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The first case of the COVID-19 pandemic in Maharashtra was confirmed on 9 March 2020. Since then, the state remained a prominent hotspot. Urban metropolitan regions of Mumbai, Pune, Thane and urban cities like Nagpur and Nasik have reported maximum number of cases in the state. The COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent lockdown greatly disrupted lives, specifically for the urban poor. It, therefore, became very clear early in the lockdown that large-scale interventions would be required to address the COVID-19-induced challenges. To support the Government in its endeavour to save lives and reduce the impact of the pandemic, UNICEF Maharashtra, along with its strong network of development partners and corporate donors, formulated and coordinated several eff orts across cities of the state to facilitate targeted actions to redress the impact of COVID-19 at the community level. This report is an attempt to present an overview of the work jointly done by the State Government, UNICEF and development partners to mitigate the impact of COVID-19, particularly for the cities of Maharashtra.
The UNICEF Evaluation Office, in collaboration with Communication for Development (C4D) section in the UNICEF Programme Group and the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, developed the Community Rapid Assessment (CRA) exercise as a way to measure the protective practices, health-seeking behaviours, coping strategies and emerging needs of individuals and households in relation to COVID-19. The primary objective was to provide UNICEF country offices valuable data to strengthen the evidence base and inform country-level programming in response to the pandemic. The CRA is also intended to contribute to UNICEF’s overall analytical agenda on COVID in an effort to better position this type work in the overall corporate efforts. Its findings have thus far provided a rich and much-needed picture of the behavioural component of the outbreak at the individual and community levels. In making use of time-series data – that is, the longitudinal data repeatedly captured over several waves of data collection – the CRA has also provided further opportunities to examine country- and region-specific trends over time. And because the CRA is a real-time exercise, analysis, visualization and interpretation of findings are already being used in several country-level fora to guide program changes. The long-term vision is to embed capacity for similar surveys within government data systems at the country level. This report presents early findings and insights from eight countries in Eastern and Southern Africa – namely Angola, Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, Rwanda, South Africa, South Sudan and Uganda.
The UNFPA-UNICEF Global Programme to End Child Marriage was designed as a 15-year programme (2016-2030) to contribute to the Sustainable Development Goal 5.3, which aims to eliminate all harmful practices, including child marriage. The COVID-19 pandemic hit at the very beginning of Phase II (2020-2023) of the Global Programme, and we know that it profoundly affected the everyday lives of girls, including their physical and mental health, education, and the economic circumstances of their families and communities. Up to 10 million more girls are estimated to becoming child brides by 2030, as a result of the pandemic. UNFPA and UNICEF Evaluation Offices conducted a joint assessment of the Global Programme adaptations to the COVID-19 crisis in 2021.
AUTHOR(S) Harriet Nannyonjo; Joao Pedro Wagner De Azevedo; Maryam Akmal (et al.)
AUTHOR(S) Thomas Dreesen; Akito Kamei; Despina Karamperidou (et al.)
Digital learning has the potential to offer interactive and personalized learning for children, in and out of school, including the most marginalized. However, depending on programme design, delivery, and use, digital learning can also exacerbate learning inequalities. This report presents tangible findings on the implementation and use of digital learning to improve outcomes for marginalized children in Lebanon. This report focuses on the UNICEF-Akelius Foundation Partnership and its implementation of a digital course used on tablets and mobile phones for language learning of Syrian refugees in Lebanon. The report provides findings across three areas: First, the report investigates the digital course’s use in a blended learning environment where it was used on tablets by students as part of traditional face-to-face classroom instruction with teachers. Second, the analysis examines the transition to remote learning where the course was used on devices owned by the household, supported by teachers remotely. Third, the report estimates the effectiveness of the use of the digital course during this period of remote learning from August–November 2020 showing positive results for language and art competencies.
We are living through an era of rapid and far-reaching transformation. As the world has changed — becoming more digital, more globalized, and more diverse — childhood is changing with it. The Changing Childhood Project — a collaboration of UNICEF and Gallup — was created to explore these shifts, and to better understand what it means to be a child in the 21st century. The project seeks to answer two questions: What is it like growing up today? And how do young people see the world differently? To answer these questions, we wanted to hear from children and young people themselves. Comparing the experiences and views of young versus older people offers a powerful lens to explore how childhood is changing, and where generations diverge or converge. The ultimate goal of the project is to centre young people — their experiences and perspectives — in the work of improving life for all children, today and into the future.
AUTHOR(S) S. Amin; I. M.I. Hossain; S. Ainul (et al.)
Poor learning remains a central challenge in Bangladesh despite considerable progress in advancing schooling access and reducing gender gaps in education. The learning crisis is feared to have been exacerbated during extended school closures and limited alternative opportunities for schooling during the COVID-19 pandemic. This brief summarizes findings on learning loss among adolescent girls during the pandemic in rural Bangladesh.
