Child Poverty in Nicaragua
Team: Tatiana Macio, Blerta Cela, Verouschka Capellan, Michela Calabrese, Aja Badame
Semester: Spring 2005
In 1999, the World Bank and International Monetary Fund began requiring low-income countries to develop national Poverty Reduction Strategies (PRSP) to receive debt relief and further concessional lending. However, despite five years of PRSP implementation, one question has yet to be adequately addressed: how have PRSPs impacted the reduction of child poverty? Children are disproportionately affected by poverty and as such, need their own analysis.
The Child Poverty Impact Assessment Team (CPIAT), commissioned by UNICEF and coordinated by the New School University’s Graduate Program in International Affairs, designed and piloted a methodology in Nicaragua, one of the first countries to implement the PRSP, to determine if child poverty has been reduced by PRSPs.
To develop this methodology, CPIAT employed a multi-dimensional approach relying on quantitative and qualitative methods. First, the team conducted a thorough collection of secondary data which included a literature review, a poverty-related expenditure budget analysis and a review of PRSP child indicator areas. Additionally, a stakeholder mapping was conducted. This entailed extensive research on the executors and implementers of PRSP policies, civil society working in related sectors and academics.
Secondly, primary data was gathered in the field to complement CPIAT’s secondary data collection. In Managua, the team interviewed over twenty key stakeholders who are directly involved with child poverty or have been directly or indirectly affected by the PRSP. Government officials, international organizations, non-governmental organizations, community members and individual researchers were all included in the pool of stakeholders. Due to limited exposure in the field, the primary qualitative data analysis is limited but provides a backdrop for the team’s research. Interviewees provided needed opinions on the PRSP process, filled gaps and provided indicator insight.
CPIAT’s analysis of the collected quantitative and qualitative research revealed that the Nicaraguan PRSP’s brought the poverty discourse to the forefront of the national agenda. However, the team also found that:
- Impoverished children are not a priority for the government and are sparsely included in the programs and policies of the PRSP
- Impact assessment is difficult because of the inconsistent, low-quality, reliable data and small window of time between PRSP creation and PRSP impact assessment
- PRSP child poverty indicators are lagging and not performing on target as planned
- There are competing national poverty and development strategies, causing confusion among stakeholders
Core Documents
Terms of Reference
Timeline
Final Presentation
Additional Documents
2005 Spring - UNICEF - Child Poverty in Nicaragua.pdf
Navigate: All Spring 2005 practicums