Recognising family input can help achieve MDGs — Panellists
Panelists at a side event of the 52nd session of the United Nations Commission on Social Development have strongly proposed that the unique contributions of the family be recognised and utilised to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
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According to them, despite the international community's significant attention to achieving the MDGs, policy makers and members of civil society have not focused on one of the more important modalities for success, which is the family unit.
The discussants are co-authors of a 320-page book titled The family and the MDGs: Using Family Capital to Achieve the Millennium Development Goals, which explores how the substantial resources generated within the family (family capital) can be harnessed to achieve the objectives of the MDGs.
The lead author of the publication, Susan Roylance, pointed out that without the concept of family, the international goals would not be met, hence, one sure means to promote social development and achieve the MDGs is to focus on policies, programmes and initiatives that harness the unique strengths and contributions of the family.
She said projects that identified the family as the entry point seemed to have more success than those that targeted social units.
Ms Roylance expanded that every country that had made significant progress in poverty alleviation had had a strong agricultural sector, so governments should make it possible for people to stay on family farms and be successful, instead of them ending up in urban slums and looking for non-existent jobs.
Stable Family
One of the authors, Ms Marcia Barlow, also noted that a stable family life had significant benefits for children and their parents and marriage was by far the most emotionally stable and economically secure arrangement for child rearing.
Research, she said, indicated that for children, nothing compared to a solid, stable marriage between their biological parents, while family breakdown disabled future generations and negatively impacted society.
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It had also been documented, she said, that natural family structures benefited every aspect of children's well-being. These include greater educational opportunities, better emotional and physical health, less substance abuse and lower incidences of early sexual activity for girls, and less delinquency for boys.
Family Capital
Ms Barlow says family capital increases through marriage, with the birth of wanted children, and as family members are educated and acquire technical knowledge and skills.
Ghana’s Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection, Nana Oye Lithur, who contributed extensively to the discussions, noted that the evidence produced by the various researches provided lessons for Ghana.
She said the information was timely, “particularly at this time that the government is desirous of intensifying its social protection programmes."