Child Poverty in Mozambique. A Situation and Trend ... - Unicef

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The Special Education Department has also made efforts to organise statistical data on the numbers of children with disabilities attending school and those who require schooling. In 2005, the Ministry of Education and Culture estimated that 31,000 children and young people with special education needs were being supported, most of them integrated into regular schools. An additional 418 children requiring more specialised attention were attending four special schools (ECSP: 34). At national level, the Ministry for Women and Social Action hosts an inter-ministerial technical commission to coordinate and monitor the implementation of policies for persons with disabilities. This commission includes public institutions and civil society organisations (Taimo 2003:12). The national Policy for Persons with Disabilities assigns responsibility to the Ministry for Women and Social Action for promoting the effective integration of children with disabilities into pre-school activities and guaranteeing the social protection of persons with disabilities and their families by means of measures to encourage their autonomy and integration into the community (MMAS 2000: 20). Under Decree 16/93, persons with disabilities are eligible for the State Food Subsidy programme (a small monthly cash payment to especially vulnerable people). However this is only available to citizens over 18 years of age, thus excluding disabled children. The African Decade of Persons with Disabilities, to which Mozambique adheres and which runs from 1999 to 2009, represents an important opportunity for the Government to join with civil society to promote the rights of children with disabilities in Mozambique. The Plan of Action for the Decade, adopted in July 2002, aims to achieve the full participation of persons with disabilities in Africa, ensure their equality and develop their full capacity. Objective 5 of the Plan of Action refers specifically to the promotion of special measures for children, young persons, women and the elderly. To date, Mozambique has not approved its own national action plan in the context of the African Decade (MMAS 2005d). The Government consequently risks missing an important opportunity to promote the rights of its disabled children. C. Children in emergencies Mozambique is a country prone to both chronic and sudden onset emergencies, including the AIDS pandemic and natural disasters such as protracted drought, floods, cyclones and earthquakes. In this context, the protection of children is a particular challenge, as such emergency situations can lead to increased reliance on negative coping strategies, reduced access to basic social services or the displacement of children from their families. In addition, an absence of accountability can mean that the very people responsible for the protection of children may become their abusers. Although there has been little research conducted on the impact of emergencies on child protection concerns in Mozambique, reports from a mission of the Vulnerability Assessment Committee (VAC) in 2005 indicated protection concerns including the use of negative coping strategies by children in drought-affected areas, such as ‘survival sex’ for money, increasing their vulnerability to HIV or STIs. The National Action Plan for Children notes the importance of sectors responsible for the management of natural disasters integrating special measures for the protection and assistance of children affected by emergencies (MMAS 2005c: 21). The Government and its development partners have implemented various initiatives to prevent and respond to child protection concerns in the context of emergencies, including the training of humanitarian workers on issues surrounding sexual abuse and exploitation of children and support to community-based surveillance systems for the monitoring of child rights. There is a need, however, for ongoing advocacy and social mobilisation around the vulnerability of children in times of emergency, in addition to CHILDHOOD POVERTY IN MOZAMBIQUE: A SITUATION AND TRENDS ANALYSIS 209
activities to strengthen the capacity of communities to protect children from violence, abuse and exploitation. D. The policy and institutional framework for the social protection of orphaned and vulnerable children In spite of the progress noted in the development of Government policy and planning instruments, the reach of services aimed at preventing violence, abuse and exploitation of children remains limited, as does the capacity of judicial and police institutions to enforce protective measures. Access by the most vulnerable children to social assistance that would enable them to benefit from basic social services also remains extremely limited, with only 12 per cent of households caring for OVC having received any type of external support (MMAS 2006). The adoption of new policy and planning instruments has not yet been accompanied by increases in allocations in the State budget to social assistance for children. Social protection is defined as “the public actions taken in response to levels of vulnerability, risk and deprivation which are deemed socially unacceptable within a given polity or society.” Social protection thus includes support provided by government, non-governmental actors or a combination of both. The concept covers immediate support to those who are currently in extreme poverty and insurance for those who are not currently amongst the poorest in order to protect them from the impact of potential future shocks. The objective of social protection is two-fold: (i) to reduce variations of income; and (ii) to