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 Childrens 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 & Tools Integrates 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 Putting child at the centre of considerations, alongside other stakeholders Using Poverty & Social Impact Analysis Approach to illuminate impacts on children Using the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child as the overarching framework

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 childrens 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, 2 nd & 3 rd order effects of policy that are often important for children Highlighting the role of social capital in childrens 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 Consultation with stakeholders, especially children & young people

Ask the Right Questions About PSIA Transmission Channels And 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 (cont) 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 childrens 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 peoples 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 isnt 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 Learnt Mixed (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?