Speaker

Ms Monisha Israni
Student
Chaudhary Charan Singh University, Meerut-India

Growing up amidst COVID 19 crises – Vulnerability of underprivileged children in developing counties

Abstract Narrative

In this paper, I investigate the differential vulnerability of Indian children in the context of Covid 19 pandemic, to unravel the exacerbation of gaps in social equity among children in their access to education, health, and wellbeing. The objective of this paper is to focus on underprivileged children who have been cornered away under the current paradigm due to inequitable access to resources and services quintessential for their development amidst the ongoing pandemic. The catastrophic pandemic has exposed the grim realities of the deeply layered socio-economic divides of an unequal world. In spite of scholarly recognition of this issue from non-government agencies and various local initiatives, the gravity of the situation has not been duly addressed through multidimensional vulnerability assessment and action in the context of underprivileged children. The paper therefore attempts to draw attention to the plight of underprivileged children in third world countries who are battling with the deleterious impact of the pandemic and are extremely vulnerable to exploitation in the form of child labour, child trafficking and multiple forms of abuse on the domestic front during this crisis. It is critical to examine the multiple facets of vulnerability of children in a holistic way to estimate the cumulative effect of these variables severing their overall development thereby debarring them with opportunities to become productive citizens in future. The paper voices the deprivation and distress experienced by underprivileged children dissecting the geopolitics of this neglect by tracing the roots of exploitation of children in crisis situations in history. The theme of this paper addresses an understudied and critical component of heightened vulnerability to exploitation in form of child labour and higher predisposition to multiple forms of abuse during the COVID 19 pandemic. It throws light on the intricacies of their challenges and coping strategies in response to the sudden distress and deprivation induced during the pandemic. This paper argues a dire need for policy interventions for children from marginalised communities to mitigate the ripple effects of extended school closures, financial distress at household level, and restricted access to welfare and social security schemes during the crisis on their lives. The paper critically analyzes the compounding effect of social exclusion across multiple spectrums among underprivileged school children to highlight the need for an effective multi pronged approach which is envisioned to empower them by developing a resilient socio economic foundation for them to cope up with the implications of Covid 19 crisis on their lives.

Biography

Monisha works on international development issues from a human development perspective and has extensive research experience in government, corporate as well as autonomous civil society organisations. A former research fellow at Center for Social Medicine & Community Health, JNU; with post-graduation in development studies from TISS-Mumbai & a graduate from Lady Irwin College, University of Delhi. She has a UGC certification for university lecturership, along with other teaching certifications including B.Ed with specialisation in guidance and counselling, Early Childhood Care & Education & Applied Psychology. Currently, she is specialising in education technology in her second master in education and pursuing her dissertation on the topic “Digital Education Divide-Issues and Challenges for E-inclusion” .
She is an active member of several think-tank bodies including Research and Policy House-Australia, Span International, Indian Health Economics Policy Association and Indian Institute of Population Sciences. Her previous affiliations include the National Institute of Public Cooperation in Child Development-MoWCD, Planning Commission of India, Women Power Connect-Center for Social Research, Ministry of Youth Affairs, Alternative Futures, All India Women’s Education Fund Association, Transparency Market Research.
She has won many laurels for performing arts, and distinguished awards & recognitions for her contributions to Indian society, art and culture. She has also been nominated for an international student exchange programme and a recipient of the platinum jubilee award for community service by the University of Delhi.
As a passionate public policy researcher her interests revolve around international development, inclusive policies for human development in the third world, biopsychosocial childhood studies, nutrition, maternal & child health, affirmative policies for improving health & education indicators for underprivileged children

Ms Sithembile Dube
Expansion and Financing Officer
Ilifa Labantwana

Placing ECD sites at the Centre of Community: Lessons and Innovations from Ilifa Labantwana’s ECD COVID-19 Response Project

