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Early childhood education (ECE) is becoming a global policy priority, especially in the Pacific Island Countries and Territories (PICTs) where there is commitment to invest in the youngest learners. Building on system-level mappings in 2015 and 2017, this report delves into the status of ECE systems in the Pacific region as of 2022. Based on a comprehensive desk review and primary data collection involving ECE focal points from the ministries of education across the 15 PICTs, this research report highlights key strengths, gaps, and opportunities for enhancing ECE service delivery. Explore the findings and recommendations to see how these insights can inform advancements in early childhood education systems in the region.

Botswana will need to invest in human capital and strengthen its skills base to transition into a knowledge-based economy. However, low foundational learning levels remain a key challenge for the education sector. While Botswana has invested heavily in teacher supply, teacher deployment has not always reflected school-level teacher needs. The uneven distribution of teachers -- both across and within schools -- contributes to disparities in class sizes and learning conditions. Moreover, female teachers are particularly underrepresented in the sciences despite comprising much of the teaching force. This report aims to provide policymakers with a granular overview of teacher distribution in the country and inform ongoing efforts to improve teacher allocation. [This research project was made possible by the Botswana Ministry of Education and Skills Development.]

Education plays a pivotal role in Zambia's vision of achieving prosperity as a middle-income nation by 2030. The Government is committed to delivering high-quality, relevant education and lifelong skills for all children. Despite progress in reading and mathematics scores, learning outcomes in Zambia remain low. Regional disparities within the country persist in primary school completion rates, with girls facing a higher likelihood of dropping out before reaching senior secondary levels. The 2017-2021 Education and Skills Sector Plan underscores the Government's focus on enhancing learning outcomes by addressing gaps in education quality, accessibility, equity and efficiency. In this context, the Ministry of Education (MoE) is leveraging an innovative research partnership with UNICEF to identify and scale local solutions already improving learning in Zambian primary schools. This report presents the local behaviours and practices found in positive deviant schools in Zambia, with the aim of helping to inform future education policy. This mixed-methods research has been co-created and co-implemented with MoE since 2021. [The Ministry of Education Zambia and UNICEF Zambia collaborated with this report.]

This policy analysis examines regional and national policy and normative documents, and existing literature related to digital learning in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, and North Macedonia. The report captures the state of the education recovery after the COVID-19 school closures and explores trends, promising practices, challenges, and gaps in digital learning systems and policies. The purpose of the report is to support government partners in the development of national digital learning policies, plans and roadmaps. The preliminary findings from this research have been instrumental in shaping the UNICEF Europe and Central Asia Digital Learning Strategy for 2022-2025.

In Mauritania, many learners struggle with French, one of the official languages of instruction at school. This language barrier hinders student progress with the curriculum, increasing the chances of leaving school. This risk disproportionately affects adolescent girls due to discriminatory social norms undermining their continued education, even in urban areas of the capital, Nouakchott. To address these challenges, UNICEF Mauritania, in collaboration with the Akelius Foundation and national partners, has initiated a blended course to improve French proficiency for girls in a disadvantaged neighbourhood of Nouakchott. The blended course, which takes place at a community-based facility during afternoons, integrates regular teaching with the offline use of the Akelius Digital Learning app. This research brief presents evidence on how the blended course supported vulnerable girls' learning and other socio-emotional skills. It highlights lessons learnt for practitioners in implementing digital learning in resource-constrained environments, including the reliance on offline solutions and the co-design of digital content with the teachers.

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.

In Mozambique, the COVID-19 pandemic led to schools closing for 80 percent of the 2020 academic year, affecting 8.5 million students and nearly 15,000 schools across the country (United Nations, 2020). This brief seeks to address two crucial questions regarding Mozambique's Grade 3 and 4 students. First, what is the current state of reading outcomes of these students, and how have they been affected by the prolonged school closures? Second, how do children's individual, household and school characteristics relate to literacy outcomes? An analysis of pre- and post-pandemic reading skills, using data from the Avaliação Longitudinal da Desistência Escolar (ALDE, Longitudinal Assessment of School Dropout) reveals significant learning losses in basic literacy skills. Across the country, children in Grades 3-4 showed reduced proficiency in identifying letters in 2021, compared to students in the same grades in 2019.

