Integrating Disability into the Bank s children and Youth work

Integrating ‘Disability’ into the Bank’s Children and Youth Work Juan Felipe Sanchez, Senior Children and Youth Specialist / HDN-CY 30 November, 2004 Children and Youth - HDN Eradicating Poverty The World Bank’s Mission • Two major pillars: – Investment climate • Finance, infrastructure, labor market reform, etc. – Investing in people • Education, health, social protection, HIV/AIDS • The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) provide a global framework for the WB’s work on children and youth Children and Youth - HDN Children and Youth / Disability at the WB • Children and Youth Unit at the Human Development Hub since 2002 • Disability team at the Human Development Hub since 2002 • Framework for Action (FfA) to provide guidelines and resources for bank staff working on C&Y • The focus on Orphans and Vulnerable Children section- and within it, disabled children and youthas part of the FfA Children and Youth - HDN “Business Case” Why invest in C&Y? • Demographic Urgency • Millennium Development Goals • Economic Efficiency – Children: Highest leverage point for investments to build human capital – Youth: Cost of not investing high • Political Imperative • Demand from clients and partners Need to scale up significantly and swiftly Children and Youth - HDN C&Y Conceptual Framework Age 25 Starting early… Livelihoods and employment Life-long learning Secondary + tertiary education 14 Healthy behaviors Protection of the most vulnerable (OVC) 6 Safe, healthy habitat Primary education 0 Early Childhood Development Child health + nutrition Supportive families and communities Children and Youth - HDN C&Y Conceptual Framework Age 25 …continue with youth Livelihoods and employment 14 Secondary + tertiary education Life-long learning Healthy behaviors 6 Investing in earlier life 0 Supportive families and communities Children and Youth - HDN Issues and risks differ significantly… Children Issues/Risks • Malnutrition • Childhood Illness • Getting into school/ staying enrolled • Unsafe home environment • Orphans and vulnerable children (AIDS, war, street children, disability) • Child Labor Youth Issues/Risks • No voice in development policies • Staying in school/high dropout rates • Finding the first job/ staying employed • Risky behaviors (early pregnancy, HIV/AIDS, violence and crime, drugs) Children and Youth - HDN … and so do potential solutions • Children (0-14): Doing More and Better – We know increasingly what works – BUT: how to do it effectively and selectively? – And catch those falling through the cracks? (e.g. OVC) • Youth (15-24): More Systematic Focus – Experience and analysis is new and uneven – How to build on pioneering work? (e.g. LAC and ECA regions) – How to move from advocacy to evidence? (research and analytic work) – How to integrate youth voice in all levels of development work Children and Youth - HDN The life cycle approach provides the links Families and communities Primary health care and nutrition Birth 7 days Protection Policies and operational tools 28 days Death Aging 1 year ECD Safe, healthy habitat Life-long Adulthood learning Healthy behaviors 20 years 5 years Primary education 10 years Secondary and tertiary education Participation Children and Youth - HDN Risks and Vulnerabilities Vulnerability: • "a high probability of a negative outcome", or an expected welfare loss above a socially accepted norm, which results from risky/uncertain events, and the lack of appropriate risk management instruments. Risk Factors • Household level (abuse, parental loss, neglect, exploitation) • Community level ( lack of safety nets, stigma, social/ethnic exclusion, violence) • Macro level (HIV/AIDS, conflict, financial crisis, natural disasters) Children and Youth - HDN OVC in the Framework for Action – Orphans (39 Million, 16 Million of AIDS) – Child soldiers and children affected by conflict (150,00 War Orphans, 120,000 Child Soldiers and 2 Million permanently Disabled) – Street children ( 3 Million) – Domestic servants (5 Million) – Children bound in the worst forms of child labor & slavery (600,000) – Disabled children (6 Million) All data for Sub-Saharan Africa only (source UNICEF Children on the Brink) Children and Youth - HDN Disability and poverty • People are often disabled not because of a diagnosable condition, but because they are denied access to education, labor market, public services, etc. • This exclusion leads to poverty and, in a vicious cycle, poverty leads to more disability by increasing their vulnerability (malnutrition, disease, etc.) Children and Youth - HDN Disability and the MDGs • The priorities of the Bank embodied in the MDGs cannot be achieved without incorporating the 10% of the world’s population which is disabled –given the strong two-way link between poverty and disability Children and Youth - HDN Improving the Bank’s programs by addressing the issue of disability • Making Bank programs more accessible, rather than launching a series of parallel programs for disabled people • Integrating disability creates synergies between a number of different themes by tying them together Children and Youth - HDN Moving Forward • Continue filling knowledge gaps (e.g. ASW within the framework of the high-level C&Y research task force) • Take stock of disability-related Bank work & including disability issues within the C&Y website • Develop regional C&Y strategies incorporating disability priorities • Support staff and identify technical and financial resources which can assist TTL’s willing to address disability issues Children and Youth - HDN Moving Forward • Assure inclusion of the most vulnerable in WB project designs • Continue to include Disability in global partnerships • Scale up Disability projects/project components • Encourage Disabled youth participation (e.g. YDP Network, country Youth Voices groups, etc.) Children and Youth - HDN