Angelina Jolie with Syrian refugees. Credit: UNHCR / Laban Mattei

NEW YORK, Jul 14 2020 – We must not leave young refugees by the wayside, urged UNESCO, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and Education Cannot Wait as they urged more support in favour of young refugees’ education during an online debate today, moderated by UNHCR Special Envoy Angelina Jolie, on how best to provide them with improved learning during and after the pandemic.

“Mobilizing for refugees is extremely urgent at a time when they are particularly vulnerable to the Covid-19 crisis and its aftermath,” said UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay, as s…

Yasmine Sherif, Director of Education Cannot Wait

NEW YORK, Aug 19 2020 (IPS) – There are moments when the world has no choice but to come together. Those moments become historic turning points. This is one of them. We are now faced with the greatest education emergency of our time. Over one billion children are out of school. The COVID-19 pandemic has created an unprecedented crisis of such magnitude and depth that the next generation might neither have the capacity and tools, nor the will, to rebuild let alone build back better.

Yasmine Sherif

The world has not planned well for the future. At its worst, education has for too long been underprioritized, and at i…

, IITA Board Member, Former African Union Commissioner for Rural Economy and Agriculture, and Chairperson, HOPE

 
, Senior Scientist and Gender Research Coordinator, IITA

IBADAN, Nigeria, Oct 12 2020 (IPS) – Africa’s hopes of feeding a population projected to double by 2050 amidst a worsening climate crisis rest on huge investments in agriculture, including creating the conditions so that women can empower themselves and lead efforts to transform the continent’s farming landscape.

Rhoda Tumusiime

As we celebrate the 2020 International Day of Rural Women, Africa needs to reflect more on the role women play in food and nutrition security, land …

Credit: United Nations

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, Nov 20 2020 (IPS) – Japan should step up and play a role as a global facilitator for equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines, Dr Daisaku Higashi said at a recent Japan Parliamentarians Federation for Population (JPFP) study meeting.

The country should use the credibility developed in the post-Second World War era as a country with expertise in peacebuilding to ensure that developing countries are included in the vaccines’ rollout.

Higashi, a renowned commentator from Sophia University, warned that only an international effort could solve the pro…

Siddharth Chatterjee with CS Eugene Wamalwa, Heads of Missions from the United Nations Mission and other development partners visited the Frontier Counties Development Council Counties with a view of leveraging on opportunities considering geographic proximities in addressing shared developmental challenges in the marginalized Counties. Credit: West Pokot County, February 2020

NAIROBI, Kenya, Jan 4 2021 (IPS) –  

Happy New Year, Kenya.

Several milestones in my personal and professional life have made Kenya a cherished place for me. I started my UNICEF career in Rumbek, South Sudan in June 2000, and my rest and recuperation breaks were in Nairo…

Member of Parliament Juliet Cuthbert-Flynn. Credit: Kate Chappell

KINGSTON, Jamaica, Feb 12 2021 (IPS) – It was a joyful, tearful celebration in the early morning hours of Dec. 30, 2020 for countless Argentinians when they heard the news: the senate had legalized terminations up to 14 weeks of pregnancy. Prior to this, activists have said that more than 3,000 women died of botched, illegal abortions since 1983. And across the Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) region, this renewed sense of optimism was compounded after President Joe Biden what is known as the “global gag rule,” which essentially denied funding to international non-profit organizations that …

BANGKOK, Thailand, Mar 16 2021 (IPS) – The COVID-19 crisis poses an unprecedented threat to development in the Asia-Pacific region that could reverse much of the hard-earned progress made in recent years. The good news is we know how to tackle this challenge. Recovery from the pandemic and our global efforts to deliver the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030 must go hand-in-hand. The Goals provide a compass to navigate this crisis, faster and greener, everywhere and for everyone.

Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana

Results from the 2021 edition of the Asia and the Pacific SDG Progress Report published today by the United Nations Economic …

The author is the Executive Director of the BRAC Institute of Educational Development, BRAC University in Bangladesh.

Children display dexterity during a free play session prior to the pandemic. Credit: BRAC

DHAKA, Bangladesh, Apr 26 2021 (IPS) – Conventional wisdom is that the health of young children is not at great risk from COVID-19, but, in the Global South, the space constraints imposed on young children by the pandemic pose a significant risk to the stimulation on which brain development thrives. Early childhood development is further jeopardized by the pandemic’s impact on caregivers.

A new early childhood development infrastructure has …

An SOP to vaccinate vulnerable groups without access to any kind of ID card is a much needed step, and one in the right direction. | Picture courtesy: Flickr

MUMBAI, India, Jun 7 2021 (IPS) – In May, the (MoHFW) uploaded a (SOP) related to ‘COVID-19 Vaccination of Persons without prescribed Identity Cards through CoWIN’ on its website.

The SOP reiterates that the recipient of the vaccine must register on the and that the vaccinator must verify the recipient with one of seven prescribed photo identity cards:

Aadhaar card
Electoral Photo Identity Card (EPIC)–Voter ID
Passport
Driving License
PAN Card
National Population Register (NPR) Smart Card
P…