The country that I decided to read about is South Africa. Some insights that I learn about from my reading are:

The Unicef report found that 1.4 million children live in homes that rely on often dirty streams for drinking water, 1.5 million have no flushing lavatories and 1.7 million live in shacks, with no proper bedding, cooking or washing facilities (Laing, A 2012).

Apartheid is a reasons child poverty is high in South Africa. Racially discriminatory policy has resulted in very high levels of inequality, with many of today’s black children inheriting the inequalities and omissions of the previous government (STWR, n.d.)

Another reason for child poverty in South Africa is the extremely elevated level of unemployment in the country. It sought to make itself attractive to foreign investment and to expand trade by opening markets and reducing trade barriers (STWR, n.d.) These approaches deepened the already high levels of unemployment as the country lost jobs in sectors that struggled to compete in the global market, such as the agricultural and manufacturing sectors STWR, n.d.)

 

References:

Laing, A (2012). More than half of South Africa’s children live in poverty.   Retrieved from: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/9280481/More-than-half-of-South-Africas-children-live-in-poverty.html

Share The World’s Resources (n.d.) Africa. Retrieved from: http://www.stwr.org/africa/south-african-child-poverty.html