Abstract Narrative

The impacts of COVID-19 and the hard lockdown on the ECD sector were devastating. Wide-scale surveys conducted in April 2020 showed a sector in deep trouble. The NIDS-CRAM wave 2 study found that ECD attendance dropped to an 18-year low of just 13 percent by mid-August due to the double blow of household factors such as lost employment, reduced income and parental fears of children contracting COVID-19, coupled with widespread site closures due to the prohibitive cost of complying with Department of Social Development’s reopening protocols. Another survey conducted by Ilifa Labantwana and others found that over 100 000 jobs in the ECD sector were at risk of being lost, while 1.8 million children were found to be at risk of not being able to access ECD services if programmes are unable to reopen.
This situation called for urgent intervention to assist ECD programmes to survive lockdown and reopen sustainably. It also provided a key opportunity to explore new systems and innovations to address the broader condition of the early learning system in South Africa which had aggravated the extent of damage cause by COVID-19. Ilifa Labantwana, along with several implementing partners, therefore launched an ECD COVID-19 Response Project in September 2020, supporting 1700 unregistered ECD sites around the country with COVID compliance materials, electronic vouchers for ECD staff, electronic vouchers for child feeding at the sites, and support to access and store clean water.
This paper outlines the key lessons and innovations which have arisen from the ECD COVID-19 Response Project. Besides supporting these 1700 sites to successfully reopen and to feed over 30 000 children between October 2020 and May 2021, the project tested a number of systems and approaches which have the potential to radically change the ways in which unregistered ECD sites are viewed and supported by government.
Among the most important findings from the project are that unregistered ECD sites have the capacity to become nutrition hubs delivering food to young children aged 0-5 in their local communities regardless of their registration status. The project also found that NGOs working closely with ECD sites have a major supporting role to play in this endeavour. There are also numerous lessons around the role of local spaza shops in supplying food for the ECD sector, and the use of regular electronic vouchers as a means through which to channel funding for nutrition. This paper will present these lessons along with important policy and practice recommendations which could have a far-reaching impact in the sector if adopted.

Biography

Sithembile Dube is an evaluator with extensive experience implementing Early Childhood Development programmes. She has a social work background and is passionate about interventions that improve the welfare and development of children in South Africa

Ms Ruohan Zhu
Graduate Student
Sociology Department, Peking University, Beijing, China

Household Livelihood Contradiction and Impact on Child Poverty in Rural China: A Qualitative Study Based on Yi County

Abstract Narrative

Objectives:
After the “anti-poverty war”, sustainable poverty alleviation has become a new agenda in China, and is also a crucial goal of global social development. The elimination of child poverty is the key to block the intergenerational transmission of poverty and establish a long-term anti-poverty mechanism. However, the policies that needed to be targeted at rural impoverished children have almost been overlooked, and current literature rarely focuses on analyzing household’s livelihood choice dilemma that hided behind child poverty.
Thus, the present study aims to examine the conflict of household economic production and child caregiving in rural and its effect on children’s vulnerabilities. This study adopts the perspective of developmental social work combining with analysis of “life politics” in contemporary rural China for a better understanding of the complexity of sustainable poverty alleviation.
Methods:
Based on three rural villages in Hebei Province, this study deploys qualitative method for data collection by using in-depth interview and participant observation from 2018 to 2020. A total of 15 households with targeted poverty status, 3 village officials, 10 village primary school teachers were interviewed. Additional observation data were collected through author’s participation in the community activities co-organized by social workers and the village residential committee. All data were systemically coded for subsequent analysis.
Results:
Research finds that many rural families are trapped into the contradiction of livelihood strategies between migration for higher economic rewards and staying for childcare responsibilities. While the government’s poverty alleviation action with targeted measures has greatly benefited the poor in terms of the increased per capita disposable income, the cost of childcare within the family has often not been taken into consideration. Rural households with children had to adopt economy-first strategies to lift out of poverty, and resulted in various consequences. Firstly, they go to urban cities to seek job opportunities and it is common to leave home more than 3 months. Secondly, the rural community care-network has been weakened due to massive migration, and meanwhile it is not available and affordable for rural families to use marketing care service. Children often encounter multiple vulnerabilities in education, health and socio-psychological development without adequate parental and community care. Finally, there is limited family support and children’s services available for vulnerable household with children. Hence, most families lack subjectivity to make livelihood choice and hover between modernity and tradition, which can be called a “life politics” dilemma.
Conclusions:
Research concludes that more policies and services should be available for rural vulnerable household, including work-family reconciliation, childcare support, and community service. Based on developmental social work, the study proposes “capital construction” to augment household selection so that to bridge tradition-modernity gap with “life politics” and achieve sustainable poverty alleviation. First, strengthening economic capital through income and assets, and increasing rural jobs and wages by policy. Moreover, compensating the cost of childcare and helping families increase assets accumulation through CDA program. Second, building social capital especially care-network in rural community to offset caregiving by social workers, and setting up social organization to provide care service.

