Publications

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. How? By informing decision-making, shaping policy, raising public awareness, driving social change, and giving children and young people a voice on the issues that affect them most through participatory research.

These endeavours showcase both the power of innovation in the face of emergency and crisis, and the virtues of agility, endurance and scalability. They also offer solutions and ways to learn from each other. Each piece of research offers a set of adaptable tools: validated methodologies; templates for emergency response plans; methods of monitoring and measuring progress; and examples of successful collaboration between stakeholders. 

 

L’UNICEF ha stimato che, in un arco temporale di 10 anni, con un costo annuale di circa 24 milioni di dollari, i programmi rivolti alle comunità locali potranno portare a riduzioni sostanziali nella pratica della E/MGF in 16 paesi dell’Africa subsahariana, dove la prevalenza attuale raggiunge livelli elevati o medi. La Piattaforma d’azione sintetizza gli elementi principali di un approccio programmatico comune per promuovere l’abbandono di tale pratica e per suscitare un drastico cambiamento nella vita di donne e bambine in tutto il mondo.

L’UNICEF a estimé que des programmes visant à sensibiliser les communautés, pour un coût de 24 millions de dollars des États-Unis par an sur une période de 10 ans, peuvent conduire à une réduction importante de la prévalence de l’E/MGF dans 16 pays d’Afrique subsaharienne à taux de prévalence moyen ou élevé. Cette plate-forme d’action en résume les éléments constitutifs un consensus sur une approche programmatique commune pour appuyer l’abandon de cette pratique et changer substantiellement la vie des filles et des femmes à travers le monde.

Special Series on Social Norms and Harmful Practices

Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting (FGM/C) is still a widespread practice in Ethiopia, although important declines in prevalence rates can be observed in some areas of the country. Attitudes towards the practice have drastically changed, evidenced by the fact that overall support for FGM/C has declined and younger mothers are less likely than older mothers to have their daughters cut. This paper provides an analysis of the social dynamics of change in four geographic locations with different ethnic populations in Ethiopia, where interventions were undertaken to support the abandonment of FGM/C and other harmful practices. Each experience used community conversation and dialogue as a tool to promote the abandonment process, although their overall strategies and impact differed. The four experiences together provide a greater understanding of the process of change within communities and the role played by key actors within and outside the community. The study demonstrates that by addressing FGM/C within a human rights context, community members are able to consider not cutting as a possible alternative to the existing convention of cutting. The human rights perspective also encourages reflection on gender roles, generating interest and dialogue about other social practices that harm women and girls, such as marriage by abduction and early marriage.

Special Series on Social Norms and Harmful Practices

This paper examines the experience of Sudan by analysing the factors that promote and support the abandonment of female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) and other harmful social practices. FGM/C is still widely practiced in all regions of northern Sudan but today actors are mobilizing across the country to end the practice. This paper analyses programmes that support ending FGM/C in Sudan and highlights the key factors that promote collective abandonment of the practice, including the roles of community dialogue, human rights deliberation, community-led activities, and the powerful force of local rewards and punishment. The Sudan experience demonstrates that social norms can change when a new understanding and appreciation of communities’ traditions and values is introduced. At policy level, the paper describes the adoption of laws and policies that prohibit or criminalize all forms of FGM/C and the introduction of integrated communication campaigns that have mobilized multiple actors to adopt and voice a consistent and clear stance against FGM/C.

Special Series on Social Norms and Harmful Practices

The essay refines the application of the social convention theory to the practice of female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C). The theory compares footbinding in China to FGM/C in Africa, explains each practice in terms of simple game theory, and recommends that the methods used to end footbinding be adapted to end FGM/C. It hypothesizes that each practice originated in highly stratified ancient empires, and became an ongoing requirement of marriageability, general and persistent within the intramarrying community because no one family can give it up on its own.

This publication was jointly developed by the UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre (IRC) and the Government of the Netherlands. It includes a background document prepared by IRC and summarizes the discussions and outcomes of the International Conference on Violence against the Girl Child held in The Hague from 9-10 March 2009. The conference addressed gaps in knowledge, research and responses to violence against girls in the home and family, and was a follow-up to the United Nations Secretary-General’s Study on Violence against Children.

UNICEF has estimated that community oriented programmes costing about US$24 million each year over the next 10 years can lead to major reductions in the prevalence of FGM/C in 16 sub-Saharan African countries with high or medium prevalence. This Platform for Action summarizes the elements of a a common programmatic approach to support the abandonment of the practice and make a major difference for girls and women worldwide.

UNICEF has estimated that community oriented programmes costing about US$24 million each year over the next 10 years can lead to major reductions in the prevalence of FGM/C in 16 sub-Saharan African countries with high or medium prevalence. This Platform for Action summarizes the elements of a a common programmatic approach to support the abandonment of the practice and make a major difference for girls and women worldwide.

UNICEF has estimated that community-oriented programmes costing about US$24 million each year over the next 10 years can lead to major reductions in the prevalence of FGM/C in 126 sub-Saharan African countries with high or medium prevalence. This 'Platform for Action' summarizes the elements of a common programmatic approach to support the abandonment of the practice and make a difference for girls and women worldwide. The Donors Working Group on FGM/C has, since 2001, brought together key governmental and intergovernmental organizations and foundations committed to supporting the abandonment of FGM/C.

Gli impegni degli Stati per proteggere le bambine dalle mutilazioni/escissione dei genitali mettono in risalto che le MGF/E sono una violazione dei diritti umani delle bambine e delle donne e che hanno gravi conseguenze su di loro. Questo quadro programmatico comune riunisce esperienze di programmi sostenuti con successo da ONG nazionali che lavorano sul territorio, sperimentate teorie accademiche e un’impostazione basata sui diritti umani. Si tratta di un approccio sistemico che stimola e sostiene una trasformazione sociale su vasta scala a vantaggio dell’infanzia e delle donne. È basato essenzialmente su una formazione emancipativa e su una comunicazione partecipativa.

Les engagements des États pour protéger les filles contre l’excision/mutilation génitale féminine mettent en évidence que l’E/MGF représente une violation des droits humains des filles et des femmes et qu’elle est source de conséquences néfastes pour celles-ci. Dans le cadre commun sont rassemblées des expériences de programme menées avec succès grâce à l’appui d’ONG nationales opérant sur le terrain, des théories scientifiques éprouvées et une perspective en termes de droits humains. Il s’agit d’une approche systématique visant à stimuler et à soutenir une transformation sociale à grande échelle au profit des enfants et des femmes. Le renforcement de l’éducation et de la communication participative en constitue le coeur.