NITI Aayog and UNICEF India partner to develop India’s first report on State of India’s Children

NEW DELHI: NITI Aayog and UNICEF India on April 21 signed a Statement of Intent (SoI) on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that focuses on children. The collaboration seeks to construct a framework of cooperation to ultimately develop and launch the first report on the ‘State of India’s Children: Status and Trends in Multidimensional Child Development’.

UNICEF India and NITI Aayog are developing a comprehensive measure to understand the multidimensional attainments and deprivations among children across various sectors. This will enable India to achieve the child development priorities under the SDGs. This effort aims to provide a set of policy recommendations for concerted action for accelerating progress towards the SDGs.

During his address, Dr Rajiv Kumar, Vice-Chairperson, NITI Aayog, said that this child-focused SDG initiative builds on the nation’s effort of monitoring progress through the SDG India Index & Dashboard. He mentioned how it continues to be a unique data-driven initiative for triggering policy action. He added that this new initiative with UNICEF is built on the ethos of SDG attainments for children and ensuring that no child is left behind.

Arjan de Wagt, Officer in Charge – Deputy Representative UNICEF India, said that addressing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on children is a vital part of recovery and achieving the Sustainable Development Agenda. He said that comprehensive measurement of the status of children in the nation will pave the way for multi-sectoral policies and programmes across health and nutrition, education, safe water and sanitation, child protection, social protection and climate action, which he added, could reach the most vulnerable children.

This collaboration aims to draw up methods, technical analysis, reporting, and action planning for the first report on the ‘State of India’s Children’ with a focus on multidimensional aspects of child development such as health, nutrition, education, water and sanitation, protection, and other relevant areas. Undertaking a whole-of-society approach, this project will involve all stakeholders ranging from Union Ministries, State governments, academia, civil society organizations, and child rights collectives.