Instruction time is a crucial component of student learning and is closely associated with attendance rates for students, teachers and directors. This report examines teacher and director absenteeism in Mozambique's schools, using data from surveys conducted in 2018, 2019, and 2021 as part of the Longitudinal Assessment of School Dropout or Avaliação Longitudinal da Desistência Escolar (ALDE). The main objective of this research is to: (1) provide an overview of teacher and director absenteeism prior to and after the COVID-19 pandemic; (2) compare teacher and director absenteeism rates based on factors such as individual teacher attributes and school-related variables; and (3) investigate the factors at both individual and school levels that influence teacher absenteeism. It seeks to inform policies and practices to strengthen the primary education system in Mozambique.

The equitable and effective deployment of teachers is critical to achieving quality education for all. However, the uneven distribution of teachers -- both across and within schools -- contributes to significant disparities in class sizes and learning conditions. Recognizing the critical role that teachers play in learning, the Government of Zambia has committed to addressing teacher allocation through large-scale teacher recruitments. This report aims to provide policymakers an overview of the magnitude and distribution of teacher shortages, and inform ongoing efforts to address teacher shortages and improve teacher allocation. [Michelle Mills and Ivan Mahardika contributed to this report.]

In Italy, more than 700,000 asylum seekers and migrants arrived in the country between 2014-2020. Newly arrived children including refugees and migrants need to quickly acquire Italian skills to succeed in school and society. To help address this urgent need, the Akelius digital learning application was introduced in Bologna and Rome for Italian and English language learning in the 2021/22 school year. This research presents findings from the first year of implementation of the Akelius digital learning application in Italy. Results show the use of the application supported self-paced learning, boosted students' motivation and confidence and the use of the tool was especially beneficial for newly arrived children and children with disabilities. The report also explores challenges and good practices to inform improvements in the use of digital learning in classrooms.

In Bosnia and Herzegovina, the number of refugees and migrants arriving in the country has increased from just a few dozen arrivals annually prior to 2017 to 95,000 between 2018 and 2022. This increase has put incredible strain on the country's education systems. This research presents critical findings on the implementation and effectiveness of the Akelius digital learning application in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which was introduced as a tool to support refugee and migrant children's English and German language learning. The findings demonstrate that using the digital application in a blended learning approach in classrooms was especially useful for personalizing learning and supporting children with diverse learning levels and needs. The report also explores the challenges faced, and good practices to tangibly improve the implementation of digital learning in classrooms.

In 2019, the President of the European Commission announced the creation of the European Child Guarantee, an initiative that aimed to combat child poverty by making sure that every child who lives in poverty has access to free healthcare, free education, free childcare, decent housing and adequate nutrition. With "Delivering the EU Child Guarantee: Practical lessons for effective interventions," UNICEF Innocenti provides a synthesis of findings of operational research on 15 pilot models of intervention for children and families in Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece and Italy. The goal of the report is to learn from the experiences in these four countries to inform the rollout of the Child Guarantee programme throughout Europe. The study provides lessons learned in three themes: laying the foundations for the Child Guarantee work at the national level; developing interventions at the local level; supporting the Child Guarantee at the EU level.

The Kosovo Education Strategy (2022-2026) recognizes the need to scale up digital learning solutions to support individualized learning for children. Shkollat.org, Kosovo's version of the Learning Passport, combines the largest repository of curriculum-aligned video learning content in Kosovo with communication tools to engage students inside or outside the classroom. This research presents findings from the implementation of Shkollat.org in Kosovo, providing policy takeaways for the scale-up of digital learning solutions for education policymakers in the Western Balkans and beyond. Research findings are organized around six pillars of digital learning embedded within the Kosovo Education Strategy (2022-2026): digital learning platforms, content, teacher upskilling and support, connectivity, devices, and institutional support.

Nine out of every 10 refugees arriving in host countries from Ukraine are women and children. Only 1 in 3 of Ukrainian refugee children are enrolled in early childhood education and care services. This emphasizes the need for expanding and strengthening early childhood education systems to ensure sufficient access for all children, and the integration of Ukranian refugee children in the host-community. These briefs offer recommendations for policymakers on ways to expand services, and how to facilitate the integration of refugee children and their families. Strategies include limiting the barriers that may hinder refugee children's access to ECEC settings, capitalizing existing physical and human resources to address gaps in service delivery, in addition to the inclusion of refugees in national and sub-national plans, data systems and financing, adapting policies and programmes to ensure considerations are made for refugee children. This second brief focuses on expanding early childhood education and care for Ukrainian refugee children and caregivers. [For the first brief in the series, see ED627656.]

