Getting to Know International Organizations: THAILAND

The organization that I selected is UNICEF for every child https://www.unicef.org/

UNICEF works in over 190 countries and territories to save children’s lives, to defend their rights, and to help them fulfill their potential, from early childhood through adolescence.

Poverty in Thailand

I decided to select Thailand as a country to study in "poverty" through UNICEF because it is my country that I was born and growing up. I was fortunate to have a family that can financially support my education and other developmental needs but most of the children there do not. Some of my friends in public school were from low-income families. They were struggling on daily basis, I remember that I donated my school and shoe uniforms that too small for me to my neighbor children because they could not afford to buy new uniforms. Therefore, I would like to research and get to know how UNICEF supports closing the poverty gaps in Thailand.

Chllenges in Thailand

Thailand has made great progress in economic development over the past few decades. Unfortunately, economic growth has not been equally experienced by all citizens. Some regions and groups of people have been left behind. The 2015-2016 Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey on the situation of children and women in Thailand found that children and young people living in rural areas, children living in families headed by a non-Thai speaker, children from poor households, and children whose parents have a low level of education were generally more likely to lag behind other children of their age in health, education and overall development outcomes.

Poverty affects children disproportionally. While the overall poverty rate in 2014 was 10.5 per cent, the poverty rate for children aged 0–17 was 13.8 per cent. The north-eastern and southern regions have the highest child poverty rates in Thailand. Some two million children in Thailand lived in households with incomes below the poverty line in 2014. Poverty deprives children of their basic rights and makes them more vulnerable to abuse and exploitation. It deprives them of proper nutrition, good health, safe water and quality education. This situation passes from generation to generation.

Social policy 

Strengthening social policy and social protection is essential to breaking the vicious cycle of poverty and inequality

UNICEF Thailand's work on social policy focuses on addressing key bottlenecks in the enabling environment, and in the quality and supply of services. This involves increasing capacities of key social ministry planning departments to use evidence in planning, budgeting, implementing and evaluating national policies for children in an equity-focused and results-based manner. Government capacity will be strengthened to mainstream the SDGs into national policies and plans. 

The focus will be on generating disaggregated data for increased public transparency, accountability and financial management that will promote public awareness of gaps in the fulfilment of children’s rights and catalyse Government action.

For the child-sensitive social protection, UNICEF Thailand aims to strengthen the social protection system to reduce the poverty gap and address major aspects of young children’s well-being. The programme will support the costing of child-sensitive social protection models, identification of fiscal space/budget sources, and the formulation of universal child-sensitive social protection policies. Strategic partnerships will be bolstered with civil society, including academia, for evidence generation and policy advice. 

UNICEF will build the capacity of the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security and other line ministries to effectively design, implement and monitor existing cash transfer schemes to cover all children. Other programme components will benefit from integration with social policy through data and budget analysis for key sectoral plans and policies for children in Thailand.

Link:  https://www.unicef.org/thailand/media/3806/file/The%201st%20Three:%20Thailand%E2%80%99s%20Progressive%20Road%20Toward%20Universal%20Child%20Grant%20Coverage.pdf

Thailand takes another leap towards a universal Child Support Grant 

Statement attributable to Thomas Davin, UNICEF Representative for Thailand

UNICEF commends the Royal Thai Government for its progressive expansion of the Child Support Grant scheme within a short time frame. First introduced in April 2015 and rolled out within six months, the 400-baht monthly subsidy for children under 1 from poor and near-poor families was subsequently increased to 600-baht to also cover eligible children under 3 then under 6 in 2016 and 2019, respectively. The recent decision to make the scheme universal - if endorsed by Cabinet - will further contribute to reducing deprivation by improving all children’s overall wellbeing, health, education, food security, future productivity and ability to contribute to their societies and economies when they reach adulthood.

The initiative is both crucial and timely for reducing poverty across the entire population. The unprecedented economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic continues to push many families into destitution, many of whom are not receiving the Child Support Grant because they were not considered poor at the time of registration. Universalizing the scheme will offer a lifeline to these vulnerable families left without any support, protecting them from deepening levels of poverty.

An investment in the earliest years of the youngest generation is an investment in human capital that will carry the most weight for their communities and society as a whole. UNICEF hopes that the cabinet will soon approve the NCYC decision and adopt a universal approach for all children under 6 to ensure that no child slips through the cracks. Ready to support the Royal Thai government and coalitions, UNICEF reaffirms its commitment to ensuring that every child receives all the support they need to build a lifelong foundation for learning and development during the most important years of their life.”