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其他書名	A Catastrophe for Children in Sub-Saharan Africa - Cash Transfers and a Marshall Plan Can Help
出版	SSRN, 2020
URL	http://books.google.com.hk/books?id=2OfhzwEACAAJ&hl=&source=gbs_api

註釋The report investigates how COVID-19 and other shocks have impacted child well-being across the region and the potential role of cash transfers and external resources to help children and economies. Drawing on more than 35 databases and a variety of modelling exercises, it presents the first-ever continental snapshot of child well-being at the start of 2020, which includes estimates of monetary and multi-dimensional poverty for 46 countries.It offers fresh perspectives on the severity of the economic and poverty situation, showing that the growth shock removed 15 years of income progress and caused the biggest increase in extreme poverty ever recorded in the region. Among children, poverty rates have spiked by 10%, on average, with 26 million additional children pushed below national poverty lines compared to the start of the year. 280 million - or more than half of the region's 550 million children - are now likely impacted by monetary poverty. It also highlights the devastating consequences of the viral, economic, climate and conflict shocks on human capital. Learning completely stopped for around 350 million children for at least some period in 2020, which has already reduced their lifelong earning potential. Millions of students will never return to the classroom. At the same time, more than half of children are currently affected by some level of food insecurity, with close to one in ten facing a crisis situation. Other emerging signals point to health dangers, like diarrhea and malaria, rising levels of all forms of violence, and upticks in child pregnancies and brides, among others.To protect children, the report makes the case for expanding cash transfer programs. In addition to mitigating and even preventing most of the current challenges facing children, delivering a cash equivalent to 20% of the average monthly income of a country to all children under five for 12 months could catapult economic growth by around 5%, on average. The report further argues that cash transfer programs can be readily financed by the international financial institutions. More than six months into the crisis, the IMF and World Bank had only accessed around 12% of their approved global funding capacity of $1.2 trillion, demonstrating vast potential to support countries - and children - in need. Donor governments could also help by making progress toward their commitments to SDG 17.2 to provide 0.7% of their gross national income in development aid. The report additionally floats more contentious financing ideas, including issuing long-term bonds to fund a human capital development facility, selling IMF gold reserves and taxing international financial transactions.