Financing an Inclusive Recovery for Children: A Call to Action
July 2021
About
The combined health and economic crisis resulting from the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic risks long-term repercussions for children’s development and well-being around the world. These losses will affect not just children themselves, but also the future of their families, communities and economies, possibly for decades.
Ensuring an inclusive recovery requires a new way of thinking and a commitment to financing the scale-up of high-impact interventions across social sectors, while enhancing the efficiency and effective use of multiple financing mechanisms.
Three critical actions are imperative to safeguard all children’s futures, requiring strong commitment and action on the part of national governments, the international community and the private sector:
- Safeguard critical social spending and minimize the negative impacts of the economic crisis on people, children in particular, ensuring children are last in line for budget cuts.
- Ensure the effective and efficient use of financial resources across social sectors for human capital development, maximizing coverage and impact for all children.
- Identify and deploy additional international and domestic financing options, using innovative approaches as necessary to direct adequate finance towards an inclusive recovery that protects children (especially the poorest and most marginalized), tackles inequalities (including those of gender that have been revealed and deepened by the pandemic), and sets a course for more resilient economies to respond to future shocks.
