The floods are a children’s emergency, according to the assessment of Pakistan’s crisis from the executive director of UNICEF. Almost nine million children have been affected and more than 10,000 school buildings have also been destroyed by the flooding, according to the government. Along side child-friendly spaces which help children deal with trauma, there is an urgent long-term need for new schools to replace and perhaps improve upon what has been lost in the floods. But for now, thousands of children will do their learning out in the open.
The second World Humanitarian Day takes place this year on 19 August. The day will raise awareness of what it means to be a humanitarian aid worker by describing their work, explaining the principles that guide all humanitarians, and portraying the hazards that humanitarian aid workers face in the course of their work. World Humanitarian Day will also honour those who have been killed or injured in the course of their work.
This film is shot in over 40 countries, with the goal of showing the enormous diversity of places, faces and endeavors of humanitarian aid workers in 2010. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) provides more details on the event. Click here to read more.
Six years after its brutal civil war drew to a close, Liberia is struggling to pick up the pieces. Ghostly shells overlook the capital Monrovia, an ever-present reminder of nearly 14 years of conflict that saw the almost total collapse of infrastructure. The country’s youth were worst affected, many were killed, many were orphaned and many were recruited as child soldiers, losing childhood forever. The education system, too, collapsed as various rebel groups swept through the country often targeting schools for recruits. Almost every child in every classroom has missed out on years of learning and now they’re desperately trying to catch up.
Implementing free universal primary education in Liberia comes with its own challenges. While Liberia is on the right track, it will require huge amounts of time, effort and investment. And it is only through education that the youth of Liberia will be able to lift themselves out of their poverty to rebuild their country.
In a YouTube clip, Katy Webley, head of education at Save the Children, spells out the lessons that her organisation has learned from its Rewrite the Future campaign, including the message that “Education must become part of emergency responses, alongside food, nutrition, health and shelter.”
Decades of conflict in Chad have left children and youth vulnerable to recruitment by armed forces and rebel groups - leading to an estimated 7,000 to 10,000 child soldiers in the country. In this video, UNICEF’s Salma Zulfiqar reports on the demobilization, rehabilitation and reintegration of former child soldiers in Chad.
For five years, young Emmanuel Jal fought as a child soldier in the Sudan. Rescued by an aid worker, he’s become an international hip-hop star and an activist for kids in war zones. In words and lyrics, he tells the story of his amazing life.
Former child soldiers Ishamel Beah,Grace Akallo and Kon Kelei speak to moderator Amy Costello. All three have lived through and participated in conflict in their native countries of Sierra Leone, Uganda and Sudan. They share not only common experiences as former child soldiers, but also agree that it was education that enabled them to become the writers and advocates they are today.
This podcast has been provided by UNICEF. Please refer to their website for further information.
Resource Highlights High Hopes, Grim Reality: Reintegration and the Education of Former Child Soldiers in Sierra Leone. The complexity of providing education to former child soldiers in Sierra Leone and the potential challenges that may be associated with their return to school remain unexplored in the research. This study aims to fill this gap and presents the perspectives of former child soldiers in Sierra Leone, their caregivers, and community members speaking to the role of education in their psychosocial adjustment and community reintegration following the end of the civil war. Theresa S. Betancourt, et al, 2008.
The village of Santa Paz in Southern Leyte, Philippines is prone to floods and landslides. The school is situated in a particularly dangerous area and could be swept away by a landslide following a tropical storm. Plan’s Disaster Risk Reduction programme assessed the school and initially built a trench and concrete barrier to protect it. However, the schools situation makes it vulnerable and only by moving it to a different location can the children be properly protected.
Resource Highlights Children on the Frontline: Children and Young People in Disaster Risk Reduction. Plan and World Vision argue that children, who represent 50% of the world’s population, can and do play invaluable roles in planning and implementing disaster risk reduction (DRR) and climate change adaptation activities. In spite of this evidence, children are, by and large, excluded from the activities that contribute to building the resilience of their local communities. Children must be engaged as a vital part of the civil society mechanism that monitors Hygo Framework for Action progress. World Vision and PLAN International, 2009.
Some 175 million children are likely to be affected by climate-related disasters each year, according to Save the Children. Amy Costello speaks to UNICEF’s Antony Spalton, UNICEF Disaster Risk Reduction Specialist, and Rhee, a 16-year-old boy from the Philippines about the role of children in protecting their communities from natural disasters.
This video shows Sahar Adish, a resettled Afghan refugee, who talks of the power of a girl’s education. Sahar is now a 19 year-old pre-med student at the University of Virginia and recently received a prestigious George Foster Peabody Award for a film she helped to make telling her family’s heroic story of escape from the Taliban. On November 7, 2007 Sahar inspired a crowd of over 750 guests at the IRC’s Freedom Award dinner, which officially kicked off a year-long celebration of the IRC’s 75th anniversary.
Resource Highlights Educating Girls and Empowering Women: Gender and Post-Conflict Educational Reform in Afghanistan. Increasing access to school for girls is an important first step in making a society more equitable; this paper argues for the need to go beyond access alone to explore the role of education in actually improving the status of girls and women in the war-torn nation of Afghanistan. This paper was a finalist in the Jackie Kirk Commemorative Competition 2009. Jamie Vinson, 2009
Click here to visit the INEE Gender Task Team webpage. Email {encode="network@ineesite.org" title="network@ineesite.org"} if you are interested in learning how to get involved.
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