MOROCCO:
March 25,2008 Moroccan Global study team had a 2nd meeting with the Steering committee, where national partners from ONDH (National Observatory on Human Development) and WAVE (National Observatory on the Rights of the Child), as well UNICEF staff participated. The presenter prepared informative report covering the following: study justification, study objectives, methodology and concepts, general plan of the report on the study, work plan and implementation plan. Please look at the presentation and minutes from the meeting for more information. The presentation was followed by very interesting discussions on different indicators and deprivations included in the Study: shelter for children, sanitation issues, drinking water, lack of access to information, nutrition, education, and health.
Focal Point: Hicham Ait Mansour haitmansour@unicef.org
VIETNAM:
The Vietnam country team is working closely with experts and policy makers from all related ministries coordinated by MOLISA (Ministry of Labor, War Invalids, and Social Affairs). On March 14, 2008 MOLISA in collaboration with UNICEF staff organized an orientation workshop aiming at bringing key relevant stakeholders together, including statistical and policy experts, as well as decision makers. The orientation workshop aimed to introduce the Global Study , make it more appropriate and specific to the Vietnam context; mobilize commitment and involvement in the Study in order to ensure national ownership and the quality of the Country Study . The workshop seeked to gain common understanding of child poverty concepts, appropriate approaches and methodologies; come to consensus on the national policies and programs that most affect child wellbeing; and to agree on the reference group and their tasks.
The agenda and the presentation can be viewed here.
Focal point: Nguyen Thi Van Anh ntvananh@unicef.org
EGYPT:
March 11th, 2008 Egypt held a successful seminar on Child Poverty and Disparities: Implications for Public Policy in Egypt. Participants included representatives from UNICEF, Cairo University, New School University, Egyptian Center for Economic Studies, and the Centre for Economic and Financial Research and Studies participated. The main discussions of the seminar were about children, poverty and social rights; child poverty measurements, using the deprivation approach; and implications for social policy in Egypt. The importance of analyzing child poverty characteristics and underlying causes in order to feed into policy and program development, and the use of income and child rights approaches in determining poverty levels were discussed during the seminar. More detailed information on the seminar can be found here.
Focal Point: Dennis Arends darends@unicef.org
