News & Commentary
Article
Building Bright Futures - How to integrate Ukraine's refugee children through early childhood education and care
Nine out of every 10 refugees arriving in host countries from Ukraine are women and children. Only 1 in 3 of Ukrainian refugee children are enrolled in early childhood education and care services. This emphasizes the need for expanding and strengthening early childhood education systems to ensure sufficient access for all children, and the integration of Ukranian refugee children in the host-community. These briefs offer recommendations for policymakers on ways to expand services, and how to facilitate the integration of refugee children and their families. Strategies include limiting the barriers that may hinder refugee children's access to ECEC settings, capitalizing existing physical and human resources to address gaps in service delivery, in addition to the inclusion of refugees in national and sub-national plans, data systems and financing, adapting policies and programmes to ensure considerations are made for refugee children.
Article
30 Years of Research on Migration and Displacement at Innocenti
As global displacement rises, there is a pressing need to understand and respond to the migration experiences of children. This article provides key insights from a comprehensive review of Innocenti’s research on migration and displacement over the last 30 years.
Article
Unlocking Learning: The use of education technology to support disadvantaged children’s language learning and social inclusion in Italy
In Italy, more than 700,000 asylum seekers and migrants arrived in the country between 2014-2020. Newly arrived children including refugees and migrants need to quickly acquire Italian skills to succeed in school and society. To help address this urgent need, the Akelius digital learning application was introduced in Bologna and Rome for Italian and English language learning in the 2021/22 school year. This research presents findings from the first year of implementation of the Akelius digital learning application in Italy. Results show the use of the application supported self-paced learning, boosted students’ motivation and confidence and the use of the tool was especially beneficial for newly arrived children and children with disabilities. The report also explores challenges and good practices to inform improvements in the use of digital learning in classrooms.
Article
Unlocking Learning: The use of digital learning to support the education and inclusion of refugees and migrant children in Bosnia and Herzegovina
In Bosnia and Herzegovina, the number of refugees and migrants arriving in the country has increased from just a few dozen arrivals annually prior to 2017 to 95,000 between 2018 and 2022. This increase has put incredible strain on the country’s education systems.
This research presents critical findings on the implementation and effectiveness of the Akelius digital learning application in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which was introduced as a tool to support refugee and migrant children’s English and German language learning.
Blog
Addressing the learning crisis in Sierra Leone with the Learning Passport
Sierra Leone is facing a learning crisis, where only eight per cent of children in the third grade are able to read a simple text (UNICEF, 2022). As one of the responses to the widening learning crisis, Sierra Leone became one of the 20+ countries to launch the Learning Passport – a digital learning platform delivered through a partnership between UNICEF globally and Microsoft. The Learning Passport provides contextualized and engaging content, which has been aligned with the national curriculum in Sierra Leone.
Blog
5 Ways Data Must Speak is Co-Creating Education Research
The Data Must Speak (DMS) Positive Deviance research believes that the most significant agents of change in the education sector are grassroot-level stakeholders, and that they should be at the forefront of addressing education challenges within their contexts. As such, the DMS team co-creates our research with stakeholders and partners, working together on research design, data collection and analysis, and evidence uptake.
Article
Call for Papers for Special Issue: "The Intersections between Intimate Partner Violence and Violence against Children"
UNICEF Innocenti - Global Office of Research and Foresight is collaborating with guest editors from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and the University of Cape Town, to launch this Special Issue on the intersections between intimate partner violence (IPV) and violence against children (VAC), two serious global health concerns and violations of human rights.
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Best of UNICEF Research 2022
Best of UNICEF Research showcases the most rigorous, innovative and impactful research produced by UNICEF offices worldwide. While evidence highlights emerging issues, it also informs decisions and provides policy and programme recommendations for governments and partners, to improve children's lives.
This year, Best of UNICEF Research celebrates its 10th edition. It features 12 research projects that the selection panel concurred deserved special recognition for delivering results for children in 2022.
Blog
At the intersection of childhood and womanhood, adolescent girls are falling through the cracks of violence prevention
Violence is pervasive – experienced by adolescent girls in all its forms, and across all settings. Its effects are cumulative, disrupting not just their daily lives but also the realization of other rights, to education, to physical and mental health, and to safe transitions into adulthood. In this blog we present evidence from our collective body of research to spotlight some key issues and to reflect on the emerging evidence on the effectiveness of different types of violence prevention strategies for the most marginalised young people.
Blog
Right from the start: Advancing gender equality through early childhood education
Gender transformative Early Childhood Education has incredible potential to change the lives of children, their families and communities around the world by addressing gender inequality in the earliest years of a child’s life.
Publication
Zambia Child Marriage Evidence Brief
This brief presents an overview of the state of the evidence on child marriage in Zambia.
Publication
Sierra Leone Child Marriage Evidence Brief
This brief presents an overview of the state of the evidence on child marriage in Sierra Leone.