Library Home | Reset filters
Select one or more filter options and click search below.
Reset filters
On 11 March 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 a global pandemic. In response, governments around the world took the unprecedented step of closing all schools as a way to curb the spread of the COVID-19 virus. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) estimates that school closures impacted almost 1.6 billion learners across 169 countries. Most children in this study experienced school closures, or partial or temporary re-openings, well into 2022. Education systems had very unequal capacities to respond to school closures with remote learning and support to children and families. The most common format remote learning took was online learning (91 per cent), yet 1.3 billion of the 1.6 billion students out of school had no internet connection at home—let alone a device to learn on—and internet literacy was extremely low among students, teachers, and parents.10 Moreover, the majority of the estimated 300 million learners with online access were in high- or middle-income countries. Children in humanitarian settings were among the least likely to be able to access digital education. This digital divide exacerbated education inequalities everywhere. In low-income and humanitarian settings, school closures also amplified the pre-existing learning and school access crisis and cut children off from the protective services schools often provide.
Children make up 50% of those affected in humanitarian crises and are disproportionately impacted by conflict and crisis. Throughout 2020 and 2021, COVID-19, conflict and climate change have been impacting children at unprecedented scale, putting them at risk and driving displacement, poverty and violence. Whilst funding for child protection is increasing, child protection consistently remains one of the most underfunded sectors in humanitarian action and funds not meeting increasing needs. Closing this gap will require collective action to change the way we think about children’s protection and its centrality to crisis response. This report highlights key areas associated with funding for child protection in humanitarian crises, including both cluster and refugee responses in 2020. A snapshot is also given for 2021 with data available as of October 2021
AUTHOR(S) Margot Thierry; Avhild Strømme; Katharine Williamson (et al.)
Children affected by humanitarian crises are among the most vulnerable to abuse, exploitation, violence and neglect and most in need of protection, yet there is limited commitment to fund protective responses. Throughout 2020, the impact of the global COVID-19 pandemic and the containment measures have layered risk upon risk for children in humanitarian crises. Although the overall funding for child protection is increasing, the funding gap remains wide due to the needs increasing at an alarming rate. This report builds on analysis undertaken in 2019 and documented in the report Unprotected: Crisis in Humanitarian Funding for Child Protection (Unprotected 2019) and incorporates 2019 and 2020 funding, as well as additional funding streams related to refugee context.
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.
Subscribe to updates on new research about COVID-19 & children
Check our quarterly thematic digests on children and COVID-19
COVID-19 & Children: Rapid Research Response
