Global

Ezekial Jacobs, a 33-year-old school teacher from Nigeria is no stranger to crisis. Civil armed conflict and violence has gripped Ezekial’s home in the North-East region since 2009, forcing more than 1 million children out of school , damaging over 400 schools and resulting in the deaths of over 2,295 teachers. With the region gradually recovering…

UNICEF works to safeguard the rights of children, women and their communities before, during and after public health emergencies. A long-term vision for Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response (PHE-PR) is set out in a new UNICEF White Paper, “Putting the Best Interest of Children, Women and their Communities at the Center of Public…

This report defines and takes the pulse of five vital elements of digital learning. It contributes to the ongoing yet urgent aim of transforming education, and offers steps to recovery through child-centered, equity-driven, and innovative solutions. The five vital elements covered are ICT in Education policies and financing, digital learning…

The following guides have been developed in line with UNICEF’s commitment to support Ministries of Education and education decision-makers to effectively monitor the status and implementation of education delivery and learning, including in emergency situations: Conceptual Framework for Monitoring Hybrid Learning Delivery Toward Long-term System…

  Data Must Speak is a multi-country initiative that provides technical assistance to country governments to implement projects that unlock the potential of data within education systems and facilitate knowledge generation. The Data Must Speak Practical Implementation Guide for Community Engagement and Social Accountability helps define Data Must…

Community engagement and social accountability are crucial to remove barriers to achieving quality education for all, including access to education and retention. These guidelines help show how to address social and behavioural barriers and how to enhance community engagement and social accountability in education through social and behaviour…

To help you provide your students with a safe and supportive learning environment, here are some ways to support your student’s well-being. Did you know? During times of stress and crisis, children observe adults’ behaviours and emotions for cues on how to manage their own., Emotional check-ins, Returning to school can be an emotionally trying time for everyone and children can be greatly impacted in a number of ways. Conduct routine emotional check-ins with your students. To check-in emotionally is to ask children “how they are” in a direct or indirect way. One method is to ask children "What colour do you feel today?" Ask children to…, Identifying signs of distress, Children have different reactions to adverse events in their environment. Culture influences the ways in which we express emotions. In some cultures, for example, it is not appropriate to show strong emotions like crying loudly, while in others it is widely accepted. Based on the culture you work in, be alert for signs that children are not doing…, Activities to reduce stress and support student well-being, These activities can be done with students in order to help reduce stress, support well-being and provide them with positive coping strategies. These activities are also beneficial for you, and you and your students can do them together.   Belly breathing Often when we are stressed our breathing becomes shallow, high in our chests, and we forget…

Teaching can often be a highly stressful career. However, there are steps you can take to help cope with the pressures of the job and manage stress levels. As a teacher, you might be exhausted juggling work and family obligations, and concerned about how best to help your students make up for learning lost from school closures during the COVID-19…, Ways to cope, While people react differently to stress, people often do better over the long-term if they: Feel safe, connected to others, calm and hopeful Have access to social, physical and emotional support Regain a sense of control by being able to help themselves If you recognize signs of stress and how they affect different aspects of your well-being, you…, What is self-care?, The World Health Organization defines self-care as “the ability of individuals, families and communities to promote health, prevent disease, maintain health, and to cope with illness and disability with or without the support of a healthcare provider.” Self-care is any activity that we do intentionally in order to take care of our mental,…, What is burnout?, One of the negative consequences of accumulated stress is burnout. Burnout is a state of physical, emotional and mental exhaustion that results from prolonged exposure to job stressors or work situations that are emotionally demanding. It is emotional exhaustion and can result in a sense of reduced personal accomplishment. Burnout includes many…, Making time for self-care as teachers, Too many people work until they can't go on or they view rest and sleep as something which is not important. It is important to view rest as an essential tool for maintaining well-being. Resting can be as simple as just turning off the lights in your classroom for a few minutes after your students have left. Or try and limit the time you spend…, Hope and well-being, It is important to remind yourself and your students that you have control over different aspects of your life and that you can bring about change. When you are facing challenging times, it can be difficult to feel hopeful that things can improve. When we feel hopeful, it helps us to focus on change, look to the future, and actively look for…

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted education around the world. School closures due to the pandemic have affected around 1.5 billion children. Teachers have gone above and beyond to support their students and to help them keep learning by whatever means possible. Many have embraced new ways of teaching, including online, over radio, television or…, Afghanistan, “Let’s come together, help our children and provide them with quality education.” Latifa Shafahi is a teacher in Bamyan, Afghanistan, where children are coping with the threat of conflict and COVID-19. Latifa notices the psychological impact these have on her students and tries to make classes engaging and friendly. Under national school safety…, Ghana, “I do not want the children to suffer the same as I did.” Musah Samata could not complete her basic education while growing up in Ghana. Today, as a volunteer mother she helps children learn during the pandemic by assisting in classrooms and care centres. Her goal is to ensure children don't lose out on their education during school closures. In…, Turkey, “Their desire to learn … [was] the most important factor encouraging me to continue my effort.” Aylin Tufan is a guidance counsellor in Turkey who helps Syrian refugee children and adolescents through issues such as discrimination, child labour and child marriage. When she heard that one of her students was being forced into marriage, she was able…, Uganda, “We try to get the children to inquire and discover on their own.” When schools closed in Uganda, school teacher Irene Nyangoma saw some of the challenges parents were facing in keeping children learning. She thought that seeing teachers on a television screen might help them stay engaged and helped launch a TV show to help her students learn.…

