News & Commentary

(28 January 2018) UNICEF Argentina, with the support of the Ipsos MORI agency, carried out a Global Kids Online study which was completed in mid 2016. Findings demonstrated that children become internet users at a young age and many of them experience some form of negative experience online.

(24 January 2018) A group of designers, researchers, psychologists, and experts on children’s rights and protection convened recently in Helsinki, Finland during a 48-hour talkoot* event with the aim to create an open and free digital guide to integrate children’s rights into the design...

(31 October 2017) Experts recently gathered in Florence to discuss emerging evidence on the effects of famines and other shock events on adolescents’ growth, survival, and education. The two-day workshop, organized in light of emerging analysis on the vulnerability of adolescents during periods of famine, brought together leading researchers to analyse the existing evidence base and improve programming for adolescents in humanitarian disasters.A young woman prepares a meal of weed leaves for her family, Nyumanzi Refugee Settlement, Adjumani District, South Sudan.  “We’re really at the beginning of a process here, but already some of the things we’ve been discussing… for example… how the onset of puberty can be affected by the diet of children, can have direct implications for how we programme,” said Laurence Chandy Director of UNICEF’s division of data, research and policy. “Traditionally, this idea that we should be focussing on the very early years – because that signifies the greatest vulnerability – might not be right, so I can see significant implications for our programming.”The 26 – 27 October 2017 workshop and roundtable brought together researchers and economists as well as UNICEF nutrition specialists to share their latest research on famines and adolescents, and to brainstorm how to improve linkages between research and programming to achieve better results for children. The meeting was hosted by UNICEF Innocenti, with support from the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research.[Read blog post documenting stunting among adolescent girls exposed to famine]Jose Cuesta, Social Policy Chief at UNICEF Innocenti, organised the workshop after identifying a need for more research on how adolescents are affected by ‘shock’ events. “As part of our work on adolescents, we have found that there is a gap of evidence on how catastrophic shocks affect them,” he said. “We have plenty of evidence of how these shocks affect younger children, but there is really a dearth of evidence for older children specifically – for adolescents.”“The objective of this workshop is to … share the evidence that is out there… from the economists, psychologists, nutritionists point of view. The second objective is to reflect on how we can do better,” Cuesta added. “We can improve our methodology, we can also improve our data collection, and we can improve how we evaluate specifically for adolescents. The idea is to reflect on these different possibilities and come up with a collective strategy…” As for next steps, Cuesta stressed there is still need for agreement on how to move forward collectively to improve data collection. The workshop began with a presentation by Richard Akresh of the University of Illinois on the ground-breaking study on first and second-generation impacts of the Biafran War. The study set the tone of the workshop by identifying short and long-term impacts on women and children of the 1967-1970 Nigerian Civil War, providing first evidence of intergenerational impacts, with the largest impacts stemming from adolescent exposure to war.  This study inspired other studies conducted since then uncovering effects of catastrophic events on adolescents.Stephen Devereux, a Fellow at the Institute of Development Studies, led a session on how to best improve the current evidence base. He examined key knowledge gaps and how to address them, including limitations on existing data and whether it’s possible to collect good data during disasters. Devereux noted that the workshop demonstrated a clear need for a mixed-methods research approach.  “Quantitative research measures impacts, but doesn’t explain. Adding qualitative research to create a cross-disciplinary approach presents an opportunity to frame the picture better,” he said. “This is an area where UNICEF is committed to understanding more, bringing together both research on adolescents and also increasing work on the humanitarian sector,” said Laurence Chandy. “[Adolescence] is a field where evidence has traditionally been very limited and I’m excited to see opportunities for UNICEF to be investing in evidence generation in the humanitarian sector.” 

(18 December 2017) UNICEF Innocenti has just launched a new evidence gap map on adolescent well-being. The research project measures evidence gaps for programme and policy interventions on adolescent well-being broadly across the domains of protection, participation, and financial and material well-being in low- and middle-income countries. The gap map helps to describe where evidence for programming and policy exists, where it is scarce, and where evidence is missing. Identifying the gaps help UNICEF determine where more primary research or further synthesis is needed to improve programmes and policies for adolescents.

