Global public health has improved vastly over the past 25 years, and especially in the survival of infants and young children. However, many children, particularly in Africa, continue to live in poverty and in unhealthy, unsupportive environments, and will not be able to meet their developmental potential. In other words, they will survive but not thrive. The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) stress sustainable development, not just survival and disease reduction, and the Global Strategy for Women’s, Children’s and Adolescents’ Health proposes a Survive (end preventable deaths), Thrive (ensure health and wellbeing) and Transform (expand enabling environments) agenda. For children to thrive they must make good developmental progress from birth until the end of adolescence.

Addressing the social determinants of developmental problems, this volume offers a broad, contextualised understanding of the factors that impact on children and adolescents in Africa. Unlike other works on the subject, it is Africa-wide in its scope, with case studies in Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, Rwanda and South Africa. Covering mental health as well as physical and social development, it looks at policies and practice, culture and priorities for research, identifying challenges and proposing solutions.

Contents:

• Ushering in the sustainable development goals 

• New directions for the science of child development in the African.

• Mental health policy in Africa: gaps, needs and priorities for children and adolescents. 

• Cross-cutting issues for child development in Africa. 

• Maternal depression and child development in sub-Saharan Africa. 

• Child development and HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa. 

• Birth to twenty plus: early health and development from a longitudinal perspective.

• Culture and attachment in Africa.

• Planning and evaluating child mental health interventions in sub-Saharan Africa.

• Creation of culturally appropriate developmental assessment tools for rural Africa.

• Psychological developments and their correlates in sub-Saharan Africa.

• Early childhood development interventions: a focus on responsive caregiving.

• Resilience in children and adolescents.

• The impact of epilepsy on behaviour and cognition in African children.

• Conclusion: child and adolescent development in Africa: future research.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Worldwide child and youth poverty remain the biggest barrier to achieving a better life in adulthood. Progress in lifting children out of poverty in the last decades has been slow and limited in the developing world, while the recent global economic crisis has exacerbated child poverty, youth unemployment, and social exclusion in many developed countries. 

This book critically examines the long-term consequences of growing up poor, the close linkages between deprivation and human rights violations in childhood and adolescence, and their effects on labor market entry and future career in a number of developing and developed countries. Drawing on multiple disciplinary perspectives, it makes a forceful case for the eradication of child poverty to take center stage in the Sustainable Development Goals. 

Contents page:

INTRODUCTION 

  PART I: CHILD AND YOUTH POVERTY, RIGHTS AND SOCIAL PROTECTION

• •   A Review of Child Poverty Approaches: The European Experience.

  •   Child Poverty and Intergenerational Poverty Transmission in The EU: What is the impact of social protection policies and institutions?

  •   Child Poverty, Child Rights in Small Island Developing States (SIDS): The case of the Caribbean.

  PART II: YOUTH (UN)EMPLOYMENT AND SOCIAL EXCLUSION: TRENDS AND POLICY ISSUES

•   Unpacking the NEETs of Latin America and the Caribbean: Methodological challenges and surprising results.

•   "Biological Dualism": Youth employment and poverty patterns in Spain.

•   Youth in the Greek Labor Market.

•   Social Enterprises, Social and Solidarity Economy, and Youth: What is the role for policy-making?

•   "Generation Nowhere": The youth in South Africa's informal economy - the case of day laborers and waste pickers.

•   "Independent, Yet Not Grown Up": Young migrant workers' journeys in post-Mao China.

  CONCLUSION 

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

This edited volume contributes to the policy initiatives aiming to reduce child poverty and academic understanding of child poverty and its solutions by bringing together applied research from across the continent. With the Sustainable Development Goals having opened up an important space for the fight against child poverty, not least by broadening its conceptualization to be multidimensional, this collection aims to push the frontiers by challenging existing narratives around child poverty, exploring alternative understandings of the complexities and dynamics underpinning child poverty and, crucially, examining policy options that work to reduce child poverty.

