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Early Childhood Well-Being in Africa

Dharam Ghai(presented by Frances Stewart)

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Structure of paper

• Importance of conditions in early childhood • Successful and unsuccessful countries in Africa

ion child wellbeing• Correlates of success and failure• Policy conclusion

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Why early childhood conditions are so important

• Poor conditions can lead to mortality• Can impair lifelong cognitive abilities• Poor physique• Poor social interactions• Depression, violence, crime…• Lower life long earnings

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Rates of return to investment in human capital at different ages

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Measurement issues

• Huge data problems: often lacking and often inaccurate

• Indicators of early childhood wellbeing (ECWI)– Child mortality (under 5)– Proportion of underweight children– Gross pre-school enrolment rate– Presents a combined index of child mortality and

underweight• Big range: under five mortality from <50 to >195;• Underweight from 11% to 34%

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Under 5 mortality Underweight

Seychelles Seychelles

Mauritius Swaziland

Cape Verde Gabon

Namibia Sao Tome

Botswana Equ. Guinea

Comoros Botswana

S.Africa S.Africa

Eritrea Ghana

Gabon Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe Cape Verde

Best performers

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Under 5 mortality Underweight

Chad Niger

Angola Burundi

DRC Sudan

Guinea Bissau Madagascar

Mali Burkina Faso

Nigeria Ethiopia

CAR Eritrea

Niger Chad

Equat Guinea Mauritania

Burundi Djibouti

Worst performers

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Possible causes• Overall development, measured by GDP per

capita;• Poverty rates• Share of GDP allocated to public expenditure

on health• Pre-schooling rates• Education of women• Fertility rates and contraceptive rates• Governance

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Conclusions• Weak association with GDP per capita; better

with poverty.• Weak association with health expenditure.• Positive association with female education;

fertility rates; pre-school education.• Strong association with governance indicators

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Other influences

• Culture• Violent conflicts – mostly do badly, apart from Uganda

and Liberia• Mineral curse – conflicts with regions;

mismanagement; Dutch disease – eg Nigeria; but can do well, eg Botswana; Gabon.

• Aid and remittances:positive. • Regional disparities (Nigeria)• HIV/AIDS. Yet Southern Africa still performs well on

ECWI

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Policy

• One of the most promising approaches to eliminating such deprivations and creating equal opportunities for all children is the universal provision of kindergarten centres offering unified packages of services in a safe and secure environment comprising nutrition, health and education; and a meeting and learning place for parents, community leaders and government and civil society agencies to promote knowledge and discussion of policies and practices conducive to child well-being