Child Poverty and the Budget 2000: Are Poor Children Being Put First?

Titel: Are Poor Children Being Put First?
Subtitle: Child Poverty and the Budget 2000
Authors: Shaamela Cassiem, Heien Perry, Mastoera Sadan, Judith Streak
Publisher: Institute for Democracy in South Africa. Budget Information Service, Institute for Democracy in South Africa. Children's Budget (Idasa)
Cape Town, South Africa 2001
ISBN 1919798129 / ISBN 1-919798-12-9
Softcover, 17x25 cm, 175 pages, several charts and tables

Description:

Child poverty is extensive in South Africa. Since 1994, the government has made a number of promises to the many poor children in South Africa about alleviating their suffering. Its ratification of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and Section 28 of the Constitution ore examples. The primary way in which the government has said it will reduce child poverty and deliver the rights promised in the CRC and Constitution is by implementing the National Programme of Action for Children in South Africa (NPA). This is an instrument for ensuring that poor children are „put first“ in policy, government budgets and service delivery. The other way is through the Growth, Employment and Redistribution (GEAR) strategy. The aim of this book is to make a contribution towards monitoring the government's performance in delivering on its promises to poor children and reducing child poverty.

As a means towards this end, it takes a bird's eye view of the 2000 national budget and studies policy developments, government spending plans and service delivery trends in the health, education, welfare and justice sectors. Whilst the study considers whether children, particularly poor children, are being prioritised in policy, budgets and service delivery, the primary focus of this book is on the budget. This introduction presents the concept of child poverty used throughout the book; offers an overview of the evolution of the government's promises to poor children; describes the government's umbrella strategy for reducing child poverty; explains the methodology used in this book to evaluate the government's performance, and sets out the structure of the book, summarising the key findings of each chapter.

Content: Child Poverty and the Budget 2000: Are Poor Children Being Put First?

Introduction
The extent and provincial distribution of child poverty in South Africa
A bird's eye view of children in Budget 2000
Are children being put first in the health and nutrition sector?
Are children prioritised in the justice sector?
Does welfare prioritise children?
Is the education sector delivering to children?
Conclusion