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Qualitative Study of the Social Cash Transfer Programme in Urban Zambia
Qualitative Study of the Social Cash Transfer Programme in Urban Zambia
The Social Cash Transfer (SCT) programme in Zambia is the country’s largest and most important poverty-targeted social protection intervention. Established with the main objective of reducing extreme poverty and the intergenerational transfer of poverty, it targets five categories of vulnerable households and provides cash payments bi-monthly. The programme was initially implemented in rural areas, but was expanded into urban areas in 2016 using the same programme features. A qualitative study, based on interviews with 96 cash transfer recipients, assessed the main changes experienced by beneficiary households in urban, peri-urban and rural areas as a result of their participation in the programme. This study assessed the effectiveness of the programme and opportunities for adaptation in urban areas.Suggested citations:Storchi, Silvia, et al, Qualitative Study of the Social Cash Transfer Programme in Urban Zambia, UNICEF Innocenti – Global Office of Research and Foresight, Florence, March 2025.Storchi, Silvia, et al, Qualitative Study of the Social Cash Transfer Programme in Urban Zambia, Research brief, UNICEF Innocenti – Global Office of Research and Foresight, Florence, March 2025.
Best Interests of the Child in Relation to the Digital Environment
Best Interests of the Child in Relation to the Digital Environment
Digital technologies increasingly affect children's rights, bringing both benefits and risks. While the digital environment can support education, socialization, play, and creativity, it can also expose children to cyberbullying, privacy breaches, exploitation, and harmful content. Despite growing regulatory efforts from around the world towards upholding children’s rights in relation to the digital environment, there is no unified framework that ensures ‘the best interests of the child’ is a primary consideration in decisions across related laws and regulations, business practices, and governance structures. Moreover, children's voices are largely absent from decision-making processes about what is in their best interests in a digital world.This working paper emphasizes the critical necessity of incorporating the best interests of the child principle—a core tenet of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child—into the governance of digital products and services. It highlights the importance of balancing actions and measures that would likely have an impact on children’s rights, such as the right to protection, participation, and privacy – while addressing legal and regulatory gaps and ensuring business responsibilities. The paper presents a review of existing literature on the topic situating the principle within the broader child rights framework, examining the challenges of implementing the principle in the relation to digital environment, evaluating some of the approaches taken by governments and companies, and identifying key legal and regulatory gaps.The paper outlines several key actions that governments should take: develop child rights-based policies and enhance existing policies with a focus on children’s rights; ensure business responsibility such as through the conducting child rights impact assessments; establish formal mechanisms for meaningful child participation in the governance of digital technologies; and engage in international multistakeholder collaboration to create adaptable and sustainable frameworks that safeguard the rights of all children.This paper is part of UNICEF's work on children's best interests in a digital world
Exploring the Reasons Behind Primary School Dropout in Mozambique
Exploring the Reasons Behind Primary School Dropout in Mozambique
This research brief presents the results of the third round of Mozambique’s Longitudinal Assessment of School Dropout (ALDE), conducted in 2021. It investigates trends in school attendance, performance and dropouts since the previous rounds of the assessment, conducted in 2018 and 2019. The brief examines factors associated with primary school dropout between 2019 and 2021, including differences between urban and rural areas, various regions of Mozambique, and between male and female students.
