social arrangements or cultural norms

What is Different About a Child Lens?

Conclusion: Need to highlight 3 areas in which further work

is needed to understand how policy effects are transmitted to children

Intra-household processes to go beyond household level analysis

Analyse & bring in greater understanding of wider social processes and how they affect children eg changing social capital, social inequality

Outcomes for children, particularly in terms of development, participation and protection

Steps in a CRIA/Child Sensitive PSIA

Broadly follows PSIA sequence Start with scoping assessment Develop Conceptual Framework

understand transmission channels Ask the right questions Gather data and information

on micro-level impacts, intermediary processes and political & institutional context

Analyse Impacts Make Recommendations

including possible mitigation or compensation measures and risk assessment

Foster Policy Debate Monitor & Evaluate

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Ask the Right Questions

About PSIA Transmission ChannelsAnd adding questions on:

Household responses ex: changing patterns of consumption that have effects

on children like school expenditures, changing patterns of labour allocation, changes in caring activities

Access to services ex: with a focus on quality in addition to accessibility

Social capital / cohesion ex. changing patterns of reciprocal child care in the

community as result of breakdown in social cohesion

Ask the Right Questions

Additional Questions (con’t)

Mediating Factors – getting these more explicitly into both questions and analysis

Outcomes for Children Survival & development

• Ex impacts on health & nutrition• Ex impacts on emotional well beingn

Protection• Ex impacts on child labour rates, insufficient care

Participation• Ex access to information

Analyse Impacts on Children

Guidance on quantitative analysis will include:

Building child-focused vulnerability profiles from household data

Estimating scale and magnitude of likely responses to policy change among particular types of households with children

Predicting longer-term feedback effects on economy and how these may alter responses predicted in the short to medium term relevant to children

Quantifying effects on public service provision where relevant to children’s well-being

Analyse Impacts

Qualitative analysis - of impacts eg service providers’ views of how service provision

may be affected and possible effects on children

Risk analysis – indicating possible longer-term negative social effects on

certain groups eg if reforms may lead to social unrest and dislocation

Institutional and political analysis - eg understanding the balance of interests in favour of/ against

child-specific mitigatory measures

Engaging Children and Young People as Stakeholders

Recognising Children & young people as legitimate stakeholders – like other

groups of stakeholders Their right to participate enshrined in CRC That their perspectives may be quite different from adults

Guidance on Ethical issues of child & young people’s participation Engaging as stakeholders in different parts of the process

Collecting data from & with children & young people Analysis & developing recommendations with children

Rapid CRIA

CRIA-lite v. Full CRIA

Screening to establish what is likely to be critical for children and what isn’t

Consider fewer issues and focus on a few strategic priorities

Less likely to involve new data collection or complex analysis of existing primary data

More likely to draw principally on existing literature

Probably involves less stakeholder participation

May concentrate more on short-term effects

CRIA Experience: Proposed Electricity Tariff Reform, Bosnia & Herzegovina

2 Objectives pilot CRIA approach & make recommendations on

methodology identify possible impacts of reforms on children

Methodology literature review analysis of existing quantitative data (LSMS, HBS, MICS) new survey with sub-sample of MICS households qualitative research with children, parents & service

providers, focusing on disadvantaged groups

BiH CRIA: Lessons LearntMixed (qual-quant) methodology effectively integrated

and improved quality of findings. Each type of data helped contextualise findings of others & filled

gaps

Integration with federal statistical infrastructure very helpful (survey could use experienced interviewers)

Greater integration with other research policy initiatives would have been helpful

More time needed for training qualitative researchers – implications for budgeting, also for quality of analysis possible in rapid CRIA

Issues for Discussion

Key Concepts: Conceptual framework & guidance on framing questions & data gathering – are there missing elements?

Rapid CRIA: Is it possible to specify core elements of a rapid CRIA? Is it entirely context-specific?

Sector Specific Annexes: what would be good test cases/ examples?

Uptake: How to maximise integration with existing processes and initiatives, to increase likelihood of CRIA being carried out?