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1. Empowering young voices: Using action research to combat xenophobia through children’s initiatives

Author:
Ruth Nyamadzawo
Publication Date:
04-2024
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Conflict Trends
Institution:
The African Centre for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes (ACCORD)
Abstract:
Since 1994, South Africa has seen an influx of refugees, asylum seekers, skilled professionals, and socio-economic migrants seeking security and better opportunities. However, this has led to challenges, including xenophobic violence. Despite efforts by civic organisations and the government, the problem persists. Therefore, there is a need for a mindset of peace to address the recurring violence. This article is concerned with exploring the problem of recurring xenophobia in South Africa by reviewing the approaches that have been followed in response to this phenomenon and proposing an alternative response of involving children in peacebuilding measures. It highlights the importance of empowering children and helping them develop the capacity to become agents of change, and raising them as peacebuilders in the communities where they reside. Underlining the role of educating for peace in transforming human society, it is believed that peace workshops could contribute to preparing young generations for sustaining positive relationships with those considered the ‘other,’ and thus consolidating peace in South Africa.
Topic:
Children, Discrimination, Youth, Xenophobia, Empowerment, Stigmatization, and Peacebuilding
Political Geography:
Africa and South Africa

2. Left Behind or Forgotten? The Case of Children With Disabilities: A Multidimensional Poverty Approach

Author:
Khaufelo R. Lekobane and Thabile A. Samboma
Publication Date:
02-2024
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Botswana Institute for Development Policy Analysis
Abstract:
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development recognises the importance of multidimensional poverty and disability. Using the 2015/16 Botswana multi-topic household survey, this policy brief examined the link between childhood disability and multidimensional child poverty in Botswana¹. We employed the conceptual framing of the Leaving No One Behind principle, capability and human rights-based approaches to define multidimensional child poverty and child disability. The following are key highlights of this policy brief. Children with disabilities are particularly deprived of basic capabilities (education and health). On average, children with disabilities, as a group, experience multiple deprivations at higher rates and in higher breath, depth, and severity than children with no disabilities. Children with disabilities have higher multidimensional poverty levels than their nondisabled peers across demographic, economic, and geographical divides. Multidimensional child poverty levels vary across the type of functional disabilities and across the number of functional disabilities experienced by children.
Topic:
Health, Poverty, Children, Disability, and Sustainable Development
Political Geography:
Africa and Botswana

3. The South African Constitutional Court Decides Against Statelessness and in Favour of Children

Author:
Mihloti Basil Sherinda and Jonathan Klaaren
Publication Date:
07-2022
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Statelessness & Citizenship Review
Institution:
Peter McMullin Centre on Statelessness, Melbourne Law School
Abstract:
Shrinking citizenship is of great concern for those facing the prospect of reduction in citizenship statuses,not from two to one but from some to none—ieto the status of statelessness. Research in South Africa has only recently begun to pay increased attention to the problem of childhood statelessness, itself only seeing sustained interest at the global level for just over a decade.39The DHA does not keep official statistics on statelessness, not mentioning the topic in its annual reports through 2015.40In 2017, one of the leading NGOs addressing the issue provided legal assistance to 92 children (half born in South Africa) with problems of statelessness or at risk of statelessness.41Following a wider human rights definition,rather than the narrower UNHCR approach, South African legislation is mostly in line with international legal standards on the prevention and reduction of statelessness, including for children.42However, the implementation of those laws leaves much to be desired due to the DHA’s tendency to support restrictive interpretations of the provisions in its regulations and policies.43Chisuseclarifies the principle of the statutory interpretive presumption against retrospectivity and its application to legislation in a complex regulatory framework,which could also beinterpreted to extinguish existing citizenship rights. When read in its fullness, the historical approach adopted by the Constitutional Court led to a persuasive decision, handing success to public interest litigants acting on behalf of those faced with adegree of statelessness. Especially when seen in the context of a shrinking bureaucratic regard for citizenship applicants, the Constitutional Court continues to place itself at the centre of the rights-regarding movement within South African citizenship law.44The decision confirms the trend in childhood statelessness cases wherein the lower courts have found against the DHA,45including that of a child born to two Cuban parents where Cuba refused to extend citizenship to the child (instructing the DHA toissue citizenship to the child); a child born to refugees and reaching the age of 18(holding that the DHA’s delay in formulating guidelines for applications was not a sufficient basis to deny children the opportunity for naturalisation); and children with an unmarried South African father and a foreign national mother (ruling that the children should be properly registered so that they could access South African citizenship)
Topic:
Children, Citizenship, Courts, and Stateless Population
Political Geography:
Africa and South Africa