buffer the consumption of chronically poor individuals who cannot benefit from the opportunities that economic growth provides for earning income. Among the groups in society targeted by social protection measures are older people, disabled people, chronically ill (including those living with HIV/AIDS) and orphaned and vulnerable children (Johnson 2006). Strengthening mechanisms for the social protection of the most vulnerable children has been identified as a priority action by the Plan of Action for Orphaned and Vulnerable Children (PoA OVC). The process of development of the PoA OVC began in 2004, with the implementation of a Rapid Assessment, Analysis and Action Planning Process (RAAAP) and culminated in the approval of the PoA OVC in March 2006 by the Council of Ministers. The Ministry for Women and Social Action has defined twelve groups of children as vulnerable and in need of protection and support (MMAS 2005b:13, definition quoted at start of this chapter). A crucial aspect of the PoA OVC is the recognition that the needs of orphaned and vulnerable children are inter-dependent and that planned actions need to address these needs as a whole if they are to make a significant difference in the quality of children’s lives. The PoA OVC defines a set of six basic services to be provided to orphaned and vulnerable children: health, education, nutritional and food support, legal and psycho-social support as well as financial support (defined in the PoA OVC as unconditional cash transfers for households caring for OVC). The Ministry for Women and Social Action defines the provision of at least three of these services as the minimum standard for the care of orphaned and vulnerable children in Mozambique. Providing access to basic services is closely linked in the PoA OVC with the strengthening the capacity of families and communities to respond to the needs of orphaned and vulnerable children. Families and communities represent the first line of the national response and government policy promotes community-based, rather than institutional care for orphaned and other vulnerable children. 210 CHILDHOOD POVERTY IN MOZAMBIQUE: A SITUATION AND TRENDS ANALYSIS
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CHILDHOOD POVERTY IN MOZAMBIQUE A S
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This report on the
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CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS………
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4. Access to schooling and attendan
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TABLES AND FIGURES List of tables T
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Figure 4.20: Estimated spending on
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GBS GDP GER GNI GoM HAART HDI HIPC
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MAP OF MOZAMBIQUE Zumbu Magoe M
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een strongly positive in recent yea
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Child protection concerns Chapter F
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vaccination or malaria campaigns, w
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1. Objective of the Situation Analy
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Box 1.1: Human rights conventions r
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of poverty, defined as: “Impossib
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Table 1.1: Deprivation-based indica
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The Ministries of Planning and Deve
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34 CHILDHOOD POVERTY IN MOZAMBIQUE:
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1. Introduction This chapter focuse
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Table 2.1: Progress towards the MDG
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3. Economic growth and macroeconomi
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Evidence as to what extent these
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The percentage of the population li
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Arndt et al. (2005) show that, on a
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B. Assessing childhood poverty In a
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Figure 2.9: Households living below
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severe deprivation. In the poorest
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The second PARPA for the period 200
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Box 2.3: Civil society engagement i
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A key cause of these weaknesses is
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One possible way forward in tacklin
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Box 2.4: Corruption and its impact
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(vi) Analysis of monitoring and rev
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There are two principal drivers beh
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This has troubling implications for
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70 CHILDHOOD POVERTY IN MOZAMBIQUE:
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1. Introduction Every child has the
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B. Severe nutrition deprivation amo
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Zambezia and Tete provinces. Severe
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If this downward trend continues, M
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Figure 3.5: Percentage of women rec