AUTHOR(S) Nataliya Borodchuk; Liudmyla Cherenko
Since 2016, absolute poverty (when a person cannot afford basic food, clothing, medical care and adequate housing) among families with children has decreased. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the economic and social crisis, the problem of child poverty in Ukraine has worsened. Growing up in poverty is a violation of children’s rights, and a failure of nations to protect their future. Other countries have proved that we can reduce child poverty, if not completely overcome it. This task requires cooperation at all levels. First of all, in order to understand the gravity of the problem and recognize what mechanisms can help to solve it, we need proper monitoring and analysis. That's why the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) analyzed child poverty in Ukraine and, based on the results, developed recommendations that could help to reduce child poverty. The report aims to shed light on the specific challenges faced by Ukrainian children when experiencing poverty. The unique needs of young Ukrainians should be at the heart of the National Poverty Reduction Strategy. One hundred and 93 members of the United Nations have committed to reducing child poverty under the Sustainable Development Goals. We are glad to know that Ukraine is amongst those countries.
Schools across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region have started to emerge from the lockdowns imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Seventeen countries have resumed the 2021-2022 academic year, combining both in-person and remote learning. These are Algeria, Bahrain, Djibouti, Egypt, Iran, Jordan, Kuwait, Morocco, Oman, the State of Palestine, Qatar, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), Syria, Sudan, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Yemen. The three countries that have not yet opened their schools are: Iraq (excluding the Kurdistan Region of Iraq which reopened schools on 14 September, the rest of the country is expected to reopen on 1 November), Lebanon (some public schools partially opened the morning shift but not yet the afternoon shift for Syrian refugees) and Libya (announced that schools will reopen on 11 November).
The dual challenges of the climate crisis and COVID-19 pandemic compound on each other and are disproportionately impacting children in East Asia and Pacific. This calls for ambitious climate actions that help advance climate justice for current and future generations of children and support a green and inclusive recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. As stated by the UN Secretary-General António Guterres, the pandemic recovery is “a profound opportunity” to steer the world on “a path that tackles climate change, protects the environment, reverses biodiversity loss and ensures the long-term health and security of humankind”. Unless inclusive climate-smart solutions are prioritized in the recovery phase, there is a high risk of emissions rebounding and governments locking themselves in to a carbon-intense future, leaping from the COVID-19 frying pan into the climate fire. This working paper provides an economic analysis of climate and COVID-19 recovery policy measures in East Asia and the Pacific region and makes an investment case for accelerating ambitious and inclusive climate actions through national climate policies and COVID-19 recovery measures in East Asia and the Pacific and beyond.
AUTHOR(S) Marco Valenza; Yacouba Dijbo Abdou; Thomas Dreesen
Due to numerous socio-economic and cultural factors, the infodemic surrounding COVID-19 in Middle East and North Africa (MENA) hindered efforts towards curbing the spread of the disease which ulti[1]mately could have saved lives. International organizations such as UNICEF, WHO, and the International Commission of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) have all worked alongside local governments and stakeholders to ensure the public had access to accurate and reliable information about the efficacy of vaccines and public health and social measures. The case study at hand considers how conversational insights contributed to fighting the infodemic around COVID-19 in the MENA region. To this end, UNICEF MENA Regional Office is actively leveraging conver[1]sational data to combat the spread of vaccine misinformation, which ultimately helps the equitable distribution of vaccines and limits vaccine hesitancy. In an unexpected year of crisis, society turned to the media and entertainment. Combating misinformation is becoming increasingly complex and difficult to track. By showcasing how UNICEF in combating misinformation in MENA, it is clear that social listening and social media monitoring data must be accompanied by a robust plan that is holistic and data-driven. This case study also highlights the importance of putting empathy at the core of your strategy. Listening to people’s needs and understanding their concerns enables teams to resonate with the public’s sentiment.
AUTHOR(S) Spogmai Akseer; Ximena Jativa
AUTHOR(S) Silvia Peirolo; Ximena Jativa
In Liberia, recurring school absenteeism and post abandonment are considered critical obstacles to quality education. Although national political actors recognize absenteeism as a major impediment to quality education, studies on the factors influencing teacher attendance in the country, including national policies and practices at the community and school levels, remain scarce. Also, there is a lack of knowledge on the direct and indirect ways the coronavirus pandemic and the measures adopted to contain it impact primary school teachers. This Time to Teach study seeks to fill these knowledge gaps. The report provides valuable insights into how the COVID-19 crisis may exacerbate existing education system challenges that affect teacher attendance and time on task. It also collects and strengthens the evidence base on the factors affecting the various dimensions of primary school teacher attendance to inform the design and implementation of teacher policies.
UNICEF Innocenti's Children and COVID-19 Library is a database collecting research from around the world on COVID-19 and its impacts on children and adolescents.
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