Child poverty in armed conflict regions of Africa: A scoping review protocol

Objective: In this scoping review, we aim to identify and map the dimensions and underrepresented multidimensional aspects of child poverty in armed conflict regions of Africa. We will develop a framework for the multidimensional aspects of child poverty in conflict-affected countries in Africa to address poverty as per United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 1. This review will provide a comprehensive understanding of how the multidimensional aspects of child poverty are unique in conflict regions, adding layers to the existing Global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) and United Nations Children’s Fund’s (UNICEF) Multiple Overlapping Deprivation Analysis (MODA). Introduction: Armed conflict affects many countries globally, with Africa ranking second in conflict prevalence. One in four African children experience significant deprivation. No existing scoping or systematic review has examined the multidimensional nature of child poverty in African conflict settings. Inclusion criteria: This review will include studies involving children from birth to 18 years of age living in African armed conflict contexts and will include at least one dimension of child poverty. Methods: This Priori protocol will follow the Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) methodology to recognize the methodologically rigorous approaches of conducting scoping reviews. This approach will be used to plan, standardize, and increase the transparency of the scoping review outline. Eligible sources will include peer-reviewed publications in English, French, or Portuguese from Medline, Embase, CINAHL, Scopus, and WHO Africa Index Medicus (AIM), as well as grey literature from nongovernmental and international agencies, ProQuest, and the Open Access Theses and Dissertations (OATD) database. This review will use a comprehensive search strategy, manage screening and data extraction through Covidence integrated with Zotero, and use Google Translate for preliminary translation of French and Portuguese texts. This protocol, registered with Open Science Framework (OSF), outlines a rigorous and transparent approach to mapping existing evidence on child poverty in African armed conflict settings.