When I joined the UNICEF Sierra Leone office as the chief of education in 2014, the country was at the peak of its Ebola epidemic. I walked straight into a crisis that had put over 1.8 million school-going children and adolescents out of school. The effects of Ebola are terrifying. But like many public health crises, their impact on… Read more →←
My story with Safa began in 2014 in Za’atari refugee camp. I had been working there since it opened in 2012. In those days, thousands of refugees arrived daily, often in desperate conditions as they fled on foot across the border. When I met Safa, she was six years old, learning in a UNICEF-supported school set up in a tent. She had… Read more →←
“Poverty is when you don’t have any money. Because of a lack of money, children don’t have a chance to develop. They may not have a good profession or a good foundation for life.” This is how Marieta and Gor from Armenia recently described the impact of poverty. Whether it’s the instant loss of income that so many parents face… Read more →←
How do you go from being a child refugee to the founder and CEO of one of Sweden’s biggest news agencies by the age of 29? It might sound surreal until you meet Kotada Yonus. This is his story about the power of will and entrepreneurship. Kotada Yonus runs Aktarr, a news and media agency in Malmö, Sweden. Aktarr focuses on… Read more →←
Worldwide, an estimated 650 million girls and women alive today were married as children. For some of these women and girls – this means a life of being denied their rights. Denied a seat in the classroom. Denied a chance to make their own decisions and denied a voice. In the places where child marriage is most prevalent, the practice… Read more →←
The COVID-19 pandemic has led to an education emergency of unprecedented global scale. At its peak, over 190 countries closed schools in response to the health emergency, leaving 9 out of 10 enrolled learners around the world out of school. Although previous health emergencies – such as the H1N1 influenza pandemic in 2009 and the Ebola… Read more →←
In just a matter of weeks, the COVID-19 outbreak has already had drastic consequences for children. Their access to education, food, and health services has been dramatically affected across the globe. The impact has been so marked, that the UN Secretary General has urged governments and donors to offset the immediate effects of the… Read more →←
This blogpost summarizes recommendations for policy makers and explores 3 good practices for equitable remote learning, based on recent research conducted using data on education responses to COVID-19 from UNICEF staff in 127 countries. To help contain the spread COVID-19, schools have closed around the world, at its… Read more →←
As part of the COVID-19 Diaries, UNICEF Niger accompanies the President of the Association of Traditional Chiefs of Niger during a sensitization campaign in Niamey. These are not easy days in Niamey. The arrival of COVID-19 has not been unnoticed in the capital’s neighborhoods. Communities are mobilizing to face the spread of the… Read more →←
The COVID-19 virus has challenged developed nations in ways that few could have predicted just a few weeks ago. In Iraq, my colleagues and I watch with trepidation as Europe and the US struggle to contain the virus. Hospitals are overwhelmed, there’s an acute shortage of testing and protective equipment, and the death toll continues to… Read more →←
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