THE CHILD INDICATOR MOVEMENTPRESENTATION
BYDR. WILLIAM O’HARE
THE ANNIE E. CASEY FOUNDATION ([email protected])
Child Poverty and Disparities: Public Policies and Social Justice
Conference
Cairo, January 20, 2009
TOPICS TO BE COVERED THIS SESSION
• FUNDAMENTALS AND BRIEF HISTORY OF THE CHILD INDICATORS MOVEMENT
• DEVELOPING AND IMPLEMENTING A NATIONAL SET OF CHILD WELL-BEING INDICATORS: IRELAND (DR. SINEAD HANAFIN)
• CHILD INDICATORS IN THE POLICY CONTEXT
GOAL OF THIS PRESENTATION IS TO PROVIDE AN INTRODUCTION TO
DEVELOPMENT AND USE OF CHILD INDICATORS
MY BACKGROUND
• PHD IN SOCIOLOGY/DEMOGRAPHY• 30+ YEARS WORKING IN NON-PROFITS (DC)
– FOCUS ON DISADVANAGED AMERICANS• 1993 TO NOW – KIDS COUNT PROJECT AT
ANNIE. E. CASEY FOUNDATION• 1980 FULBRIGHT TO PHILLIPINES –
UNIVERSITY OF SAN CARLOS• 2005 2008 – MORE INTERNATIONAL WORK
• MEMBER OF ISCI STEERING COMMITTEE• EDITOR OF ISC NEWSLETTER
MY APPROACH
• NON-IDEALOGICAL
• PRAGMATIC
• OPPORTUNISTIC
• STRATEGIC
MY BIASES
• MORE ABOUT DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS THAN DATA ANALYSIS-CAUSAL ANALYSIS
• MORE ABOUT DATA AND MEASUREMENT THAN POLICIES OR PROGRAMS
• MORE ABOUT USE OF DATA (DATA PRESENTATION) THAN SCIENCE
• MOSTLY IN THE U.S. CONTEXT
WHY INDICATORS ARE IMPORANT
“ WE VALUE WHAT WE MEASURE AND WE
MEASURE WHAT WE VALUE”
“ IF WE CAN’T MEASURE IT WE CAN’T MEND IT”
FUNDAMENTAL BELIEF
MAKING DECISIONS ON THE BASIS OF GOOD SCIENTIFIC INFORMATION IS LIKELY TO LEAD TO BETTER RESULTS
How much trust do you have in the official statistics? Political decisions are made on the basis of statistical
information
AT
BE
BG
CZLT
CY
DE
DK
EE
ELESEU27
FI
FR
HU
IE
IT
LU
LV
MT
NL
PL
PTRO SE
SISK
TR
UK
-40
-20
0
20
40
60
80
100
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Political decisions are made on the basis of statistical information (diff yes-no)
Tru
st
in o
ffic
ial s
tati
sti
cs
(d
iff
ten
d t
o t
rus
t -
ten
d n
ot
to t
rus
t)
WHY INDICATORS ARE IMPORTANT - USES OF INDICATORS
1. Description
2. Monitoring
3. Setting Goals
4. Outcomes-based accountability
5. Evaluation
6. Distribution of Funds
ANY QUESTIONS?
ROLE OF 3 KEY INSTITUTIONS IN CHILD INDICATOR MOVEMENT
• GOVERNMENT– INDIVIDUAL STATES – NATIONS– GROUPS – UNITED NATIONS, OECD, ETC
• NGOs – CIVIL SOCIETY (NON-PROFITS)
• ACADEMICS
3 Key Audiences for Child Indicators
• SCHOLARS AND SCIENTISTS– ADVANCING MEASUREMENT– ANALYZING DATA
• PUBLIC – “CHILDREN ARE THE FUTURE”
• POLICY MAKERS – CREATE AND GUIDE PROGRAMS FOR CHILDREN AND FAMILIES
FUNDAMENTAL DECISION - WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF PROJECT?
• ADVANCING SCIENCE
• EDUCATING POLICY-MAKERS (AND PUBLIC)
• ADVOCATING FOR CHILDREN.
THE CHILD INDICATOR MOVEMENT
CHILD INDICATOR MOVEMENT - WHATS NEW?