Nine out of every 10 refugees arriving in host countries from Ukraine are women and children. Only 1 in 3 of Ukrainian refugee children are enrolled in early childhood education and care services. This emphasizes the need for expanding and strengthening early childhood education systems to ensure sufficient access for all children, and the integration of Ukranian refugee children in the host-community. These briefs offer recommendations for policymakers on ways to expand services, and how to facilitate the integration of refugee children and their families. Strategies include limiting the barriers that may hinder refugee children's access to ECEC settings, capitalizing existing physical and human resources to address gaps in service delivery, in addition to the inclusion of refugees in national and sub-national plans, data systems and financing, adapting policies and programmes to ensure considerations are made for refugee children. This first brief focuses on the integration of young refugee children through early childhood education and care. [For the second brief in this series, see ED627655.]

Recognizing that children's learning outcomes generally remain low, in its recent 2017--2021 Education and Skills Sector Plan (ESSP) the Government of Zambia prioritized improving learning outcomes through strategies that addressed gaps in education system quality, access, equity and efficiency. What resources and contextual factors are associated with school performance in Zambia? By merging and analyzing existing administrative datasets in Zambia, this report helps to identify positive deviant schools -- those that outperform other schools despite sharing similar contexts and resources. Data Must Speak -- a global initiative implemented since 2014 -- aims to address the evidence gaps to mitigate the learning crisis using existing data. The DMS Positive Deviance research is co-created and co-implemented with Ministries of Education and key partners. DMS research relies on mixed methods and innovative approaches (i.e., positive deviance approach, behavioural sciences, implementation research and scaling science) to generate knowledge and practical lessons about 'what works', 'why' and 'how' to scale grassroots solutions for national policymakers and the broader international community of education stakeholders. DMS research is currently implemented in 14 countries: Brazil, Burkina Faso, Chad, Cote d'Ivoire, Ethiopia, Ghana, the Lao People's Democratic Republic, Madagascar, Mali, Nepal, Niger, the United Republic of Tanzania, Togo and Zambia. [The Data Must Speak (DMS) positive deviance research in Zambia is a collaborative effort made possible by the commitment of the Ministry of Education (MoE) Zambia, UNICEF Zambia, UNICEF Innocenti -- Global Office of Research and Foresight, and key partners from the Zambian education sector.]

Access to early childhood education has increased over the last two decades, with global enrolment rates showing gender parity in access among boys and girls. Despite this gender parity in access, the pre-primary education system does not always deliver on its potential to tackle gender inequities and address harmful gender stereotypes while they are being absorbed by the youngest learners. As such, this research explores the ways in which pre-primary education can become more gender-transformative at a system level and presents 11 key strategies to support this goal. The strategies are organized around five interconnected action areas: planning and budgeting; curriculum; workforce development; family and community engagement; and quality assurance. These strategies can help governments and policymakers to proactively incorporate gender-responsiveness into the design and implementation of their pre-primary education policy and programming, following a system-wide perspective. [For the research briefs in the "Gender-Transformative Pre-Primary Education" series, see: "Addressing Gender Inequalities from the Early Years of Education," ED627662; "Supporting Gender-Transformative Parenting through Pre-Primary Education Systems," ED627664; "Integrating Gender into Pre-Primary Education Systems: Tools for Gender-Transformative Policy and Programming," ED627666; "A System-Wide Approach to Tackling Inequalities from the Early Years," ED627669; and "Investing in Pre-Primary Education Workforce Development for Gender Equality," ED627670.]

This research brief is one of a series of six briefs, which provide an overview of available evidence shown in the Campbell-UNICEF Mega-Map of the effectiveness of interventions to improve child wellbeing in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), with this brief mapping the COVID-19-relevant studies. This brief provides an overview of the available evidence that may inform responses to the COVID-19 pandemic or that furthers the understanding of its impact on child well-being outcomes. This evidence may be directly related to policies to reduce COVID-19 transmission, such as closure of schools and colleges, personal protective equipment, movement restriction between borders and social distancing, or studies of interventions responding to the immediate socio-economic impacts, such as social protection measures, educational programmes and tele-health. The purpose of the research brief is to: (1) Make potential users aware of the map and its contents; (2) Identify areas in which there is ample evidence to guide policy and practice, and so encourage policymakers and practitioners to use the map as a way to access rigorous studies of effectiveness; and (3) Identify gaps in the evidence base, and so encourage research commissioners to commission studies to fill these evidence gaps. [This brief is an update of the 2020 version. It was written with assistance from Yashika Kanojia.]

