Displaying 1 - 10 of 23
This brochure from UNICEF provides an overview of child marriage in the Sahel, a region spanning the northern portion of sub-Saharan Africa. The purpose of this publication is to offer a descriptive analysis of the practice of child marriage in the Sahel, covering: the proportion and number of girls and women affected; disparities in risk across different populations; a selection of key outcome measures for women who married in childhood; an evaluation of historical trends in prevalence; and projections through 2030. It relies on nationally representative survey data, namely from the…
This report explores children and young people’s views and experiences related to COVID-19 and its indirect impacts. Firstly, it looks at children and young people’s perceptions of how COVID-19 has had an impact on their lives and countries. Secondly, it seeks to highlight the ways in which they are working to help to stop the spread of the virus and lessen its impacts.
This research included individual and group interviews with 160 children and young people (80 girls and 80 boys) between the ages of of nine and 18 from eight countries across West Africa: Central…
In this piece for the Lancet, Kelley Swain reflects on the UNICEF video essay series, “Coping with COVID-19”, which invited 16 adolescent girls from nine countries to film their lives under lockdown—“unfiltered, unscripted, 100% real”.
Abstract
Signs of development delays and malnutrition are widespread among young children in low-income settings. Social protection programs such as cash transfers are increasingly combined with behavioral change promotion or parenting interventions to improve early childhood development. This paper disentangles the effects of behavioral change promotion from cash transfers to poor households through an experiment embedded in a government program in Niger. The study is also designed to identify within-community spillovers from the behavioral change intervention. The findings show that…
Abstract
Family constitutes more than simple living arrangements, and these systems are of pivotal development importance in sub-Saharan Africa. The diversity of family structures and types in sub-Saharan Africa has warranted an examination of the various policies and laws in the region. This paper examines all policy and laws related to families in the South, West, East and Central regions of sub-Saharan Africa. The paper highlights the sundry of policies and laws that are influenced by cultural and religious differences within and across regions. Issues relating to patriarchy and…
Abstract
Globalization of knowledge and scholarship raises the challenges of dialogue between Global North and South. Northern knowledge and voice remain privileged, while writing from the South often goes unread. This is true also in emerging adulthood and care-leaving scholarship. The special issue of Emerging Adulthood titled “Care-Leaving in Africa” is the first collection of essays on care-leaving by African scholars. It presents both care-leaving and emerging adulthood scholars from the Global North a unique opportunity to consider the implications of a rising…
This study seeks to improve understanding of the risks and types of sexual and gender-based violence faced by children who migrate on their own, as well as the unfortunate and widespread gaps in protection and assistance for these children. It looks closely at the situation in dangerous or remote locations – places that are fragile, conflict-ridden, underserved and hard to reach, where children may be particularly vulnerable.
The study also identifies actions that are urgently needed, by governments and humanitarian organizations, to better protect and assist children migrating on their…
This country care review includes the care related Concluding Observations adopted by the Committee on the Rights of the Child and the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities as part of its examination of Niger's initial reports, as well as other care-related concluding observations, ratification dates, and links to the Universal Periodic Review.
Abstract
Background
There is an urgent need to understand how best to prevent and respond to violence against children with disabilities as they are at a high risk for violence because they are marginalized, isolated, and targeted and have little power within their communities.
Objective
Guided by social-ecological theory, this study explores responses to violence against children with disabilities, including preventative measures and treatment of victims in the West African countries of Guinea, Niger, Sierra Leone, and Togo.
Participants
Participants…
Abstract
Background
Despite the building evidence on violence against children globally, almost nothing is known about the violence children with disabilities in low and middle-income countries (LMICs) experience. The prevalence of violence against children with disabilities can be expected to be higher in LMICs where there are greater stigmas associated with having a child with a disability, less resources for families who have children with disabilities, and wider acceptance of the use of corporal punishment to discipline children. This study explores violence experienced by children…