Biography

I am Ruohan Zhu, a graduate student of MSW from Sociology Department, Peking University. I graduated from Capital Normal University in 2020 and received a Bachelor’s degree in Social Work. Owing to the long-term major learning and practice, I have accumulated a rich intern experience for 800 hours in various NGOs, civil administration department and rural community. For example, I took part in the design and organization of a service program about anti-poverty and child growth in impoverished rural area of Hebei Province from 2018-2020 and investigated local child’s poverty phenomena and family livelihood dilemma. Moreover, I participated the research and service program concerning left-behind children and impoverished children in Beijing and Yunnan Province. Influenced by practice experiences, now my research interests mainly focus on family and child welfare, poverty alleviation, rural development, and developmental social work. Additionally, the earnest major study and practice also ignite my strong passion to pursue social justice and equity and inspire me to engage in social work education career.

With the excellent grades and practice ability in my undergraduate stage, I won Excellent Study Scholarship (2018), Research Innovation Scholarship (2019), First Prize Scholarship (2017-2019) in Capital Normal University, and received Linhu Social Work Students Prize, which was awarded by Linhu Foundation and PKU- HK PolyU China Social Work Research Centre. In 2020, I have fortunately been recommended for direct admission of graduate student in Peking University and was awarded Postgraduate Scholarship for Innovation in Scientific Practice. Furthermore, I also received Beijing Excellent Undergraduate Student Award by Beijing Municipal Education Commission, which is also an affirmation of my major learning and practice.

In international exchange, I had a short learning experience concerning academic training and innovation in Stanford and UC Berkeley in 2018 and studied in Cambridge and Oxford University in 2019. In academic research, I took charge of three students’ research programs and successfully completed these studies with outputs of papers or investigation reports. From now, I have already published three papers and attended several forums, one had won the first prize in the 2nd China Social Work Graduate Students Forum held by China Association for Social Work Education. Additionally, I also participated the translation of series books of practice research in social work, and composed Children’s Development Accounts Service Guide of China in my graduate stage.

Mr Samitha Udayanga
Postgraduate Institute of Humanities and Social Sciences
University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka.

Early Childhood Care in a time of uncertainly: The impact of COVID 19 on children in disadvantaged communities and promoting child well-being

Abstract Narrative

“The COVID-19 pandemic is both contagious and highly selective. Its ability to infect is universal and non-discriminatory, but the consequences of becoming infected are both particular and discriminatory. Therefore, despite the promise made by the 2030 agenda for sustainable development to ensure that all girls and boys have quality early childhood care and education may encounter unexpected jeopardy. During such a global social uncertainty, local responses including countrywide lockdown, school closure and limiting essential social service provisions can double jeopardize the children in most disadvantaged communities while setting them apart from essential childcare. Therefore, in this grounded theory study I inquire how plantation-sector-communities in Sri Lanka are experiencing a childcare downturn. Because childcare itself and social services toward childcare follow a social gradient, the impact of subculture determinants of those disadvantaged communities on children are worse that of their peers in urban and rural counterparts. Families are likely to lose their essential-need-fulfilling sources whilst neglecting childcare, as adults cannot go to work and they are heavy dependents on daily-paid work. Existing financial volatility has become further unstable furthering the vicious cycle of childcare during the COVID-19 pandemic. Moreover, social service provisions concerning childcare have been crippled down, and at the same time, socioemotional stress among parents has foreshadowed stress among children in their early childhood. To respond to these unstable social conditions effectively, an intersectoral approach is suggested to be implemented which mainstreams childcare in uncertain times. Besides, existing policies and social service provisions on early childhood care should be revised incorporating emerging tendencies during an uncertain social environment whilst giving specific attention to contextual dynamics. Ensuring job security and adequate consumption, investment in adopting new technologies to facilitate early childhood care, provision of clear and contextually relevant guidelines to parents and communities are some other recommendations to secure that children in their early childhood receive adequate childcare and access childcare services. Keywords: COVID-19, Early Childhood Care, Social Services, Social Uncertainty, Vicious Cycle of Childcare ”

Biography

Samitha Udayanga is a research student in PGIHS, university of Peradeniya who research on Early Childhood Care and Education and Sociocultural Determinants. Recently he endeavoured a research on COVID-19 pandemic and its influence on education attainment among disadvantaged communities.