4. Market Access and Quality Critical for Food Security in Periods of Stress

Author:
Anastasia Marshak
Publication Date:
03-2022
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Feinstein International Center, Tufts University
Abstract:
This briefing paper describes how market access is associated with household food security and dietary diversity in the Karamoja region of Uganda in 2018 and 2019. In 2018, according to both the study’s primary data and secondary data, households experienced significantly worse conflict, climate, and economic shocks compared with 2019. These shocks in 2018 led to a decline in livestock production, increase in food prices, and declines in terms of trade. While the experience of shocks was worse according to many indicators in 2018, household food security and , dietary diversity data remained relatively similar across the two years. The data indicate that greater use of markets during the more stressful 2018 year might have mitigated the expected, but not observed reduction in food security. Better market quality and access was associated with using fewer short-term coping strategies and better food security and dietary diversity, but only in 2018, when households experienced more shocks. Thus, households are likely to be more reliant on markets during periods of greater stress. This analysis is part of the United States Agency for International Development/Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance (USAID/BHA)-funded Apolou Activity, a consortium led by Mercy Corps. It was designed to help Mercy Corps and other national and international actors to address youth’s vulnerability and opportunities in the Karamoja sub-region. The findings are part of a four-year study carried out in four districts of the Karamoja sub-region. The analysis and findings in this report focus on the first and second round of quantitative data from November/December 2018 and 2019. The data come from a longitudinal two-stage randomized cluster sample of approximately 500 households across 52 villages. The same respondents were interviewed across both years.
Topic:
Agriculture, Development, Food, Children, Resilience, and Household
Political Geography:
Uganda and Africa

5. Child Sexual Abuse in Botswana: An Evaluation of The Effectiveness of Child Protection Institutions in selected villages

Author:
Thabile A. Samboma
Publication Date:
11-2022
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Botswana Institute for Development Policy Analysis
Abstract:
Child Sexual Abuse (CSA) in Botswana is a big social problem with proven lifelong effects on the victims. Botswana has established various child protection institutions (CPI) and amended children’s protection laws to ensure that children are safe from all harm. However, despite this development, Botswana CSA cases are still rising. This study provides the first attempt to evaluate the effectiveness of child protection institutions in Botswana. A case study method was used in Old Naledi and Letlhakeng through an indepth interview with twenty-two (22) participants. The findings of the study revealed that there is;(i) the absence of a national child strategy, (ii) poor coordination of child protection institutions, (iii) weak child legislation framework, (iv) lack of capacity, (v) inadequately financed child protection, (vi) lack of systematic data collection, (vii) lack of evidence-based research, (viii) Decline of family structure and (iv) lack of public awareness. All these combined hinder the effectiveness of child protection institutions in Botswana. The study recommends as follows: reviewing the Children’s Act of 2009, developing a national child protection strategy, strengthening coordination of CPI, increasing resource allocation, creating a centralised database on CSA and strengthening evidence-based research on CSA in Botswana.
Topic:
Children, Institutions, Protection, and Child Sexual Abuse (CSA)
Political Geography:
Africa and Botswana

6. Eliminating child marriage in Ethiopia

Author:
Fana Gebresenbet
Publication Date:
06-2021
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS)
Abstract:
How can we explain the large gap between national legal and policy commitments to reduce and eliminate gender-based violence (GBV) and the reality and practice of GBV in Ethiopia? Hitherto explanations mainly centre on the conflict between and social and official norms, and the stubbornness of the former. In this new DIIS Working Paper, Fana Gebresenbet tries to go beyond this dichotomy to examine what happens in the ‘in-between spaces’. While the stubbornness of social norms only brings home to us the slow pace of change, it does not tell us what guides the emerging practices that contribute towards change. Instead, ‘practical norms’ are used here as an analytical tool to examine what happens as we move along the continuum from social to official norms. This helps us capture why routinised, coordinated and socially acceptable new practices occur before the major social norms change. This work is part of GLOW (Global Norms and Violence Against Women in Ethiopia), a research programme financed by the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and coordinated by DIIS.
Topic:
Development, Diplomacy, International Organization, Poverty, Children, Women, and Inequality
Political Geography:
Africa and Ethiopia

7. The United Nations Children and Armed Conflict Agenda: Integrating Child Protection Issues and Children’s Voices in Peace Processes

Author:
Asha Asokan
Publication Date:
05-2021
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal of Public and International Affairs (JPIA)
Institution:
School of Public and International Affairs (SPIA), Princeton University
Abstract:
One in five children lives in a country affected by conflict (Save the Children 2019). Despite concerted international and national efforts to protect children, these 415 million children face grave human rights violations that continue to rise. More political will and resources are needed from governments and parties to the conflict to prevent such violence against children and protect children in armed conflict. However, research confirms that out of 431 ceasefire and peace agreements, less than 18 percent of peace agreements included child protection provisions (Watchlist on Children and Armed Conflict). Often, peace-related documents that mention child protection issues do not mention integrating children's participation into peace processes, which is essential to understanding and addressing children's needs during and after the conflict. To end the cycle of violence against children, a paradigm shift must be made in the way peace agreements address children’s issues and rights. Guided by the “Global Policy Paper on Youth Participation in the Peace Process,” commissioned by the United Nations Envoy on Youth, this paper recommends that mediators and child protection actors employ three integrated but non-hierarchical layers for including child protection issues and children’s participation in the peace process: “in the room,” “around the room,” and “outside the room” of formal peace negotiations. This multi-layered, inclusive approach may help achieve the desired results: preventing violence against children and reaching a sustainable peace.
Topic:
International Relations, United Nations, Children, Peace, and Armed Conflict
Political Geography:
Africa, Middle East, and Asia-Pacific

