1000 days to get it right for
every child
The business of getting it right for children
Deborah Morris-Travers and Anton Blank
Every Child Counts
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Formed in 2004
Driven by Barnardos, Plunket, UNICEF, Save the
Children NZ, Ririki
Objectives:
 Children at the centre
 A good start in the early years
 Reducing child abuse and neglect
 Ending child poverty, and
 Increasing status of parenting/ caregiving.
Why do children matter?
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Citizens with inherent rights
First 1000 days/ 3 years of life
Vulnerability
Return on investment vs. cost of getting it wrong
Tomorrow’s parents, employees and community
leaders
Non-voters
Why do children matter?
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Children will comprise a smaller proportion of the
population in the future, decreasing from 23.0
percent in 1996 to 15.5 percent in 2051
In 11 years, for the first time ever we’ll have more
people over 65 than children under 14
By the year 2051, over half of all children (54.7
percent) will be of either Māori or Pasifika
ethnicity
Some vital statistics
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OECD ranking – 28 out of 30
Rheumatic fever at 14 times the OECD average
25 percent (270,000) in poverty and those most
likely to be in poverty are the youngest children
(0-4 years) – link to poor outcomes
Over 13,000 children are admitted to hospital
with conditions that could have been avoided
About 160,000 children are considered
vulnerable at any one time and there are
around 21,000 confirmed cases of abuse and
neglect every year
Some vital statistics
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More than 47,000 children live in homes with
family violence
30,000 students truant each day
Low public investment and political invisibility of
children - we spend 5 times as much on people in
their last 2 years of life as we spend on children in
their first 5 years of life
Advocacy for (and with) children
What do children say?
“I think that the Government should
honestly pay more attention to
children, because the children are the
future of NZ basically, and if the
children of NZ are not getting treated
as they should, obviously in the
future then they won’t be how you
want them…”
What do children say?
The 1000 days campaign
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The economic case for more effective
investment (at least $2bn child
maltreatment, $6bn poor outcomes from
poverty)
Play your part – wheel of action
The Netherlands Study
The parliamentary term
The 1000 days campaign
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EAG child poverty consultations
Indicators of Māori and Pasifika wellbeing
Collective impact and community
development
ECC- BusinessNZ discussion series
Government and parliamentary processes
Business: social services
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Potential for exchange
Socialising the business community to
our issues
Strategic business planning
HR management
Measurement and evaluation
Context for Maori and Pasifika
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Colonisation
Urbanisation
Immigration
Systems failure
Institutional racism
Maori and Pasifika Child Poverty
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Hardship rates two to three times higher than
other groups
Two to three times poorer health than other
groups
Maori (28%) Pasifika (54%) increased risk of
rheumatic fever
43% of Pasifika live in over-crowded housing,
compared to 23% of Maori, and 4% of European
25% of Maori and 13% of Pasifika are in receipt of
a benefit
Maori women and family violence
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More severe abuse
More likely to be hospitalised
More sexual, physical and emotional
abuse
More abuse from people well known to
them
More community violence
Maori child maltreatment
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New Zealand has the third highest rate of
infanticide in the OECD
For the period 1996-2005 Maori made up
almost half of these deaths (37 out of 84)
Maori ethnicity increases the likelihood of
being killed 6 times for boys and 3 times
for girls
Maori child maltreatment
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Maori children are around twice as likely as other
groups to experience some form of child
maltreatment
From 1998-2007, 365 Maori children between 014 years were discharged from hospital with a
non-fatal injury, compared to 318 European and
128 pacific children
The child most at risk is under one year old, male
and Maori
Solutions
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Focus on education and employment
Parenting education
Early childhood education
Housing
Health
Maori and Pasifika Child Development
Indices
Leadership and a culture of respect for
children
Maori and Pasifika Child
Development Indices
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Martha Nussbaum’s ten capabilities
Mason Durie ‘Te Whare Tapa Wha’
Rose Pere ‘Te Wheke’
Nussbaum’s ten capabilities
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Life
Bodily health
Bodily integrity
Senses, imagination and thought
Emotions
Practical reason
Affiliation
Other species
Play
Control over one’s environment
Te Whare Tapa – Mason Durie
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Te taha hinengaro
Te taha wairua
Te taha tinana
Te taha whanau
Who’s looking out for me?
Play your part!
Work with others to build your community
 Join Every Child Counts
 Write to MPs and newspapers
 Attend events
 Spread the word … 1000 days to get it
right for every child
www.everychildcounts.org.nz
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