Known from Birth: What does the evidence tell us about birth registration in Africa?

Known from Birth: What does the evidence tell us about birth registration in Africa?

AUTHOR(S)
Andile Madonsela; Tanya Mdlalose; Ludmilla de Gois; Faith Adams; Abel Gbala; Harsha Dayal; Laurenz Mahlanza-Langer

Published: 2023 Innocenti Research Briefs
‘Known from Birth: Generating and using evidence to strengthen birth registration systems in low- and middle-income countries’ is the evidence component of Strengthening Birth Registration Systems to Protect Every Child from Child Labour, a UNICEF project supported by the Government of Norway. The project focuses on implementing comprehensive programmes in Cote d’Ivoire, Mozambique and Nigeria to accelerate birth registration (BR) for all children – especially children from the most vulnerable communities – starting from birth.
Known from Birth: Generating and using evidence to strengthen birth registration systems in low- and middle-income countries

Known from Birth: Generating and using evidence to strengthen birth registration systems in low- and middle-income countries

AUTHOR(S)
Andile Madonsela; Tanya Mdlalose; Ludmilla de Gois; Faith Adams; Abel Gbala; Harsha Dayal; Laurenz Mahlanza-Langer

Published: 2023 Innocenti Research Briefs
This brief is an evidence gap map created as part of the Known from Birth project, which is producing a series of products developed collaboratively by UNICEF Innocenti and South Africa Centre for Evidence (SACE). These products examine birth registration and its critical importance for child protection. The project is supported by the Government of Norway and focuses on implementing comprehensive programmes in Cote d’Ivoire, Mozambique and Nigeria to accelerate birth registration for all children – especially children from the most vulnerable communities – starting from birth.
Time to Teach: Teacher attendance and time on task in West and Central Africa

Time to Teach: Teacher attendance and time on task in West and Central Africa

AUTHOR(S)
Ximena Játiva; Despina Karamperidou; Michelle Mills; Stefania Vindrola; Hanna Wedajo; Andrea Dsouza; Jessica Bergmann

Published: 2022 Innocenti Research Report
Teachers are the most important drivers of students’ academic achievement and they are at the heart of learning recovery efforts. Finding out the bottlenecks and necessary conditions for ensuring teachers’ presence at school and in the classroom is essential. Time to Teach is a mixed methods research initiative that aims to find out the contextual, working conditions and policy factors impeding primary school teacher attendance in 11 West and Central African countries: Côte d’Ivoire, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, The Gambia, and Togo. 

The study considers teacher attendance as multi-dimensional, in four distinct forms. Teachers were asked to about their attendance in relation to: (1) being school; (2) being punctual (arriving and leaving on time); (3) being the classroom; and (4) spending sufficient time on task. Evidence is drawn from national, system-wide qualitative data collection and school observations, and a quantitative survey of 1,673 teachers working in 234 purposively selected primary schools. While primary data were collected prior to the COVID-19 school closures (in the 2018/2019 school year), the study provides important insights on how the pandemic has exacerbated chronic challenges of education systems that impact teacher attendance and is therefore informative for policy, both in the current COVID-19 era and beyond.


Cite this publication | No. of pages: 68 | Thematic area: Education, WCARO | Tags: central africa, education, teachers, west africa
Time to Teach: Teacher attendance and time on task in primary schools in Nigeria

Time to Teach: Teacher attendance and time on task in primary schools in Nigeria

AUTHOR(S)
Spogmai Akseer; Ximena Játiva

Published: 2021 Innocenti Research Report

Prior to COVID-19 lockdowns, the Federal Republic of Nigeria had taken measures to improve the quality of education and of teachers’ working conditions such as by improving school infrastructure and accelerating teacher training programs, and providing incentive schemes for teachers. While education is free and compulsory, Nigeria reports the highest number of out-of-school children in the world. Economic consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, the impact of school closures, and the shift towards remote learning are anticipated to pose further constraints and push even more vulnerable children out of the education system. Teacher absenteeism and the poor use of instructional time are also significant problems for the Nigerian education system, negatively affect students’ academic performance and learning. This Time to Teach study seeks to support both federal and state governments by providing a comprehensive understanding of teacher attendance in the country’s primary schools. It also aims to provide insights into how attendance challenges may be similar or different across the types of schools (public/Quranic/private) and settings (urban/rural) and more importantly, how these can inform teacher policy design and implementation. Though data were collected prior to COVID-19 school closures, this study also aims to provide insights on how the pandemic may further exacerbate existing challenges. 

Cite this publication | No. of pages: 68 | Thematic area: Education | Tags: education, nigeria, primary schools, teachers
Trafficking in Human Beings, Especially Women and Children, in Africa (second edition)

Trafficking in Human Beings, Especially Women and Children, in Africa (second edition)

Published: 2004 Innocenti Insights
Trafficking of human beings affects every country in Africa for which data are available, either as countries of origin or destination. The report looks at information from 53 African countries and provides an analysis of the patterns, root causes, and existing national and regional policy responses and effective practices. Trafficking occurs when a child's protective environment collapses as a result of conflict, economic hardship, or discrimination. Traditional attitudes and practices, early marriage, and lack of birth registration further increase the vulnerability of children and women to exploitation.
Child Trafficking in West Africa - Policy Responses

Child Trafficking in West Africa - Policy Responses

Published: 2002 Innocenti Insights
The trafficking of children is one of the gravest violations of human rights in the world today. Every year, hundreds of thousands of children are smuggled across borders and sold as mere commodities. Their survival and development are threatened, and their rights to education, to health, to grow up within a family, to protection from exploitation and abuse, are denied. The UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre has worked with the UNICEF Regional Office for West and Central Africa to identify effective policy solutions to this issue in eight countries: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Gabon, Mali, Nigeria and Togo. This study focuses on a region that is badly affected by the phenomenon, aiming to increase understanding of this reality and maximize the effectiveness of measures to overcome it. It illustrates the importance of field-driven research and the essential role that research plays in policy formulation and the proper design of programmes.
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