The Girl-Child and Government Service Provision.pdf - Tanzania ...

The population of Phnom Penh has greater access to servicesdue to proximity and choice, but many are not affordable.The range of work options is high, but so is competitionfor employment or market share. Land is expensive,and squatter communities do not have land titles and riskeviction from their living areas. Children experience thehealth hazards of poor hygiene and living near open sewers.The poorest do not have access to school and areforced to go on the street to scavenge or beg.VillagesVillages were selected in areas of existing operations. Inlocation A and B one village was required to have a localschool and health centre. The other needed to be furtheraway from these facilities in order to be representationalof the different degrees of access to services that Cambodiansexperience.AdultsFamily Heads of House Holds (FHOHs) were randomlysampled from families in villages where World Vision providesa service. The families were selected randomly butneeded to have children of school age.ChildrenChildren were selected from two villages in each of thethree locations. Ages were 10–14 and 15–17, with 50per cent each male and female. The survey tool was pretestedwith 10 children in an urban location. Adjustmentswere then made to ensure• Ease of use• Management of biases• Accurate reflection of information gained• Ease of tracking data or placing data into fields.Family heads of householdLack of birth registration was an issue in all areas, with 97per cent of families saying that their children are not registered.The registered children were all from the urban areasurveyed. Certificates can be bought when needed, for example,when a young person reaches majority and wants toget married. However, this method lends itself to corruption,and birth certificates become a commodity rather than aright.Concern regarding registration did not surface in smallgroupdiscussions, which listed other pressing areas. Itshould be noted, however, that a birth certificate is a fundamentalright, recognition of status, and one of the survivalprovisions under the Convention of the Rights of theChild signed by the Cambodian government in 1992. Registrationat birth protects the child’s identity by recordingname, age and nationality. It is one important mechanism toprevent the child being trafficked and/or involved in prostitutionor hazardous labour.The survey of the 60 FHOHs across the three locationsincluded 40 from two villages in separate rural areas. Theremaining 20 families were from two villages in a poor urbanarea. Of the families surveyed, 66 per cent had betweentwo and four children under 18. Five per cent had morefemale than male children. It is possible that some malechildren had been sent away to earn income and were notwith their family at the time of the survey. Girl children aremore likely to be kept near the home to assist in householdduties and to care for younger siblings. This is also asecurity measure because girls are more likely than boys tobe sexually assaulted. Should this occur, the prospect offinding a successful marriage partner is reduced significantly.Figures from the Ministry of Health give the averagenumber of children per family as 3.1 in urban areas and 4.2in rural/provincial areas.Concern was expressed about lack of services available,the quality of staff, the distance needed to travel to obtainservices and the costs involved. Government services hadlimited visibility, especially in rural areas.Health and education access were the two issues that attractedthe most comment, and both were seen as crucialto improved service provision for girls. Fulfilment of improvementsalso involved expectation of NGOs as well asgovernment services.Attitudes expressed regarding equal opportunity identify arange of roles that are accessible to both genders. Whilethis is promising, other factors highlighted in the study ofcost, priority of boys and security issues for girls, limit theability of girls to access these roles. The role children, particularlygirls, play as part of the family economy is also revealedin the study.The Girl-Child and Government Service Provision 13