NEW YORK, 5 October 2020 - On World Teachers' Day 2020, David Edwards, General Secretary, Education International, Guy Ryder, Director-General, International Labour Organization, Audrey Azoulay, Director-General of UNESCO and Henrietta Fore, Executive Director, UNICEF issue a joint statement.  "Every year, World Teachers’ Day reminds us of the…

Communication for Development (C4D) is one of the core change strategies that contribute directly to the achievement of results within each of the goal areas of the UNICEF Strategic Plan, 2018–2021. By identifying and addressing social norms, behaviours and practices, C4D strengthens programming and improves outcomes for children and adolescents.…, Communication for Development (C4D) is an evidence-based and participatory process that facilitates the engagement of children, families, communities, the public and decision makers in both development and humanitarian contexts through a mix of available communication platforms and tools. UNICEF promotes and applies C4D to drive positive…, Results, The most typical and also the most powerful way to work towards fulfilling children’s rights is in partnership – with governments, other United Nations agencies, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), communities and families. Just as UNICEF does not stand alone, neither does Communication for Development.   Results stem from the collaboration of…, Two of the many important tools in the C4D toolbox, Screenshot of UNICEF's U-Report website UNICEF/2020 U-Report U-Report is a platform accessible by phone and computer which engages users via alerts, surveys and one-on-one chats. It is designed to address multiple issues affecting children, young people and communities by directly providing life-saving or changing information to them in a timely…, Generating demand for, and use of, services, Demand generation is the process of creating a need, or belief in the need, for a product or service among a particular target audience. C4D strategies stimulate or accelerate demand for services in a number of ways, including reducing stigma, developing gender-sensitive communication, and mass mobilization. Three girls in a refugee camp holding…, Adoption of key parenting and family practices, While children and their caregivers must demand, have access to and use services for their well-being, essential healthy and protective caregiving and family practices are equally important. These practices are not dependent on services, but have an almost exclusive behavioural component. Evidence has shown that these are critical to child…, Promoting positive parenting, Fostering fathers’ participation, particularly from the antenatal phase through early childhood, is an important area of work for UNICEF. More than half of children aged between 3 and 4 years old in 74 countries have fathers who do not play or engage in early learning activities with them (55 per cent, approximately 40 million). Social norms,…, Abandonment of harmful social norms or adoption of positive ones, By reinforcing positive norms that protect children, or encouraging the abandonment of social norms that condone or facilitate negative behaviours, C4D activities encourage parents, families and societies to change both behaviours and perceptions of what is socially acceptable, as well as encouraging agency in identifying and demanding related…, Promoting Positive Gender Socialization, In Egypt, girls face gender disparities and a high prevalence of harmful practices such as Female Genital Mutilation (FGM). In 2019, UNICEF supported the National Council for Childhood and Motherhood to design and implement the first national girls’ empowerment initiative, “Dawwie” (meaning “loud voice with an impact”).  A group of girls standing…, Engaging and empowering communities, adolescents and children, C4D strategies seek to engage and empower communities and young people, particularly the most marginalized, to enable them as agents of change in both development and humanitarian contexts. This includes efforts to systematize mechanisms for engagement to improve their health and well-being, to hold service providers and policymakers to account…, Strategic partnerships with faith leaders to facilitate community engagement, UNICEF has led a scaling up of the Faith and Positive Change for Children (FPCC) Global Initiative on Social and Behaviour Change. In the Niger, one of the five early adopters of FPCC, the commitment of communities, religious and traditional leaders have been essential to reducing and eliminating traditional practices that constitute violence…, System strengthening and regional efforts to effect change at scale, Under the guidance of regional offices, initiatives are carried out to generate multi-country behavioural evidence and to provide technical support for the development of conceptual frameworks, strategies and guidance. The following provide examples of results from three regions; examples from the other regions and at the global level can be found…, Looking forward, The outbreak of COVID-19 was first reported at the end of 2019, and had become a pandemic by early March 2020. At the time of writing, it has become clear that the global crisis will have a significant and severe impact on children. Basic services from health to education have been disrupted, and the wider socioeconomic impacts are yet to be…, Communication for Development (C4D)Advancing positive social and behaviour change Global Annual Results Reports 2019 SUPPLEMENT TO THE Cover image: UNICEF/UN0212225/Noorani A mother and father hold their newborn in a recovery room at UNICEF supported Al Quseya Central Hospital, Assuit governorate, Egypt. C4D initiatives in Egypt encourage…

NEW YORK, United States of America, 18 September 2017 – The second regular session of the 2017 UNICEF Executive Board, which closed on Friday, culminated in the adoption of the UNICEF Strategic Plan , the framework that will guide the work of UNICEF over the next four years, 2018–2021. The Plan was developed in close consultation with a host of…