Good Health and Well-Being
The Breadth of Child Poverty in Europe
Through Children’s Eyes
COVID-19 and Violence Against Women and Girls
This brief presents emerging evidence of the impact of the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic on violence against women and girls (VAWG). The brief advocates for measures that prevent and respond to VAWG in the current circumstances of lockdown as well as for investments that ensure the safety of women and girls in longer-term recovery plans. It makes recommendations to be considered by all sectors of society, from governments and multilateral institutions to civil society organizations, private companies, and donors, with examples of actions already taken. In addition to providing the latest research and data on VAWG in the context of the public health crisis, the brief considers the social and economic implications of this “shadow pandemic”, which at present are on track to endure long after the immediate health threat posed by COVID-19 has passed.
Changes in Child Poverty in the OECD/EU During the Great Recession
Cash for Women’s Empowerment?
Igualdad de género, desarrollo infantil y creación de puestos de trabajo
Este resumen sintetiza las conclusiones de las investigaciones, los análisis y las recomendaciones normativas para obtener el triple dividendo que ofrecen los servicios de educación y cuidados en la primera infancia. Estos servicios han pasado a ocupar un lugar muy importante en la agenda política mundial. Algunos países desarrollados llevan mucho tiempo invirtiendo en esta área, aunque un creciente número de países en desarrollo están comenzando a seguir su ejemplo. La mayor parte del trabajo de cuidado infantil recae sobre las mujeres —como cuidadoras no remuneradas, pero también como proveedoras de servicios en centros de enseñanza preescolar y guarderías—, por lo que tienen un enorme interés en esta cuestión. No obstante, sus implicaciones para las mujeres, sea como madres o como trabajadoras dedicadas al cuidado infantil, no quedan suficientemente reflejadas en el trabajo de las organizaciones internacionales ni en las numerosas políticas de ámbito nacional, que tienden a concentrarse principalmente en las niñas y los niños. Las inversiones correctamente diseñadas en servicios de educación y cuidados en la primera infancia pueden ofrecer una elevada rentabilidad económica y social para las familias, las personas y las sociedades en su conjunto, puesto que: a) facilitan la participación de las mujeres en el mercado de trabajo; b) mejoran las capacidades de las niñas y los niños, y c) permiten crear puestos de trabajo decentes en el sector de los cuidados remunerados. Sin embargo, este triple dividendo no se obtiene de forma automática; es necesario integrarlo en el diseño y la prestación de los servicios. Este resumen expone distintos mecanismos para el financiamiento, la prestación y la regulación de los servicios de educación y cuidados en la primera infancia, y pone de relieve una serie de vías prometedoras para la realización del triple dividendo. El documento defiende que la clave reside en servicios de cuidado infantil de alta calidad que ofrezcan disponibilidad y sean asequibles, accesibles y compatibles con las necesidades de los padres y madres que trabajan.
Understanding Children’s Experiences of Violence in Viet Nam
Why and How Constitutions Matter for Advancing Gender Equality
Constitutions are the most authoritative expressions of States’ systems of governance and accountability and therefore pose potential opportunities for and threats to the advancement of gender equality. This policy brief outlines the gains and gaps in gender-responsive constitution-making over the years and the policy lessons that can be drawn from these for ongoing constitutional and post-constitutional reforms. It finds that there has been a significant growth in genderresponsive constitutions since the 1980s. However, it argues that while this is an important achievement, the persistence of gender discriminatory provisions in some constitutions as well as the lack of a clear pathway between constitution-making and policy and legislative change tends to diminish the contribution of constitutions to gender equality efforts. It examines strategies that have been used by different players for achieving gender-responsive constitutional changes and pinpoints examples of situations in which reforms have been harnessed for positive advances in jurisprudence, policy and legislation.
Methodological Briefs on Evidence Synthesis Brief 6: The Future of Evidence Synthesis and Knowledge Brokering
This series of eight briefs, produced by the UNICEF Office of Research – Innocenti, is intended to provide guidance on how to undertake, commission and manage evidence synthesis products such as systematic reviews, rapid evidence assessments and evidence gap maps. Evidence synthesis can play an important role in UNICEF’s knowledge management and evidence translation efforts by collating knowledge from multiple studies on what interventions work, and why and how they work. It makes research more accessible and therefore can contribute to evidence-informed programming and policy decisions. The primary audience for these briefs is professionals, including UNICEF staff, who conduct, commission or interpret research and evaluation findings in development contexts to make decisions about policy, programming and advocacy.
Methodological Briefs on Evidence Synthesis Brief 1: Overview
This series of eight briefs, produced by the UNICEF Office of Research – Innocenti, is intended to provide guidance on how to undertake, commission and manage evidence synthesis products such as systematic reviews, rapid evidence assessments and evidence gap maps. Evidence synthesis can play an important role in UNICEF’s knowledge management and evidence translation efforts by collating knowledge from multiple studies on what interventions work, and why and how they work. It makes research more accessible and therefore can contribute to evidence-informed programming and policy decisions. The primary audience for these briefs is professionals, including UNICEF staff, who conduct, commission or interpret research and evaluation findings in development contexts to make decisions about policy, programming and advocacy.
Making the Investment Case for Social Protection
Methodological Briefs on Evidence Synthesis Brief 3: Developing and Designing an Evidence Synthesis Product
This series of eight briefs, produced by the UNICEF Office of Research – Innocenti, is intended to provide guidance on how to undertake, commission and manage evidence synthesis products such as systematic reviews, rapid evidence assessments and evidence gap maps. Evidence synthesis can play an important role in UNICEF’s knowledge management and evidence translation efforts by collating knowledge from multiple studies on what interventions work, and why and how they work. It makes research more accessible and therefore can contribute to evidence-informed programming and policy decisions. The primary audience for these briefs is professionals, including UNICEF staff, who conduct, commission or interpret research and evaluation findings in development contexts to make decisions about policy, programming and advocacy.
