THE CHILD INDICATOR MOVEMENTPRESENTATION

BYDR. WILLIAM O’HARE

THE ANNIE E. CASEY FOUNDATION (WOHARE@AECF.ORG)

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

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in o

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tati

sti

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(d

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ten

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rus

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ten

d n

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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