The Joint Learning Initiative on Children and HIVAIDS JLICA

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Learning Group 4 October 1st, 2008 RIATT
Childrens Conference
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The Role of Government and Other Actors in
Designing, Financing and Implementing Social
Policy with Regard to Children and HIV/AIDS
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Social and economic policies to promote the
wellbeing of children affected by HIV and AIDS

• Case studies of policies adopted in Tanzania,
  South Africa and Cambodia
• Comparative study of factors that influenced
  adoption of best practices in 38 developing
  countries
• Studies of how HIV/AIDS policies and programmes
  can be financed, and how cost can be supported

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National governments role in designing,
financing and determining who might implement
social protection policies is paramount

• Great deal of attention to content of policies
• Great deal of effort internationally expended in
  examining best practices
• Understanding of how policy is made, financed
  and implemented with specific attention to
  national circumstances is urgently needed

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Most of the countries in sub-Saharan Africa have
limited capacity to implement complex social
policies

• Weak institutions
• Over-stretched human resources
• A multiplicity of uncoordinated initiatives

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Policies that work best

• Start simple but may become complicated over time
• Make modest demands on institutions
• Are AIDS-sensitive, rather than AIDS-targeted
• Command popular support

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We argue strongly against external blueprints in
social protection

• The core requirement
• to do the basics well
• The core question
• what specific policies, mechanisms and
  accountabilities can be put in place to promote
  the wellbeing of children in a manner that
  recognizes rights and entitlements, can go to
  scale and is lasting

Organization Month 00, 2008
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Comparative study of best practices for children
and AIDS across 38 countries

• the most important factor that influences good
  outcomes is sound administrative capacity
• good, transparent, well-resourced and working
  governance institutions
• AIDS-specific leadership is less important
• AIDS-sensitivity as a fundamental guiding
  principle for social protection

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Financing

• Present focus - financing a complex package of
  needs for most vulnerable children
• Overwhelming majority of children affected by
  AIDS receive some informal support from families
  and communities, but not enough to meet
  childrens basic needs
• We cannot be concerned with only children
  directly affected by AIDS but need to recognise
  our responsibilities for much larger numbers of
  children in need

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The old costings led to institutions offering a
lot to a few we are looking at providing less to
many
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SUMMARY

• Facilitating countries to do the simple things
  well and at scale, providing for all children in
  need, and thereby meeting the needs of children
  affected by AIDS as well
• National ownership and leadership, building upon
  and strengthening existing institutional capacity
• We believe that this is at once realistic and
  ambitious!

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Learning Group 4

• Co-chairs
• Alex de Waal, Social Science Research Council,
  New York
• Masuma Mamdani, Research on Poverty Alleviation
  (REPOA), Tanzania
• Learning Group Members and Researchers
• Brazil, Cambodia, India, South Africa,
  Tanzania, Uganda, UK, USA