(14 December 2017)  The latest edition of the Best of UNICEF Research publication is now available on the UNICEF Innocenti website. Each year this publication presents the top 12 research papers produced across the global organization,* following a review process managed by the Office of Research - Innocenti. Now in its fifth year of existence, the Best of UNICEF Research competition has become an important part of UNICEF’s annual knowledge and evidence calendar. “What stands out is the sheer variety of research going on across UNICEF with a wide range of diverse topics highly relevant to advancing UNICEF’s work in the field,” said Kerry Albright, chief of research facilitation at UNICEF Innocenti. “This year we see innovative approaches emerging strongly, as well as a clear focus on tackling key strategic evidence gaps.”A student with a sight impairment reading a textbook in her school in Hebron, State of Palestine. A recent study conducted by ODI, UNICEF and the State of Palestine Government on the needs and perspectives of children with disability demonstrated high potential for international policy impact. The study was sited as one of the best research papers produced by UNICEF in 2016. The competition was initiated in 2013 to showcase excellence in research throughout UNICEF and to strengthen an organisational culture and commitment to quality research.[Download Best of UNICEF Research 2017 in easy-to-read E-book format]“Good research should inform the strategic direction and priorities of the organization, providing evidence for policies or programming,” said Albright. “In our new Strategic Plan, evidence is explicitly stated as a key driver of change for children and how we operate as an agency is changing as more countries attain middle income status.  As such,  the need for research and evidence and knowledge brokering become stronger and stronger.”Following the rigorous internal and external review process, 12 research studies were identified as finalists from a field of 91 submissions. The new publication provides colourful, informative summaries of the finalist research listed here in alphabetical order:Cambodia - Is fortifying rice the best way to counter nutritional deficiencies in Cambodia?East Asia and the Pacific - To what extent are countries offering alternatives to detention for children in conflict with the law?France - What is the experience of unaccompanied children in France’s migrant camps? Guinea-Bissau - How can people be motivated to prevent the spread of Ebola? India - Why are children with birth defects and developmental delays not getting the help they need? Indonesia - How much should a government spend on protecting children? (forthcoming)Mexico - How can we best assess the impact of the hotel industry on child rights? Namibia - Why do some Namibian schools perform better than others? Nepal - How effective are ‘Helping Babies Breathe’ practices in reducing stillbirths and newborn deaths? State of Palestine - What barriers do Palestinian children with disabilities face and how can these be overcome? Serbia - How can school dropout in Serbia be reduced? South Africa - Why are some children missing out on South Africa’s Child Support Grant? A four month old baby in Gorkha district, Nepal. A recent study conducted by UNICEF and Uppsala University looks at the impact of the 'Helping Babies Breath' therapy on preventing neo-natal mortality. The study was sited as one of the best research papers produced by UNICEF in 2016.Some notable findingsAround 10 million babies are born not breathing each year and the first minute after birth (the ‘Golden Minute’) affords a vital window for resuscitating them. The Nepal office in collaboration with Uppsala University funded research testing a basic neonatal resuscitation protocol called ‘Helping Babies Breathe.’ The results were dramatic with not only a high potential for saving lives but also for improving operational performance in neonatal units in district hospitals. Reviewers felt that it had high potential for replication elsewhere as it was designed as a low-cost intervention for countries where resources are constrained.” The urgent need for alternatives to detention of children in conflict with the law is widely understood, yet little analysis exists on successful practices that are also compliant with international standards of human and child rights. This study, commissioned by the East Asia & Pacific regional office, looks at the law, policies and practices of ‘diversion’ – a neglected area of research. The value lies in detailed and ambitious cross-country comparison of legal and policy gaps, leading to highly context-specific policy recommendations.Children with disabilities experience widespread violations of their rights The Palestine office commissioned original research, led by ODI-UK, that addressed a clear global evidence gap through a robust mix of original quantitative and qualitative approaches. Reviewers assessed it as having high potential for impact on UNICEF policy and programming.  