Community versus Institutional Meanings of Child Poverty: Implications for Policy for Reducing Child Poverty

Grace Alenoma

doi:10.7176/rhss/9-2-16

Abstract

Knowledge on different meanings of child poverty is important for reducing child poverty because it is critical for designing effective policies and programs aimed at addressing issues surrounding children’s well-being. Reducing child poverty is important for overall poverty reduction and inequality because increase and perpetuation of child poverty can result in intergenerational transmission of poverty. However, the relatively young status of the concept of child poverty, make its meaning(s) unclear. Although some efforts have been made by researchers and development agencies towards an understanding of the concept of child poverty, its meaning and indicators are scattered in the literature and remain unclear. Due to children’s dependence on adults for their wellbeing, policy frameworks aimed at reducing child poverty need to take into account both community and institutional meanings of child poverty because adults’ understanding of child poverty at the community level have consequences for how they treat and deal with issues relating to children well-being/ill-being. This paper re/presents some meanings of child poverty at the institutional and community levels using secondary materials drawn from both developing and developed country context and primary materials from four rural communities in Northern Ghana. The policy implications and policy options for reducing child poverty base on meanings of child poverty are indicated. Keywords: Child poverty, meanings of child poverty, reducing child poverty DOI : 10.7176/RHSS/9-2-16

Highlights

Due to the relatively young status of the concept of child poverty, its meaning is unclear as attempts to contribute to understanding its meaning and indicators are scattered in the literature of child poverty
The paper does not aim at reproducing all existing meanings of child poverty. Rather it aims at highlighting difference(s) and similarities in meanings of child poverty at the institutional and community levels and to indicate policy strategies which could work for reducing child poverty
The meanings of child poverty suggest that while children in developing country context are concerned with issues regarding survival in their explanations of child poverty, quality of life dominate the definitions of child or children poverty in the case of children in a developed country context

Summary

Introduction

Due to the relatively young status of the concept of child poverty, its meaning is unclear as attempts to contribute to understanding its meaning and indicators are scattered in the literature of child poverty. Aside UNICEF’s interest in issues surrounding child poverty including unearthing its meanings and indicators, some childhood researchers interested in child wellbeing have carried out studies in both developed and developing countries context Child poverty, it is argued, is different from poverty associated with adults because there are differences in the needs of adults and among children depending on their ages (Jones and Sumner, 2011). The paper does not aim at reproducing all existing meanings of child poverty Rather it aims at highlighting difference(s) and similarities in meanings of child poverty at the institutional and community levels and to indicate policy strategies which could work for reducing child poverty. Some meanings/understandings of child poverty at the community level from both children and adults’ viewpoints are presented from both developing and developed country context

Some meanings and indicators of child poverty at the institutional level

Meanings of child poverty from Children’s standpoint

Discussion

Policy implications for reducing child poverty

Findings

A Briefing Paper