Children and COVID-19 Research Library

At the time of writing, the world is facing an education catastrophe. The measures taken to prevent the spread of COVID-19 has impacted education for children all over the world. Due to school closures, hundreds of millions of children are not learning or getting services that are vital for their development and well-being. Many of the world’s children were not learning even before the pandemic, and without rapid action, this learning crisis is likely to spread. This paper sets out seven priority action areas to deliver changes crucial to advert an education catastrophe for the world's children.

As COVID-19 has spread rapidly across the globe, governments have implemented measures to contain the spread of the pandemic, including school closures, home isolation/quarantine and community lockdowns. These measures have exacerbated gender inequalities, impacting the lives of children and households. This research highlights gendered differences in several areas related to children and COVID-19, with an emphasis on how gender inequalities intersect with disability and displacement status. Recommendations are based on Save the Children’s COVID-19 research, lessons from ongoing programming, and existing studies.

This report is one in a series presenting findings from the Global COVID-19 Research Study. The results presented in this study focus on implications for children’s education, drawing on data from our representative sample of 17,565 parents and caregivers and 8,069 children in our programme participants’ group. The research presents differences in impacts on and needs of children by region, age, gender, disability, minority group, indicators of poverty and more. The research was implemented in 46 countries and resulted in the largest and most comprehensive survey of children and families during the COVID-19 crisis to date, with 31,683 parents and caregivers and 13,477 children aged between 11 and 17 participating in the research.

This report is one in a series presenting findings from the Global COVID-19 Research Study. The study focuses on implications  of COVID 19 for children’s health and nutrition, drawing on data from our representative sample of 17,565 parents/caregivers and 8,069 children in our programme participants group. The research presents differences in impacts on and needs of children by region, age, gender, disability, minority group, indicators of poverty and more. This study research was implemented in 46 countries and resulted in the largest and most comprehensive survey of children and families during the COVID-19 crisis to date, with 31,683 parents and caregivers and 13,477 children aged between 11 and 17 participating in the research.

This report is one in a series presenting findings from the Global COVID-19 Research Study. The results presented in this report focus on implications for child rights, drawing on data from our representative sample of 17,565 parents/caregivers and 8,069 children in our programme participants group. Comparisons with our general public sample are made in some places. The research presents differences in impact and needs of children by region, age, gender, disability, minority group, indicators of poverty and more.

This report is one in a series presenting findings from the Global COVID-19 Research Study. The results presented here focus on the implications for Child Protection issues, drawing on data from our representative sample of 17,565 parents/caregivers and 8,069 children in our programme participants group. Comparisons with our general public sample have been made in some places.Topics investigated include violence occurring in the home, the separation of children from their caregivers, mental health and psycho-social well-being of caregivers and children, child labour, online safety and child protection support and services. Available data was analysed and presented considering the socio-ecological model in order to highlight the interconnectedness of the broader socio-ecological environment which places children within their households and communities. This enabled the detailing of the range of associated risks and protective factors in relation to these child protection issues as well as drawing attention to the complexity of their interrelationship. Differences in impact and the needs of children by region, age, gender, disability, minority group, indicators of poverty, and more, were explored.

This report is one in a series presenting findings from the Global COVID-19 Research Study. Findings from this report focus on implications for child poverty, drawing on data from our representative sample of 17,565 parents/caregivers and 8,069 children. The research presents differences in the impacts on and needs of children by region, age, gender, disability, minority group, indicators of poverty and more. This research was implemented in 46 countries and resulted in the largest and most comprehensive survey of children and families during the COVID-19 crisis to date, with 31,683 parents and caregivers and 13,477 children aged between 11 and 17 participating in the research.

