Events & Convening
Convening thought leadership in issues affecting children.
Mediterranean Dialogues
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 State of the Global Education Crisis: A Path to Recovery
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.
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.
What Makes Me? A Policy Panel Discussion on Core Capacities for Living and Learning
What Makes Me? Join researchers, experts, educators, and policymakers for a one-hour virtual policy panel discussion on the Core Capacities for Living and Learning. A new report from UNICEF, the Learning for Wellbeing Foundation, and the Fetzer Institute reveals nine core capacities and underscores the importance of noticing and nourishing these capacities from birth through adulthood. Often overlooked as innate basic skills, these capacities are underutilized in efforts to promote child well-being, education, and development. By protecting and promoting the development of these capacities, children can better understand and interact with the world around them, for life and for learning, and realize their unique potential. Join us for our regional launch of the research – to learn about these core capacities and why and how every child can cultivate these capacities to thrive.
Best of UNICEF Research 2021
For the second year running, the Best of UNICEF Research is being awarded in the shadow of the COVID-19 pandemic. We know that poor and discriminated children are being hardest hit by the pandemic. Research and data are critical to reinvent responses, show tangible impact, and prioritize those children most at risk.
Latest events
Ethical considerations when applying behavioural science in projects with children
(26 October 2021) - Over the last decade there has been a global trend to apply evidence and methods from the behavioural sciences to achieve programme and policy objectives. This webinar provides a focused reflection on ethical considerations for applying “behavioural insights” approaches to work that implicates children. UNICEF’s Office of Research-Innocenti worked in partnership with the Behavioural Insights Team, Australia, and the Young and Resilient Research Centre (Western Sydney University) to undertake a systematic exploration of relevant literature along with consultations with youth to develop a comprehensive discussion paper and a set of practical tools to help practitioners navigate ethical considerations specific to applying behavioral insights approaches to programming with children. The webinar will provide an introduction and overview of the paper and associated tools followed by a panel discussion with select members of the Project Advisory Group as thought leaders and practitioners directly involved in shaping the project.
Presenters: Karen Tindall, PhD, and Lydia Hayward, PhD, Behavioural Insights Team
Discussants:
Allison Zelkowitz, Director, Center for Utilizing Behavioral Insights for Children (CUBIC), Save the Children International
Liam Delaney, PhD, Head of Department of Psychological and Behavioural Science, London School of Economics
Julianne Birungi, Social and Behaviour Change Specialist, UNICEF NYHQ
Mary MacLennan, Lead, UN Behavioural Science Group, UN Innovation Network
Chair: Benjamin Hickler, PhD, UNICEF Innocenti
What does gender-responsive social protection have to do with the climate crisis?
(13 October 2021) With the increased recognition of the important role social protection plays in securing household and gender-equitable security and response to shocks, the webinar will feature a panel of leading experts on gender, climate change and social protection. These experts will convene to investigate what and how current social protection policies and programmes have addressed climate change impacts, and how gender responsive and age sensitive they are or not. It will discuss:
Connected learning and living in a Disconnected Era
The pandemic sparked the biggest increase in history in digital learning and living, but what does it mean for this generation of children and the next? Is the future already inevitably written in computer code? What does this mean for the millions of children who simply cannot get online? Are today’s tweens and teens the canaries down the coal mine of this mass human online experiment?
Join us in our new Leading Minds Online series* as we put these questions and more to our two experts – a Japanese-American academic Cultural Anthropologist Dr. Mizuko Ito, Director Connected Learning Lab, University of California, Irvine, and student Zulaikha Patel, a South African youth activist.
Strengthening and Promoting Education Data Systems and Utilization in Africa: Lessons from the Data Must Speak Global Initiative
15 September 2021 - With reliable data, policymakers, school managers, teachers, and communities can identify problems, pose solutions, and direct resources where they are most needed. As part of the Africa Evidence Week 2021, UNICEF Office of Research-Innocenti is organizing a live webinar to share and discuss how UNICEF’s implementation of the Data Must Speak global initiative has supported countries in Africa strengthen the use of data and research for education management and decision-making. It will draw on panelists from Ministries of Education from Namibia and Togo, as well as UNICEF and its office of research.
How to apply Smart Buy's evidence in country education investment decisions
23 July 2021 - Lessons on the implementation and contextualization of Smart Buys evidence at country level by the Global Education Evidence Advisory Panel (GEEAP).
What's Next? Lessons on Education Recovery
13 July 2021 - Webinar on the latest research findings with panellists from UNESCO, UNICEF, OECD, and the World Bank.
Intersections between Violence Against Children and Women - Prevention and Response
19 October 2021 - The second event in the 2021 Solutions Summit Series Together to #ENDviolence series aims to share evidence and foster discussion on intersections between violence against women and violence against children, highlighting synergies opportunities for greater collaboration and opportunities for moving towards implementation to build knowledge and translate it into policy and programs.