PREVENTION: Violence against Women and Girls & COVID-19
This brief provides background information on the root causes and risk factors that explain why violence against women occurs in the first place. It highlights how the context of COVID-19 (coronavirus) is exacerbating those factors and the impact it is having on rates of violence against women and the ability to undertake evidence-based prevention work in the current context. It outlines the guiding principles for prevention activities and provides indicative interventions that can be undertaken during social distancing. The brief draws from the prevention field and evidence-based frameworks. It is a living document that will benefit from the vast and evolving knowledge of a wide range of experts who are supporting solutions to end violence against women and girls across countries and contexts.
Measuring Inequality in Children’s Education in Rich Countries
There is growing recognition among international organizations, scholars and policymakers that education systems must produce equitable outcomes, but there is far less consensus on what this means in practice. This paper analyses differences in inequality of outcome and inequality of opportunity in educational achievement among primary and secondary schoolchildren across 38 countries of the European Union (EU) and/or the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The analysis focuses on reading achievement, drawing on data from the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) and the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). We use several measures to operationalize the two concepts of inequality in education. Our results show that inequality of outcome does not necessarily go hand in hand with inequality of opportunity. These two concepts lead to measures that produce very different country rankings. We argue that information on both inequality of outcome and inequality of opportunity is necessary for a better understanding of equity in children’s education.
Childcare in a Global Crisis: The Impact of COVID-19 on Work and Family Life
The COVID-19 (coronavirus) crisis that has engulfed the world during 2020 challenges children’s education, care and well-being. Many parents struggle to balance their responsibilities for childcare and paid employment, with a disproportionate burden placed on women. Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, the situation of families had been described as ‘a global childcare crisis’. This brief takes a global perspective on childcare in the early years. In the current context of lockdown and school closures, lack of childcare is likely to be one of the worst affected services available to families. This paper paints a picture of current progress towards ensuring that all families have access to affordable and high-quality childcare, and considers the implications of the current COVID-19 crisis for childcare globally. We show how governments and employers can help parents to address the global childcare crisis through paid parental leave, followed by accessible, affordable and high-quality childcare. COVID-19 economic recovery packages have, to date, directed the vast majority of resources to firms rather than to households. This can be changed through public provision of childcare, subsidies, social protection floors and tax incentives.
COVID-19 Pandemic Deals a Huge Blow to the Manufacturing Exports From LDCs
The COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic poses a significant economic challenge to LDCs that rely heavily on exporting manufactured goods, particularly clothing and apparel, amid global demand and supply-side shocks. Clothing and apparel exports have been key drivers of formal employment, wage growth and poverty reduction in a few countries, with the share of working poor falling from about 45 per cent to 15 per cent of the workforce in these LDCs during the past two decades. A prolonged global slump will likely reverse the gains in poverty reduction and undermine structural transformation of these economies. While it is highly unlikely that these LDCs will face a debt crisis—given their low levels of external debt—the likelihood of a balance of payments crisis looms large. Additional liquidity and credit from multilateral sources will remain critical not only to avoid a balance of payments crisis but also to prevent increases in poverty and the reversal of years of development gains.
COVID-19 and the Need for Action on Mental Health
Although the COVID-19 (coronavirus) crisis is, in the first instance, a physical health crisis, it has the seeds of a major mental health crisis as well, if action is not taken. Good mental health is critical to the functioning of society at the best of times. It must be front and centre of every country’s response to and recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. The mental health and wellbeing of whole societies have been severely impacted by this crisis and are priorities to be addressed urgently. Rapid implementation of recommended actions will be essential to ensure people and societies are better protected from the mental health impact of COVID-19. The e-book for this policy brief has been converted into an accessible format for the visually impaired and people with print reading disabilities. It is fully compatible with leading screen-reader technologies such as JAWS and NVDA.
COVID-19 and Children, in the North and in the South
This paper aims to document the likely direct and indirect impacts of the COVID-19 (coronavirus) crisis in developed and developing countries. It also aims to identify potential urgent measures to alleviate such impacts on children. Thirty-three years after the UNICEF report, 'Adjustment with a Human Face', the authors warn of the effects of the pandemic which are likely to be considerable and comparable to the recession and debt crisis of the 1980s. The heavy costs for children can only be avoided with systematic and concerted efforts on the part of governments and the international community, to provide extensive financial and social support for the poor, and to invest in the health and education systems, in order to offset the negative impact of the virus-induced recession.
COVID-19 in an Urban World
The remarkable growth of cities in recent decades has intensified a number of humanity’s most pressing challenges. It has also presented many of our greatest opportunities to protect people, prosperity and planet. COVID-19 (coronavirus) has laid bare – and indeed heightened – both these challenges and these opportunities. With an estimated 90 percent of all reported COVID-19 cases, urban areas have become the epicentre of the pandemic. In the near term, for many cities, the COVID-19 health crisis has expanded to a crisis of urban access, urban equity, urban finance, safety, joblessness, public services, infrastructure and transport, all of which are dis-proportionally affecting the most vulnerable in society.
COVID-19: A Speedy and Balanced Recovery of Europe will Remain Critical for the World to Return to the Trajectory of Sustainable Development
A speedy, timely and balanced recovery from the crisis will be critical not only for preserving European solidarity, but also for ensuring that the world quickly returns to the trajectory of sustainable development. The fiscal response to the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic has been large but uneven across countries, with a few countries with favorable fiscal positions able to roll out large stimulus packages. The European Union (EU) member states agreed to a large fiscal package — 3% of EU GDP — and continued with discussions about issuing a common European bond to lower the borrowing costs of the hardest hit economies and assist their recovery.