UNICEF India is designing an ambitious and innovative five-year country programme that has social policy as a priority across all sectors, Hyun Hee Ban, Chief of Social Policy, Monitoring, and Evaluation, UNICEF India, has said.
Talking to The Hindu on a visit to the State along with K.L. Rao, Chief, Social Policy, UNICEF Office for Tamil Nadu and Kerala, Ms. Ban said UNICEF wanted to talk with all stakeholders and get insights on how what could be done better in the new environment after COVID-19 and where climate change was a major priority while designing the new country programme.
Ms. Ban said that the pandemic and climate change had exacerbated the learning crisis. As many as 286 million children had been affected in the country. This excluded the millions out of school owing to various reasons.
Digital divide
Kerala had made digital learning accessible but that was not case in other States where there existed a digital divide. It was a new kind of deprivation. In a study of climate effects on children, India was ranked fifth most vulnerable country to climate change.
UNICEF’s overall vision on social protection was for children to live free from poverty and have access to inclusive social protection programmes, such as government’s cash grants to children who had lost their parents to COVID-19, she said.
In the area of local governance, UNICEF was keen on child and young-friendly local governance initiatives that put children and adolescents at the centre so that they could raise their voice about what made a difference to their lives. Such initiatives were needed not only in rural areas but cities too where there was a lot of urban poverty and vulnerability.
Kerala had launched child-friendly local governance initiatives that many States wanted to replicate. Talks had been held with government officials, she said, on building on the Kerala model and extending it to the secondary generation, that is 10 to 19 year-old, by looking at adolescent health, including mental health, nutrition, and linking education with life skills and skills that led to employability. Protection of children from violence was another priority.
One of the major pillars of the new country programme would be evidence-based planning. This would be done with partnerships with centres of excellence so that reports and studies could be used effectively. The large number of social security programmes would be reviewed and consolidated and a few schemes prioritised for better coverage, she said.
Ms. Ban said she was very excited about being in Kerala as she has heard much about the innovative initiatives here that could be scaled up to help not only other States but also other middle-income countries. There were models in other countries such as shock-reponsive social protection programmes that also could be implemented here.
The UNICEF Social Policy Chief has a personal connection to India. She is married to an Indian. She is also the daughter of former United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon who had served here as a diplomat. Her brother was born in the country. “It is a huge privilege to be in India, and hope I can make a difference in the lives of children here. My father too was thrilled for me.”
