NEW research by the charity World Vision and the accountants Ernst & Young Australia suggests that every $1 of overseas-development funding that targets children has a measurable benefit of $10.

The calculation is made in Putting Children First for Sustainable Development, published on Tuesday, which quantifies the social and economic benefits of Official Development Assistance (ODA), and its long-term impact.

The researchers used what is described as a “robust analysis of the economic impacts of these investments”, using a unique algorithm tool that was developed by Ernst & Young to identify and classify child-related ODA. The analysis was the work of several months. They found a return of $10 on each dollar spent, made up of direct benefits of more than $7, together with a “social multiplier” of indirect benefit of nearly $3. Indirect benefits come through programmes that support and empower children, their families, friends, and wider communities.

The report cites, as an example, a programme to change attitudes towards child marriage, which has both a short-term impact — i.e. more girls complete their education and avoid some of the health complications caused by early childbirth — and also a longer-term impact: they grow up with better health, which results in being able to make a greater contribution to their family’s income when they become adults.

More than one billion children across the globe, the report says, live in poverty, without basic needs such as shelter, food and water met, and with inadequate access to health services and education. This has lifelong consequences. Yet, despite the measurable positive impact of aid, only 12 per cent of the $207 billion annual figure for ODA is specifically aimed at children, made up of five per cent in direct aid, plus a further seven per cent via broader programmes, the report says. Children make up 46 per cent of those in need of aid.