A little over 40 years ago, my father walked into the classroom where he taught and wrote on the blackboard. He turned to his six and seven year old pupils and triumphantly announced “A great New Zealander was born today!” The children looked at the board and looked back to him before one boy piped up. “Why’d you name him that?… Read more →←
Topic: Insider
In the early 1950s, about 50 per cent of primary school age children were out of school. In 1970, that figure stood at 28 per cent. Today, it has come down to 9 per cent. Progress has been slow, and there is still more to be done, but many millions of children have realized their right to education since that time. For the vast majority… Read more →←
This blog post is part of a content series published by UNICEF in the lead-up to the Global Conference on Primary Health Care, which will take place from 25-26 October in Astana, Kazakhstan. Learn more about the conference. Nestled in the mountains of northern Afghanistan, the village of Charkent is both beautiful and remote. Like much… Read more →←
Humanitarians never think of themselves as heroes. Most of the humanitarians I’ve met consider themselves lucky to be to able help provide relief to people in need. Many humanitarians working in conflicts put their own lives at risk to support people – sometimes entire communities or cities – who are in urgent need of assistance.… Read more →←
For Jean-Pierre Masuku, the fight against the new Ebola epidemic in North Kivu, in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), is not new. He witnessed the disease in Equateur Province, 2,500 kilometres west of the newly affected areas. “But whatever it is, you do not get used to fighting a highly dangerous, contagious and… Read more →←
This year, World Humanitarian Day is on 19 August “I arrived in Diffa, Niger, on October 2015. One day after my arrival, two kamikaze attacks took place in the city. The people around thought I was going to quit after two months because I couldn’t handle such a situation. But not … here I am three years later, working as an… Read more →←
As I write this, I am inside the Iboko Health Zone, south of the Équateur Province in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Almost two months ago, the Health Minister declared an Ebola epidemic in the country. Iboko is one of the three health zones affected. The past weeks have been particularly stressful and demanding for all of us… Read more →←
UNICEF responds to a wide variety of humanitarian crises around the world, and life-saving supplies are an important part of providing urgent assistance. These include medical, nutrition, shelter, and water and sanitation products that bring relief amid violent conflict and natural disasters. In 2017, the emergency supply response… Read more →←
I look a mess. Sweat falls from my nose and wrist, dripping into my cameras. They slip in my palms and threaten to fall onto the mud floor of her orderly, if stifling, shelter. A shaft of light shines through a hole in the plastic tarp and strikes her head scarf, framing her face in a golden glow as the call to prayer begins to echo from… Read more →←
I felt a shiver run down my spine as I watched around 200 children lay down their weapons in a ceremony to mark their release from armed groups. The children, some as young as 10 years old, have been fighting with two different armed groups in South Sudan. Among those released were 112 boys and 95 girls. While they are no longer… Read more →←
