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

1. Objective of the Situation Analysis
This Situation and Trends Analysis of Childhood Poverty in Mozambique provides
a comprehensive overview of the socioeconomic situation of the ten million
Mozambican children, especially with regard to childhood poverty and analyses the
current situation of children in Mozambique 1 . It also presents an overview of the
public policy and service delivery environment for children, identifying areas in which
progress needs to be made and making recommendations as to the way forward.
One distinctive contribution of the report is to provide a human rights-based
perspective on national efforts to reduce childhood poverty and improve child
development outcomes for all children in Mozambique. To this end, a deprivationsbased
measure of childhood poverty is presented, complementing the official
consumption-based measure of childhood poverty, using a definition that examines
children’s access to water, sanitation, shelter, education, health, nutrition and
information. Through this approach the disparities and immediate and underlying
causes of childhood poverty are explored, drawing on the rich body of data and
analytical work that has been conducted in recent years by the Government and its
development partners 2 .
The aim is that all stakeholders involved in the national effort to promote children’s
development will use this Situation Analysis as a source of information, analysis and
recommendations for programming and policy-making.
2. Human rights, child development and childhood poverty
Development is the process through which human beings can fulfil their potential and
lead decent and productive lives. To achieve this potential, individuals require certain
capacities - that is, the range of things that they can do and be in life. Expanding
capacities creates the basis for individuals to enjoy substantive freedoms and make
choices that have value in their lives, as well as creating the potential for individuals to
make a positive contribution to the broader development environment.
At the most basic level, children and their families must have the capacity to satisfy
the material and protection requirements for their survival. Children must be able
to avoid hunger, illness, malnutrition and escape a premature death or permanent
disabilities that will hinder their development as they become adults. Building on
their material well being, enabling capacities such as education and good health allow
children to create opportunity in their lives and expand the range of things that they
can do and be. For example, education levels are directly tied to future employment
opportunity and the income a child can expect to earn when she or he reaches
adulthood. Social capacities allow children to participate in family and community life,
as well as political processes and decision-making.
There is a direct and mutually reinforcing relationship between the development
process and human rights. Human rights involve a claim that one person has over
others, be they individuals, societal groups or the State. Such claims can be for civil
and political rights, involving a claim to physical security and the integrity of human
life, freedoms of thought, religion and association, freedom from discrimination
and the right to political participation. Such rights offer protection from interference
by others. Such claims can also be for human rights with a social and economic
dimension, such as the rights to basic material goods necessary to sustain life,
1 Children are defined throughout as all citizens under the age of 18 in accordance with the Convention on the Rights of the Child (UN, 1989).
2 See Van den Broeck (2005) for an excellent overview of recent poverty data and analysis in Mozambique.
24 CHILDHOOD POVERTY IN MOZAMBIQUE: A SITUATION AND TRENDS ANALYSIS