This global research series by Save the Children is the largest and most comprehensive study on the impact of COVID-19 on children. 13.5 thousand children and 31.5 thousand caregivers from 46 countries shared their experiences, fears, hopes and messages for leaders in this study. The extensive study includes the voices of the most marginalised children and general public - with our in-depth analysis focussing on a representative random sample of 25,000 Save the Children program participants across 37 countries globally. The global study reveals the hidden impacts of pandemic response measures which are impacting children’s health, nutrition, education, learning, protection, wellbeing, family finances and poverty. For the most marginalised and deprived children, those impacts have the potential to be life-altering and potentially devastating. The poorest households, households with disabilities, female headed-households and girls, are the hardest hit. The recommendations guided by views & voices of children provide guidance on the next steps needed to build back better for a post COVID-19 future which respects, protects and fulfils the rights of all children, in all contexts.

This document provides practical guidance to actors in humanitarian and development contexts on the adaptations and considerations needed to support children who are either currently in alternative care or are going into an alternative care placement during the COVID-19 pandemic. It expands on the guidance provided in the Interagency Technical Note on Children and Alternative Care Immediate Response Measures by providing more detailed guidance for the medium and long-term response, recognising that the current pandemic and measures to address it are likely to continue over prolonged periods of time, and also to be reoccurring in phases. It should be read alongside the Technical Note: Adaptation of Child Protection Case Management to the COVID-19 Pandemic. International standards and guidelines on children’s rights and alternative car.

This report shows that the most marginalised and deprived children have been hit the hardest, and existing inequalities have been exacerbated. Progress that had been made against the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for children is at risk of being disrupted, or even lost. For many children, the impacts of the pandemic will be catastrophic.

Las condiciones de vida de las y los migrantes venezolanos han empeorado en el actual contexto de pandemia. Las evaluaciones realizadas por los organismos asociados muestran que la mayoría de las familias venezolanas no han tenido ingresos desde que comenzó la inmovilización social obligatoria y muchas han perdido sus trabajos. Las evaluaciones confirman que el acceso a los alimentos es la principal prioridad de las familias venezolanas, y para acceder a ellos adoptan estrategias negativas como comer alimentos más baratos o menos preferidos, pedir alimentos prestados y en algunos casos, mendigar dinero para obtener alimentos.

This paper is divided into two parts. The first details the evidence from the ground, painting the picture of life for children during the pandemic in different European countries with statistics and examples, and giving a set of recommendations on measures that national governments across Europe can take to help protect children from the worst impacts of the crisis relating to the economic impacts on families, loss of services, access to education and targeted measures for children in migration. The second part focuses on recommendations to the EU institutions on how EU policy and funding can support and complement these national-level actions in these challenging times.

Between 20-21 May, Save the Children undertook a remote scoping exercise to assess the sentiments of children aged 6-15 across seven provinces of the country. A total of 74 responses, including 32 boys and 42 girls, were collected via phone calls by Save the Children ’s Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEAL) staff. The questions posed to the children were open-ended, simply asking about what they knew about COVID-19 and how it has impacted their lives and those of their families and communities. This approach was employed in order to better ensure objective responses/reflections from children.

In early April, an estimated 128 million children in West and Central Africa were out of school as one of the collateral consequences of governments’ response to halt the spread of the COVID 19’ virus. Over this period, some countries have been demonstrating great leadership in providing continuous learning for children while schools remained closed. This pandemic has come on top of an existing learning crisis. In this context, COVID-19 further compounds these challenges and will result in millions more children being denied their basic right to learn.The poorest and most marginalized groups are at risk of never returning to school, with children instead at risk of forced child labour and/or child marriage. The price they will pay on their future will be long lasting. This is the biggest education emergency of our lifetime

Kenya reported the first coronavirus case March 13th and since then the numbers have continued to increase mainly in the capital and the coastal towns of Mombasa and Kilifi but also in other parts of the country. Women and youth bear the largest impact especially because most of them are in vulnerable employment in the informal sectors, which has been hardest hit by the measures that government has proposed to try to curb the spread of the virus, and in turn, children are affected. This study seeks to understand if and how children in Dadaab continue to learn; and their level of knowledge and awareness towards COVID-19 so that appropriate measures can be taken to support them.