Policy Challenges and Opportunities for Children in MENA

Roberto BenesRegional Advisor Social Policy, MENARO

GLOBAL SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC POLICY CONSULTATIONFlorence, 21‐24 February 2012

The Regional Context

Approaches and Results

Major Challenges for Children’s Rights

Policy Perspectives in MENA

Structure of the presentation

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The regional context

Disparities in MENA and progress towards the MDGs reflect the region’s diversity and its polarization Presence of 

Least Developed Countries with widespread deprivation MICs and HICs with clustered disparities Contexts with humanitarian intervention, Countries under sanctions Oil producing vs non oil producing  Food net importers

National and regional averages and MDGs achievements mask gaps across and within countries

The Arab Spring had a severe economic impact on several Countries in MENA (Egypt, Tunisia, Yemen, Syria, Libya) overlapping with the impact of the 3Fs crisis

3

4

The Impact of Poverty on Access to Education in MENA

Percentage of children (7‐17 years) never educated, by wealth quintile.

Sources: MICS 3 – 2006; Egypt DHS 2008.

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

Poorest Second Middle Fourth Richest

Yemen (20.3%, Q1/Q5=6.5)

Syria (2.5%, Q1/Q5=7.5)

Morocco (11%, Q1/Q5=11.2)

Egypt (3.2%, Q1/Q5=11.3)

Algeria (2.2%, Q1/Q5=14.2)

The regional context

Low social status of girls and women and lack of opportunities for youth as key barriers for equity in MENA Youth bulge and world record figures of youth and women’s 

unemployment

Underlying disparities, overlapping with growing youth pressure, economic vulnerability, poor governance and weak social dialogue/cohesion

The political outcome of the Arab Spring is unknown while Governments try to reform social policy within very tight fiscal space

Current social and political transformation in MENA has magnified existing disparities yet offering unique opportunities for UNICEF to be a relevant development partner

What is relevant and different in MENA?

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Growing vision and approach on social policy in all countries. Identification of a group of front runners with validated good

practices (including Egypt, Morocco and Jordan). Leadership in implementing the equity focus

Multidimensional disparities analysis has been systematically adopted by UNICEF Country Offices involving partners to analyse children’s situation and creating policy changes Equity country profiles Morocco: institutionalization of multidimensional child poverty as a

Government’s measurement methodology Iraq: preparation of Governorate equity profiles and developed a

methodology for equity-based analysis of MICs data

Approaches and Results

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Social protection became a core theme of UNICEF’s work in MENA, As of 2011, 11 Country Offices have engaged in Social Protection UNICEF plays a leading role in Jordan, Djibouti, oPt and Algeria

Despite the difficulty to access fiscal information, social budgeting emerged as an increasingly important area of engagement in MENA Jordan, Morocco, Sudan and Oman: budget system analysis, including

sectoral analysis of child spending and tracking indicators

UNICEF and partners’ capacity to understand and address disparities was built through regional and country initiatives Partnership with IRC on a regional learning initiative In-Country Social Protection Training

Approaches and Results

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The risk of missing the point: the Arab Spring is about a fundamental rethinking of development models Growth and development will have to be adjusted to facilitate

social and economic change

Shifting political and social environment with uneven effects: from frozen cooperation to sudden political space Understanding and anticipate societal factors

From policies to politics: advisors and advocates

Highly centralized statistics and poor data disaggregation

Limited evaluation of social policies

Balancing realism and ambition: from strategic opportunism to better partnership

Major Challenges for Children’s Rights

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Towards a new social contract in MENA The HRBA and the re-focus on equity as foundations for better

governance and social justice

1. Advocacy and technical support in the process of social policy reform Advice on policy options and access to international knowledge Bottleneck analysis at the demand and supply side Strengthening the child focus in social protection 9investment cases)

and budgets

2. Evidence building on socio-economic disparities Strengthen multidimensional poverty analysis Increased focus on hidden inequalities: social exclusion,

discrimination, gender inequality

3. Mainstreamed capacity and dedicated leadership

4. Decentralised child-friendly policies

Policy Perspectives

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Thank you

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Supporting slides for the presentation

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Source: UN Inter‐agency Group on Mortality Estimation (IGME), 2010 (estimates are for 2010).

Under‐five mortality rates in MENA Countries (deaths per 1,000 live births)

The Impact of Poverty on Access to Education in MENA

Percentage of children (7‐17 years) never educated, by wealth quintile.

Sources: MICS 3 – 2006; Egypt DHS 2008.

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

Poorest Second Middle Fourth Richest

Yemen (20.3%, Q1/Q5=6.5)

Syria (2.5%, Q1/Q5=7.5)

Morocco (11%, Q1/Q5=11.2)

Egypt (3.2%, Q1/Q5=11.3)

Algeria (2.2%, Q1/Q5=14.2)

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

YemenMICS 2006

MoroccoDHS 2003-04

EgyptDHS 2008

JordanDHS 2007

SyriaMICS 2006

Poorest 20%

Poorer 20%

Middle 20%

Richer 20%

Richest 20%

Under-five mortality rate in MENA countries, by household wealth level

Note: Child mortality rate by wealth level is not available in other countries in the region.

MDG 4Large wealth gaps in child mortality exist in MENA countries

Source: UNICEF global database, 2010

Determinants of Child Labor in 8 MENA CountriesRatio of child labour (5‐14 yrs) based on their subregion, rural/urban residence, wealth quintile 

and household head’s education. 

Sources: MICS 3 – 2006.

15.5

10.8

4.1

9.1

5.8

6.3

2.2

5.7

0.51

0.49

0.62

3.49

1.02

0.59

2.08

1.76

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Morocco (2.3%)

Syria (3.8%)

Algeria (3.8%)

oPt (5.1%)

Djibouti (6%)

Iraq (10.3%)

Egypt (11.9%)

Yemen (27%)

Subregion

Rural/Urban

Ratio

Gaps (ratio between disadvantaged and advantaged)

6 8     10     15    20Ratio

Gaps (ratio between disadvantaged and advantaged)

6 8     10     15    20

2.5

3.1

1.95

0.80

1.19

1.54

1.89

1.51

3.2

4.6

2.2

1.25

2.4

2.7

2.4

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Morocco (2.3%)

Syria (3.8%)

Algeria (3.8%)

oPt (5.1%)

Djibouti (6%)

Iraq (10.3%)

Egypt (11.9%)

Yemen (27%)

Poorest/ Richest

No Ed/Sec Ed+

Ratio

Gaps (ratio between disadvantaged and advantaged)

6        8      10     15    20