Child poverty in a conflict situation: a multidimensional profile and an identification of the poorest children in Western Darfur

Darfur is currently in a very complex situation making humanitarian intervention a very challenging endeavour. The civilian population is caught in the middle of armed confrontation resulting in massive forced displacement as well as in food shortage, lack of access to safe source of water and sanitation facilities, shelter, essential health services. Children are particularly vulnerable in conflict situation as they are higher risk of physical and sexual violence or emotional abuse. Applying the Alkire and Foster index of multidimensional poverty to a selected set of dimensions of deprivation identified through a large scale household survey in Western Darfur carried out in 2009, included dimensions usually missing in surveys, such as economic exploitation or child labour, physical safety, empowerment or social participation, and psychological wellbeing, our findings show that children with disability, particularly girls with severe disability, are more often multidimensional poor and on a higher number of dimensions. They are particularly excluded from education as school are not accessible, teachers lack training to welcome special needs children and appropriate equipment and materials are missing. These findings also implies that because of the variety of domains of deprivation, tackling poverty of children in Western Darfur cannot only rely on identifying those below a given income poverty line.