Broad overview of the South African Child Gauge 2017
The South African Child Gauge® is published annually by the Children’s Institute, University of Cape Town, to monitor progress towards realising children’s rights. This issue focuses on children and the Sustainable Development Goals.
PART ONE: Children and Law Reform Part one outlines recent legislative developments that affect the lives and rights of children. This issue comments on developments in international child law, the Refugees Amendment Bill and Green Paper on International Migration, the National Minimum Wage, the Social Assistance Amendment Bill, a revised Traditional Courts Bill, the Eastern Cape Customary Male Initiation Practice Act, and amendments to the Children’s Act. See pages 10 – 17.
PART TWO: Survive • Thrive • Transform Part two presents a collection of nine essays that motivate for greater prioritisation of South Africa’s children to ensure that all children not only survive but thrive and reach their full potential. The first two essays introduce the Sustainable Development Goals and consider the extent to which the 2030 Global Agenda promotes children’s survival and development. Essay three reflects on South Africa’s recent progress and identifies critical gaps and local priorities. A series of five essays then focus on nurturing care, child nutrition, preventing violence against children, getting reading right, and creating inclusive and enabling environments, culminating in a call to action. See pages 18 – 93.
PART THREE: Children Count – The numbers Part three updates a set of key indicators on children’s socio-economic rights and provides commentary on the extent to which these rights have been realised. The indicators are a select subset from the website www.childrencount.uct.ac.za. See pages 94 – 133.