Teenagers are seen inside a youth rehabilitation center for youth Cebu, Philippines. A recent study conducted by the UNICEF East Asia Regional Office assesses alternative measures to detention of children in conflict with the law in countries of the region. The study was sited as one of the best research papers produced by UNICEF in 2016. Strengthening the research function in UNICEFIn the Foreword of this year’s report, Sarah Cook, Director of UNICEF Innocenti, writes: “There is increasing acknowledgement that UNICEF requires a stronger evidence base, more systematically used, to support its programmes, policy and advocacy… This evidence needs to be rigorous, reliable and obtained with attention to the highest standards of ethics – given the focus on children, and often children in particularly vulnerable circumstances.”One of the significant changes implemented in the shortlisting criteria in 2017 was the assessment of ethical considerations in primary data gathering and/or sensitive secondary data collection according to UNICEF’s procedure on ethical standards in evidence generation involving children. In prior years submissions were given special consideration if ethical principles were documented in their research; however, this year compliance with UNICEF ethical research standards, where appropriate, was elevated to a condition for evaluation of quality.“Alongside other evidence products coming out of Innocenti and elsewhere which aim to explicitly identify evidence gaps for children, the Best of UNICEF Research exercise can help highlight where what we are doing is working and where it could be considered for replication in other regions, sectors or other agencies beyond UNICEF,” said Albright.In providing overall comments on the competition, the external review panel noted the diverse range of topics highly relevant for advancing UNICEF’s work in the field with a few papers exploring new and under-researched areas of inquiry. They also noted that several research questions were formulated to better understand constraints at the local decentralized level of programming as well as giving attention to ensuring a wide range of stakeholder engagement and some examples of ‘people centred design.’ Interesting Facts and FiguresA statistical review of the global assessment process reveals some noteworthy data points. Submissions from the MENA region have dramatically increased, rising from one in 2016 to 7 in 2017 with one of the three ultimate winners also coming from Palestine in the MENA region. The ESARO region submitted the highest number of research papers with 21 followed by EAPRO and ROSA which submitted 12 and 11 papers respectively. The number of research papers submitted by headquarters dropped by more than half from 9 papers submitted in 2016 to 4 in 2017. The number of research teams made up of internal and external experts has continued to rise with the number of external teams maintaining a diminishing trend.Access previous Best of UNICEF Research publications here. *Research conducted by UNICEF Innocenti is excluded from the assessment.

(11 December 2017) Despite children’s massive online presence – 1 in 3 internet users worldwide is a child – too little is done to protect them from the perils of the digital world and to increase their access to safe online content, UNICEF said in its annual flagship report released today. The State of the World’s Children 2017: Children in a digital world presents UNICEF’s first comprehensive look at the different ways digital technology is affecting children’s lives and life chances, identifying dangers as well as opportunities.  It argues that governments and the private sector have not kept up with the pace of change, exposing children to new risks and harms and leaving millions of the most disadvantaged children behind. The annual flagship publication of UNICEF makes use of evidence generated by Global Kids Online (GKO), a research project and network that supports worldwide efforts to conduct rigorous, comparable research on children’s use of digital technology.A boy in South Sudan holds up his mobile phone, which shows his photograph, as tweeted the previous day.  “For better and for worse, digital technology is now an irreversible fact of our lives,” said UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake. “In a digital world, our dual challenge is how to mitigate the harms while maximizing the benefits of the internet for every child.”The report explores the benefits digital technology can offer the most disadvantaged children, including those growing up in poverty or affected by humanitarian emergencies. These include increasing their access to information, building skills for the digital workplace, and giving them a platform to connect and communicate their views.But the report shows that millions of children are missing out. Around one third of the world’s youth – 346 million – are not online, exacerbating inequities and reducing children’s ability to participate in an increasingly digital economy.The report also examines how the internet increases children’s vulnerability to risks and harms, including misuse of their private information, access to harmful content, and cyberbullying. The ubiquitous presence of mobile devices, the report notes, has made online access for many children less supervised – and potentially more dangerous.Children in New Delhi using a mobile phone  And digital networks like the Dark Web and cryptocurrencies are enabling the worst forms of exploitation and abuse, including trafficking and ‘made to order’ online child sexual abuse.The report presents current data and analysis about children’s online usage and the impact of digital technology on children’s wellbeing, exploring growing debates about digital “addiction” and the possible effect of screen time on brain