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Mozambique has achieved a continual
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The second reason is that deaths oc
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5. Childhood illnesses A major publ
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Figure 3.9: Malaria prevention: use
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The 2005 Nutrition Survey conducted
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Box 3.3: Combating measles and poli
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(ii) Stunting prevalence (chronic m
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Alarmingly high levels of stunting
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Figure 3.16: Underweight prevalence
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There are 86 known salt producers r
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Among children, there were no varia
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Box 3.5: Infant feeding in the cont
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highly in PARPA II, which sets a ta
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Table 3.3: Overview of PMTCT progra
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The reduction of mother-to-child tr
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It is only recently that paediatric
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100 Figure 3.22: Use of safe water
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A. Inequitable access to and fundin
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The 2004/2005 IFTRAB survey also su
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provincial level reported that only
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Table 3.4: Ministry of Health budge
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Figure 3.29: Total sector resources
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Figure 3.31: Indicative per capita
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The agenda for expanding water supp
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and was revised in 2005. The on-bud
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supported by key sector stakeholder
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1. Introduction Education is a fund
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B. Severe information deprivation a
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Secondary education consists of fiv
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Table 4.3: Gross and net enrolment
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Table 4.4: Gross enrolment ratio, a
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57 per cent, compared with a NER of
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DHS data show that the wealth level
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Figure 4.11: Distribution of 11-yea
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Lack of literacy is directly correl
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In addition, there is a serious gap
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The IAF showed that in 2002/3 expen
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Absenteeism is also common among te
Page 159 and 160: to the need for two or even three s
Page 161 and 162: The system is faced with a number o
Page 163 and 164: • The school represents or is a l
Page 165 and 166: (iv) Impact of natural disasters In
Page 167 and 168: The associated large off-budget res
Page 169 and 170: The Ministry of Education and Cultu
Page 171 and 172: sense of providing education for ev
Page 173 and 174: 172 CHILDHOOD POVERTY IN MOZAMBIQUE
Page 175 and 176: I. Introduction All children have t
Page 177 and 178: involving children. 45 per cent of
Page 179 and 180: Box 5.1: Street children in Maputo:
Page 181 and 182: Girls at greatest risk of abuse wer
Page 183 and 184: The aspirations expressed by the yo
Page 185 and 186: Against this background, Caia and C
Page 187 and 188: “Trafficking in women and childre
Page 189 and 190: Mozambique, girls aged 15-19 in the
Page 191 and 192: The survey indicates that 32 per ce
Page 193 and 194: Figure 5.5: School attendance among
Page 195 and 196: • Labour law does not define the
Page 197 and 198: - To use child labour (children age
Page 199 and 200: from their parents. Thus, the law d
Page 201 and 202: C. Birth registration - guaranteein
Page 203 and 204: such as hospitals and schools for b
Page 205 and 206: Sofala province also accounts for t
Page 207 and 208: Evidence points to worrying increas
Page 209: Figure 5.9: Primary school attendan
Page 213 and 214: The responsibility for implementing
Page 215 and 216: 214 CHILDHOOD POVERTY IN MOZAMBIQUE
Page 217 and 218: Conclusions Mozambique is one of Af
Page 219 and 220: planning in Mozambique, and has the
Page 221 and 222: 7- Implementing social communicatio
Page 223 and 224: Form of Severe Deprivation Food Wat
Page 225 and 226: ANNEX II Calendar of the planning,
Page 227 and 228: ANNEX IV State Budget recurrent and
Page 229 and 230: REFERENCES AND MATERIALS CONSULTED
Page 231 and 232: Deaton, A., Ruiz-Castilo, J., and T
Page 233 and 234: Klasen, S. and Woltermann, S., ‘T
Page 235 and 236: Government of Mozambique, ‘Progra
Page 237 and 238: World Bank (WB), ‘World Developme
Page 239 and 240: World Bank (WB), ‘Mozambique Publ
Page 241 and 242: Ministry of Women and Co-ordination
Page 243: United Nations Children’s Fund (U
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Child Poverty in Mozambique. A Situation and Trend ... - Unicef

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