Making Children Count:

1. International Society of Child Indicators Conference: June 2007 Making Children Count: Using child-centred data to monitor the realisation of children’s socio-economic rights in South Africa Authors: Lizette Berry and Double-Hugh Marera E-mail: lizette.berry@uct.ac.za Children’s Institute, University of Cape Town

2. Introduction • 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

3. 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

4. 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

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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

8. Indicator domains

9. Indicators per domain Health Infant mortality rate Under-5 mortality rate Maternal deaths Cause-specific deaths among children Teenage pregnancy rate Immunisation coverage HIV prevalence among children HIV prevalence among pregnant women Proportion of children on ARV’s Proportion of adults on ARV’s Social Security Take-up of the Child Support Grant Children in receipt of the Care Dependency Grant Children in receipt of the Foster Care Grant Demography Child population Orphan population Income poverty Presence of employed adult Child-parent co-residence Orphan-parent co-residence Child-headed households Water & Sanitation Access to water Access to sanitation Education School attendance rate Gender parity index Learner-educator ratio School access to water School access to sanitation Distance to school Housing Urban/rural location Housing type Overcrowding Access to electricity Nutrition Low birth-weight rate Stunting Underweight Vitamin A deficiency Iron deficiency Iodine deficiency Children experiencing hunger

10. 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’

11. 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

12. 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.

13. 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

14. 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.

15. 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

16. Illustration 3: monitoring access to housing [2] 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.

17. 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

18. Visit www.childrencount.ci.org.za

19. Contact details Lizette Berry Children’s Institute University of Cape Town Email: lizette.berry@uct.ac.za Web: www.ci.org.za