development.The Global Kids Online Cross-Country Research PartnershipAs co-coordinator of GKO, a cross country research partnership, UNICEF Innocenti has played a key role in providing evidence to support this year’s State of the World’s Children report. GKO is an international research project that aims to generate and sustain a rigorous cross-national evidence base around children’s use of the internet by creating a global network of researchers and experts.Global Kids Online started out with 4 countries at the end of 2015, with the purpose of conducting pilot studies to inform the development of a research toolkit intended to support high-quality research on children’s online experiences worldwide (Argentina, Serbia, South Africa, Philippines). By the end of 2017, the Global Kids Online network has grown by another 11 countries (Montenegro, Bulgaria, Chile, Brazil, Uruguay, Ghana, New Zealand, Canada, Albania, India, China), bringing the total number of country partners up to 15, with research implementation taking place in many of these countries in 2017/2018. Additional facts from the report include:Young people are the most connected age group. Worldwide, 71 per cent are online compared with 48 per cent of the total population. African youth are the least connected, with around 3 out of 5 youth offline, compared to just 1 in 25 in Europe.Approximately 56 per cent of all websites are in English and many children cannot find content they understand or that is culturally relevant.  More than 9 in 10 child sexual abuse URLs identified globally are hosted in five countries – Canada, France, the Netherlands, the Russian Federation and the United States. Only collective action – by governments, the private sector, children’s organizations, academia, families and children themselves – can help level the digital playing field and make the internet safer and more accessible for children, the report says.The report includes a set of recommendations to help guide more effective policymaking and more responsible business practices to benefit children. UNICEF Innocenti’s child protection specialist Jasmina Byrne played a key role in drafting the recommendations which include:Provide all children with affordable access to high-quality online resources. Protect children from harm online – including abuse, exploitation, trafficking, cyberbullying and exposure to unsuitable materials.Safeguard children’s privacy and identities online. Teach digital literacy to keep children informed, engaged and safe online.Leverage the power of the private sector to advance ethical standards and practices that protect and benefit children online.Put children at the centre of digital policy."Digital policies need to be mindful of children's needs and rights, particularly the most disadvantaged. They need to be evidence informed and they need to continuously evolve to adapt to technological change and emergeing challenges," said Jasmina Byrne.For more information on GKO visit: www.globalkidsonline.net

(6 December 2017) The plight of many unaccompanied and separated children (UASC) arriving in Italy through Central Mediterranean routes – currently the most dangerous access corridor to Europe – was recently discussed at an Innocenti Seminar “Forced Displacement of Children in the Italian Context.” The seminar showcased data, policy and media research to ignite discussion, explore linkages and consider potential future work in this area. UNICEF Innocenti conducts research on children affected by forced displacement to help explain intricate dynamics not captured by more general research.An 18 year old youth texting his family in Cote D'Ivoire at a cafe in Palermo, Sicily. Recent Data and trendsDr Alexandra Ricard-Guay, principal investigator for the EU project DemandAT researching interconnections between trafficking and smuggling of migrants, gave an overview of the legal framework and policy response on child migration and child trafficking in Italy underling knowledge  gaps and implications on the migration discourse .In her presentation, Ricard-Guay reported on the latest data available on child migration to Italy, a phenomenon which has more recently attracted the attention of politicians due to the increased numbers of children arriving by sea since 2011. “The exponential increase of unaccompanied children arriving in Italy has led to a tripling of capacity in the Italian reception system in the last 5 years. However, despite visibility there are still misbeliefs around the data and facts surrounding migrant children,” said Richard-Guay.Harrowing Journeys: Children and youth on the move across the Mediterranean Sea, at risk of trafficking and exploitation (https://data.unicef.org/resources/harrowing-journeys/) According to the Italian Ministry of Labour and Social Policies, the total number of unaccompanied children in Italy has doubled since 2015 reaching 18,486 in August 2017. Sicily currently hosts over 43 per cent of these children. The number of unaccompanied children dropping out of reception facilities who become untraceable is remarkable. It is estimated that in 2017 there were 5,433 untraceable children.According to a recent assessment of children on the move in Italy conducted by the REACH Initiative in collaboration with UNICEF, lack of knowledge about the asylum system, misinformation, bad conditions in the reception facilities, mistrust, are among the reasons given by children leaving the reception facilities. Nonetheless the discourse around missing children remains mostly inside a ‘trafficking frame,’ “a politically convenient narrative that divert attention from other critical causes of disappearance,” as Ricard-Guay underlined.