NINETEENTH PAN AMERICAN CHILD CONGRESS

EVOLUTION OF THE CHILD RELATIONSHIP WITH

THE FAMILY
REALITIES, QUESTIONS, AND PERSPECTIVES IN LATIN AMERICA

BERNARDO KLIKSBERG
INTERNATIONAL ADVISOR

Mexico, 27-29 October, 2004

 AGENDA
1. Recent research on the decisive role of the Family vis-à-vis Children,
Society, and Development

2. Family and Social Capital

3. The Impact of Poverty on the Family in Latin America

4. Child and Adolescent Situation

5. How to strengthen the Family?

6. A few Conclusions
BIBLIOGRAPHY FOR REFERENCE

Inter-American Initiative on Social Capital,

Ethics, and Development :
www.iadb.orgetica

Bernardo Kliksberg, “MAS ETICA, MAS

DESARROLLO” (Editorial Temas, 2004)
 1. RECENT RESEARCH
 Family and Affectivity: Corroborating Biblical Lessons

 Impact on Educational Performance

 Incidence on Emotional Intelligence

 Impact on Health

 Main Crime Prevention Unit

 Social Protection Network against Unemployment

 2. FAMILY AND SOCIAL CAPITAL
 What is the Social Capital?
 Climate of confidence within a given society
 Association capacity
 Civic conscience
 Ethical values

 The key role of the Family in the generation of Social Capital

 What is the impact of Family Social Capital on Child

Educational Performance?
 James Coleman’s Findings
 2. FAMILY AND SOCIAL CAPITAL
 James Coleman’s Findings:
 The internal social capital of a family consists of the relationship
between parents and children

 When the social capital is high, it provides children the access to

their parents’ human capital

 When the social capital is low, it will be of no use for children, even if
their parents’ human capital is high

 Desertion rate is linked to the internal and external social capital of

the family
 3. THE IMPACT OF POVERTY ON THE
FAMILY IN LATIN AMERICA
A. Poverty evolution
Poverty evolution in Latin America, 2000-2002
(percentage of population)

Year Indigence Poverty

2000 17,8% 42,1
2001 18,6% 43
2002 20,0% 44

15 million new poor emerged from 2000 to 2002

B. Unemployment evolution
Latin America. Growth and Unemployment, 1980-2003
Period
í Urban unemployment rate
1981-90 8.4%
1991-97 8.8%
1998-03 10.4%
Source: ECLAC. Annual Reports.
 3. THE IMPACT OF POVERTY ON THE
FAMILY IN LATIN AMERICA
C. The most unequal region on Earth
Inequality indicators for some Latin American countries, the United States and Italy

Gini Upper 10% Lower 20% Ratio between

coefficient of total income of total income in the tenth
income and first deciles

Brazil (2001) 59,0 47,2% 2,6% 54,4

Guatemala (2000) 58,3 46,8% 2,4% 63,3
Colombia (1999) 57,6 46,5% 2,7% 57,8
Chile (2000) 57,1 47,0% 3,4% 40,6
Mexico (2000) 54,6 43,1% 3,1% 45,0
Argentina (2000) 52,2 38,9% 3,1% 39,1
Jamaica (1999) 52,0 40,1% 3,4% 36,5
Dominican 49,7 38,6% 4,0% 28,4
Republic (1997)
Costa Rica (2000) 46,5 34,8% 4,2% 25,1
Uruguay (2000) 44,6 33,5% 4,8% 18,9
United States 40,8 30,5% 5,2% 16,9
(1997)
Italy (1998) 36,0 27,4% 6,0% 14,4

Source: World Bank (2004). Desigualdad en América Latina y el Caribe. ¿Ruptura con la historia?. Washington DC.
 3. THE IMPACT OF POVERTY ON THE
FAMILY IN LATIN AMERICA
D. Disintegrated Families

E. Domestic Violence

F. Rate of Reluctance to build up a Family

 4. CHILD AND ADOLESCENT SITUATION
A. Malnutrition problems
Child Malnutrition between the 1980’s and 2000’s

Country Last year

Argentina 1995/96 12,4
Bolivia 1998 26,8
Brazil 1996 10,5
Chile 1999 1,9
Colombia 2000 13,5
Costa Rica 1996 6,1
Ecuador 1998 26,4
El Salvador 1998 23,3
Guatemala 1999 26,4
Honduras 1996 38,9
Mexico 1999 17,7
Nicaragua 1998 24,9
Panama 1997 18,2
Paraguay 1990 13,9 Source : estimates
based on WHO data,
Peru 2000 25,4 Department of
Dominican Rep. 1996 10,7 Nutrition for Health
and Development
Uruguay 1992/93 9,5 2002. UNDP.
Venezuela 2000 12,8 Democracy in Latin
America. 2004.
Latin America 18,9
 4. LA SITUACIÓN DE LOS NIÑOS Y LOS
ADOLESCENTES
B. Mother and Child Mortality
Pre-birth Basic Care Rate
(provided by professionally trained individuals)

