Marketplace

In our benchmark, impact through marketing and products or services is covered under the Marketplace Impact Area. Companies impact children’s lives in several ways in Marketplace:

Product and service safety is particularly important when products are intended for children’s and teenagers’ consumption. Moreover, even when a product or service is not explicitly intended for children, there is the possibility of children coming into contact with it. So it follows that children should be considered from a perspective of protecting them.

Responsible marketing is important for children and young people as the recipients of marketing messages. Companies need to recognise and act on children’s specific vulnerabilities, putting into practice, for example, restrictions on when and to whom to market. In addition, even if unintentionally, children and teenagers are constantly exposed to marketing messages meant for adults, especially online. Here, companies need to consider whether they are, for example, propagating unhealthy ideals or lifestyles or considering how children and young people are portrayed in marketing to adults. Consideration should be given to determining whether a child or a young person is equipped to contextualize these messages and understand them properly.

Products and services that support children are an often overlooked area where companies can have a significant and positive impact on children’s and teenagers’ lives by ensuring that they have access to products and services that take their needs into consideration.

With positive messaging, companies have the opportunity to not only prevent harm by practicing responsible marketing but to also create positive impact. In the arena of mental health and self-esteem, for example, a company could make use of their communication platforms to reach a young audience.

Workplace

In our benchmark, impact through operations and supply chains, specifically in relation to employment, is covered under the Workplace Impact Area. In this area, companies impact children’s lives in several ways:

Child labour and decent work for young workers. Child labour, often the first topic that comes to mind when considering how children’s rights are relevant to the corporate sector, requires companies to take appropriate measures to assess risks, prohibit, prevent, report on findings and provide remediation. Ensuring decent working conditions and appropriate job opportunities for young people is another key element.

Family-friendly policies and programmes are of great relevance to children’s daily lives. Family-friendly efforts by companies impact the time that children can spend with their parents (for example, through parental leave that exceeds what is legally required, availability of flexible work arrangements) and ensuring that children are looked after when parents are at work.

Governance and Collaborations

New to our benchmark methodology 2022 is a focus on how successfully companies integrate children’s rights into their governance mechanisms. This new area, called Governance & Collaborations, gathers indicators that were previously included in the other three impact areas (Workplace, Marketplace and Community & Environment) and centres on:

A company’s governance establishes the foundation for how a company views and acts with respect to its impact on children’s lives across all issues. Maintaining a clear commitment and having directives emanating from top management determines how important an issue is perceived to be across operations.

Collaboration is key to addressing many of the areas where business impacts children’s lives. Often these issues are systemic, so a single actor has limited or no ability to solve an issue or have an impact operating individually. It is therefore essential to seek out and consult with experts, such as children’s rights organisations, to ensure that any initiative undertaken is in accord with best practice and does not result in unintended negative consequences.

Community & Environment

In our benchmark, impact through operations and supply chains, specifically in relation to more indirect impact, is covered under the Community & Environment Impact Area. Here, companies impact children’s lives in several ways:

Environmental impact is major for this sector due to its intensive use of land, chemicals and water, as well as through energy consumption and packaging. Overall, research is clear that negative environmental impacts have a disproportionate effect on children compared to adults. This is true both when considering the present day – take, for example, pollution, water, and land use, where children are particularly vulnerable – and the future, through long-term impacts such as CO2 emissions, lack of circularity and unsustainable use of natural resources. It has also been shown that climate change has a more immediate effect on children, negatively impacting their physical health and mental well-being.

Social impact is particularly far reaching with regard to children, for example, in access to healthcare, education, and social protection. These issues are primarily the responsibility of the public sector. Still, business has an essential role, both in environments where state protection is weak and in cases where companies want to contribute to (pay back) society by, for example, supporting children’s access to quality education, healthcare, or a sustainable living environment.