“The Zampa law, the first comprehensive legal framework for unaccompanied children,” she continued, “represents a significant policy response toward greater protection of unaccompanied  minors, but there are persisting challenges that still require attention from the legislator”.Ricard-Guay identified gender disaggregated data as one of the topical areas that need further qualitative investigation. According to the Italian Ministry of Labour and Social Policies 93 per cent of children are boys between 15-17 years old, mainly from Gambia, Nigeria, Guinea and Egypt. Girls represent around 7 per cent with Nigeria as the main country of origin (48 per cent) followed by Eritrea (14 per cent) and Somalia (6 per cent). About age, girls are slightly younger, between 7 and 14 years old.https://www.osservatorio.it/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Barretta_Forum_Migr_Peace_simn2017.pdf Media Coverage AnalysisThe narrative about migrant children as portrayed in the media was analysed by Paola Barretta and Giuseppe Milazzo, associate researchers at the Osservatorio of Pavia, the main data source on media monitoring for UNHCR Italy. Milazzo’s research shows that news on migrants is mainly associated with crimes and safety (24 per cent) and terrorism (6 per cent), and that despite a drop in news coverage of migration issues since 2015 community fear towards migrants grew reaching 46 per cent of interviewees in a September 2017 poll.According to Milazzo, children are quite invisible in media coverage.of migration issues but are sometimes used as symbols to generate empathy. Only 3 per cent of all news on migration covers child migrants.“Although the frames of the news regarding child migrants are in general positive” concluded Milazzo” there are 4 alarming instances that are becoming recurrent and need further investigation. Those include age, [i.e.] child migrants are not children; school, [i.e]. child migrants are invading our schools; costs, [i.e.] child migrants represent a huge cost; and crime, [i.e.] child migrants are a threat to our personal safety”.Critical role of foster families and guardiansIolanda Genovese, Innocenti research officer – migration programme, drew on her experience  working for Accoglierete, a non-government association of volunteer guardians in Siracusa, and revealed the importance of civil society response to institutional gaps in putting protection and integration policy into practice. She highlighted challenges of a child turning 18 and transitioning from a supported to unsupported status in a day, and how crucial it is to empower and accompany him through adulthood.She underlined how local engagement can lead to attitudinal change in people perceptions about the migration phenomenon, from a mass-media driven negative perception towards a narratives that looks at the human before the “migrant”. The seminar was jointly organised by Dr Bina D’Costa, Migration programme, Dr Emanuela Bianchera, Knowledge Management and Dr. Patrizia Faustini, Communications. For further information go to the Children and Migration research page. 

(4 December 2017) The internet has brought great benefits to young people, particularly those who are marginalized or live in remote communities. Yet it also presents risks to child safety, according to international experts. UNICEF officials participated in the Safeguarding the Future: Online Protection of Underage Users session of the Fourth World Internet Conference – Wuzhen Summit. The session was co-hosted by the UNICEF China country office.According to Jasmina Byrne, Child Protection Specialist at UNICEF Innocenti, “The majority of children from 7 countries surveyed (Argentina, Chile, Bulgaria, Montenegro, Serbia, South Africa and the Philippines) have learned something new by going online – they found useful information for their study or work opportunity, participated in sites where other children share similar interests, and up to 50% of children looked for health information on line.”Participants in the Safeguarding the Future: Online Protection of Underage Users session of the Fourth World Internet Conference – Wuzhen Summit “When we asked children about negative experiences online between 12-36% of children said they had experienced being treated in a hurtful or a nasty way,” said Byrne. UNICEF Innocenti is co-sponsor, along with London School of Economics, of the Global Kids Online (GKO) research partnership which was launched in October 2016. GKO started with four participating countries and has grown to cover 10 countries with another 10, including China set to join the cross-country effort in 2018. "Protecting children online is a vital issue in internet governance. That’s why UNICEF has been engaged on this issue for years,’ said Ms Fatoumata Ndiaye, UNICEF Deputy Executive Director, "And protecting children online is closely linked to the Sustainable Development Goals, which represent governments’ promises to their citizens to take action on key issues, including protecting children from violence, both offline and online."Children worldwide face threats from cyberbullying, internet fraud and invasions of privacy - and only the joint efforts of