ODI-UNICEF CONFERENCE 9 TH -10 TH NOVEMBER, 2009

1. ODI-UNICEF CONFERENCE9TH-10TH NOVEMBER, 2009 The global economic crisis-integrating children in the policy responses- UNICEF, LONDON

2. THE IMPACT OF THE GLOBAL ECONOMIC CRISES ON THE SOCIO-ECONOMIC CONDITIONS OF VULNERABLE GROUPS IN DEPRIVED SOCIETIES: HISTORICAL EXPERIENCES AND LESSONS FROM THE ‘LOST DECADE’ FOR AFRICA IN THE 1980’S. AUTHORS1. PRINCE OSEI-WUSU ADJEI (PHD) Lecturer, Department of Geography and Rural Development, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghanaprinceosei2@hotmail.com2. REV. PETER OHENE KYEI (PHD)Rector, Pentecost University College, Accra, Ghana. kyeipk@yahoo.com

3. POVERTY KILLS LET’S KILL EXTREME POVERTY AMONG CHILDREN AND VULNERABLE GROUPS

4. OUTLINE OF PRESENTATION • GLOBAL CHALLENGE/ STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM • LEARNING OBJECTIVES • NATURE AND DIMENSIONS OF THE 1980’S AFRICAN CRISIS (LOST DECADE FOR AFRICA) • POLICY PRESCRIPTION AND ECONOMIC IMPACT • SOCIAL COST OF POLICIES ON CHILDREN AND VULNERABLE CARE-GIVERS • SOCIAL SAFETY NETS • POLICY LESSONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

5. GLOBAL CHALLENGE (PROBLEM STATEMENT):20% of the people of the world continue to live in absolute poverty

6. The number of poor people is estimated to increase by 46 million in 2009 and an additional 200,000 to 400,000 of infants are likely to die as a result of the economic crisis (World Bank, 2009).

7. ABOUT 8000,000 PEOPLE DIE AROUND THE WORLD BECAUSE THEY ARE TOO POOR TO STAY ALIVE (Sachs, 2005)

8. The financial collapse, with the food and fuel price crises, would increase the number of the extreme poor people in developing countries by about 55-90 million in 2009 than expected before the financial crisis (World Bank, 2oo9)

9. The current financial and food crises will exacerbate poverty and inequality, unemployment and undermine progress towards the MDGs (ODI, 2009).

10. The ‘Triple F’ crises is likely to threaten rural economies due to unemployment and high dependency ratio

11. Learning Objectives • Unveils the nature and dimensions of the ‘lost decade for Africa’ • Highlights key policy prescriptions to address the crises • Examines the socio-economic impact of policies on children and other vulnerable groups

12. Nature and Dimensions of 1980’s African Crisis

13. DIMENSIONS OF THE 1980’S AFRICAN CRISIS (LOST DECADE FOR AFRICA) • Economic: high unemployment, sluggish price performance, balance of payment deficits • Social: mounting infant and maternal mortality, decreasing expenditure on social services (education and health), worsening nutrition and decreasing life expectancy • Political instability and military dictatorship

14. ‘LOST DECADE’: GHANA’S EXPERIENCE

15. Key policy reform from Adjustment Programme • Export diversification • Liberalization of goods and services • Exchange rate and trade policy reform • Financial sector reform • Interest rate and credit policy reform • Fiscal policy reform • State enterprise reform programme • Social and economic infrastructural reform • Education sector reform and Health sector reform • Agricultural sector reform

16. Economic impact of SAP

17. Social cost/impact of adjustment on children and rural households

18. Social cost of adjustment policies • Decrease in real income of farmers, artisans and other informal sector workers • Loss of jobs due to massive retrenchment exercise • Reduction in hospital attendance particularly in rural areas • Reduction in enrolment ratio ( actual number of pupils in school against total number of children of school going age • Increase in infant and maternal mortality due to the introduction of “cash and carry system” • Increase in rural and urban poverty incidence and severity

19. PAMSCAD:-Components • Community initiated projects • Employment generation projects • Re-deployment projects • Basic needs projects • Educational infrastructural projects • Women in development projects

20. PAMSCAD:-Policy lapses • Re-direction of funds into projects and programmes unplanned for • Over-emphasis on institutional building rather than employment creation and poverty reduction, hence, not income generating • Inadequate targeting of the poor, biased towards institutional building • Less emphasis on sustainable livelihood development • Non-integration into mainstream adjustment policies, hence, lacked sustainable effects

21. Lessons from past crises • Children usually bare much adverse impact in times of crises of the current nature • Infant mortality almost always increases • Almost always increase in school drop-out rates, streetism, child labour and abuse because of reduced incomes of care-givers • Malnutrition due to income poverty and unemployment of care-givers • loss of contact hours with parents • Hence, lack of safety nets for children aggravates effects of crises on children and care-givers in most vulnerable households

22. Safety-nets for children: Ghana's efforts • School feeding programme • Livelihood empowerment against poverty • National health insurance scheme • Free mosquito nets for pregnant women and nursing mothers • Capitation grant/free school uniforms for school pupils • National youth employment programme

23. Centre for Rural Research and Poverty Reduction-Rural Research and Advocacy Group • Promotion of rural development through research, capacity building and advocacy • Training of young rural researchers for rural sensitization and advocacy programmes • Promotion of activities and programmes to achieve the MDG’s in deprived societies • Dissemination of research results to NGO’s, CBO’s, Donor and government agencies for policy directions and poverty reduction • Undertake collaborative research and capacity building projects for rural poverty reduction

24. conclusions • Poverty in kills children, let’s kill child poverty • Achieve universal primary education • Empower women and vulnerable groups • Reduce infant and maternal mortality • Halt and reverse HIV/AIDS and malaria incidence among children • Achieve the MDG’s • Make the world a safer and better place for our children

25. THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION AND PARTICIPATION