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Special Theme: Develop a Child
Why invest in children?
The reasons for investing in the potential of poor children
are both compelling and self-evident. Human capital—
investment in our brains and our bodies—is essential for
economic development, and enriched human development
may reduce poverty more sustainably than any other
strategy. ADB promotes human development policies that
provide children of the poor the opportunities for growth.
Investing in children raises the efficiency of public
expenditure and reduces the need for subsequent public
resources to compensate for failure to address children’s
needs. The earlier the learning capacity of the child is
addressed, the better. Investments designed to improve
sanitation, health, nutrition, and education for children often
benefit the whole community and allow mothers to pursue
earning and education goals.
Investing in children strengthens the quality and
productivity of the future labor force by developing the
human brain and its capacity for curiosity, reasoning, and
inquiry. Expanding a child’s capacity for learning results in
higher incomes for the family and permits investment in
the quality of the next generation. Investments in primary
education are powerful spurs to equitable growth.
Investing in the education of girls can address gender
biases and break the cycle of poverty and underachievement.
Girls who participate in early childhood programs are more
likely to go to and stay in school. Special programs in health
and nutrition can provide incentives to parents to enroll and
keep girls in school, and ensure that gender concerns are part
of social protection programs.
Investing in children will help nations meet the
international development goals (IDGs) to which they—and
ADB—have subscribed. Three of the seven IDGs relate
directly to children and two others target maternal health
(Box 2). ADB and its developing member countries (DMCs)
also support the United Nations Convention on the Rights
of the Child, which requires governments to work toward
ensuring the development of each child. By agreeing to
follow a framework of principles (Box 3), Asian governments
have pledged to improve health and nutrition for all children
and to provide essential education as a right and as the key
to equitable growth and sustainable development.
Box 2: Adopting the International Development Goals
Following the agreements and resolutions of various conferences organized in the first half of the 1990s-such as the World Summit for Children, the International
Conference on Nutrition, the International Conference on Population and Development, the World Summit for Social Development-world leaders identified broad international
development goals. Three relate directly and all relate indirectly to children. Two target material health.
- Reduce the incidence of extreme poverty by half between 1990 and 2015;
- Attain 100 percent primary school enrollment by 2015;
- Eliminate gender disparities in primary and secondary education by 2005;
- Reduce infant and child mortality by two thirds between 1990 and 2015;1
- Reduce maternal mortality ratio2 by three quarters between 1990 and 2015;
- Provide access for all to reproductive health services by 2015;
- Ensure that every country implements a national sustainable development strategy by 2005, and reverses the loss of environmental resources by 2015.
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- Infant mortality rate is the annual number of deaths of children less than one year of age expressed per 1,000 live births.
- Maternal mortality ratio is the number of deaths per 10,000 births attributable to pregnancy, childbearing, or puerperal complication, i.e, within six weeks following childbirth.
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Box 3: Recognizing the Rights of Children
The United Nations (UN) Convention on the Rights of the Child was adopted by the UN General Assembly in November 1989 and entered into force in September 1990.
- Parties shall ensure to the maximum extent possible the survival and development of the child.
- Parties recognize the right of the child to enjoy the highest attainable standard of health and facilities for treating illness and rehabilitating health. Parties shall strive to ensure that no child is deprived of his or her right of access to such health care services.
- Parties shall pursue full implementation of this right and, in particular, shall take appropriate measures to diminish infant and child mortality; ensure that necessary medical assistance and health care are provided to all children with an emphasis on developing primary
health carel combat disease and malnutrition, including within the framework of primary health care, by applying readily available technology and by providing adequate nutritious foods and clean drinking water, taking into consideration the dangers and risks of environmental pollution;
ensure appropriate prenatal and postnatal health care for mothers; ensure that all segments of society, in particular parents and children, are informed, have access to education, and are supported in the use of basic knowledge of child health and nutrition, the advantages of breastfeeding,
hygiene and environmental sanitation, and the prevention of accidents; and develop preventive health care guidance for parents, and family planning education and sevices.
- Parties recognize the right of the child to education and with a view to achieving this right progressively and on the basis of equal oppurtunity, they shall, in particular make primary education compulsory and available free to all; encourage the development of different forms of secondary education,
including general and vocational education, make them available and accessible to every child, and take appropriate measures such as introducing free education and offering financial assistance in case of need; make higher education accessible to all on the basis of capacity by every appropriate means;
make educational and vocational information and guidance available and accessible to all children; and take measures to encourage regular attendance at schools and to reduce dropout rates.
- Parties recognize the right of the child to be protected from economic exploitation and from performing any work that is likely to be hazardous or to interfere with the child's education, or to be harmful to the child's health or physical, mental, spiritual, moral, or social development.
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