#theme:children

Despite economic growth, and a reduction in poverty, malnutrition is still rampant in South-Asia. This indicates that non-economic factors are important, and we use a nation-wide survey from Nepal to identify factors that may explain why small children are stunted. In contrast to designated studies of child nutrition we do not have information on individual food intake, but we demonstrate that analysis of large sample surveys is a good supplement to designated studies, with the main benefit being that findings are nationally representative. We find that pulses are critical for child growth, and that boys are more often malnourished, maybe because they are expected to take other food than breast milk. Furthermore we find that girls are more likely malnourished if they have many older brothers, and we find that female empowerment improves child nutrition.

Adolescent fertility in low- and middle-income countries presents a severe impediment to development. However, there is debate about whether adolescent pregnancy is a problem in and of itself or merely symptomatic of deeper, ingrained disadvantage. This paper aggregates recent quantitative evidence on the socioeconomic consequences of and methods to reduce of teenage pregnancy in the developing world. It finds variable results for all indicator types with the partial exception of knowledge-based indicators, though it is not clear that such interventions necessarily lead to behaviour change. The authors argue that donors should adopt a rights-based approach to adolescent fertility and shift their focus from the proximate to distal causes of pregnancy, including human rights abuses, gender inequality, child marriage, and socioeconomic marginalisation.

The aims of this qualitative study, carried out in 2010, were twofold. The first was to explore and document the psychosocial, sexual and reproductive health (SRH) needs of adolescents (10-19) living with HIV in Zambia. The second aim was to identify gaps between these needs and existing SRH and HIV-related initiatives and services currently available to young people. The data confirms that for young people, living with HIV amplifies the need for effective support and guidance, and as they move from child to adolescent to adult, there are a range of HIV-related factors impacting on their day to day lives. Respondents identified key interventions they perceive could improve the effectiveness of HIV service providers, and these are outlined in the briefing paper.

The main component of the study, for which research was undertaken from July 2010 to February 2011, focused on understanding how the 3F crisis impacted on different areas of young people’s lives and development, mediated through macro- and meso-level processes at the national level. More specifically, the study explored vulnerabilities and coping mechanisms in different dimensions of young people’s lives: employment, education, health, and emotional and social wellbeing. The study also analysed some of the key policies and programmes that have been developed to improve the situation of young people – including in relation to the impacts of the crisis – examining whether young people interviewed perceived any benefits from them. A smaller component of the research, conducted between February and March 2011, explored how climate change impacts on young people’s livelihoods, economic opportunities and other aspects of their development, and how they mitigate and adapt to these impacts.

Girls receive a disproportionally small share of the total development dollars invested globally each year, but the field is primed for even greater action and investment. Before charting the way forward, it is important to understand more about current efforts underway on behalf of girls... This report presents the key findings from this exercise, describing what we have learned about the donors and organizations engaged in girl work, the policy and program efforts underway, and current and future directions for the field. It is hoped that the findings and considerations emerging from this mapping exercise will contribute toward a more strategic and coordinated effort to mobilize additional actors, resources and ideas on behalf of girls around the world.

In Egypt, an estimated 2 to 2.5 million children between the ages of 6-15 are working as street vendors, domestic workers, agricultural labourers, factory workers, laundry workers and helpers for mechanics (ECWR, 2008, U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of International Labor Affairs), with the vast majority (83%) working in rural areas (National Council for Childhood and Motherhood, 2004 as cited by Social Research Center, 2007; Gazaleh, Bulbul, Hewala & Najim, 2004). Overall, more boys than girls in Egypt are working but it is not clear whether domestic work is sufficiently counted in child labour estimates as child domestic workers are explicitly excluded from Egypt’s child labour laws and so remain unaknowledged (Gazaleh, Bulbul, Hewala & Najim, 2004).