Publications

Joint efforts by the Government of Nepal, development partners and key stakeholders to achieve SDG 4 by 2030 have improved education access, participation and retention. However, learning outcomes in Nepal remain stagnant.

What resources and contextual factors are associated with good school performance in Nepal? By merging and analyzing existing administrative datasets in Nepal, this report helps to identify positive deviant schools – those that outperform other schools despite sharing similar contexts and resources.

Data Must Speak – a global initiative implemented since 2014 – aims to address the evidence gaps to mitigate the learning crisis using existing data. The DMS Positive Deviance Research is co-created and co-implemented with Ministries of Education and key partners. DMS research relies on mixed methods and innovative approaches (i.e., positive deviance approach, behavioural sciences, implementation research and scaling science) to generate knowledge and practical lessons about ‘what works’, ‘why’ and ‘how’ to scale grassroots solutions for national policymakers and the broader international community of education stakeholders.

DMS research is currently being implemented in 14 countries: Brazil, Burkina Faso, Chad, Cote d'Ivoire, Ethiopia, Ghana, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Madagascar, Mali, Nepal, Niger, the United Republic of Tanzania, Togo and Zambia.

Funded by the Global Partnership to End Violence against Children, through its Safe Online initiative, ECPAT, INTERPOL, and UNICEF Office of Research – Innocenti worked in partnership to design and implement Disrupting Harm – a research project on online child sexual exploitation and abuse (OCSEA). This unique partnership brings a multidisciplinary approach to a complex issue in order to see all sides of the problem. OCSEA refers to situations that involve digital or communication technologies at some point during the continuum of abuse or exploitation; it can occur fully online or through a mix of online and in-person interactions between offenders and children. The Disrupting Harm research was conducted in six Southeast Asian countries and seven Eastern and Southern African countries, including Namibia. Data were synthesised from nine different research activities to generate each national report which tells the story of the threat, and presents clear recommendations for action.

Key findings in the Disrupting Harm in Namibia report include:

• ●  20,000 children experienced clear examples of online sexual exploitation and abuse in the last year alone. This included blackmailing children to engage in sexual activities, sharing their sexual images without permission, or coercing them to engage in sexual activities through promises of money or gifts.
• ●  30% of children who had experienced abuse online did not disclose their experiences to anyone, citing fear and lack of awareness on whom or where to report to. One child said, “No, I did not [report] because I was afraid. My mom had warned me not to communicate with people I do not know on social media, so I was afraid that she would criticize me for doing that.”
• ●  11% of children surveyed were subjected to sexual comments online that made them feel uncomfortable in the past year.
• ●  80% of online sexual abuse and exploitation offenders were someone the child already knew. These were often intimate partners and adult friends and family members. Someone unknown to the child was responsible for about one in four instances of online child sexual exploitation and abuse identified in the household survey. 

For more information, read the Advocacy Brief.

La implementación de la educación a distancia en América Latina y el Caribe, producto del cierre de las escuelas debido a la COVID-19, confirmó que la brecha en el acceso a la electricidad y a la tecnología aún es un obstáculo importante para que los gobiernos de la región puedan atender a todos los niños, niñas y adolescentes. El cierre de las escuelas implica el riesgo de ampliar las brechas de aprendizaje existentes, pues las escuelas privadas estaban más preparadas en cuanto al uso de la tecnología para la educación a distancia. Adicionalmente, los niños, niñas y adolescentes de los hogares más favorecidos recibían más apoyo en casa mientras las escuelas estaban cerradas. Conforme los países de la región reabren las escuelas, es vital que los gobiernos incorporen las principales lecciones aprendidas para mejorar la resiliencia y la equidad de sus sistemas educativos. Este informe presenta evidencias sobre el aprendizaje a distancia durante el cierre de las escuelas debido a la COVID-19 en América Latina y el Caribe para orientar a los tomadores de decisiones en la construcción de sistemas educativos más eficaces, sostenibles y resilientes para las crisis actuales y futuras.

The COVID-19 pandemic presented an opportunity for governments across Southeast Asia to reshape their approach to education so that children and adolescents are equipped with the necessary academic and socioemotional skills to live a rewarding life. By providing deeper insight into children’s attitudes and values in well-being domains, this report reveals the relationship between children’s well-being and academic learning in the region.

What can policymakers and practitioners do to support children and adolescents to excel now and in the future? Through quantitative analysis of the Southeast Asia Primary Learning Metrics 2019 database, along with an investigation of policy implications and promising practices, this report advocates for increased coordination across cross-sectoral government institutions; increased school, parental and community support for children’s development; and providing a platform for children’s voices to understand their perspectives and needs.

Developed by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Office of Research-Innocenti and published by UNICEF East Asia and Pacific Regional Office (EAPRO) as its contribution to the SEA-PLM Secretariat.

In the Latin America and Caribbean region, more than 19 million children have a disability. Although school attendance and completion rates have increased steadily over the last 20 years in the region, barriers to access quality education are still too high for children and adolescents with disabilities.

