The Indian Government is committed to reducing child poverty. With decentralisation, state governments are expected to implement programmes relevant to child welfare. An analysis of budget allocations indicates that policy objectives are not being supported with funding that prioritises child-focused programmes.

The Indian state of Andhra Pradesh has agreed to hand over powers to local groups, including the rural Panchayat Raj institutions (PRIs). If the Millennium Development Goals to reduce child poverty (and provide all children with a basic education in particular) are to be achieved, these institutions will have to play a significant role. Decisions relevant to funding are central to this aim.

Researchers from the Young Lives project at the University of Oxford, in the UK, examine each stage of the budget process in Andhra Pradesh – from planning to implementation – to assess whether resources are reaching children and improving child wellbeing in the state.

The researchers look at local examples to assess the extent to which decentralisation enables child-focused spending. Specifically, they question whether PRIs have an impact on local spending on children, whether elected officials bring decision-making closer to the people, and whether citizens use their representatives to focus attention on child wellbeing.

Key findings include:

• Children are marginalised in policy and programming debates at the local level.
• Political leaders are interested in popular programmes: as children are not seen as ‘vote banks’, politicians show little interest in child-related issues.
• Female elected representatives do not prioritise spending on child-focused programmes and services.
• Fifteen percent of district and sub-district PRI funds are meant to be allocated to welfare activities for women and children, but are spent on woman-focused activities only.
• Despite devolution, decisions are still centralised in the state government.
• Government officers believe people’s representatives have more power than them to influence policy, but most citizens interviewed see people’s representatives as distant.

The report suggests some ways to encourage elected representatives and government officials to promote both children’s issues and objective assessment of their needs. It also identifies a need to increase awareness within the wider community of the importance of investing in children and the positive impact on family and community welfare. The researchers recommend that policymakers:

• improve coordination of child-focused service delivery from the state, for instance by creating a child welfare commission with active participation from all state departments
• target district collectors, because they have the influence to bring child-related issues into policy planning processes and increase child-focused spending
• use the new district planning committees as an opportunity to raise awareness of the need to invest in children
• develop and use tools that ensure participatory decision-making and budgeting processes that do not exclude children
• amend Government Order 38 so that half of the 15 percent of revenues allocated to women and children is used exclusively for children
• increase opportunities for children’s participation – when treated as active citizens, they can be powerful advocates for their own needs.

Source(s):
‘Improving Child-focused Spending in Local Bodies in Andhra Pradesh: Constraints and Opportunities’, UNICEF-Young Lives Social Policy Paper 003, University of Oxford: Oxford, by Paola Pereznieto, Gopinath Reddy and K. Mayuri, 2007 (PDF) Full document.
Further details about this research project 'Young Lives 2' Full document.
Further details about this research project 'Young Lives 1 - Children of the Millennium' Full document.

Funded by: UNICEF, India; the Department for International Development, UK

id21 Research Highlight: 11 May 2008

Further Information:
Gopinath Reddy
Centre for Economic and Social Studies
Begumpet
Hyderabad-500016
Andhra Pradesh
India

Tel: +91 40 23402789
Fax: +91 40 23406808
Contact the contributor: mgopinathreddy@cess.ac.in

Centre for Economic and Social Studies, Hyderabad, India

Young Lives
Department of International Development
Queen Elizabeth House
3 Mansfield Road
Oxford OX1 3TB
UK

Tel: +44 1865 281800
Fax: +44 1865 281801
Contact the contributor: younglives@younglives.org.uk

Young Lives, Department of International Development, Queen Elizabeth House, Oxford, UK

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