Pre-birth Care Rate

(provided by professionally trained individuals)
Country/region 1 2 3 4 5 Average CI
Bolivia 38,8 57,8 70,4 88,6 95,3 65,1 0,17
Brasil 67,5 87,7 93,4 96,9 98,1 85,6 0,08
Colombia 62,3 81,1 89,8 95,4 95,9 82,5 0,09
Dominican Republic 96,1 98,2 99 99,2 99,9 98,3 0,01
Guatemala 34,6 41,1 49,3 72,2 90 52,5 0,19
Haiti 44,3 60 72,3 83,7 91 67,7 0,14
Nicaragua 67 80,9 86,9 89 96 81,5 0,07
Paraguay 69,5 79,5 85,6 94,8 98,5 83,9 0,07
Peru 37,3 64,8 79,1 87,7 96 67,3 0,17
Latin America and the 57,5 72,3 80,6 89,7 95,6 76 0,11
Caribbean

Source: World Bank. Op. Cit. Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS), 2002
 4. LA SITUACIÓN DE LOS NIÑOS Y LOS
ADOLESCENTES
B. Mother and Child Mortality
Rate of assisted births
(by professionally trained individuals)

Pre-birth Care Rate

(provided by professionally trained individuals)
Country/region 1 2 3 4 5 Average CI
Bolivia 19,8 44,8 67,7 87,9 97,9 56,7 0,28
Brasil 71,6 88,7 95,7 97,7 98,6 87,7 0,07
Colombia 60,6 85,2 92,8 98,9 98,1 84,5 0,09
Dominican Republic 88,6 96,9 97,3 98,4 97,8 95,3 0,02
Guatemala 9,3 16,1 31,1 62,8 91,5 34,8 0,42
Haiti 24 37,3 47,4 60,7 78,2 46,3 0,21
Nicaragua 32,9 58,8 79,8 86 92,3 64,6 0,19
Paraguay 41,2 49,9 69 87,9 98,1 66 0,18
Peru 13,7 48 75,1 90,3 96,6 56,4 0,31
Latin America and 40,2 58,4 72,9 85,6 94,3 65,8 0,2
Caribbean

Source: World Bank. Op. Cit. Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS), 2002.
 4. LA SITUACIÓN DE LOS NIÑOS Y LOS
ADOLESCENTES
B. Mother and Child Mortality
Mortality Rate of Children younger than 5 years of age
(in thousands)
Mortality Rate of Children younger than 5 years of age (in thousands)

Country/region 1 2 3 4 5 Average
Bolivia 146.5 114.9 104.0 47.8 32.0 99.1
Brazil 98.9 56.0 39.2 26.7 33.3 56.7
Colombia 52.1 37.1 30.7 34.9 23.6 37.4
Dominican 89.9 73.0 60.1 37.3 26.6 61.0
Republic
Guatemala 89.1 102.9 82.0 60.7 37.9 79.2
Haiti 163.3 150.1 137.1 130.6 105.6 140.6
Nicaragua 68.8 66.6 52.5 48.5 29.7 56.0
Paraguay 57.2 50.0 59.0 39.4 20.1 46.6
Peru 110.0 76.2 48.0 44.1 22.1 68.4
LAC 97.3 80.8 68.1 52.2 38.8 71.7
Source: World Bank (2004). Op.Cit.

C. Child Labor
 4. CHILD AND ADOLESCENT SITUATION
D. Youth Unemployment
Country Age 1990 1995 2000
Argentina 15-19 21,7 46,6 39,5
15-24 15,2 30,1 ..
Bolivia 10-19 13,3 5,0 ..
20-19 9,5 5,4 ..
Brazil 15-17 .. 11,0 17,8
18-24 .. 9,3 14,7
Chile 15-19 15,9 15,8 26,1
20-24 12,0 10,1 20,1
Colombia 12-17 .. 21,0 44,7
18-24 .. 16,6 34,8
Costa Rica 12-24 10,4 13,5 10,9
Ecuador 15-24 13,5 15,3 17,4
El Salvador 15-24 18,6 13,3 14,3
Honduras 10-24 10,7 10,2 ..
Panama 15-24 .. 31,9 32,6
Paraguay 15-19 18,4 10,8 ..
20-24 14,1 7,8 ..
Peru 14-24 15,4 11,2 17,1 Source: UNDP.
Uruguay 14-24 26,6 25,5 31,7 Democracy in Latin
America, 2004.
Venezuela 15-24 18,0 19,9 25,3
 4. CHILD AND ADOLESCENT SITUATION
E. Children in/of the Street
 How to strengthen the Family?
 A decisive ethical issue

 The responsibility of Public Policies

 The Role of the Private Sector

 The Role of Civil Society

 The experience of UNESCO Open Schools in Brazil

 6. A FEW CONCLUSIONS
 Poverty as a Paradox

 Damage to Families and Children

 Biblical Wisdom

 Motherly love
 “A mother’s love for her child is the most perfect and less ambivalent
of all human relations” Sigmund Freud

 The most important test for a Society

 Hillel’s Questions
 A FEW CONCLUSIONS
 Hillel (First Century, BC)
 If not me for myself, then who?
 If only me for myself, then what for?
 If not now, then when?