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Navigating Digital Learning in Mexico
Navigating Digital Learning in Mexico
In 2021, Mexico introduced Pasaporte al Aprendizaje, a localized version of the Learning Passport digital learning platform, to mitigate learning loss after widespread school closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Between October 2021 and February 2023, almost 100,000 students utilized it for upper-secondary courses. The research explores the key design and implementation steps undertaken for the successful deployment and use of the Pasaporte al Aprendizaje. In addition, analysis of data from the digital learning platform shows that students assessment scores improved as they progressed through courses, in subjects such as mathematics, Spanish, chemistry and physics. The overall goal of this research is to inform improvements in the Pasaporte al Aprendizaje and provide key lessons learned for other countries implementing national digital learning programmes.
Known from Birth
Known from Birth
The Known from Birth project is producing a series of products developed collaboratively by UNICEF Innocenti and South Africa Centre for Evidence (SACE). These products examine birth registration and its critical importance for child protection. The project is supported by the Government of Norway and focuses on implementing comprehensive programmes in Cote d’Ivoire, Mozambique and Nigeria to accelerate birth registration for all children – especially children from the most vulnerable communities – starting from birth.
Final Statement for Expert Consultation on Age-Related Public Expenditure and Policies
Final Statement for Expert Consultation on Age-Related Public Expenditure and Policies
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Mental Health in Displaced Child and Youth Populations: A developmental and family systems lens
Mental Health in Displaced Child and Youth Populations: A developmental and family systems lens
Mental Health in Displaced Child and Youth Populations: A Developmental and Family Systems Lens addresses the mental health of children who are displaced due to crises. Children who are displaced experience an array of adverse situations prior to, during and after their displacement that impact their well-being, health, adjustment and developmental trajectories. However, research remains limited with respect to understanding the impact of displacement on mental health and addressing the roles of children’s ecological contexts (in particular the family). In this working paper, the authors summarize the knowledge base of mental health in displaced populations from peer-reviewed journal articles with a focus on the last 10 years and using meta-analyses of mental health research. Based on this evidence (as well as gaps and limitations), we present a framework and recommendations for guiding future research.
Social Contracts: Towards more child- and future-centred framings
Social Contracts: Towards more child- and future-centred framings
Social contracts around the world are fraying, reflecting a profound disconnect between institutions and the people they are meant to serve, and a corresponding sense of distrust and disillusionment as growing swathes of society feel that they are being left behind. Social Contracts: Towards more child and future-centred framings explores the value of social contract policy framings that have emerged in recent years. It examines why children need to feature more prominently in social contracts and how these framings might take on a more child- and future-centric form.
As They Move
As They Move
The experience children and young people who migrated from their homes in Afghanistan – especially those who have been forced to return – can be described as a spiral of harm and neglect. For many, poverty and a desire to help their families drives them from their homes. Far too often, the journey exposes them to harm and economic exploitation. Many are forced to return, where re-entry into Afghanistan communities brings discontentment. These are among the findings of As They Move: Child and Youth Experiences of Migration, Displacement and Return in Afghanistan. The evidence-based research report is uses surveys and interviews of more than 1,500 children and young people in Afghanistan. The study was conducted by UNICEF Afghanistan Country Office, in partnership with UNICEF Innocenti – Global Office of Research and Foresight with the support of UNICEF Netherlands.
Children’s exposure to hate messages and violent images online
Children’s exposure to hate messages and violent images online
The digital environment is largely unregulated and might expose children to age-inappropriate or potentially harmful content. There has been particular concern about children’s exposure to hate messages and violent images online and how this affects their well-being and rights. Efforts to mitigate exposure to such content are gaining momentum but more evidence is needed to guide policy, regulation and industry practice. This brief provides a cross-national comparison of children’s exposure to hate messages and violent images online across 36 countries, and analyses it in relation to internet access at the country level. The purpose is to understand what children in different countries are experiencing and if exposure to this content is driven by the level of internet access in the population. The results act as a starting point for exploring which countermeasures may be more effective in terms of policy and legislation, and to encourage industry to develop proactive solutions to protect children in online spaces.
Child Work and Child Labour
Child Work and Child Labour
Progress towards eliminating child labour stalled for the first time in 20 years from 2016 to 2020. This slowdown puts at risk the international community’s efforts to eliminate child labour by 2025. Action is needed. Child Work and Child Labour: The impact of educational policies and programmes in low- and middle-income countries is a rapid evidence assessment of the evidence on the effectiveness of educational policies and programmes in addressing child labour in low- and middle-income countries. It focuses on describing the causal impact of schooling programmes and policies on labour outcomes, based on experimental and quasi- experimental studies, and systematic reviews. To the extent information is available within the considered studies, it also identifies and discusses the main pathways and mechanisms of impact, as well as the programme design features that influence programme effectiveness.
War and Economic Downturn
War and Economic Downturn
The war in Ukraine triggered an economic shock in countries in Eastern and Central Asia, a region that has been visited by multiple economic shocks in the past decades. For the children and families The shock featured a spike in the prices of commodities including food and fuel. As a result, poor families who spend a greater proportion of their incomes on necessities – such as food and fuel – were the hardest hit. The result was greater risk of poverty, weakened school attachment and increased infant mortality, among others. This UNICEF Innocenti Research Brief shares projections about the fallout of this crisis on poverty, schooling, infant mortality and the purchasing power of families. It also reviews the social protections put in place in response to the crisis and makes recommendation for future social protection responses.
How Gender-responsive Age-sensitive Social Protection is Related to the Climate Crisis
How Gender-responsive Age-sensitive Social Protection is Related to the Climate Crisis
This paper outlines how climate change can create specific gendered risks based on age and stage of the life course. Critical gendered risks for women that increase their vulnerability to climate shocks include: discriminatory social and gender norms; inadequate access to and control of assets and crucial resources; concentration in low-wage casual employment; limited representation in policy discussions and key decision-making processes. Gender-responsive and age-sensitive social protection – an important instrument in a suite of tools in the broader response to the climate crisis – can play a crucial role in addressing or minimizing negative climate impacts, including those that affect girls, boys and women.
Children and the Cost-of-living Crisis
Children and the Cost-of-living Crisis
Children and families throughout the European Union are facing a cost-of-living crisis that has eroded living standards to such an extent that up to an additional 3 million children in 26 EU countries are now living in conditions equivalent to relative income poverty. For families and children in the EU, the cost-of-living crisis is being experienced primarily through higher prices for food and energy. In addition, increasing interest rates make borrowing less affordable, placing a growing strain on the sustainability of businesses, mortgages, loans and government debt. This research brief presents the first results of an analysis of how the cost-of-living crisis has affected the poverty experienced by households with children in the European Union (EU). It takes account of sharply increasing food and energy prices to calculate the additional number of children living in poverty, in real terms, due to the crisis. The brief also recommends that policymakers and governments protect children and families with steps that include expanding and index-linking child cash benefits to cover the needs of families, implementing guarantees to provide free meals for children in schools and providing services that prevent ‘holiday hunger’ when schools are closed in the summer months.
Learning on Hold
Learning on Hold
In Mozambique, the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in widespread school closures, significantly impacting students and schools across the country. An analysis of pre- and post-pandemic reading skills, using data from the nationally-representative Avaliação Longitudinal da Desistência Escolar (ALDE, Longitudinal Assessment of School Dropout) survey reveals significant learning losses in basic literacy skills. Specifically, students in Grades 3-4 exhibited reduced proficiency in letter identification in 2021 compared to their counterparts in 2019. These findings underscore the negative consequences of COVID-19-related school closures on foundational literacy in Mozambique.