• 2 ASPECTS – 1) - HOLISTIC APPROACH
• CONCEPT OF OVERALL CHILD WELL-BEING
• FOCUS ON MONITORING AND REPORTING
– 2) CONTINUED IMPROVEMENT IN MEASUREMENT ON EACH DIMENSION OR DOMAIN
TIME LINE OF SOME KEY INTERNATIONAL CHILD INDICATORS EVENTS
•1980-81 UNICEF ISSUES 1st STATE OF THE WORLDS CHILDREN REPORT
•1988 - UNICEF INNOCENTI RESEARCH CENTER STARTED
•1989 – UNITED NATIONS CONVENTION ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD
•1990 – KIDS COUNT PROJECT IN UNITED STATES LAUNCHED
•1995 TO 2005 - FIVE INTERNATIONAL CHILDREN’S INDICATOR MEETINGS
• 2000 MILLENIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS (MDG)
•2005 INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY FOR CHILD INDICATORS (ISCI) LAUNCHED
•2007 FIRST ISCI CONFERENXCE IN CHICAGO
3 KEY ORGANIZATIONS
• UNITED NATIONS CHILDREN’S FUND (UNICEF)
• ORGANISATION FOR ECONOIMC CO-OPERATION AND DEVELOPMENT(OECD)
• INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY FOR CHILD INDICATORS (ISCI)
UNITED NATIONS CHILDREN FUND (UNICEF)
• UNITED NATIONS CONVENTION ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD (UNCRC)
• MULTIPLE INDICATOR CLUSTER SURVEYS (MICS)
www.unicef.org/statistics/index_24302.htm
• DATA ON WEBSITE (LATER)
• COUNTRY REPORTS
• www.unicef.org/infobycountry/index.html
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC)
• contains 54 articles that cover every aspect of a child’s life,
• apply without exception or discrimination to all children under 18.
• These articles can provide a framework for examining well-being.
• The articles of the UNCRC divide into the broad areas of – survival rights, – development rights, – protection rights and – participation rights.
OECD WORK ON CHILD INDICATORS
• 3 KINDS OF ACTIVITY– DEVELOPING CONSENSUS ON BEST
INDICATORS THROUGH CONFERENCES/MEETINGS
– HARMONIZING CROSS-COUNTRY DATA COLLECTION EFFORTS
– COLLECTING/PRESENTING DATA ON THE OECD WEBSITE
ORGANIZATION FOR ECONOMIC COOPERATION AND DEVELOPMENT (OECD) MEASURING THE PROGRESS OF SOCIETIES
INITIATIVE
• WORLD FORUMS – PALERMO, ITALY, 2004– ISTANBUL TURKEY, 2007– BUSAN, KOREA, OCTOBER 2009
• PRIOR TO 2009 CONFERENCE THERE WILL BE MEETINGS ON SPECIAL THEMES (CHILDREN?) AND GEOGRAPHIC AREAS (MIDDLE EAST-NORTH AFRICA?)
• WEBSITE– WWW.OECD.ORG/OECDWORLDFORUM
OECD ACTIVITIES ON CHILD INDICATORS
• Report on Child Well-Being in OECD countries later this spring.
• Conference on Child indicators and data collection (Spring 2009)
• Development of Wiki-Child on OECD website (WITH ISCI AND OTHERS)
• SESSION AT ISCI CONFERENCE FALL 2009• Session on Child Indicators at 3rd World Forum
in Korea November 2009
MOVEMENT NEEDS ORGANIZATIONAL
INFRASTRUCTURE
INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY FOR CHILD INDICATORS =
ISCI
INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY FOR CHILD INDICATORS (ISCI)
• SERIES OF INFORMAL MEETINGS 1995-2005– Israel– Italy– South Carolina– New York– Oslo
• ISCI ESTABLISHED IN LATE 2005
• NEWSLETTER STARTED IN 2006
• FIRST CONFERENCE IN JUNE 2007 (NEXT ONE IS NOVEMBER 2009 IN SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA)
• JOURNAL CHILD INDICATOR RESEARCH BEGAN MARCH 2008
ISCI - CONTINUED
• 2nd International conference – Sydney Australia November 4-6,2009
• Papers presented (and presenters) at 2007 ISCI Conference– www.childindicators.org
• CHILD INDICATOR RESEARCH JOURNAL
• WIKI-CHILD with OECD
WWW.CHILDINDICATORS.ORGENGLISH AND SPANISH
• INFORMATION ON GOALS OF THE ORGANIZATION
• DOWNLOAD ALL PAPERS FROM THE 1ST CONFERENCE
• DOWNLOAD PAST NEWSLETTERS
• INFORMATION ABOUT CONFERENCES
• INFORMATION ON JOINING ISCI
SOURCES OF DATA ON CHILDREN
KEY WEBSITES FOR INFORMATION ON CHILDREN
UNICEF – STATE OF THE WORLD’S CHILDREN ENGLISH AND SPANISH ---http://www.unicef.org/publications/index_42623.html
UNITED NATIONS CONVENTION ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD – ADOPTED IN 1989
http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/k2crc.htm
UNICEF MONITORING STATISTICS http://www.unicef.org/statistics/index.html
UNICEF INNOCENTI RESEARCH CENTREhttp://www.unicef-irc.org/
CHAPIN HALL/ UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGOhttp://multinational-indicators.chapinhall.org
INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY FOR CHILD INDICATORS
http://www.childindicators.org