In Mexico City, community centres provide learning opportunities for indigenous children
MEXICO CITY, Mexico, 23 March 2012 – The journey to the hospital begins early for 13-year-old Lucía Argüelles.
Programmes offer assistance to children living in the violence-plagued slums of Caracas, Venezuela
CARACAS, Venezuela, 6 March 2012 – Every evening, as soon as the sun goes down, 14-year-old Fernando Herrera and his family lock all the doors to his house, lower the blinds and hunker down for another night of random shootings and violent fights in the street. Yet Fernando does not live in a war-torn country; he lives in a poor neighbourhood in the city of Caracas.
In Brazil, adolescents use UNICEF's new digital mapping technology to reduce disaster risks in the favelas
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil, 19 March 2012 – Ten years ago, Michael Gomes Correia used to love flying kites with his friends in the Prazeres community, one of the favelas of Rio de Janeiro. Now, the 18-year-old student is using kites – and mobile technology – to map the favelas’ socio-environmental risks and to improve the lives of children and families in his community.
Children living in Nairobi's informal settlements lack access to basic services and opportunities
NAIROBI, Kenya, 14 March 2012 – As his peers in Korogocho, an informal settlement in Nairobi, leave for school, 15-year-old John Kinuthia sets off too. But instead of heading to school, he walks half a kilometre to the city’s largest dumpsite to eke out a living.
In Brazil, the Platform for Urban Centres empowers youth to advocate for children’s rights
SAO PAULO, Brazil, 9 March 2012 – Alisson Rodrigues Cordeiro, 18, is determined to improve living conditions and reduce inequalities in his community in the Itaim Paulista district of São Paulo.
Experts discuss issues raised in UNICEF's flagship report at panel discussion in New York
NEW YORK, US, 8 March 2012 – For 15-year-old Shakora Townsend, growing up in one of the toughest neighborhoods in New York City has made living with poverty, violence and discrimination a part of her daily life.
Fighting child marriage in the slums of Moradabad, India
MORADABAD, India, 7 March 2012 – “I wasn’t ready for marriage. No girl should be married at such an early age,” said Nargis.
Helping children living and working on the streets in Thailand
CHIANG MAI, Thailand, 5 March 2012 – Poon* left home more than a year ago, escaping an abusive mother. She was an alcoholic, he said, and he thought life on the streets of Chiang Mai would be preferable to her regular beatings.
In Bangladesh, a new UNICEF-supported initiative helps poor urban children
DHAKA, Bangladesh, 2 March 2012 – Twelve-year old Mohammad Faisal Hossain works to support his family of four – himself, his mother, younger sister and brother. To meet their needs, he holds down two jobs on the packed roads of the Bangladesh capital, Dhaka: selling newspapers in the early morning and working as a helping hand on a small minibus.
Podcast #53: Ensuring children’s right to education in rapidly growing urban areas
NEW YORK, USA, 1 March 2012 – More than one billion children live in urban areas according to UNICEF’s flagship report, ‘The State of the World’s Children 2012: Children in an Urban World’.
In Lagos, Nigeria, marginalized children face exploitation, trafficking and abuse
LAGOS, Nigeria, 1 March 2012 – Sex and drugs are readily available on Kuramo Beach, a stretch of sand along the Gulf of Guinea. Children play in the sand, not far from sex workers. Nearby, tough young men known as ‘area boys’ sit under battered beach umbrellas.
Getting at-risk children out of work and into school in the slums of Moradabad, India
MORADABAD, India , 29 February 2012 – From ages 8 to 10, Anas spent 10 hours a day, six days a week, working in a smoke-filled metalware workshop in the slums of Moradabad.
UNICEF launches flagship report in Mexico City, warns that cities are failing children
MEXICO CITY, Mexico, 29 February 2012 – UNICEF yesterday launched its flagship report, ‘The State of the World’s Children 2012: Children in an Urban World’ in Mexico City, warning that rapid urbanization is leaving millions of disadvantaged children behind. At a press conference in the Presidential Palace, UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake and President of Mexico Felipe Calderón called for greater focus on children in slums and shantytowns who suffer from the greatest deprivations.
In Burundi, guaranteeing children's rights to protection and play
BUJUMBURA, Burundi, 28 February 2012 – Dozens of children are gathered on a vast green field in Maramvya, a district of Buterere in the suburbs of Bujumbura, the capital. The children, including Joseph, 7, Emelyne, 8, and Jean-Claude, 9, are indulging in a once rare activity: play.
In Ukraine, providing holistic health care to sexually exploited adolescents and other at-risk youth
MYKOLAYIV, Ukraine, 27 February 2012 – Anya* does not talk much about her teen years in Mykolayiv, one of the most populous cities in southern Ukraine . She desperately wants to forget the days of fighting with her grandfather, who was her only surviving relative after her parents died, and what happened after she was thrown out of the house.
Home-grown solutions
MUMBAI, India, 24 February 2012 – One of the more promising developments in the effort to reduce urban poverty is the emergence of networks of grassroots groups in which women play a prominent role as agents of positive change in their communities and around the world.
A second chance at childhood for exploited and vulnerable children in Benin
COTONOU, Benin, 24 February 2012 – Bread seller Honorine Noudjèmèdji, 14, zigzags deftly through Dantokpa, one of the biggest markets in Benin's commercial capital. Loaves are piled high on a tray on her head, at customers’ eye-level.
UNICEF launches flagship report focusing on urban children
UNICEF’s flagship publication, 'The State of the World’s Children 2012' (SOWC), says that almost half the world’s children now live in urban areas, and it’s calling for greater emphasis on identifying and meeting their needs.
Out of sight, out of reach
AMMAN, Jordan, 23 February 2012 – Half the world’s population now lives in cities. Throughout history, urban life, so concentrated with humanity, has been a catalyst for trade, ideas and opportunities, making cities engines of economic growth. Today, living in a city is widely regarded as the best way to find prosperity and escape poverty. Yet hidden inside cities, wrapped in a cloak of statistics, are millions of children struggling to survive.
Speaking for Ourselves
NEW YORK, USA, 22 February 2012 – People all over the world hear stories, watch movies and see postcards of New York City. They recognize our skyline – the Empire State Building, the Statue of Liberty or the Brooklyn Bridge – on sight. But New York City is not just about the big lights, the big buildings. There are the streets, and then there are the people who walk them, and when you live here you learn that New York is just like any city, filled with people who struggle to make ends meet.
A way home for children living and working on the streets of Rwanda
KIGALI, Rwanda, 21 February 2012 – Many children who had been living and working on the streets of Kigali are now returning home, thanks to the help of centres like Fidesco.
In Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire, assisting children alone in the big city
ABIDJAN, Côte d'Ivoire, 21 February 2012 – After a fight with his father, 9-year-old Junior Coulibaly left his house in a huff. It was a Friday afternoon in mid-January 2011. Nine months would pass before he would see his father again.