governments, tech companies and NGOs can protect them, said Rana Flowers, China representative for UNICEF.Fatoumata Ndaiye, Deputy Executive Director of UNICEF, deleivers remarks at the Safeguarding the Future: Online Protection of Underage Users session of the Fourth World Internet Conference – Wuzhen Summit. UNICEF has treated the protection of children online as a priority for many years, she said, adding that this year's edition of The State of the World's Children, the organization's annual report, will focus on the benefits and risks young people face in the digital age. The report will be released this month.Jasmina Byrne summed up key policy imperatives for improved internet governance for children. “Key features of digital policy for children’s rights should be the development of children’s skills and literacies. This will enable children to make the most of digital connectivity as well as to understand risks and negative consequences of their internet use. It will help them understand their own responsibility towards other internet users and to be good digital citizens. Digital literacy encompasses all these areas, implying a set of competencies that goes beyond technical skills. It includes the ability to search, evaluate and manage information found online.”Jasmina Byrne, UNICEF Innocenti child protection expert delvering remarks at the Safeguarding the Future: Online Protection of Underage Users session of the Fourth World Internet Conference – Wuzhen Summit

(1 December 2017) Students recently gathered for the opening lecture in the University of Florence School of Economics and Management’s new lecture series on development economics, given by Jose Cuesta Chief of social and economic policy at UNICEF Innocenti.Cuesta’s lecture, titled Inequality, Redistribution and Conflict, presented an economic perspective on conflict and inequality, through examination of economic models influencing current events. The presentation zoomed-in on recent examples of civil conflict in Honduras and Zimbabwe, looking at the effect of inequality on the costs of war and how these variables may have affected political stability.Mothers and children near the coast shortly after arriving in Cox's Bazar District, Bangladesh. The three spent seven days on a bank of the Naf River in Myanmar before making the crossing aboard a fishing boat.Research on the link between inequality and conflict is important for UNICEF – a leading humanitarian response agency in countries affected by conflict.  “Understanding how conflict emerges and pervades is critical for our work, both in terms of contextualizing our programming and ensuring it contributes to solutions,” said Cuesta. Equity, for example, is one cross-cutting pillar that is intimately related to conflict, he added.In his lecture, Cuesta presented economic models that attempt to measure the role of inequality as a contributing variable in predicting a conflict. Some models, he emphasized, could be tailored to work for very specific situations, but measuring inequality as well as factoring in the many different cultural contexts that exist for different countries and states, has proven to be a challenge for developing universal economic models for conflict. Inequality, Redistribution and Conflict from UNICEF Office of Research - Innocenti Cuesta noted, “a model that can be only used for one country is not a very useful model. The economic model of conflict provides a set of principles that are useful to understand certain dynamics of conflict – but not all... we can come up with variables with more resolution, including those of culture, social norms, perceptions and attitude. That would require more precise instruments of data collection. And then we need to better explain the results our analytics provide.”There are several ways in which poverty or inequality can affect conflict, according to Cuesta. “A researcher cannot pick up the argument that best suits his or her theory. Here, the role of mixed methods is a good alternative,” he said. For example, looking at how conditions of unequal voice and participation can potentially both reduce and accelerate conflict (by either squelching opposition or fueling grievances) is an area where qualitative research could be used to determine the chances a given country has of experiencing civil war. More granular and country specific work is needed, he stressed, in order to create better models.Jose Cuesta, UNICEF Innocenti's Chief of Social and Economic Policy, delivering his lecture titled 'Inequality Redistribution and Conflict' to open a new lecture series on development economics at the University of Florence, School of Economics and Management. [READ about UNICEF Innocenti’s emerging research initiative to analyse the effects of conflict and crisis on adolescent health]Improving our ability to measure inequality is also crucial for better research. “As it is the case to measure poverty, or child wellbeing, in order to measure inequality, we first need more frequent data. Waiting 5 or 10 years to have a chance to measure is completely inadequate,” Cuesta said. “In fact, we know much more of the ultra-poor than the ultra-rich. A possible solution to this problem is to gain more anonymous access to tax records. When this access is allowed, the payoffs are huge,” he added, referencing the World Wealth and Income Database, which has greatly improved the diagnostics of inequality around the world.