Data Must Speak: Burkina Faso
Data Must Speak: Burkina Faso
The Burkinabe education system aims to guarantee universal and equitable access to quality education for all school-age children. Despite the progress made in implementing quality education in Burkina Faso, significant challenges remain.In Burkina Faso, some schools demonstrate exceptional performance. These "positive deviant" schools perform better than their peers despite operating under similar conditions and resources. This research utilizes administrative data to identify these schools, explore their success stories, and understand their locally led solutions. The aim is to empower educators and policymakers with practical insights for broader implementation.Data Must Speak (DMS) is a global initiative launched in 2014 to address evidence gaps and mitigate the learning crisis using existing data. The DMS Positive Deviance research is co-created and co-implemented with Ministries of Education and key partners. It employs mixed methods and innovative approaches, including positive deviance, behavioral sciences, implementation research, and scaling science, to generate knowledge and practical lessons. The research focuses on understanding 'what works,' 'why,' and 'how' to scale grassroots solutions for national policymakers and the international education community.On this page, you will find all the DMS Positive Deviance research outputs related to Burkina Faso:DMS Stage 1: Understanding what resources and contextual factors are associated with good school performanceStage 1 Report: Unpacking Factors Influencing Primary School Performance in Burkina Faso (French)Stage 1 Report: Executive summary (French)Stage 1 Report: Executive summary (English)Policy Brief 1: Girls’ Education in Burkina Faso (French)Policy Brief 2: The Impact of the Security Crisis on Education (French)Policy Brief 3: A Comparison of Public and Private Schools (French)
Researching Sensitive Topics Involving Children
Researching Sensitive Topics Involving Children
Research involving sensitive topics is critical if we are to really understand children’s experiences and support positive change. The absence of reliable evidence on difficult topics means that issues, and ultimately the children affected by them, remain invisible to policy makers and the broader community.This work however must be done with significant care – paying attention to the potential harm that can arise to participants from poorly designed, implemented or supported research – even when well intentioned.This paper captures outcomes from a webinar hosted by UNICEF Innocenti in 2024, with panelists Professor Lorraine Sherr, Professor Shanaaz Mathews and Marium Hussein, drawing on their experience and expertise to explore key risks and recommendations to ensure that such research can be conducted safely.Key elements discussed included: the importance of context and local knowledge, differences in reactions and response that children may present when distressed, ensuring safeguarding response plans are sufficiently robust and actionable, and the need to support specific skill development for both researchers undertaking sensitive research as well as ethical review panelists tasked with assessing research proposals.
Prospects for Children in 2025: Building Resilient Systems for Children’s Futures
Prospects for Children in 2025: Building Resilient Systems for Children’s Futures
Prospects for Children in 2025: Building Resilient Systems for Children’s Futures is the latest edition of the Global Outlook, a series of reports produced each year by UNICEF Innocenti – Global Office of Research and Foresight, which look to the key trends affecting children and young people over the following 12 months and beyond.
Foresight for Children’s Futures
Foresight for Children’s Futures
The United Nations Secretary-General has called for the United Nations to develop a forward-thinking culture and cutting-edge skills. Foresight is one of key elements of achieving these goals and essential to get back on track and achieve the goals set out in the 2030 Agenda.Foresight uses tools to scan and collect information, analyse trends and drivers of change, generate scenarios, identify a preferred direction, and explore implications for policy. Studying the forces shaping the world enables organizations to prepare for shocks and surprises.United Nations bodies have already applied a foresight approach to issues from disarmament to the green transition, and they have used foresight in country planning processes or to support the creation of national development plans.Foresight for Children’s Futures: A primer considers how best to use foresight for the benefit of children, making the case for truly child-focused foresight that is designed around children’s experience of the world. We hope this primer will encourage timely steps to be taken to protect children’s lives and enhance their well-being.The primer includes snapshots and links to 35 foresight tools, 9 of which are described in detail with a case study or example of use. Links to additional examples are also provided.
Data Must Speak: Exploring Innovative Methods and Approaches in Education Research
Data Must Speak: Exploring Innovative Methods and Approaches in Education Research
Around 70 per cent of students in low- and middle-income countries grapple with learning poverty, unable to read and understand a simple text by the age of 10. Yet even in the most challenging educational contexts, some schools outperform others located in similar contexts and with similar resources. How do these exceptional schools, known as ‘positive deviant’ schools, achieve improved outcomes in learning, retention, equity and gender equality?Data Must Speak (DMS) – a global initiative implemented since 2014 – aims to address the evidence gaps to mitigate the learning crisis using existing data. The DMS positive deviance research component is co-created with ministries of education and national education actors. It relies on mixed methods to generate knowledge, alongside practical lessons for national policymakers and the broader international education community about ‘what works’, ‘why’ and ‘how to’ scale grassroots solutions to address the learning crisis.The research utilizes innovative and complementary approaches of positive deviance, behavioural sciences, implementation research and scaling science to identify and scale up behaviours and practices of these positive deviant schools. On this page, you will find the DMS Methodological Review, which presents key definitions, concepts and methodologies of these approaches to guide and inform the development and implementation of the DMS research at country level. Additionally, a series of briefs takes these methodologies and discusses how they have been applied in the DMS research, offering perspective on how they could be used more broadly in the education sector.
