Exploring Child Poverty: Understanding Concepts and Measuring Impact

Introduction

The global commitment to ensuring a secure and nurturing childhood for every child is falling short of its initial promise. The Convention on the Rights of the Child, established in 1989, grants children in both affluent and less affluent nations the entitlement to a childhood characterized by learning, play, sound health, and optimal growth. Despite this, more than 15 years after the Convention's inception and amidst over a decade of market-driven economic expansion, governments and the international community remain distant from the actualization of children's rights and the establishment of a world that genuinely caters to their needs.

This discussion encompasses various perspectives on addressing child poverty, including the basic needs approach, the capability approach, and the human rights approach. However, the ongoing discourse fails to distinguish child poverty as a distinct concept and overlooks the unique requirements and vulnerabilities of children in poverty.

Regrettably, child poverty remains absent from the conversation and has been inadequately addressed in efforts to quantify and combat poverty. This deficiency in conceptualization and debate regarding child poverty bears significant repercussions for policy formulation. Conversely, the prevailing emphasis on income generation and sector-focused poverty alleviation strategies obstructs a comprehensive outlook on the well-being of children and families. While broader poverty discussions do bear relevance for children living in poverty, this paper narrows its focus to the explicit recognition of child poverty.

Defining Child Poverty

• Limits of the traditional approach:

  Child poverty is usually conceived as the poverty experienced by children and young people. It differs from adult poverty in that it can have different causes. It can also have different effects and these effects may have a permanent impact on children.

  Even short periods of deprivation can affect children's long-term growth and development. As UNICEF describes it: “Children experience poverty as an environment that is damaging to their mental, physical, emotional and spiritual development. Therefore, expanding the definition of child poverty beyond traditional conceptualizations, such as low household income or low levels of consumption, is particularly important. And yet, child poverty is rarely differentiated from poverty in general and its special dimensions are seldom recognized.

  There is no uniform approach to defining, identifying or measuring poverty. The debate over poverty is concerned with different potential causes of poverty and ways in which poverty can be measured and compared nationally and internationally. The monetary approach, which is the most widely used approach to identifying and measuring poverty, focuses poverty reduction strategies on increasing individuals' incomes

  Furthermore, the monetary approach neglects to note that children's well-being also depends on non-market-based goods. Access to basic services and a safe environment for play is generally more dependent on the level of local provision than on household income. Thus, individuals cannot purchase these goods even if they have sufficient income. Not only do these non-monetary aspects affect children's well-being but they also tend to have a disproportionate effect on children. Children under five, for instance, experience more than 80 per cent of the diarrhoeal diseases related to the inadequate provision of water and sanitation - diseases that remain a major cause of both death and illness for all age groups.The impact on children of a range of environmental deprivations (as well as deprivation in nutrition and health care) is especially critical because of the long-term developmental implications. Because of the disproportionate effects on children of environments that are related to inadequate provision, the monetary approach is clearly inappropriate for identifying and measuring child poverty. However, as in the debate over the exact definition of poverty, there is no set definition of child poverty, hence this paper attempts to summarize different characterizations of child poverty used by organizations working directly on children's issues. As mentioned above, these definitions are based on a combination of concepts of the deprivation approach to identifying and measuring child poverty and human rights principles

• The human rights framework and the definition of poverty:

  The human rights-based perspective on poverty integration seeks to amalgamate human rights principles, analysis, values, and terminology into the discourse surrounding poverty alleviation. This methodology asserts that the goals of anti-poverty strategies ought to be shaped by international human rights laws and values. Given the widespread acknowledgment of international human rights laws across nearly all nations, and their reinforcement through legal commitments, the human rights-based approach presents a robust and overt normative framework to steer both national and global policies aimed at reducing poverty.

  As for identifying the poor, that is, for measurement and analysis, the human rights-based approach looks at constitutive rights - those rights, in other words, without which a person is considered poor. The list of these rights may differ from one country to another, but based on empirical observation, the Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights (OHCHR) developed a common set of rights that apply to most countries:

  • Being sufficiently promoted
  • Being able to avoid preventable morbidity and premature mortality
  • Being adequately protected
  • Having basic education
  • Being able to appear in public without shame
  • Being able to earn a livelihood
  • Taking part in the life of a community

  This list can be used to identify the poor, to learn more about their exact needs, and to evaluate the success of poverty reduction strategies. Moreover, implicit in the definition of poverty based on the nonfulfillment of rights is the assumption that governments have the legal responsibility to fulfil these rights, as the ultimate duty bearers.

