| Welcome! In 2012, Save the Children celebrates 20 years of EU advocacy in Brussels. We have good reason to celebrate – in the past 20 years we have seen tremendous progress in terms of EU commitments and action towards children’s rights, resulting in concrete and positive change for children across the globe. We are proud to have been part of and contributed to this success and remain firmly committed to build on progress made. Read our Manifesto on Children’s Rights, with recommendations for EU action towards the realisation of children’s rights, building on progress already made.
This month, we highlight international aid as a key driver of change, which has saved millions of children’s lives over the last two decades. A recent report commissioned by Save the Children’s shows that aid really matters, making a strong case for support of the EC’s proposal to increase development aid in the next EU budget. We are therefore particularly pleased to share with you an anniversary greeting from Commissioner Piebalgs, emphasising the role of EU aid in securing children’s rights and child survival. Check out our anniversary archives if you haven’t visited us before and want to look at previous contributions.
Statement on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of Save the Children EU Office in Brussels
Children are one of my key constituents as Commissioner for Development since they represent approximately 50% of the populations of developing countries. They therefore feature prominently in the aims of our work. To take just one example, my new development strategy, the Agenda for Change, highlights the importance of realising human rights and ensuring good governance. Both of these are fundamental to achieving children’s rights. Similarly, I emphasise the need to provide quality healthcare and education to all children and to support families through social protection schemes, since these are crucial for children to achieve their maximum potential, for their well-being and their future and indeed for their very survival. I will be committing 20% of the EU development cooperation budget to the areas of health, education and social protection. Save the Children, through their global EVERY ONE campaign, are doing a fantastic job to raise awareness both at EU level and in third countries of the importance of good healthcare and nutrition for children and to improve funding streams going to these areas,as well as running their own programmes in third countries. It has been a pleasure to work with Save the Children EU Office on a number of occasions and to discuss a wide range of subjects important to children’s rights and to a more sustainable and coherent pattern of development. I have had the pleasure to support Save the Children’s work very recently when I was invited to be the keynote speaker at the launch of their important report on gender discrimination and its effects on child survival and development. At this event we were able to exchange ideas about the importance of gender empowerment and what to do to improve it. Indeed, both I and my team find Save the Children’s research reports and briefings very interesting and useful in our work. I would like to wish Save the Children all the best for the continuation of their valuable work and to assure the EU Office of our continued support. EU Commissioner for Development Andris PiebalgsSave the Children’s 20th anniversary |
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Development Works with More and Better Aid
The aid landscape has seen large swings in the twenty years that Save the Children EU office in Brussels has been advocating to the EU institutions. After our tenth anniversary we saw a big upswing in the commitments EU donors made to providing aid. At the same time as this promised increase there was also pressure to make the impact of aid greater. The Aid Effectiveness Agenda was instigated and changes in approaches to aid promoted so that it better reflected a partnership. Principles to improve aid effectiveness were adopted in Paris before accords in Accra and Busan. In this new vision programme priorities would be set by partner countries and donors would do their upmost to support them and minimize their administrative burden.
Fast-forward to 2012 and the big upswing in aid is now under threat with the fiscal crisis in the EU squeezing national budgets. At the same time as this crisis developed there have also been increasingly prominent critiques of using aid to tackle poverty. So can and should the EU play a big role in increasing and improving aid?
A new report by ODI commissioned by UNICEF and Save the Children would certainly support doing so. Justin Forsyth, Save the Children UK’s CEO, said: “This report clearly demonstrates the positive impact of well-targeted aid, which aligns with national governments’ strategies. Millions more children are now surviving beyond their fifth birthday thanks to aid, economic growth and good government policy. Where funding gaps exist – for example for primary education or child health – aid can make all the difference.”
The report finds that aid is one of six key factors to have driven marked improvements in child wellbeing and survival over the last 20 years:
* over four million fewer children under 5 are dying each year than in 1990.
* 56 million more children were enrolled in school in between 1999 and 2009.
* And 131 countries now have over 90% immunization coverage for diphtheria, tetanus and major preventable childhood diseases such as measles, compared to just 63 in 1990.
Other key factors driving these improvements are commitment and leadership from national governments; social investment and economic growth; well-planned programmes which target the most marginalized groups; and technology and innovation. The report shows that aid works best in coordination with these factors but can also fill gaps, for example when governance is weak.
In short, the EU can make an impact to ensure children survive and thrive by delivering its aid commitments, both in terms of the amount it provides and improving its effectiveness.
The proposal from the Commission for the next Multiannual Financial Framework from 2014 – 2020 is for EU aid to increase. The Member States now need to support this increase in the EU aid budget to gain the improved development this report shows would follow. Moreover the EU can play an important role beyond increasing its contribution as the EU’s 28th donor. This will require acting together more meaningfully to improve joint programming and implement aid effectiveness commitments, as well as supporting the priorities needed to invest in children and secure development.
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EVERY ONE – Global Campaign
“The Save the Children global advocacy office in Brussels plays a vital role in influencing European institutions that have an impact on children around the world. Over the past 20 years we have worked to ensure that Europe supports children’s rights and helps meet the needs of the poorest and most vulnerable children.” Patrick Watt, Global Campaign Director
Read Save the Children’s Flagship report “A Life Free from Hunger” and learn more about the report and our EVERY ONE campaign.
The Child Rights Governance Initiative
“Save the Children’s Global Initiative on Child Rights Governance is working closely with the SC Brussels office in promoting ALL rights for ALL children in ALL circumstances. We push for governments and donors to invest more and better in children as we strongly believe that commitments to international human and child rights instruments and good policies remain empty promises unless they are backed by resources and political willingness. We are grateful for the funding received from EUs Fundamental Rights and Citizenship programme as it allowed us to commission high quality research on how adequate resource allocation and effective spending on children impacts positively on child rights outcomes. We believe that the EU has a major role to play in ensuring the child rights infrastructure recommended by the UNCRC Committee (the general measures of implementation) is in place in all EU Members States as well as in supporting third countries as a donor to invest in child rights infrastructure and in public policies and services improving the well-being of children.” Lene Steffen, Director of Child Rights Governance InitiativeWatch the new video animation from the Child Rights Governance Initiative
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