Children have the most to gain, and conversely the most to lose, from the forthcoming Summit for a New Global Financial Pact, set to be held in Paris from 22 to 23 June this year.
It is widely acknowledged that the world is in a period of polycrisis, driven by the climate emergency, conflict and inequality. It is less commonly acknowledged that children are bearing the brunt of these crises, both as a result of their unique vulnerabilities and because they have more years ahead of them than adults to navigate the increasing intensity and frequency of crisis. The situation is particularly bleak for children most affected by inequality and discrimination.
The disproportinate impact of polycrisis on children was brought into sharp focus by the experiences and perspectives that over 50,000 children around the world shared with us last year as part of an international listening exercise on climate and inequality. Children conveyed countless examples of the effects that interlinked crises are having on their daily lives – their education, health and protection from violence and poverty.
Some of the most distressing examples they shared pertained to increasing costs of food and other basic necessities, and the erosion of livelihoods. "Due to climate change, parents are losing their only source of livelihood, which is livestock, and they are committing suicide. Children are left as orphans and they may die due to hunger," said a 17-year-old girl in Kenya.
Since we undertook the listening exercise last year, a global hunger and nutrition crisis has continued to unnfold. In our current age of technological advancement and scientific know-how, it is abhorrent that at least 21.8 million people are in need of food assistance in the Horn of Africa alone, including 12 million children (1.5 million of whom are at risk of severe acute malnutrition).
This, and interlinked crises of climate, inequality and conflict, are symptoms of a global failure to build economies and societies that are rooted in principles of equality, shared prosperity and sustainability, exacerbated by international failure to uphold principles of climate and social justice. Children today are shouldering the consequences, and future generations face even an even greater burden.
All of this is happening in a year that marks the mid-point of the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) framework, through which governments across the world promised to do everything in their power to end poverty in its multiple forms and meet key climate and environmental targets. With only seven years to go until the 2030 SDG deadline, there is a significant and growing divide between the resources that are needed to achieve the SDGs for all children, and what is being made available.
The Paris Summit is therefore timely. Its goal – to build a new global financing pact to respond to this moment of crisis – is critical. Yet to achieve maximal impact where it is needed most, the rights of children and future generations must be an explicit focus.
In practice, this means that three core principles must guide preparations and discussions at the Summit:
1) Ensuring that children and countries most affected by crises have voice and agency at the Summit.
A new global financing pact must be premised on an agenda that is defined and driven by lower income countries and that meets the distinct financing challenges they face. Their inclusion is also fundamental to achieving equity, legitimacy and, ultimately, success. Critically, children, particularly those most affected by inequality and discrimination, must have meaningful opportunities to participate in decision making and have their experiences, priorities and ideas heard. This would help ensure that the Summit advances progress on the pledge made through the 2030 Agenda to leave no one behind and to reach the furthest behind first.
2) Delivering on existing promises and prioritising the critical role of public finance.
The SDG financing gap would not be as large as it is today if high-income countries and international institutions had already delivered on the commitments and promises made in previous international agreements, including the 0.7% ODA commitment, the $100bn climate finance promise and the G20 commitment to recycle $100bn of Special Drawing Rights.
Participants in the Paris Summit must acknowledge previous failures and accelerate progress towards solutions. The urgent need for more and better international public finance must not be neglected. Harnessing private finance is important, particularly for investment in green energy and infrastructure. But these efforts must not distract from the responsibilities that high-income countries have to fund loss and damage and support anticipatory action and to adequate public investment in climate-resilient education, health, protection, social protection and other services for children, in the countries and communities that need it most. Children have a right to these services, and they are a critical foundation for inclusive and sustainable economic prosperity.
3) Moving beyond the low hanging fruit.
The Paris Summit is an opportunity to get serious about the extent as well as root causes of polycrisis, the amount and type of resources needed, and to set a collective, ambitious roadmap for change. If solutions are needed to knotty issues, they must at least be on the table, despite being politically challenging. Constructive dialogue is needed on issues like trade, tax, illicit financial flows and global equitable monetary policy. While concrete outcomes on these issues should be secured via other inclusive forums and processes, the Paris Summit could play a role in helping to forge the international unity and solidarity that is desperately needed for progress.
So what should these principles translate into in terms of concrete outcomes from the Summit? If the principles are upheld, progress should be possible on key deliverables (listed below) while at the same time building solidarity and political appetite for deeper reforms through parallel processes and forums, including at the UN and COP.
As one 15 year old girl from South Africa told us, “We need to work together because we don’t live in the same country but in the same world.” Children across the world are calling for change. They need change, and have a right to it. Paris must deliver.
Core deliverables for the Paris Summit
- Meaningfully include lower-income and climate-vulnerable countries, children and civil society organisations in preparatory processes and decision making around the Summit
- Accelerate delivery of the 0.7% aid commitment made by major donors, and reform rules to ensure that development, humanitarian and climate finance quickly reaches children in communities that are most affected by the climate emergency, poverty and inequality.
- Advance ambition on maximising the concessional financing potential of the multilateral development banks (MDBs), while at the same time matching this ambition with adequate funding to ensure that the IMF, World Bank and other MDBs have the resources they need to deliver and function effectively.
- Deliver and move far beyond the $100bn SDR recycling commitment, treating it as a floor for much more ambitious reallocations from countries that are not using them to countries that urgently need them.
- Demonstrate commitment towards critical discussions on loss and damage financing, accelerate above the unmet pledge of $100 billion in climate finance annually and ensure that this funding primarily benefits climate vulnerable countries and balances mitigation and adaptation.
- Build agreement on the need for a climate and development financing system that has child rights and addressing inequalities at the core.
- Recognise the failings and shortcomings of existing initiatives on debt and tax, and redouble efforts to address them through genuinely inclusive and fair mechanisms.
Note: this blog is based on a Save the Children position paper, written with inputs from colleagues from across the Save the Children Movement.
