Putting children first: identifying solutions and taking action to tackle poverty and inequality in Africa

Despite important strides in the fight against poverty over the past two decades with nearly 1.1 billion people escaping extreme poverty since 1990, child poverty remains widespread and persistent, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. This three-day international conference aims to engage policy makers, practitioners and researchers in identifying solutions for fighting child poverty and inequality in Africa, and inspiring action towards change. The conference offers a platform for bridging divides across sectors, disciplines and policy, practice and research.

The conference will be framed around the following themes:

1. “Setting the scene: Who and where are the poor children?” This theme aims to provide insight into the plight of overlooked children, to strengthen data collection and measurement efforts to ensure that no child is overlooked in the future.
   
   
2. “Child-sensitive social protection: Making social protection work for children”. This theme aims to promote a better understanding of how social protection can be improved to help children, including links to services and the adoption of more child-oriented approaches.
   
   
3. “Ensuring access to basic services for all: Reaching the poorest and most marginalised children”. This theme aims to gain insight into how access to services can be secured for the most excluded and marginalised, including views on how to remove specific barriers and involve a social workforce and community-based mechanisms.
   
   
4.  “Supporting secure transitions to adulthood”. This theme aims to explore how the ‘youth bulge’ can be considered a ‘demographic dividend’ and how young people can be supported in the transition to adulthood with regard to education, work, family and aspirations.

The conference will conclude with a commitment to action towards fighting child poverty and inequality in Africa. Action steps will be summarised in a Call for Action, to which feedback is welcome. 

Confirmed speakers include:

• H.E Ms Demitu Hambisa, Minister Ministry of Women and Children Affairs, Ethiopia
• Ms. Leila Pakkala, Regional Director for Eastern and Southern Africa, UNICEF
• Dr. Agnes Akosua Aidoo, International Board of Trustees, ACPF
• Jane Kabubo-Mariara, Executive Director, PEP
• Nora Groce, Director of the Leonard Cheshire Disability and Inclusive Development Centre, UCL
• Jo Boyden, Director of Young Lives

Co-hosted by a cross-section of policy, NGO and research organisations, this event will bring a diverse range of perspectives into the discussions:

• Ethiopian Centre for Child Research at Ethiopian Development Research Institute (EDRI)
• Comparative Research Programme on Poverty (CROP)
• ESRC-DFID Impact Initiative Impact at the Institute of Development Studies (IDS)
  
• United Nations Economic Commission for Africa
• Ethiopia Ministry of Women and Children Affairs (MoWCA)
• Global Coalition to End Child Poverty (which includes the African Child Policy Forum (ACPF), Institute of Development Studies, Partnership for Economic Policy (PEP), Save the Children, UNICEF and Young Lives) 

More detailed information about the themes, key questions to be considered and the conference objectives can be found in the conference concept note.