(21 November 2017) A national celebration of World Children's Day (20 November) for Italy was held at Istituto degli Innocenti under the title Bambini, d(i)ritti verso il futuro, which means roughly "Children Stand Up for Their Rights." The event was attended by Italy's national Minister for Constitutional Reforms and Equal Opportunity, Maria Elena Boschi, together with Tuscan Regiona and Florence officials, senior management of the Istituto degli Innocenti, Sarah Cook, Director of UNICEF Innocenti and school children from several Florence schools.

(2 November 2017) Staggering numbers of children – some as young as 12 months old – are experiencing violence, often by those entrusted to take care of them, UNICEF said in a new report released today. “The harm inflicted on children around the world is truly worrying,” said UNICEF Chief of Child Protection Cornelius Williams. “Babies slapped in the face; girls and boys forced into sexual acts; adolescents murdered in their communities – violence against children spares no one and knows no boundaries.”A 15 year old, holds her doll inside her house at North Jakarta Indonesia. During the night she sings at a cafe in a red light district in the capital. A Familiar Face: Violence in the lives of children and adolescents (download at right or below) uses the very latest data to show that children experience violence across all stages of childhood and in all settings:Violence against young children in their homes:Three-quarters of the world’s 2- to 4-year-old children – around 300 million – experience psychological aggression and/or physical punishment by their caregivers at home;Around 6 in 10 one year olds in 30 countries with available data are subjected to violent discipline on a regular basis. Nearly a quarter of one-year-olds are physically shaken as punishment and nearly 1 in 10 are hit or slapped on the face, head or ears.Worldwide, 1 in 4 children under age five – 176 million – are living with a mother who is a victim of intimate partner violence.Sexual violence against girls and boys:Worldwide, around 15 million adolescent girls aged 15 to 19 have experienced forced sexual intercourse or other forced sexual acts in their lifetime. Only 1 per cent of adolescent girls who had experienced sexual violence said they reached out for professional help. In the 28 countries with data, 90 per cent of adolescent girls who had experienced forced sex, on average, said the perpetrator of the first incident was known to them. Data from six countries reveals friends, classmates and partners were among the most frequently cited perpetrators of sexual violence against adolescent boys. Violent deaths among adolescents:Globally, every 7 minutes an adolescent is killed by an act of violence.In the United States, non-Hispanic black boys aged 10 to 19 years old are almost 19 times more likely to be murdered than non-Hispanic white boys of the same age. If the homicide rate among non-Hispanic black adolescent boys is applied nationwide, the United States would be one of the top ten most deadly countries in the world. In 2015, the risk of being killed by homicide for a non-Hispanic black adolescent boy in the United States was the same as the risk of being killed due to collective violence for an adolescent boy living in war-torn South Sudan.Latin America and the Caribbean is the only region where adolescent homicide rates have increased; nearly half of all homicides among adolescents globally occurred in this region in 2015.Violence in schools:Half the population of school-age children – 732 million – live in countries where corporal punishment at school is not fully prohibited. Three-quarters of documented school shootings that have taken place over the past 25 years occurred in the United States.A 10 year old boy whose father and five uncles were killed in gang violence in Honduras UNICEF Innocenti is conducting an ongoing multi-country study on the drivers of violence affecting children in Italy, Peru, Viet Nam and Zimbabwe. One of the key emerging findings is that violence affecting children should not be understood as an interaction between a child and another person, but through the socio-ecology of violence with complex, shifting layers of exposure to violence in all its forms.UNICEF prioritises efforts to end violence across all its work, including supporting government efforts to improve services for children affected by violence, developing policies and legislation that protect children, and helping communities, parents and children to prevent violence through practical programmes like parenting courses and actions against domestic violence. To end violence against children, UNICEF is calling for governments to take urgent action and support the INSPIRE guidance which has been agreed and promoted by WHO, UNICEF and the Global Partnership to End Violence Against Children, including:Adopting well-coordinated national action plans to end violence against children – incorporating education, social welfare, justice and health systems, as well as communities and children themselves.Changing behaviours of adults and addressing factors that contribute to violence