A Multiple Overlapping Deprivation Analysis

Poverty reduction is a national priority for Zimbabwe. This report presents the multidimensional child deprivation analysis for Zimbabwe, applying the Multiple Overlapping Deprivation Analysis (MODA) methodology that measures various aspects of child poverty. Child poverty is defined as nonfulfilment of children’s rights to survival, development, protection and participation, anchored in the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The 2014 Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) data was used, taking the child as a unit of analysis and applying a life-cycle approach when selecting dimensions and indicators to capture the different deprivations children experience at different stages of their
life.

The main objective of the report is to present Child Poverty in Zimbabwe using a direct method of child poverty measurement which analyses deprivations experienced by the child. The report goes beyond mere deprivation rates and identifies the depth of child poverty by analysing the extent to which the different deprivations are experienced simultaneously.

Focus on the key determinants affecting children today creates an enabling environment to support evidence-based advocacy around investment in critical basic services, including where high future returns can be achieved (e.g. education, nutrition, water and sanitation and early childhood development). These will help to accelerate the unfinished business as well as sustain the gains on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and pave the way for achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

In line with the above, a multidimensional poverty analysis for children was carried out based on the Multiple Overlapping Deprivation Analysis (MODA) methodology. The MODA methodology has been developed by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) to provide a framework in which children’s (monetary) poverty and deprivation can be measured, quantified and identified. The methodology concentrates on the measurement of child deprivation, and has the following characteristics:

1. It takes the child, rather than the household, as the unit of analysis.
2. It underlines the use of individual-level data where possible, so that any
differences across sex, age or within households may be observed.
3. It makes use of the life-cycle approach, changing indicators according to
the changing needs of children at different life stages.
4. It broadens the scope of sector-based approaches through overlapping
deprivation analysis.
5. It includes the prevalence and the depth of deprivation for each child,
revealing the most vulnerable children with a high number of simultaneous
deprivations.
6. It generates profiles in terms of the geographical and socio-economic
characteristics of the (multiply) deprived, allowing for better targeted, more
effective policy responses and interventions.

In order to alleviate poverty, it is important to concentrate on the most vulnerable
children, especially those simultaneously deprived across many dimensions of
well-being, because several deprivations at a time during childhood and even
adolescence can have irreversible effects on the productivity and social inclusion
of these children.