This study takes the view that child poverty is a multi-dimensional phenomenon which becomes entrenched in contexts where governance is ineffective and unresponsive to children. For example, corruption amongst public officials can result in children being unable to access essential services such as education and health; inadequate taxation regimes can fail to maximise public resources that should be invested in reducing child poverty; where social protection programmes lack transparency, are weakly monitored, mis-managed or are inappropriately discretionary, the outcomes for children are worse than they should be; and an unregulated private sector can violate children?s rights in myriad ways including with regards to the use of child labour.
This study is a contribution to the Child Rights Governance Initiative recently established by Save the Children International and examines the relationship between child rights governance, child poverty reduction and the emerging social protection agenda. It argues that child poverty cannot be addressed in a sustainable and holistic manner unless a state has in place effective, transparent, and accountable governance mechanisms which act in children?s best interests.