Publications

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted every aspect of society. In mid-April 2020, 192 countries had closed their schools, putting 9 out of 10 enrolled children out of school.

These closures disproportionately affected marginalized children, worsening existing inequities across education systems worldwide.

This brief draws on the experience of five UNICEF education country programmes supported by the Let Us Learn (LUL) initiative, to document tangible lessons in adapting education programmes to support the most marginalized children during school and learning centre closures.

The evidence in this brief stems from a series of semi-structured interviews with Education and Child Protection specialists, as well as a document review of available COVID-19 response studies, in the five LUL-supported UNICEF Country Offices.

This paper takes stock of legal and policy frameworks for adolescents in the eight countries of South Asia: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. The eight countries display a rich diversity of cultural, historical, political, social and economic institutions, which is reflected in their national legal and policy frameworks for adolescents. This paper sheds light on the similarities and differences among South Asian countries regarding the translation of international human rights law into their national normative frameworks, and aims to provide a nuanced understanding of how ‘adolescent-sensitive’ their legal and policy frameworks are.

The paper reviews the legal coverage across  nine sets of rights: the right to political participation; the right to protection; the right to education; the right to health; the right to marriage; the right to decent work and protection from child labour; the right to social protection; digital rights; the right to equality and non-discrimination. It compares the legal and policy frameworks for adolescents of the eight South Asian countries against the requirements of the international standards signed and ratified by each country.

Two short consumption modules were piloted in Bogra and Sirajganj (Bangladesh) in May-June 2012 as part of the Global MICS5 Pilot. This paper aims at validating this exercise and assessing the accuracy and reliability of the consumption estimates obtained. The use of a benchmark consumption module is essential in order to assess how well the two short options fare; the analysis therefore consists of a systematic comparison of both short modules with a benchmark. The attempt made is to isolate and test the impact of the length (degree of commodity) of the consumption questionnaire on the quality of consumption and poverty estimates as well as distributional measures obtained. We conclude that it is feasible to include a short consumption module in MICS (Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys).

This paper finds that rural-urban migrant households have fewer assets, live in worse housing conditions and in areas less well served by public schools, have fewer social connections in the area where they live, and contain adults with lower educational levels than for urban native households. Even conditional on these household characteristics, educational expenditure and grade attainment were both lower for children from migrant households than urban natives. The findings are consistent with migrant children’s education being impeded by bureaucratic obstacles such as the household registration system in Vietnam.

Children living in urban slums in Dhaka, Bangladesh, often have poor access to school and attend different types of school than students from middle class households. This paper asks whether their experiences in school also disadvantage them further in terms of their learning outcomes and the likelihood of dropping out. It is based on interviews with 36 students aged 11-16 from both slum and middle-class backgrounds, in 2012. The paper discusses how these experiences in school are likely to heighten the risk of dropping out for slum students, analyses the results in terms of de-facto privatization and school accountability, and recommends better regulation of private tuition, and teaching styles that are less obsessed with examination results.

This paper demonstrates a better understanding of childhood poverty and education in relation to the theoretical perspective through drawing together empirical evidence, summarising and interpreting it, in a more integrated manner and context. On the basis of this examination of the phenomenon, research findings have translated into recommendations for policy and practice to improve formal secondary schooling for socio-economically disadvantaged children in Bangladesh.

This Digest looks at birth registration, a fundamental human right that opens the door to other rights, including education and health care, participation and protection. It explains why the births of more than 50 million babies go unregistered every year. In legal terms, these children do not exist and their right to an official name and nationality is denied. Their access to basic services may be severely jeopardised and they may find themselves more vulnerable to abuse and exploitation. The effects can last a lifetime, with the unregistered adult unable to vote, open a bank account or obtain a marriage licence. Non-registration also has serious implications for the State. Put simply, countries need to know how many people they have and how many there are likely to be in the future, in order to plan effectively. This Digest emphasizes the crucial importance of birth registration, explores the obstacles to universal registration and highlights the actions - including awareness raising, legislative changes, resource allocation and capacity building - that are needed to ensure the registration of every child.

Le présent Digest étudie l’enregistrement de la naissance, un droit humain fondamental, qui est aussi la clé d’autres droits à l’éducation, aux soins de santé, à la participation, à la protection. Il explique comment il se fait que chaque année, plus de 50 millions de naissances ne soient pas enregistrées. Ces nouveau-nés n’existent pas aux yeux de la loi, et ils se voient dénier leur droit à un nom officiel et à une nationalité. Leur accès aux services de santé de base risque de se heurter à de terribles obstacles, et ils sont plus vulnérables aux abus et à l’exploitation. Les effets du non-enregistrement de la naissance peuvent se faire sentir tout au long de la vie, interdisant à l’adulte de voter, d’ouvrir un compte en banque, de se marier légalement. Pour l’Etat aussi, les implications en sont graves. Les pays ont en effet besoin, pour établir une planification efficace, de savoir quelle est leur population actuelle et quelle elle devrait être dans l’avenir. Ce Digest insiste sur l’importance cruciale de l’enregistrement des naissances, examine les obstacles à un enregistrement universel, et met en lumière les actions - sensibilisation, changements dans la législation, allocations de ressources et constitution de capacités - qui devront être prises pour garantir l’enregistrement de tous les enfants.

Este número del Innocenti Digest se está dedicado al tema del registro de nacimiento, un derecho humano fundamental que abre el camino a los demás derechos, como el derecho a la educación y a los cuidados médicos, a la participación y a la protección. Se explica por qué cada año queda sin inscribir en un registro el nacimiento de más de 50 millones de bebés. Jurídicamente hablando, estos niños no existen y se les niega el derecho a tener un nombre y una nacionalidad oficiales. Sus posibilidades concretas de acceder a los servicios básicos pueden verse seriamente comprometidas y los niños mismos pueden encontrarse en una situación de mayor vulnerabilidad frente a los abusos y la explotación.