Abstract:
Overall, the situation of children in the Maldives remained stable throughout 2017. The
Government sustained its commitment to allocate a fair share of the GDP to public health and
education (4.6 per cent and 6.2 per cent, respectively). The World Bank estimated a real GDP
growth of 4.8 per cent and a fiscal deficit of 9.4 per cent of GDP in 2017. The gradual
withdrawal of food subsidies continued while the cash transfers to vulnerable households
remained limited. Approximately 25 per cent of youth were not employed, in school or in training
programmes. Expatriate workers continued to benefit from the growth in the construction and
tourism sectors more than Maldivian youth.
UNICEF Maldives’ collaboration with national partners focused on enhancing child protection
and juvenile justice systems, alternative education for out-of-school adolescents, improving
infant and young child feeding, and building information systems. All the activities UNICEF
supported were designed to contribute to the UNDAF outcome of improving inclusive, equitable,
and high quality social services for all children and adolescents, especially the disadvantaged
and vulnerable.
In 2017, UNICEF Maldives and partners achieved significant results for children in the country.
A real-time system for reporting and addressing violence against children was established and
expanded. Local communities are now able to identify cases of violence against children and
use the hotline call number to report abuse. The number of reported cases was on the rise,
indicating that a functional reporting system was in place. Trained local community support
groups and the police routinely picked up the reported cases and addressed them immediately.
At the central level, the Ministry of Gender and Family (MoGF) published monthly gender and
age disaggregated reports on violence against children cases. These reports contributed to
raising awareness on the responsibility of community members to stop violence against
children.
Alternative education opportunities for out-of-school adolescents were established, including for
those who were incarcerated by court decision. In 2017, some 43 adolescents enrolled in
vocational training, an alternative learning opportunity that was not previously accessible to outof-school adolescents. The Open Education Information System now allows school
management and responsible staff in the Ministry of Education to access real time information
about individual students’ attendance and learning achievements as well as teacher
performance. The establishment of the Health Information System is progressing. It will provide
easy access to real-time information on violence against children, education, and health and will
contribute to informed decision-making.
UNICEF’s new partnership with the Care Society resulted in the production of behaviour change
communication materials for the inclusion of children with disabilities. With UNICEF’s technical
guidance and support, the Ministry of Education successfully applied for and received a grant
from the Global Partnership for Education (GPE). UNICEF support is underway for the
development of an education sector strategy and plan. However, delays at the Ministry of
2
Education to meet some of the GPE deadlines is a concern. Both UNICEF and the MoE are
looking for innovative ways to overcome this challenge.
In 2017, UNICEF and the Ministry of Health launched a study to better understand the
underlying causes of malnutrition, an ongoing challenge for some children in the Maldives. The
findings of this ongoing study will help sharpen the programme focus next year.
The delays on the part of the Ministry of Finance to credit direct cash transfers (DCTs) from
UNICEF and other UN agencies to the accounts of partner ministries continue to hamper timely
completion of activities and liquidation of DCTs. UNICEF continued to discuss a workable
solution for routing direct cash transfers (DCTs) through the Ministry of Finance with national
partners.
The limited visibility of UNICEF’s work in the Maldives and lack of partnerships with the private
sector are key shortfalls that will be aggressively addressed in 2018.