8. Predictors of school dropout across Ethiopia, India, Peru and Vietnam

Author:
Santiago Cueto, Claudia Felipe, and Juan Leon
Publication Date:
07-2020
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Group for the Analysis of Development (GRADE)
Abstract:
In this paper the authors utilize the five rounds of Young Lives household surveys across four countries (Ethiopia, India, Peru and Vietnam) to study the characteristics of children who had dropped out of school by 22 years of age. While most children in the longitudinal sample go to primary school, they tend to drop out more often and earlier in Ethiopia. In India most children complete the early grades of school but drop out later, particularly in grades 11 and 13. Researchers find that in all countries, except Vietnam, there is a considerable number of children who drop out of school but at some point return to it, either to complete secondary or drop out again. The reasons provided by children for dropping out across the countries are oftentimes related to poverty: for example, the need to work, or care or provide for family. The multivariate analysis shows that indeed in many cases the wealth level of the family at an early age predicts later dropout, as does maternal education level, students’ early skills and residence in certain regions of each country. There are also some variations across countries; for example, boys are more likely to drop out of school in Ethiopia and Vietnam, and children who have repeated a grade are more likely to drop out of school in Peru. However, having high educational aspirations at early ages seems to be a protective factor against dropping out. This suggests that the value that children place on education may be an important preventative factor against dropping out. Overall, these results suggest the need to act early through education and social protection interventions to target young children who are at risk of dropping out, and the follow their trajectories, providing support as needed to specific groups and even individuals, so that all children may fulfill their right to complete at least secondary education.
Topic:
Education and Children
Political Geography:
Africa, India, Asia, Vietnam, Ethiopia, and Peru

9. Determinants of Child Malnutrition in Mauritania

Author:
Yahya Abou Ly
Publication Date:
01-2020
Content Type:
Research Paper
Institution:
African Economic Research Consortium (AERC)
Abstract:
The empirical context of this research is in an environment where malnutrition is a real public health concern. The objective of this study was to identify the determinants of the nutritional state of children under the age of five years in Mauritania. Using data obtained from multiple indicators cluster surveys (MICS) in Mauritania in 2007 and 2015, we undertook fixed-effects clusters techniques to control for unobserved heterogeneity. The empirical results demonstrate that the age and sex of a child, level of education of the mother, the standards of living of the household, the area of residence, the availability and use of health care services and access to drinking water are all important factors for the good health of children in Mauritania. These findings suggests improvements in nutritional health, for example, by education of girls until completion of secondary school; an improvement in the conditions of households that are headed by women and an expansion in the coverage rate of multi-purpose health centres.
Topic:
Health, Food, Children, Food Security, and Child Poverty
Political Geography:
Africa and Mauritania

10. Birth Order and Demand for Immunization for Children under the Age of Five in Cameroon

Author:
Negou Kamga Vincent de Paul and Nda’chi Deffo Rodrigue
Publication Date:
01-2020
Content Type:
Research Paper
Institution:
African Economic Research Consortium (AERC)
Abstract:
Despite free basic vaccines administered by the Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI), there is still a fairly high death rate of children aged 0-5 worldwide due to vaccine-preventable diseases. Sub-Saharan Africa is the most affected region due to low levels of vaccination. This study analyses the effect of birth order on the immunization status of children in Cameroon, considering the contribution of cultural, economic and community factors. To do this, it uses data from the Demographic and Health Surveys of 1991, 1998, 2004 and 2011 produced by the National Institute of Statistics with the support of UNFPA, UNICEF, the World Bank and USAID. The EPI module was administered to 3,350, 2,317, 8,125 and 25,524 children under five in 1991, 1998, 2004 and 2011, respectively. The multinomial probit model makes it possible to find that birth order has a negative and highly significant effect on the full and timely immunization of children under five and the impact increases with birth order. Moreover, the impact of birth order increases after adjusting for cultural factors. This increase indicates that, beyond the effect of birth order, cultural factors are at the root of prejudices leading to the abandonment of children. Considering children under two years of age, and vaccines taken during the first four months, the corresponding birth order effect points to the benefits of routine immunization and response campaigns in promoting immunization of children under five.
Topic:
Economics, Health, Health Care Policy, and Children
Political Geography:
Africa and Cameroon