In a changing global landscape impacted by the financial crisis and the drive to rethink our financial systems to place values and social impacts at the heart, where and how are young people and children considered? As children learn and earn, money gives this growing demographic group decision-making opportunities and strategic investments can also help them tackle youth unemployment. UNICEF facilitates dialogue and debate with both financial institutions and banks to help them better consider children's rights and to address any risks and opportunities to their well-being and livelihood.
How can the financial sector further support and respect children's rights?
Children are current and future consumers, the family of employees and customers and they are young workers, future workers and business leaders. In order to explicitly consider such a vulnerable group, The Children's Rights and Business Principles provide a framework to help the financial sector better translate their responsibility to respect and minimise any potential harm, as well as their commitment to support and advance children's rights.
While reflecting on their current offerings, financial institutions and banks should embed children's rights into the company sustainability agenda and should nurture the opportunity to make a difference for children throughout their business operations and policies. There is increasing evidence that financial empowerment can be an important strategy in addressing issues such as child poverty, youth unemployment, and universal education. It can also protect children from abusive and exploitative situations by preventing them from resorting to informal money lenders or placing themselves at risk of child labour, trafficking and prostitution.
A broader contextual analysis may consider impactful aspects such as how technology is driving participation of children and young people as key stakeholders? How does a company ensure that its advertising, sales and marketing techniques do not adversely affect the rights of child?
Walking the talk: A few case studies how the financial sector can take action
UNICEF drafted a discussion paper Beyond the Promotional Piggybank jointly with Child Youth Finance International and Mastercard, which calls on financial institutions to make a difference for children through their products and services. Not only should they consider children as a priority stakeholder group, but they should also take a more holistic approach by fully integrating children's rights. The discussion paper showcases how assessing the impacts of child friendly products and services, from product design, access and delivery options to marketing and advertising to children, can deliver real value for children.
The role of financial literacy is key to educating, motivating, and empowering children to become regular savers and investors. It will enable them to keep more of the money they earn and do more with the money they spend. Building on this, a number of banks have already started strategically putting in place initiatives in close partnership with UNICEF. ING has for example taken initiatives in the area of financial education and entrepreneurship. Barclays through its Building Young Futures initiative, is tackling youth unemployment by enabling disadvantaged young people to develop their skills, knowledge and confidence in order to set up their own small business or find a job.
To make a sustainable difference in children's lives, a rights based approach grounded in long term investment in children is essential. By providing young people with appropriate financial products and services and a set of skills that will enable them proper economic and social development, financial institutions are creatively designing activities which both advance and support children's rights.
A holistic approach is required and other key actors such as governments can also have meaningful impacts on children by influencing financial regulation, macroeconomic policies and economic recovery. Although much still remains to be done, by closely guiding businesses and financial institutions, UNICEF's work contributes towards changing their business behavior and practices as they affect children.
Bo Viktor Nylund is a CSR senior advisor at UNICEF
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