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
C
on
sult
atio
n w
ith
st
akeh
old
ers,
esp
ecia
lly
chil
dre
n &
yo
un
g p
eop
le
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?