Child Impact Assessment Tool
A Child Impact Assessment (CIA) Tool has been developed to help government and non-government organisations in New Zealand to assess whether policy proposals will improve the wellbeing of children and young people.
The tool includes templates that agencies can use to test and assess any proposed law or policy for consistency with the intent of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (Children’s Convention).
Children and young people’s rights provide a basis for holistic, child and youth-centred policy advice. Government agencies are required to consider and apply the principles of the Children’s Convention in their work with and for children and young people.
The CIA Tool enables agencies to identify, analyse and assess the impacts of any proposed law or policy on the rights and wellbeing of children and young people. The impacts can be direct or indirect; short, medium or long-term; and positive, negative or neutral.
Background information
In February 2011, the United Nations (UN) Committee on the Rights of the Child recommended, as part of its Concluding Observations, that New Zealand should do more to consider the views of children and young people at all levels of decision-making.
In response, the Ministry of Social Development developed a work programme that was approved by Cabinet. The work programme includes:
- obtaining the views of children in policy and legislation development processes
- considering the impacts of policy and legislation on children.
The CIA Tool is a part of this work programme and has involved the input of a number of departments and agencies.
For more information about the CIA tool, contact UNCROC@msd.govt.nz.
