Events & Convening

Florence, 9–10 June 2022 – UNICEF experts from around the world gathered at the UNICEF Office of Research-Innocenti for the first major in-person event since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic to discuss the next State of the World’s Children publication on children and immunization. The meeting itself was a testament to the power of vaccines.

This panel discussion, timed with the global launch of Report Card 17, comes at a moment when policymakers are seeking to ensure child well-being during a protracted global pandemic and with mounting climate change challenges.  Join us for a rich discussion with youth activists, policymakers, researchers, and practitioners on shaping better policies for environments and children’s well-being. Panelists to be announced.

UNICEF and the Authority for Children and Adolescents, an independent body that oversees the implementation of the rights of children in the Lombardy region of Italy, Riccardo Bettiga, presented the Report "Vite a Colori” (Life in Colors) about the experiences, perceptions, and opinions on the COVID-19 pandemic of children and adolescents in Italy. 

The UNICEF Office of Research - Innocenti and UNICEF Latin America and the Caribbean Regional Office, with the support of  On Think Tanks,  and  CIUP (Centro de Investigación de la Universidad del Pacífico) are convening three policy discussions to promote reflection and fruitful discussion around the concept of Future Frontiers of Childhood and Adolescence in Latin America and the Caribbean. 

Join researchers, experts, educators, and policymakers for a one-hour virtual policy panel discussion on Shortfalls in Social Spending Worldwide. A new report from UNICEF, ‘Shortfalls in Social Spending in Low- and Middle-Income Countries. COVID-19 and Shrinking Finance for Social Spending’ argues that, in order to meet the rights of all to basic social services, greater mobilisation of both domestic and international resources will be needed to boost social spending in the wake of COVID-19. It calculates that low-and middle-income countries will need to spend an additional 0.9% of GDP on education; 4.7% of GDP on health; and 0.6% of GDP on social protection. Failure to meet these targets is currently resulting in annual shortfalls of, on average, $281 per child (education); $513 per capita (health); $66 per capita (social assistance). However, the fiscal space to achieve adequate spending on social services remains constrained in many countries. Join us as our experts discuss how to approach this challenge, bolster finance for the SDGs and address widening inequalities post COVID-19.

COVID-19 has created a once-in-a-generation focus on evidence among governments, businesses and non-governmental organizations, many types of professionals, and citizens. Now is the time to systematize the aspects of using evidence that are going well and address the many shortfalls, which means creating the capacities, opportunities and motivation to use evidence to address societal challenge, and putting in place the structures and processes to sustain them.

A new report, “Prioritizing Learning During Covid-19”, featuring evidence from UNICEF Innocenti, provides recommendations from the GEEAP, an independent, cross-disciplinary body composed of leading education experts, including a Nobel Prize winner.

Implementation Research is an innovative approach to systems strengthening in which decision-makers and implementers use research to overcome implementation bottlenecks and improve outcomes.

Mediterranean Dialogues is the annual high-level initiative promoted by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation and ISPI (Italian Institute for International Political Studies) in Rome. On 2-4 December, more than 40 live session with 40+ ministers, over 100 business representatives, and members of the civil society from the MED region will share their views. 

The global disruption to education caused by the COVD-19 pandemic is without parallel and the effects on learning are severe. The crisis brought education systems across the world to a halt, with school closures affecting more than 1.6 billion learners. While nearly every country in the world offered remote learning opportunities for students, the quality and reach of such initiatives varied greatly and were at best partial substitutes for in-person learning. Now, 21 months later, schools remain closed for millions of children and youth, and millions more are at risk of never returning to education. Evidence of the detrimental impacts of school closures on children’s learning offer a harrowing reality: learning losses are substantial, with the most marginalized children and youth often disproportionately affected.

This December 6th, building on the close collaboration of UNESCO, UNICEF, and the World Bank under the Mission: Recovering Education, the three organizations will launch a joint report on the state of the crisis.

The Report – titled “The State of the Global Education Crisis: A Path to Recovery” – charts a path out of the global education crisis and towards building more effective, equitable, and resilient education systems.

Learning losses can be reversed if countries act now!

The cost of keeping schools closed is steep and threatens to widen existing disparities for children and youth. Reopening schools and keeping them open should remain the highest priority for countries, as growing evidence indicates that with adequate measures, health risks to children and education staff can be minimized.

The event will feature the participation of Stefania Giannini, Assistant Director-General for Education, UNESCO, Robert Jenkins, Global Director of Education, UNICEF, Jaime Saavedra, Global Director of Education, the World Bank, as well as a panel of government officials and international education stakeholders who will reflect on the evidence presented in the joint report and lessons from country experiences in support of learning recovery from around the world. The panel will be moderated by Andrew Jack, Global Education Editor, Financial Times.