The State of Funding for Children in SADC is a report that investigates the status of resources that are earmarked for children in southern Africa. Commissioned by RIATT-ESA, the study is premised on the understanding that beyond the ratifications of international and regional child rights instruments, as well as promulgation of impeccable laws, realization of children’s rights will not be actualized until adequate resources are availed. The study also appreciates that it is the incumbency of the child rights sector to lobby governments for increased fiscal space so that adequate resources are accorded to children.
It is this study’s persuasion that the prerogative to increase fiscal space for children has never been greater. Poor and vulnerable children and their families have been hard hit by the unabated market failures leading to food, fuel and employment shocks. Having exhausted available coping mechanisms, poor and vulnerable children are also likely to be disproportionately affected by reduced public support as well as the different austerity measures that governments in the region are undertaking. The study is considered as action research, wherefrom a plethora of advocacy initiatives will be derived.
