Childhood Poverty Research and Policy Centre

In reading about CHIP International Activities and country overview of China, I observed four areas of research meant to find solutions to childhood poverty.

Basic services are the infrastructure of the country or geographic area. This includes health services, access to clean water and sanitation, nutrition, and education.
Economic security is the availability of money, in the form of employment and/or cash transfer to families living in poverty.
Supportive policies for child well-being includes early childhood education, home visiting, and child care for working parents, and planned family reduction size.
Donors toward childhood poverty must work with government poverty reduction strategies and be made aware of the issues surrounding childhood poverty.

China has made great strides in reducing childhood poverty from 30.7 % of the population in 1978 to 3.7% in 2000.  Eastern China has experienced a greater transition to global, decentralized markets and shows less poverty than in a slower transitioning Western China. As state-owned enterprises are being reformed, jobs lost from the state sector have not yet been absorbed into the private sector, leaving an estimated 12.3% unemployed. The rising unemployment rate, and the reduction of state sponsored health and education services are making access to health and education more difficult for the jobless. Though anti-poverty initiatives are on the government policy agendas, they remain small scale.

On this site, there are several research briefings and papers available that support the overviews and key findings. One that I found interesting is the policy briefing that addressed early childhood care and development (ECD) as a poverty prevention method. This group was not convinced that ECD models upon which available research are based would be effective in developing countries. The briefing suggests that
available research "presupposes a universal scientific basis to child development"(Hill, Harper, Marcus, 2004, p. 2). and that it may not be appropriate and accepted in developing nations. Also, that the long-term benefits of ECD cited by the Perry High Scope and the Abecedarian projects were not reliable. Thirdly, child education programs and child welfare systems seldom collaborate, further lessening the impact on child poverty. And lastly, ECD programs are expensive and labor intensive, and developing countries surely lack the resources to make them effective.
The brief goes on to describe why ECD as we know it in developed countries is inappropriate to the needs of poor families elsewhere.

We have spent many classes discussing the great benefits of early childhood interventions. This report runs counter to our studies as an aid in relieving poverty. I believe, however, that education is the critical factor in living well. A universal approach to early childhood care delivery may not be effective for all countries, but grassroots, local interventions that promote the education and welfare of families would indeed be effective, as is true within the United States. There is no magic wand that will sweep across the world and fix it. The fix is worked by individuals where they live.

Sources:
Hill, F., Harper, C. & Marcus, R. (2004). Policy briefing 4: Early childhood care and development (ECD) - an innoculation against poverty? Retrieved from http://www.childhoodpoverty.org
http://www.childhoodpoverty.org/index.php?action=chipactivities-int
http://www.childhoodpoverty.org/index.php?action=countryo