JUSTICE FOR CHILDREN BY THE END OF THE NEXT DECADE?

A Namibian Perspective on Child Poverty

According to the UNICEF Namibia Child Poverty Brief of 2021, approximately 16.1% children in Namibia are both multidimensionally and financially poor. The region that records the highest incidence of child poverty is the Kavango East region (located in the far north of Namibia), where close to 8 in every 10 children are living in multidimensional poverty.

Namibia is a developing country, situated on the Southwest coast of Africa covering 824, 292 sq km (318,259 sq mi). Although Namibia is making positive strides in terms of economic growth, it still has a large number of poor individuals and an unequal distribution of wealth. The unfortunate part of this reality is that children are the most disadvantaged, and their future is at stake.

Adding to this, Namibia, through the 2018 Namibia Labour Force Survey, reports that of 507,185 children aged 8-17, 5,136 are employed children. The reality is that this number has grown over the years and if there’s no intensive intervention, not just by the Namibian government, but together with the different global agencies such as the UN and ILO, we will fail the children of Namibia and the generations behind them.

The factors that contribute to the scary numbers of child poverty, are not unknown. However, perhaps the fault lies in the approach from both government, international organizations, and their relationship with both the public and private sectors. Many children in rural and informal settlements, although they receive proper and free education, find themselves not completing their basic education. This creates a ripple effect, as they then do not proceed to vocational or local higher learning institutions. Even more so, they are not exposed to opportunities to enable them to become entrepreneurs and make something of themselves. Therefore, these employed children make up the greatest numbers of school dropouts, street dwellers, criminals, and disadvantaged mothers, who fell pregnant as teenagers.

Now, more than ever, the world needs to stand by the promises and different international instruments that we have agreed to rectify, such as the recent Durban call-to-action concluded at the ILO 5th Global Conference on the elimination of child labour. The world stands in a unique position, to simultaneously invest in the future of children alongside its rich growth in the past decade. The current call for advocacy is to transform the lives of many children in disadvantaged backgrounds through education, policy reform and technology. Children need the world to fight for them, not just through advocacy, but through financial aid and an implementation of programmes and projects that also empower their impoverished families to break the poverty cycle.