Budget for children. A summary report 2004-05 to 2008-09

Centre for Child Rights (HAQ), a pioneer in undertaking analysis of budget for children (BfC) in India, began with a decadal analysis of the Union (National) Budget from a child rights perspective in the year 2000. Since then HAQ has been involved in the analysis of children’s share in both allocation and expenditure in the Union Budget. For HAQ, budget is another indicator for assessing fulfilment of government’s promises and commitments made towards its people. This study offers a review of the Union Budget of India as well as the budgets of six states: Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Himachal Pradesh, Orissa, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal- for a five year period covering 2004-05 to 2008-09. The analysis is made more exhaustive by including the latest actual expenditure figures that are usually available with a two-year lag. The objective is to evaluate the budget provisions made by the Government of India as well as the state governments towards ensuring the rights of children in the areas of survival, protection and development and examine how far the financial commitments have fallen short of fulfilling these rights.

Cambodia Children's Report: My life..., My suggestions...

The report "My Life My Suggestion" is released by Cambodian Children and Young People’s Movement for Child Rights (CCYMCR), a network of children and youth from 20 organisations operating in 16 provinces in Cambodia. The report highlights the dire situation that Cambodia’s children face in their daily lives and provides a number of important recommendations to engage the Royal Government of Cambodia in solving the problems that affect the living situation and development of children. Statistics reveal that twenty-six percent of the children surveyed said they have never received care and warmth from their parents and a quarter said they were forced to do various dangerous or unsuitable jobs, including pulling carts, performing wage labour, begging, working in rubber plantations, working at construction sites and factories, scavenging for scraps, logging and finding firewood. Also documented is the limited extent of the country’s child healthcare services, as twenty-three percent of the survey participants stated that hospitals were far from their homes, and that health centres were small, understaffed and under-equipped. Moreover, twenty-seven percent of the children said they faced regular discrimination on the basis of poverty and race, and for having disabilities or suffering from HIV/AIDS. This children’s report was sent to UN Committee on the Rights of the Child in 2010.

A Guidebook on Spaces for Children's Participation in ASEAN

This document aims to explain about children's rights within the ASEAN context, especially in relation to children's participation rights. It provides involvement about the ASEAN Commission
on the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Women and Children (ACWC) and its representatives as well as the ASEAN Children’s Forum (ACF). ACF is a regional meeting of children that was organized to promote children’s rights and to share their thoughts and suggestions on issues that affect them

Kampuchean action for primary education. Educational Needs Assessment Relating to Cham and Migrant Children in Kampong Cham Province

The study - undertaken by Save the Children Sweden in collaboration with the local NGO Kampuchean Action for Primary Education (KAPE)- assesses the degree to which Cambodia’s Cham ethnic minority and migrant children in Kampong Cham Province are able to access educational services from the state school system. The study describes the demographic, economic, and historical context of the province as well as specific problems in the formal education sector. It provides background introduction, research methods, conclusions and recommendations.

Climate change, children and youth in Cambodia: Successes, challenges and policy implications

This briefing was prepared as background to the Cambodia Human Development Report on climate change and rural livelihoods in Cambodia. The brief presents an overview of climate impacts in the context of existing poverty and vulnerability, before specifically focusing on child impacts. The brief draws on Children in a Changing Climate (CCC) research with children, presenting views of the children themselves before calling for child sensitive approaches to climate change adaptation and mitigation. Principles developed from the Convention on the Rights of the Child, a World Fit for Children and the Millenium Development Goals are presented. The brief concludes by identifying opportunities and entry points within Cambodia for implementing a child sensitive approach to climate change.

Child Rights Governance

The Child Rights Governance Global Initiative (CRGI) is aimed at building societies that fulfill the rights for all children setting out two main objectives: Strengthening state institutions and mechanisms for the implementation and monitoring of children’s rights; and increasing awareness and capacity among civil society and children to promote children’s rights and hold duty bearers to account. Working towards the goal of achieving all rights for all children can sometimes sound rather abstract or remote from children’s lives. What kind of impact does work on Child Rights Governance actually have? This report tries to answer the question by presenting case studies that show how work on CRG can hold governments to account, influence budgets, empower children, and strengthen civil society and national legal systems. Hopefully, it will inspire readers to do CRG work to achieve all rights for all children.

Budget for Children (BfC) in the Union Budget 2012-13

"Mr Finance Minister, what have you got for me this year? Budget for Children (BfC) in the Union Budget 2012-13", analyses State Budget allocations and government commitments to child rights. The budget for children work (BfC) in India began in 2000 with a decadal analysis of the Union Budget by HAQ. Since then HAQ has been involved in Union budget analysis on a regular basis, undertaking a quick analysis of the national budget for children every year. Key findings in the 2012/2013 report include: 5.3 per cent of the Union Budget is Budget for Children (BfC) with an increase of 0.3 per cent since 2011, set against an inflation rate of 6.6 per cent; the increase can be attributed to the increased share in Development sector by 66.2 per cent, and health by 29.7 per cent. As always, the share of protection sector remains the lowest. Despite recognition of protection of children in the XIth Five Year Plan and reaffirmation in the Working Group Report, Ministry of Women and Child Development for the XIIth Plan, there is an 18 percent fall in budget allocation.

'Budget for Children Analysis' Toolkit

Exciting work is going on in relation to budgeting on children's issues.
I will list here some documents that look at ways of involving children in developing and monitoring budgets related to children's issues.
The 'Budget for Children Analysis' Toolkit is a joint effort by HAQ: Centre For Child Rights and Save the Children, which provides steps for analyzing State Budget allocations and monitoring government commitments to Child Rights. The toolkit has been designed to demystify and elucidate in easy-to- understand language the concept of ' Budgeting for Children'. It aims to strengthen the capacities of civil society organisations in undertaking Child Centred State Budget Analysis, as an effective way to advocate for appropriate budget allocations for children issues and good governance, and to hold governments accountable for fulfilling children's rights.

Resource centre on children's rights

Save the Children Sweden is hosting a resource centre for Save the Children International on children's rights, with a specific focus on child rights governance and child protection. Currently it holds approximately 2,500 titles that can be downloaded for free. You can also sign in and create your own library with documents of the resource centre that you would like to have on hand at any time. You can share your library or ‘book shelf’ with others, by inviting them to join. You can thus share relevant literature with colleagues or participants in a training or workshop.
Each document in the resource centre has a brief description. One can also upload documents to the resource centre, once registered. The documents will be reviewed before they are accepted and shown on the website.

The African Report on Child Wellbeing 2011. Budgeting for Children

This 2011 edition of The African Report on Child Wellbeing is the second in a series of reports published biennially by The African Child Policy Forum as a contribution to putting Africa’s children on the public and political agenda, and to holding African governments accountable to their obligations – to their children. The report reviews the budget performance of 52 African governments between 2006-2008, focusing on spending in sectors that most directly impact on children. Along with Tanzania, Mozambique and Niger, the three African countries most committed to budgeting for children, the report also names Gabon, Senegal, Tunisia, Seychelles, Algeria, Cape Verde and South Africa as the best performing countries in allocating the maximum of their available resources to children. The report aims to put Africa’s children on the public and political agenda, and to hold African governments accountable for fulfilling their responsibilities towards their children. It explores in greater depth the obligations of African countries to invest in their children, the arguments for doing so – from a moral, social, political, and economic perspective – and the importance of the national budget (as a key policy document of the government) in: (1) positively impacting upon the wellbeing and quality of life of children, through budget allocations to sectors that most impact upon children’s lives; and (2) representing an effective barometer of true government commitment to the rights of the child.