  “ Childhood poverty means children and young people growing up without access to different types of resources that are vital for their well-being and for them to fulfil their potential. By resources we mean economic, social, cultural, physical, environmental and political resources.”

  • Insufficient income and income-earning opportunities:

    The study refers here to children suffering because the low level of household income affects their access to necessities and limits their consumption and opportunities.

  • Lack of human development opportunities:

    The reference here is to children lacking access to social and basic services such as health, education, sanitation services and recreational facilities, and to the impact of this lack of access.

  • Feelings of economic and physical insecurity:

    Economic insecurity refers to children's concerns about fluctuations in household income (unemployment) and access to public services. Physical insecurity is related to abuse, child labour, the vulnerability experienced by orphans, and so on; and feelings of powerlessness, the reference here is to children feeling oppressed within the family unit and feeling excluded from, or scorned by, the community.

Child Poverty Measurements And Findings

Poverty is not easily measurable. The multi-dimensional nature of poverty includes quantifiable variables (such as income, consumption and access to basic services), but it also includes capabilities variables that may not be so easily measurable such as the capability to participate in society without facing discrimination. Because of these complexities, most development agencies rely on the monetary approach to measure poverty (the poverty line), which is a very partial and, in many ways, a counterproductive approach to measuring poverty. This is because:

• it ignores the multi-dimensional nature of poverty
• it uses a single income-based poverty line to identify the poor, neglecting the different characteristics of households
• it overlooks the different needs of people - for instance, a disabled person may need more resources than a person without disabilities to accomplish the same tasks
• it disregards the importance of public services and public goods, such as education, health care, water, sanitation and so on
• it concentrates anti-poverty strategies on increasing an individual's income level rather than on investing in public services.

This section will present a summary of the methodologies and results of some international and national efforts to measure child poverty.

Child Poverty In Pakistan

All provinces in Pakistan face the challenge of malnutrition, with 44 percent of the country's children small and 22 percent severely small. Malnutrition rates are particularly high in Baluchistan and Sindh, where half of children under the age of five are stunted, and have increased since 2001. Child Protection program is technically supporting the Government of Pakistan to strengthen the realisation of the right of the child to protection from all forms of violence and exploitation, by addressing gaps in the enabling environment as a priority, including the fundamental absence of a child protection case management and referral mechanism in the country.

In Pakistan, there are several institutions and programs dedicated to reducing child poverty and promoting the well-being of children. Some of these include:

• Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP):

  BISP is one of Pakistan's largest social safety net programs, providing cash transfers to low-income families, including those with children. It aims to alleviate poverty and empower vulnerable households.

• Punjab Education Foundation (PEF):

  PEF focuses on improving access to quality education for children in Punjab. It provides support to low-cost private schools and offers scholarships to children from marginalized backgrounds.

• Sindh Education Foundation (SEF):

  Similar to PEF, SEF operates in the Sindh province to enhance access to education for underprivileged children. It supports schools and offers scholarships to deserving students.

• National Commission for Child Welfare and Development (NCCWD):

  This commission is responsible for advocating and promoting the rights and welfare of children in Pakistan. It works to create policies and programs that address child poverty, education, health, and protection.

• Child Protection and Welfare Bureau (CPWB):

  CPWB operates in Punjab and is responsible for safeguarding the rights and well-being of vulnerable children, including those in need of care and protection.

• Health and Nutrition Programs:

  Various health and nutrition programs, both at the federal and provincial levels, aim to improve maternal and child health, reduce malnutrition, and ensure children have access to essential healthcare services.

• Pakistan Bait-ul-Mal (PBM):

  PBM is a government agency that provides financial assistance, rehabilitation, and social welfare services to vulnerable and disadvantaged individuals and families, including children.

This section will present a summary of the methodologies and results of some international and national efforts to measure child poverty.

Conclusion

As a responsible Pakistanis, we can collectively combat child poverty by refraining from employing child labour in our homes and communities. By joining forces with existing institutions, we can contribute funds and charitable efforts to alleviate this issue. Collaboration with government initiatives, alongside our individual actions, is key to making a difference. By advocating against child labour and promoting child welfare, we can effectively reduce poverty's impact. It's crucial for the government to enact targeted legislation addressing child poverty on a national and global scale. Together, we must prioritize eradicating child poverty through both personal commitments and coordinated efforts with institutions and government policies.