Our Executive Director, Alberto Minujin, presented a research paper at the conference “Putting Children First: Identifying Solutions and Taking Actions to tackle Poverty and Inequality in Africa” in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia from October 23 to 25, 2017.
This three-day international conference aimed to engage policy makers, practitioners and researchers in identifying solutions for fighting child poverty and inequality in Africa, and inspiring action towards change. It offered a platform for bridging divides across sectors, disciplines and policy, practice and research.
Conference objectives:
- to identify, debate and advocate proven solutions to end child poverty in Africa;
- to share and discuss new research on who and where poor children are, why they are poor and what tailored approaches to address their situation may look like;
- to discuss particular policy and programming challenges and how they can be addressed;
- to build links and networks between researchers, policy makers and practitioners;
- to stimulate learning on particular skills that may help to move research to action.
Conference themes:
The conference was framed around the following themes:
- “Setting the scene: Who and where are the poor children?” This theme sought to provide insight into the plight of overlooked children, to strengthen data collection and measurement efforts to ensure that no child is overlooked in the future.
- “Child-sensitive social protection: Making social protection work for children”. The goal of discussing this topic was to promote a better understanding of how social protection can be improved to help children, including links to services and the adoption of more child-oriented approaches.
- “Ensuring access to basic services for all: Reaching the poorest and most marginalised children”. This theme aims to gain insight into how access to services can be secured for the most excluded and marginalised, including views on how to remove specific barriers and involve a social workforce and community-based mechanisms.
- “Supporting secure transitions to adulthood”. This theme aimed to explore how the ‘youth bulge’ can be considered a ‘demographic dividend’ and how young people can be supported in the transition to adulthood with regard to education, work, family and aspirations.
More detailed information about the themes, key questions to be considered and the conference objectives can be found in the conference concept note:
Putting Children First
Program and speakers:
Confirmed speakers include:
- H.E Ms Demitu Hambisa, Minister Ministry of Women and Children Affairs, Ethiopia
- Ms. Leila Pakkala, Regional Director for Eastern and Southern Africa, UNICEF
- Dr. Agnes Akosua Aidoo, International Board of Trustees, ACPF
- Jane Kabubo-Mariara, Executive Director, PEP
- Nora Groce, Director of the Leonard Cheshire Disability and Inclusive Development Centre, UCL
- Alberto Minujin, Executive Director of Equity for Children
- Jo Boyden, Director of Young Lives
See the full Conference agenda.
Read the Research Paper, co-authored by Alberto Minujin, submitted for the conference.
Call for Action:
The conference concluded with a commitment to action towards fighting child poverty and inequality in Africa.
Read the Conference Call to Action.
Read the Conference Newsletter from the African Child Information Hub.
This international conference was hosted by:
The Ethiopian Centre for Child Research, Ethiopian Development Research Institute (EDRI), the Comparative Research Programme on Poverty (CROP), the ESRC-DFID Impact Initiative, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, the Ethiopia Ministry of Women and Children Affairs (MoWCA), and the Global Coalition to End Child Poverty
Photo credit: International Centre for Migration, Health and Development
