From Bleak Prospects to Bright Futures: Urgent actions to address public under-investment in children across lower income countries

Investing in children, their rights and demands, is central to charting a route out of this moment of overlapping crises, toward delivering on the promise of the SDGs. Yet reports by the UN and World Bank highlight a significant and growing divide in lower-income countries: between resources available and required, across social, economic, and environmental spheres – the three dimensions of sustainable development.

However, this paper highlights the future trajectory for increasing public investment in social sectors to bridge this divide is not positive and presents a bleak prospect for children. The paper explores the critical overarching reasons why this is the case, including low projected growth in economies and domestic revenue mobilisation, the lack of affordable budgetary finance and debt sustainability risks, as well as the constrained environment for sector specific international public finance.

This outlook doesn’t have to come to pass though. The paper outlined ways that financing gaps can be filled through bold and ambitious action at all levels – by national governments and by the international community, including through multilateral solutions and international cooperation. Transforming the bleak prospects faced by children across the world into brighter futures is possible. The time for action is now.