Evidence Matters
14 September 2021 - This event aims to share information and advance understanding of the growing body of evidence on violence against children (VAC) prevention and response. The event will bring together researchers, practitioners and policymakers, providing a forum to reflect on the current state of the evidence, the role of evidence in driving action to end VAC, and the opportunities that lie ahead.
Strengthening Data Systems and Utilization in the Education Sector
27 July 2021 - How can research play a vital role in ensuring strengthening of Education data systems and utilization for more data-informed decision-making?
Reopening the Future: Prioritizing Pre-primary Education
27 July 2021 - Join UNICEF, UNESCO and World Bank for a webinar event on prioritizing pre-primary education.
Gender dimensions of violence against children and adolescents
27 May 2021 - The Child Protection and Gender sections at NYHQ and the Office of Research – Innocenti organized an internal webinar on UNICEF’s Strategy Paper on the Gender Dimensions of Violence against Children and Adolescents in which over 200 UNICEF colleagues from regional and country levels participated. The webinar aimed to help participants learn more about the strategy paper and provided an opportunity to share ideas and recommendations for the implementation of priority actions in this area.
COVID-19 and Child Labour
24 June 2021 - As progress on child labour has stalled and absolute numbers of children engaged in child labour increase, Leading Minds Online asks the experts: How can we get progress back on track and prevent this worst-case scenario?
Pathways toward an education that leaves no one behind
16 June 2021 - Ahead of the G20 Education Ministers meeting and informed by ODI’s upcoming publication, ‘Pathways towards quality primary education: improving completion and learning outcomes’, we bring together a group of experts to examine successful reforms that have brought vulnerable children to the forefront of policy implementation and consider what is needed to push the agenda forward.
Speakers:
Susan Nicolai
Chair – Senior Research Fellow, Equity and Social Policy, ODI and Director of Research, EdTech Hub
Rukmini Banerji
Panellist – CEO, Pratham Education Foundation
Matt Brossard
Panellist – Chief, READ (Research on Education And Development) Unit, UNICEF Innocenti
Shem Bodo
Panellist – Senior Programs Officer, Association for the Development of Education in Africa (ADEA)
José Manuel Roche
Panellist – Policy Advisor, Senior Analyst and Evaluator in International Development, Consultant
Moizza Binat Sarwar
Panellist – Research Fellow, Equity and Social Policy, ODI
Vaccines: Doses, Distribution and Bridging the Great Divide
28 April 2021 - UNICEF Innocenti’s Leading Minds will ask the high level panel how we keep up the momentum of the vaccine race while leaving no one behind; solutions to simplify complex trade barriers on intellectual property rights and technology transfer; and how can we develop vaccine manufacturing capacity where it is needed most.
Gender-sensitive social protection
The pandemic has exposed the fault lines in social, political and economic systems and demonstrates the need for critical investment in robust social protection frameworks that reduce the impact of shocks, particularly on the most vulnerable. Women and marginalized groups are disproportionately affected by school closures, unpaid care work, gender-based violence and unemployment, and we need to consider the long-term implications of the pandemic’s gendered impacts.
The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted how gender interacts with age, disability, caste, race and class to influence educational attainment, care provision, livelihood security, technological accessibility, healthcare availability and economic independence. This webinar has discussed the political economy of gender-sensitive social protection and drawn upon empirical research in various countries to outline recommendations for a gender-sensitive social protection system drawing from the lessons of the pandemic.
The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted how gender interacts with age, disability, caste, race and class to influence educational attainment, care provision, livelihood security, technological accessibility, healthcare availability and economic independence. This webinar has discussed the political economy of gender-sensitive social protection and drawn upon empirical research in various countries to outline recommendations for a gender-sensitive social protection system drawing from the lessons of the pandemic.
COVID and the Looming Debt Crisis
Time is fast ticking for a looming debt crisis that threatens to decimate decades of progress for children.
The debt crisis is likely to hit two-thirds of the world’s population. Even before the pandemic 1 in 8 countries spent more on debt than on education, health and social spending combined. And African countries are already spending three times more on debt repayments to banks and private lenders than it would cost to vaccinate the entire continent against Covid-19.
So how can this ticking time bomb be defused?
To coincide with the release of an important policy brief from UNICEF on the debt crisis, Leading Minds will ask the expert panelists:
How do we stop mortgaging children’s futures?
Can debt relief measures turn this tide?
The debt crisis is likely to hit two-thirds of the world’s population. Even before the pandemic 1 in 8 countries spent more on debt than on education, health and social spending combined. And African countries are already spending three times more on debt repayments to banks and private lenders than it would cost to vaccinate the entire continent against Covid-19.
So how can this ticking time bomb be defused?
To coincide with the release of an important policy brief from UNICEF on the debt crisis, Leading Minds will ask the expert panelists:
How do we stop mortgaging children’s futures?
Can debt relief measures turn this tide?