Contents page:

INTRODUCTION - Keetie Roelen, Richard Morgan and Yisak Tafere

PART ONE - Manifestations of Child Poverty

1. Beyond Categories: Rhizomatic Experiences of Child Poverty and Vulnerability in Kenya - Elizabeth Ngutuku

2. Children and Young People's Experiences of Managing Poverty-Related Shame in Uganda and the UK - Grace Bantebya Kyomuhendo, Elaine Chase and Florence Kyoheirwe Muhanguzi

3. Poverty and Child Hunger in South Africa: A Child-Centred Analysis of Household-Level Survey Data - Winnie C. Sambu and Katherine Hall

4. Child Stunting in Sub-Saharan Africa: The Interrelated Effects of Neighbourhoods and Families - Oluwaseyi Dolapo Somefun, Joshua Odunayo Akinyemi and Clifford Odimegwu

5. Dynamics of Child Poverty in Ethiopia - Tassew Woldehanna, Yisak Tafere, Mesele Araya and Adiam Hagos

PART TWO - Child-Sensitive Social Protection

6. How Many Malnourished Children Are There in South Africa? What Can Be Done? - Stephen Devereux, Coretta Jonah and Julian May

7. Tackling Undernutrition with a 'Cash Plus' Approach - Nicola Hypher, Luke Harman, Kerina Zvobgo and Oluwatosin Akomolafe

8. Unconditional Cash Transfers and Business Grants: Do Transfer Amounts and Labels Make a Difference for Children? - Billow Hassan, Stephen Mutiso and Munshi Sulaiman

PART THREE - Transitions from Childhood into Adulthood

9. Gaining Ground with Gatekeepers: Leveraging the Proximal Enabling Environment to Support Youth Livelihood Development - Nikhit D'Sa, Sarah Press, Anna Du Vent, Ahmed Farahat and Sita Conklin

10. Physical and Virtual Mobility for Youth Employment in Malawi: Reflections on Findings from Two Research Projects - Gina Porter, Kate Hampshire, Alister Munthali and Elsbeth Robson

11. Disentangling Urban Adolescents' Vulnerability to Age- and Gender-Based Violence through a Capability Lens in Ethiopia and Rwanda - Nicola Jones, Umutoni Marie Francoise, Bekele Tefera, Ernestina Coast, Workneh Yadete, Roberte Isimbi, Guday Emirie and Kassahun Tilahun

12. Social Connectedness and Youth Transitions: Reflections on a South African Programme - Marlene Ogawa, Shirley Pendlebury and Carmel Marock

CONCLUSION - Keetie Roelen, Richard Morgan and Yisak Tafere

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

This book sheds light on a range of complex interdependencies between adult education, young adults in vulnerable situations and active citizenship. Adult education has been increasingly recognized as a means to engage and re-engage young adults and facilitate their life chances and social inclusion thus contributing to an active citizenship within their societal contexts. This collection of chapters dealing with issues of social inclusion of young people represents the first book to explicitly approach the complex interdependencies between adult education, young adults in vulnerable situations and active citizenship from the European perspective.

Social exclusion, disengagement and disaffection of young adults have been among the most significant concerns faced by EU member states over the last decade. It has been increasingly recognised by a range of stakeholders that there is a growing number of young people suffering from the various effects of the unstable social, economic and political situations affecting Europe and its neighbouring countries. Young adults who experience different degrees of vulnerability are especially at risk of being excluded and marginalised. Engaging young adults through adult education has been strongly related to addressing the specific needs and requirements that would facilitate their participation in social, economic and civic/political life in their country contexts. Fostering the active citizenship of young people, both directly and indirectly, is an area where many AE programmes overlap, and this has become a core approach to integration.

This book considers social, economic and political dimensions of active citizenship, encompassing the development of social competences and social capital, civic and political participation and the skills related to the economy and labour market. The cross-national consideration of the notions of vulnerability, inclusion and active citizenship underpins the complexity of translating these concepts into the national contexts of adult education programmes.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

What exactly is civic and political participation? What factors influence young people’s participation? How can we encourage youth to participate actively in their own democracies? Youth Civic and Political Engagement takes a multidisciplinary approach to answering these key questions, incorporating research in the fields of psychology, sociology, political science and education to explore the issues affecting youth civic and political engagement. 

Drawing on evidence that has been obtained in many different national contexts, and through multinational studies, this book provides a theoretical synthesis of this large and diverse body of research, using an integrative multi-level ecological model of youth engagement to do so. It identifies unresolved issues in the field and offers numerous suggestions for future research. 

Youth Civic and Political Engagement is an invaluable resource for researchers, teachers, youth workers, civil society activists, policymakers and politicians who wish to acquire an up-to-date understanding of the factors and processes that influence young people’s civic and political engagement, and how to promote youth engagement. 

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++