Situation Analysis of Child Poverty and Deprivation in Uganda

Poverty is different for children than for adults. This becomes very clear when we listen to children themselves talking about their experiences of poverty, as they do in the companion piece to this report, “The Voices of Children.” In their own way, children have the ability to cut right to the very core of the crucial problems they face, from worrying how a lack of education will erode their futures, to seeing poor health taking their families livelihoods; of how the hunger they face can be devastating, or their how their experience of violence evaporates hope. Using traditional income poverty measures will not adequately capture these experiences of childhood. The importance of effectively measuring child poverty is underlined by the fact that its impacts are particularly devastating; for children, poverty can last a lifetime. The impacts of poor nutrition, a missed education or poor child health cannot be easily remedied and will change a child’s life chances forever. Further, where child poverty is widespread it can impact on all of society and the economy. As Uganda looks towards middle income status in Vision 2040, ensuring a strong start for Uganda’s children will lay an essential foundation....