Rapport van het ACPF: armere landen in Afrika besteden meer aan kinderen dan rijkere

Het African Child Policy Forum heeft ontdekt dat sommige van Afrika’s armste staten het beter doen dan de rijkste landen als het gaat om de investering in publieke middelen voor kinderen.
Child Welfare Indicators geven dit aan in een nieuw onderzoeksrapport dat nu te downloaden is van de website van het ACPF.

The ACPF is a non-profit, pan-African organization dedicated to policy research and dialogue promotion on issues concerning the well-being of African children. The organization works within a human rights-based agenda, guided by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child as well as the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child.
 
According the report, governments rich in oil revenues such as Sudan, Equatorial Guinea and Angola, are among the worst performers.  Countries with fewer resources such as Tanzania, Mozambique and Niger, are performing much better.
 
Key indicators that the study looked at included health, education and spending on social programs as a proportion of the overall public budget. These indicators were used to determine exactly how committed governments were to children.
According to experts, investing in children is an important part of achieving sustainable economic development. The ACPF notes that making sure that children are among the primary priorities of the public agenda is an essential step to realizing children’s rights and achieving socio-economic progress.
 
ACPF Director, Mr. David Mugawe, expressed his dismay at the disconnection between what countries say and what they do when it comes to commitments made for children.
 
“If Africa wants to achieve improved living standards and compete in the international arena we must invest in our children, and this must be reflected in our budget priorities,” he said.
 
Poorer countries scored better than richer ones because a larger proportion of their budgets go to health, education and social programmes. However, the reasons behind the differences were not explored.
 
In most countries, spending on education and health received only 4-6% of the budget.
 
Het rapport: ”Budgeting for Children in Africa” is te downloaden van de website in engels en frans

http://www.africanchildforum.org/site/