Why Investing in Children Must Matter for Everyone: Partnerships for Children
It is not just an moral but an economic imperative in today’s world to invest in early start of life for children. For an economy to grow and for shared prosperity, for nations to value its citizens, stakeholders, government, businesses, families, communities and societies have an instrumental role to play and failing to invest on the most critical resources, i.e., our children will hurt nations and businesses equally notwithstanding the unrest and breakdown of family care and support.
Hence, strategic engagement with partners at all levels across civil society, business and government must play an important role as drivers of action for children and progress on the aspirations articulated in Agenda 2030, Sustainable Development Goals. Partnerships will be particularly important for appropriately financing priority areas of work to improve the lives of children. Acknowledging that the poorest children are not getting a fair chance and that discrimination based on factors like gender, ethnicity, disability or geographic location can reinforce poverty across generations, the SDG goals call on all countries to enact policies that narrow the gaps between different income and social groups, and to dismantle policies that exclude groups of children from societies, politics and economies. While governments hold the primary responsibility for leading the way, concerted efforts by the private sector, in partnership with others, remain crucial. Never before has it been as urgent for all sectors to come together to address these sustainable development challenges with new business models, investments, innovation and technology, underpinned by responsible business operations and public policies.
Improved outcomes for children have considerable economic and social returns. Providing the most disadvantaged children with a fair start in life gives them a better opportunity to contribute back – to apply their skills to improve labour productivity, or to develop innovations that spur social progress, for example. Investing in the poorest children is not only right in principle, it is also right in practice and for society.