Implement: Bridging Policy-Practice Gaps in African Education
Implement: Bridging Policy-Practice Gaps in African Education
classroom-level changes that improve learning. Drawing from research across 33 African countries involving over 167,000 schools and thousands of education stakeholders, the paper identifies four key elements for effective policy implementation:Clear Implementation Planning: Beyond evidence-based policy design, education reforms need detailed implementation plans that specify roles, resources and monitoring approaches from the outset.Well-Defined Mandates: Local education officials, school leaders and community members need clear understanding of their responsibilities and how they should work together to improve teaching and learning.Context-Responsive Resources: Implementation support must be tailored to local conditions, considering factors like school location, community characteristics, and existing capacity levels.Data-Driven Improvement: Education systems should use data not just for monitoring, but for continuously adapting implementation approaches based on what works in different contexts.The paper is part of a three-part series examining how African education systems can better use data, optimize investments, and strengthen implementation to improve learning outcomes for all children.Suggested citation: UNICEF Innocenti – Global Office of Research and Foresight, Implement: Bridging the gap between policy and practice - Synthesis of UNICEF Innocenti research on education in Africa, UNICEF Innocenti, Florence, December 2024.
Invest: Harnessing the Latent Potential in African Education Systems
Invest: Harnessing the Latent Potential in African Education Systems
This paper examines how African governments can invest in under-resourced areas to transform education systems. It focuses on three key areas of latent potential:Early childhood education (ECE) lays the foundation for lifelong learning, but less than one third of preschool-age children across the continent are enrolled in ECE and public investments remain low. ECE needs to be made a priority for African governments and their partners, with embedded quality monitoring as the sector expands.Targeted instruction for vulnerable children addresses issues of equity and inclusion. Targeted instruction through remedial, bridging, catch-up and accelerated programmes can improve learning outcomes, reduce repetition and dropout rates, and strengthen the links between formal and non-formal education systems.Education technologies in teaching and learning can enable flexible and personalized learning for students. Governments should build on the continent’s ongoing digital transformation, accompanied by low- and no-connectivity options, and a focus on integrating education technology within the broader education system.Suggested citation: UNICEF Innocenti – Global Office of Research and Foresight, Invest: Harnessing the latent potential in African education systems – Synthesis of UNICEF Innocenti research on education in Africa, UNICEF Innocenti, Florence, December 2024.
Inform: Using Available Data to Optimize Education Investments in Africa
Inform: Using Available Data to Optimize Education Investments in Africa
This is a synthesis of UNICEF Innocenti’s research on education. It shows data from over 167,000 African schools and identifies the most effective ways to optimize current investments in education across the continent. The analysis examines:Workforce priorities - Evidence shows teacher deployment and support can matter more than numbers alone. Key findings highlight the importance of equitable distribution and ongoing pedagogical training, particularly in rural areas.Curriculum and pedagogy - Protecting instructional time and access to appropriate teaching and learning materials, including to support mother tongue instruction, show links to better learning outcomes.Strategic infrastructure - Targeted facility improvements to support effective instructional approaches can boost attendance and learning, particularly through expanding existing school capacity and providing basic amenities like electricity and WASH facilities.The research provides practical guidance for governments to optimize education spending while promoting equity and efficiency.Suggested citation: UNICEF Innocenti – Global Office of Research and Foresight, Inform: Using available data to optimize education investments in Africa - Synthesis of UNICEF Innocenti research on education in Africa, UNICEF Innocenti, Florence, December 2024.
Navigating the Future
Navigating the Future
As we move through the twenty-first century, humanity faces a complex array of challenges. These mutually reinforcing issues include climate change and geopolitical instability, as well as persistent socioeconomic disparities that have profound implications for children’s well-being. At such a critical crossroads, policy choices we make today will determine the welfare of future generations.To further our understanding of how these challenges impact human development over time, this study presents four quantified scenarios of the long-term future. These scenarios model the implications on development, climate change and geopolitics of varying levels of technological advancement, resource utilization, and economic and geopolitical cooperation.Here we take a journey through these four transitional pathways, with each scenario reflecting unique challenges and opportunities. The objective of this study is to present policymakers and stakeholders with an anticipatory framework for understanding future development pathways.