In Paraguay, disability is a major factor associated with school participation and learning levels. The Accessible Digital Textbooks for All (ADT) initiative, implements accessible digital tools and content to make learning accessible to all students - with and without disabilities - in the same classroom.

This report presents the research results of the piloting of an accessible digital textbook for children with and without disabilities in Paraguay. The report provides results across three areas. First, it analyses the familiarity with and ability of teachers and students to interact with technology. Second, it investigates the pedagogical practices used for inclusive education and to integrate the accessible digital textbook as a tool in the classroom by teachers to support inclusion. Third, it presents recommendations for improving the content and interface of the accessible digital textbook.

This study is part of longer-term multi-country research examining the implementation of accessible digital textbooks. Future research will explore the impact of the use of the ADT on student learning on a larger scale.

This policy brief is the third in a series that assesses key issues affecting social spending as part of UNICEF’s work on Public Finance for Children.

It aims to add to the understanding on of what climate change means for social sector budgets, and the extent to which social sectors are being prioritized in the climate response.

 Social sectors face rising climate-related costs but positive opportunities to raise the required additional financing required remain. These include: leveraging green technologies; reforming energy subsidies and harnessing green financing initiatives.   

Funded by the Global Partnership to End Violence against Children, through its Safe Online initiative, ECPAT, INTERPOL, and UNICEF Office of Research – Innocenti worked in partnership to design and implement Disrupting Harm – a research project on online child sexual exploitation and abuse (OCSEA). This unique partnership brings a multidisciplinary approach to a complex issue in order to see all sides of the problem. OCSEA refers to situations that involve digital or communication technologies at some point during the continuum of abuse or exploitation; it can occur fully online or through a mix of online and in-person interactions between offenders and children. The Disrupting Harm research was conducted in six Southeast Asian countries, including Viet Nam and seven Eastern and Southern African countries. Data were synthesised from nine different research activities to generate each national report which tells the story of the threat, and presents clear recommendations for action.

Key findings in the Disrupting Harm in Viet Nam report include:

• ●  8% of internet-using children aged 12 - 17 years had been subjected to sexual comments about themselves that made them feel uncomfortable in the past year. 43% of those children did not disclose this had happened, mainly because they did not believe telling would lead to anything happening. 
• ●  5% of children surveyed had been sent unwanted sexual images. Nearly half of these children did not tell anyone because they didn’t know whom to tell.
• ●  2% of children were asked to talk about sex when they didn’t want to. About half of these children received these unwanted sexual requests online and most of those children did not tell anyone this happened. Children did not tell anyone this happened because they didn’t think it was serious enough or thought they would get into trouble.

For more information, visit the Disrupting Harm Viet Nam country report page.

Download the advocacy brief.

Integrated social protection programmes are increasingly being pursued as more effective and efficient ways to improve children’s health and nutrition outcomes. UNICEF Ethiopia is implementing a pilot Integrated Safety Net Programme (ISNP) in the Amhara region of Ethiopia aimed at integrating a cash transfer (through the Productive Safety Net Programme (PSNP)), a health insurance (the Community Based Health Insurance (CBHI)), social and behaviour change communication (on nutrition, feeding practices, sexual and reproductive health, gender equality, and child marriage), and case management (for malnourished and out of school children).

The ISNP implementation began in early 2019. Knowing that integration comes with its own challenges in terms of planning, coordination, harmonization of systems and tools, and the alignment of budgets, this qualitative study sought to understand the status of implementation, emerging challenges, and potential remedial actions to ensure the intervention achieves the stated objectives. The study shows that while there is progress, more action is needed in terms of implementing the planned management information system (MIS), ensuring adequate and well trained frontline workers are in place, further improving harmonization of targeting tools, and increasing budgetary allocation.

This report recounts the journeys of a group of adolescents through the COVID-19 pandemic in Italy, one of the first countries to be affected by the virus. It is the first product of an in-depth qualitative study that aims to understand the experiences of children and young people from their point of view and through their words.

The data for this project were collected online between February and June 2021 with 114 participants between the ages of 10 and 19, who attended lower and upper secondary schools in 16 regions of Italy, and included children and young people who identify as LGBTQI+, unaccompanied and separated children, and adolescents from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds. 

According to children and youth in Canada, what were the negative and positive impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on their lives? How did they experience changes in their relationships; daily schedule; time at home; use of technology; or feelings of anger, worry, loneliness or gratitude? How were these experienced by marginalized groups, including LGBTQ+ and Indigenous children and youth?

To date, research on Canadian children’s and youth’s experiences during the pandemic has lacked a broad exploration of their own perspectives. This qualitative study, however, was informed by three child and youth advisory teams, with input from 10 focus groups; 23 semi-structured interviews and a total of 74 young people (10–19), from four provinces and one territory.

The report concludes with a set of 4 policy recommendations – by its participants – addressed to federal, provincial/territorial and local governments, as well as to school districts, and child and youth service sectors.