As the New Year begins, it is time to bring new urgency to safeguarding the rights and protecting the lives of children affected by armed conflict. Around this time last year, I reflected on the failure of the international community to protect children living through war. Today, I am writing at the end of another devastating year –… Read more →←
Sekou becomes wistful when I ask him about his village. “Before, things were good. At night, we’d sit around the campfire and tell stories with our parents. And during the day, we’d dance and play the drums.” He comes from a tiny village in Mopti, the central region of Mali that has increasingly become the theater of violence and… Read more →←
For every child, an identity and a future My name is Miranda Armstrong and I’ve been the Chief of Child Protection for UNICEF, Cote d’Ivoire for the last three years. As a specialist on violence against children and child labour, non-registered children issues — including the fact that many children aren’t registered at all —… Read more →←
I grew up in the suburbs of Ghana’s capital, Accra. Every four years, as elections approached, the nation was constantly reminded, through TV ads and tailored songs, to reject violence. In the months preceding the elections, our TV screens would be saturated with images of people in other countries who have been injured or displaced… Read more →←
In Ethiopia’s Tigray region, a preschool teacher fills her rural classroom with playful learning materials, creatively teaching her students and giving them the best start in life to learn. “I still remember the paper birds she made to teach us about numbers,” recalls Milkawit Getnet, age 12, and now in Grade 7. “I still love… Read more →←
My name is Wadimo Joy. I have been a teacher in Uganda for 26 years. I believe assistive technology is a blessing to the growing minds of children with disabilities in Uganda today. In last year’s Primary School finals, one of my students with disabilities received a better score than all the other candidates. I know this success was… Read more →←
As a medical doctor with more than a decade of experience working on HIV and AIDS in Uganda, I’m not often surprised. Yet, on a recent mission to document the stories of women and children benefiting from advancements in testing and treating HIV, I was. I was humbled by the stories of women who faced outstanding hardships and yet… Read more →←
In Niger, it is not uncommon to hear that if a menstruating woman touches sowing seeds, the harvest will not be abundant; that a woman must not braid her sister during menstruation, otherwise she will induce hair loss; that menstruation is a woman’s business and a man must not talk about it — the numerous rumors about menstrual… Read more →←
When you sip your next green tea, you might stop for a minute to take in the aroma of the leaves, revel in the steamy warmth, perhaps appreciate the energising taste. Chances are you won’t be thinking about a small family in the hills of Rwanda. They are indeed related but not the way you might think. This is a story of parenting and… Read more →←
“We are children! We want peace! We want school! Let’s make peace among us!” Watching a group of children at Lumbwe primary school singing and dancing to peace slogans was amusing, only until I learned about the physical and emotional wounds each child in the group bore. “The girl singing in the middle of the circle was… Read more →←
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