Policy advocacy and partnership for children’s rights

Social policy: The issue

© UNICEF/INDIA/KATHRYN GRUSOVIN

INDIA: Young boy in Tamil Nadu

Of the 600 million children and young people in South Asia, a third live in poverty – more than anywhere else in the world. Sixty-seven of every 1000 children born do not reach their first birthday and 92 of every 1000 die before age five. Nearly half of the region’s children under five years old are malnourished. Though primary school enrolment has been rising, only 70 per cent of girls attend school. Every year, more than 200,000 mothers die due to complications related to pregnancy and childbirth – not just because of poverty, but because of an absence of priority.

South Asia’s governments have all committed to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which require measurable improvements in the most critical areas of human development – health and nutrition, education, shelter, access to water and sanitation, and gender equality – by 2015. But while the commitment of governments is a significant step, at current rates of progress many of the MDGs will not be achieved.
 
Social exclusion – by which certain groups are systematically denied access to entitlements and services because of their ethnicity, caste, race, religion, age, gender, disability, HIV status, migrant status or dwelling place – is a great obstacle to achieving the Millennium Development Goals in South Asia. Social exclusion is exacerbated by pervasive gender discrimination and the growing income gap between the rich and poor. Groups that hover around the poverty line are more vulnerable to any sort of illness or natural disaster, and there is an urgent need to revisit social policy as a means of more equitably distributing resources and opportunities so that all people can have a decent quality of life and realize their full potential.

Social policy can be considered the sum of public policies that impact people’s wellbeing, whether positively through providing quality social services or negatively by neglecting them or encouraging antisocial behaviours. Where social exclusion is pervasive, social policy needs to be cast assertively as transformative social policy and include affirmative action to improve the quality of life. The principle of universal coverage – basic education and health services for all – can only be achieved if the socially excluded get special support, are enabled and empowered to influence the design and quality of social services and to claim their right to these services, and hold service providers accountable for their delivery.

By taking special efforts to ensure social inclusion and universal access to basic social services, transformative social policy can create new traditions and values that respect the rights of all. Such policy also can build the capacity of civil society to hold the government and service deliverers, such as teachers or health workers, accountable for providing quality services.

Social policy is critical for children because their developmental needs are urgent.  If they do not receive proper nutrition or care from the outset, the detrimental effects are irreversible. If they do not receive a quality education, they are more vulnerable to child labour, exploitation, abuse, trafficking, and likely to remain trapped in a vicious cycle of poverty that will easily extend to their own children. The time to focus on inclusive social policy to improve children’s lives is now.