UNICEF, the UN Children's Fund, is renowned for its efficiency in both rich and poor countries. Created as a humanitarian agency, it is now one of the international development institutions concerned with children and mothers. The book relates the creation of UNICEF, the evolution of its programmes, its structure and finances, its work in health, nutrition, education and sanitation and in emergencies. The 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child now serves as a framework for all UNICEF programmes and a basis for its advocacy. Current challenges include UNICEF's nature and identity, its relationship with other international organizations, reduced funding and its need to refocus some of its programmes.
On 20 November 2009, the global community celebrates the 20th anniversary of the adoption by the United Nations General Assembly of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the unique document that sets international standards for the care, treatment and protection of all individuals below age 18. To celebrate this landmark, the United Nations Children's Fund is dedicating a special edition of its flagship report The State of the World's Children to examining the Convention's evolution, progress achieved on child rights, challenges remaining, and actions to be taken to ensure that its promise becomes a reality for all children.
This year marks the 30th anniversary of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. This report celebrates the achievements of the past three decades and highlights the critical work that remains. It presents data on several key issues where progress is stalling or reversing: child mortality, immunization, climate change, education participation, child marriage, and urbanization. The report also advocates for all stakeholders to recommit to the Convention, stepping up their efforts to fulfil its promise in the next 30 years.
The sixth issue of Progress for Children reports on the status of child-specific targets set by world leaders at the May 2002 UN General Assembly Special Session on Children. This special edition examines more than 35 key indicators in the four broad areas identified at the Special Session as requisite to building ’A World Fit for Children'. It also analyses the Millennium Development Goals and provides information on the state of child protection.
Every child has the right to a good life - one of peace, health and dignity. But have you ever thought about what this really means? You speak different languages, look different and face all manner of challenges every day but in many ways your needs and hopes are alike! You'll meet children from around the world, from Bangladesh to Colombia, each with a unique and uplifting story to tell.
One in every seven children is disabled. Children with disabilities are among the most likely to be marginalized, poor and vulnerable. UNICEF is committed to improving the lives of children, particularly those who face the greatest disadvantages. The report will investigate the web of barriers disabled children face: discrimination, harmful norms and the lack of accurate information. The report will analyse and provide good-practice guidance on: inclusive health and education; prevention; nutrition; protection from violence, exploitation and abuse; emergency response; institutionalization; and the role of appropriate technology and infrastructure
The adoption of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) 2010 was a turning point in the history of behavioral health for children and adolescents in the United States. The ACA requires most health insurance plans to conduct behavioral health assessments for children, as well as depression screening for adults. Looking ahead, however, questions have been raised about how to promote children's behavioral health, how to make use of innovations, and how to sustain funding over time. To respond to these questions, the Forum on Promoting Children's Cognitive, Affective, and Behavioral Health of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine held a workshop in Washington, D.C., on April 1-2, 2015. The workshop focused on how recent reforms in health care provide new opportunities to promote children's cognitive, affective, and behavioral health. It also assessed behavioral health needs of all children, including those with special physical or behavioral health conditions, and programs that support families.This report summarizes the presentations and discussion of the workshop.
In the context of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the Livingstone declaration, and the UN Social Protection Floor, this book deals jointly with multidimensional child poverty and social protection in Central and Western Africa. It focuses both on extent and types of social protection coverage and assesses various child poverty trends in the region. More importantly, it looks at social protection to prevent and address the consequences of child poverty. Child poverty is distinct, conceptually, and different, quantitatively, from adult poverty. It requires its own independent measurement--otherwise half of the population in developing countries may be unaccounted for when assessing poverty reduction. This book posits that child poverty should be measured based on constitutive rights of poverty, using a multidimensional approach. The argument is supported by chapters actually applying and expanding this approach. In addition, the case is made that the underlying drivers of child poverty are inequality, lack of access to basic social services, and the presence of families without any type of social protection. As a result, the case for social protection in contributing to reduce and eliminate child protection and its consequences is made. Poverty reduction has been high on the international agenda since the start of the millennium. First as part of the MDGs and now included in the SDGs. However, in spite of a decline in the incidence of child poverty, the number of poor children is harder to reduce due to population dynamics. As a result, concomitant problems such as the increasing number of child brides, unregulated/dangerous migration, unabated child trafficking, etc. remain intractable. Understanding the root causes of child poverty and its characteristics in Central and Western Africa is fundamental to designing innovative ways to address it. It is also important to map the interventions, describe the practices, appreciate the challenges, recognize the limitations, and highlight the contributions of social protection and its role in dealing with child poverty. No practical policy recommendations can be devised without this knowledge.
