Using child-centred data to monitor the realisation of children’s socio-economic rights in South Africa

Making Children Count:

Authors: Lizette Berry and Double-Hugh Marera

E-mail: lizette.berry@uct.ac.za

Children’s Institute, University of Cape Town

International Society of Child Indicators Conference: June 2007International Society of Child Indicators Conference: June 2007

Significant progress in the social, economic and human development arenas has been made post-1994

Little is known about the extent to which children are beneficiaries of such progress

South Africa’s government are obliged to ensure that the rights of children are realised

Conceptual framework of this project is presented - uses indicators to monitor the realisation of children’s socio-economic rights

Introduction

The policy and legislative environment

Children have theoretically enjoyed greater attention post-1994

A progressive legislative and policy framework intends to serve the best interests of children in South Africa

12 years post-democracy, comprehensive implementation has yet to be experienced by all children

A rights-based framework

South Africa ratified the United Nation’s Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) in 1995

Adopted a progressive Constitution in 1996

Careful monitoring of the implementation of laws, policies and programmes is required

A focus on socio-economic rights

Socio-economic rights aim to ensure equal access to resources, opportunities and services needed for an adequate standard of living for all [Liebenberg & Pillay, 2000]

The South African government has an obligation to advance the realisation of children’s socio-economic rights

The importance of child-centred data

Child-centred data: the child is the primary unit of observation and analysis [Saporiti, 1998]

Such data are scarce in South Africa Although survey and administrative data

are available - children are often not the unit of analysis

Child-centred data are required to provide an accurate picture of the realisation of children’s rights

The making of Children Count-Abantwana Babalulekile

The project addresses the paucity of information on children in South Africa

It performs a monitoring function Indicators of children’s socio-economic

rights are used to measure the degree to which these rights are being fulfilled

Key findings: The apartheid legacy is evident in the inequity

experienced by the majority of African children Although progress is gradual in some policy

areas, in others steady improvements have been made

Indicator domains

Health

Nutrition

Education Housing

Water & Sanitation

Social Security

Demography

Monitoring childsocio-economic

rights

Indicators per domain

Social SecurityTake-up of the Child Support Grant

Children in receipt of the Care Dependency GrantChildren in receipt of the Foster Care Grant

DemographyChild population

Orphan populationIncome poverty

Presence of employed adultChild-parent co-residence

Orphan-parent co-residenceChild-headed households

Water & SanitationAccess to water

Access to sanitation

EducationSchool attendance rate

Gender parity indexLearner-educator ratioSchool access to water

School access to sanitationDistance to school

HousingUrban/rural location

Housing typeOvercrowding

Access to electricity

NutritionLow birth-weight rate

StuntingUnderweight

Vitamin A deficiencyIron deficiency

Iodine deficiencyChildren experiencing hunger

HealthInfant mortality rate

Under-5 mortality rateMaternal deaths

Cause-specific deaths among childrenTeenage pregnancy rateImmunisation coverage

HIV prevalence among childrenHIV prevalence among pregnant women

Proportion of children on ARV’sProportion of adults on ARV’s

Methodological approach & strategies

The project uses household survey data and administrative data

Employ statistical techniques to extract child-centred data from annual household survey data

Generate reliable child-centred indicators and develop trends

Communicate our findings via: a dedicated web site -

www.childrencount.ci.org.za An annual publication called the ‘South

African Child Gauge’

Illustration 1: monitoring child poverty [1]

Child income poverty: children who live in households with an income of less than R1,200 per month for all the household members combined

Over the 2002-2005 period, an average of 79% of African children were living in income poverty

The number of African children living in poverty remains dis-proportionately high

Illustration 1: monitoring child poverty [2]

Proportion of children living in poor households in South Africa by population group, 2002-2005

Source: Statistics South Africa (2003, 2004, 2005, 2006) General Household Survey 2002; General Household Survey 2003;

General Household Survey 2004; General Household Survey 2005. Pretoria: Statistics South Africa. Analysis by Double-Hugh Marera, Children’s Institute, UCT.

84% 81%75% 75%

53%49%

35% 37%

20% 17%10% 10%

5% 5% 3% 2%0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

2002 2003 2004 2005

Year

Pro

po

rtio

n o

f p

oo

r ch

ild

ren

African

Coloured

Indian

White

Illustration 2: monitoring water access [1]

Children’s access to water: clean and reliable, on site water supply

Children living in predominantly rural provinces have poor access to water

Provincial disparities are stark, pointing to inequity in service delivery

Illustration 2: monitoring water access [2]

Proportion of children without access to drinking water on site in South Africa by province, in 2005

Source: Statistics South Africa (2006)General Household Survey 2005. Pretoria: Statistics South Africa. Analysis by Double-Hugh Marera, Children’s Institute, UCT.

68%

53%

68%

35%

38%

9%

9%

7%

10%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80%

EC

KZN

LM

MP

NW

FS

NC

WC

GT

Are

a

Proportion of children

Illustration 3: monitoring access to housing [1]

Children’s access to housing: overcrowded households = more than 2 people per habitable room [UN-HABITAT]

The majority of children live in non-crowded households

There are slightly larger proportions of older children than younger children living in non-crowded households

Illustration 3: monitoring access to housing [2]

70%

73%

77%

64%

66%

68%

70%

72%

74%

76%

78%

0-5 6-12 13-17

Age in years

Pro

po

rtio

n o

f ch

ild

ren

Proportion of children living in non-crowded households in South Africa by age, in 2005

Source: Statistics South Africa (2006)General Household Survey 2005. Pretoria: Statistics South Africa. Analysis by Double-Hugh Marera, Children’s Institute, UCT.

Conclusion

There is a “…great need for simple and user-friendly statistical indicators...” that direct and strengthen arguments over social policy issues [Garonna, 1994]

This project attempts to fill the information void and provides user-friendly and accessible child-centred data

Child indicators provide benchmarks against which improvements in children’s living conditions can be monitored

The project serves as a useful resource for those who develop policy, laws and programmes that shape the lives of children in South Africa

Visit www.childrencount.ci.org.za

Contact details

Lizette BerryChildren’s InstituteUniversity of Cape TownEmail: lizette.berry@uct.ac.zaWeb: www.ci.org.za