against children, including economic and social inequities, social and cultural norms that condone violence, inadequate policies and legislation, insufficient services for victims, and limited investments in effective systems to prevent and respond to violence. Focussing national policies on minimizing violent behaviour, reducing inequalities, and limiting access to firearms and other weapons. Building social service systems and training social workers to provide referrals, counselling and therapeutic services for children who have experienced violence. Educating children, parents, teachers, and community members to recognise violence in all its many forms and empowering them to speak out and report violence safely. Collecting better disaggregated data on violence against children and tracking progress through robust monitoring and evaluation.For more information about the Global Partnership to End Violence Against Children, please go to www.end-violence.org/.This article was adapted from a story forst published on www.unicef.org

(24 October 2017) A new UNICEF Innocenti study, Linking Social Rights to Active Citizenship for the Most Vulnerable: The Role of Rights and Accountability in the ‘Making’ and ‘Shaping’ of Social Protection, considers how social protection can address vulnerability while encouraging active citizenship.  The paper shines light on how social protection programmes can be informed and developed through active citizenship measures which simultaneously reduce vulnerability of the poor and strengthen accountability measures that empower citizens to voice their concerns.Community gathering for a LEAP social protection payment in Maweakpor in the Volta Region, Ghana Co-authored by Richard de Groot, UNICEF Innocenti consultant, Tayllor Renee Spadafora of UNICEF Ghana, Abdul-Gafaru Abdulai University of Ghana, Rachel Sabates-Wheeler and Nikhil Wilmink from the Institute of Development Studies, the Innocenti Working Paper demonstrates how social protection programmes can promote social accountability mechanisms that enhance citizen-state participation.“In many countries with established social protection policies, there are usually standalone programmes without transformative effects. Social protection has the potential for so much more – to give people a voice in society – and that’s what we’re trying to measure here,” said co-author Richard de Groot.“A lot of people know what it means to be an active citizen – holding authorities accountable, protesting to achieve goals, etc. – but there is a small proportion of people actually doing this,” said de Groot. “Since social protection targets the most vulnerable populations, including those without a voice in society, if implemented well, social protection has the potential to expand their voices and participation in society.”Figure: How social accountability mechanisms enable citizen-State interfaces within social protection programmesSocial protection for active citizenship aims to create intrinsic benefits that promote citizen engagement, ideally creating a pathway for citizens to evolve from consumers and users in invited spaces to makers and shapers claiming spaces to voice their concerns to the State.Looking at evidence from three countries – Brazil, India, and Ghana – the study aims to show how social rights vary across countries and how different cultural contexts and programmes contribute to the stimulation of justice-based claims. In Ghana, where a higher dependence on aid provision exists, justice-based social protection is in its infancy. However, progress promoting active citizenship is seen emerging on a local level in the form of beneficiary demand and feedback on social protection programmes including the Livelihood Empowerment against Poverty (LEAP) cash transfer programme.  Ghana’s national social protection policy, launched in June 2016, helps to promote active citizenship and beneficiary rights through accountability measures embedded in the policy.  In India, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme provides a framework to promote citizen rights and entitlements through accountability and transparency measures enabling citizens to voice their concerns. In Brazil, the Bolsa Família programmes grew from the municipal level, encouraging citizens to engage and to pressure the state to meet its commitments.“What we see at the moment is that in a lot of low-income countries, citizen engagement is very much closed and it is the government that decides what programmes happen and how,” de Groot added. “Through mutual reinforcement, programmes focusing on linking social rights to active citizenship allow the State to be more responsive to the needs of its citizens and the citizens to be more engaged in society.”While the case studies show signs of promise, de Groot notes that despite rapid growth, most programmes currently only promote a “one-way invited space”.  “There is so much potential to move beyond this to get more engaged citizens claiming their space where the most vulnerable can get a double benefit from social protection programmes that help people to fulfil livelihoods and engage in society.”