Factors Affecting Child Poverty in Sub Saharan Africa Revisted With Special Reference to Education and Rural Women 1990-2010

A majority of Africa’s disadvantaged children have one or more characteristics. They are – rural, malnourished, orphans, invisible, out of school, child brides or child labourers, have illiterate mothers who were denied access to productive resources, have mothers who watch helplessly as their children waste away and die of easily treatable illnesses. Our objective is to analyse factors affecting child poverty, factors like women’s low status because the wellbeing of children cannot be separated from that of their mothers; child poverty is inseparable from mothers’ poverty. The analysis has been done through the investigation of questions like: which are the most important variables affecting child poverty; does the lack of access to education cause child poverty or does child poverty cause the lack of access to education; to what extent can the low status of rural women be considered as a contributing factor to child poverty and Africa’s progress in child poverty issues, and differences in progress between lower and lower middle income countries; under-five mortality rate (U5MR) above and below 10% countries and region wise differences. An investigation of 30 African countries between1990-2010 has been undertaken. Due to the nature of multiple interdependencies among factors affecting child poverty, the principal component analysis statistical technique (PCA) was applied to eliminate redundant variables and to retain those that explained most of the variations in the dataset. The findings suggest that although causes of child poverty are multidimensional and call for simultaneous solutions, estimated elasticities indicate that FAG has the greatest effect on U5MR, while CPI has the greatest effect on both PSE and CU. These findings tend to point to agriculture as the solution to child poverty issues in Africa. This is by providing an enabling environment for women in agriculture to access productive resources which will contribute to better crop production that will both increase PSE, decreases CU and in the process, reduce child poverty (U5MR). Elasticity ranking shows that what is at issue is not the effect of education on reducing child poverty or the effect of child poverty on reducing education, but the improvement of women’s status particularly in the agricultural sector. Policies for long lasting solutions should highlight institutional quality as a prerequisite in child poverty reduction, it presents children and women with equal opportunities to access basic needs. Education investment should shift focus from higher investments in primary school to preschool with feeding programs to cater for underweight children because the early years of life are crucial for cognitive development.