Social Policy and data for children
Upstream policy changes and data hold more potential than ever before to shape the lives and living conditions of children
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Challenges
How governments choose to allocate resources shapes how children get what they need to survive and thrive.
Across the world, children are more likely to live in poverty than adults. The Gulf countries have invested large amounts of resources in social protection programmes – like cash transfers, health insurance and education subsidies – to give every child an equitable chance in life.
In order to ensure these programmes are giving every child the best possible start in life, it is important to make policy improvements based on data about all the dimensions of a child’s life and detailed understanding of costs and public finance implications.
Gulf states have made steady progress to improve data availability and quality. However, there is need to build on this progress and produce high-quality statistics to monitor, measure and evaluate national development plans and to report on progress towards achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.
Solutions
Together with partners, UNICEF works to give every child an equitable chance in life. We encourage Gulf countries to measure and recognize child poverty as a national policy priority and protect children from its most devastating effects. What's more, we help countries strengthen and expand social protection systems that reach children most at risk of discrimination and exclusion. And we help build the capacity of local governments – in both urban and rural areas – to generate data, plan services, budget equitably and monitor results for children. This includes supporting existing and aspiring child friendly cities.
As it relates to data and evidence, UNICEF is supporting the Gulf countries to determine what data exists on child wellbeing and what national and global indicators need to be monitored. We support countries in planning child focused household surveys such as multi-indicator cluster survey (MICS). We also help with evidence generation and research interventions to address knowledge gaps and inform policy dialogue in areas like mental health and climate change.