This research brief is one of a series of six briefs, which provide an overview of available evidence shown in the Campbell-UNICEF Mega-Map of the effectiveness of interventions to improve child wellbeing in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Five of the six briefs summarize evidence as mapped against the five Goal Areas of UNICEF's Strategic Plan 2018-2021, although it is anticipated that they will also be useful for others working in the child well-being space. The sixth brief maps the COVID-19-relevant studies. This brief provides an overview of the available evidence related to interventions to ensure that every child has an equitable chance in life. The purpose of the research brief is to: (1) Make potential users aware of the map and its contents; (2) Identify areas in which there is ample evidence to guide policy and practice, and so encourage policymakers and practitioners to use the map as a way to access rigorous studies of effectiveness; and (3) Identify gaps in the evidence base, and so encourage research commissioners to commission studies to fill these evidence gaps. [This brief is an update of the 2020 version. It was written with assistance from Yashika Kanojia.]

This research brief is one of a series of six briefs, which provide an overview of available evidence shown in the Campbell-UNICEF Mega-Map of the effectiveness of interventions to improve child wellbeing in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Five of the six briefs summarize evidence as mapped against the five Goal Areas of UNICEF's Strategic Plan 2018-2021, although it is anticipated that they will also be useful for others working in the child well-being space. The sixth brief maps the COVID-19-relevant studies. This brief provides an overview of the available evidence related to interventions to ensure that every child lives in a safe and clean environment. The purpose of the research brief is to: (1) Make potential users aware of the map and its contents; (2) Identify areas in which there is ample evidence to guide policy and practice, and so encourage policymakers and practitioners to use the map as a way to access rigorous studies of effectiveness; and (3) Identify gaps in the evidence base, and so encourage research commissioners to commission studies to fill these evidence gaps. [This brief is an update of the 2020 version. It was written with assistance from Yashika Kanojia.]

This research brief is one of a series of six briefs, which provide an overview of available evidence shown in the Campbell-UNICEF Mega-Map of the effectiveness of interventions to improve child wellbeing in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Five of the six briefs summarize evidence as mapped against the five Goal Areas of UNICEF's Strategic Plan 2018-2021, although it is anticipated that they will also be useful for others working in the child well-being space. The sixth brief maps the COVID-19-relevant studies. This brief provides an overview of the available evidence related to ensuring that every child is protected from violence and exploitation. The purpose of the research brief is to: (1) Make potential users aware of the map and its contents; (2) Identify areas in which there is ample evidence to guide policy and practice, and so encourage policymakers and practitioners to use the map as a way to access rigorous studies of effectiveness; and (3) Identify gaps in the evidence base, and so encourage research commissioners to commission studies to fill these evidence gaps. [This brief is an update of the 2020 version. It was written with assistance from Yashika Kanojia.]

Teachers are the most important drivers of students' academic achievement and they are at the heart of learning recovery efforts. Finding out the bottlenecks and necessary conditions for ensuring teachers' presence at school and in the classroom is essential. Time to Teach is a mixed methods research initiative that aims to find out the contextual, working conditions and policy factors impeding primary school teacher attendance in 11 West and Central African countries: Co^te d'Ivoire, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, The Gambia, and Togo. The study considers teacher attendance as multi-dimensional, in four distinct forms. Teachers were asked to about their attendance in relation to: (1) being school; (2) being punctual (arriving and leaving on time); (3) being the classroom; and (4) spending sufficient time on task. Evidence is drawn from national, system-wide qualitative data collection and school observations, and a quantitative survey of 1,673 teachers working in 234 purposively selected primary schools. While primary data were collected prior to the COVID-19 school closures (in the 2018/2019 school year), the study provides important insights on how the pandemic has exacerbated chronic challenges of education systems that impact teacher attendance and is therefore informative for policy, both in the current COVID-19 era and beyond.

This research brief is one of a series of six briefs, which provide an overview of available evidence shown in the Campbell-UNICEF Mega-Map of the effectiveness of interventions to improve child wellbeing in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Five of the six briefs summarize evidence as mapped against the five Goal Areas of UNICEF's Strategic Plan 2018-2021, although it is anticipated that they will also be useful for others working in the child well-being space. The sixth brief maps the COVID-19-relevant studies. This brief provides an overview of the available evidence related to education. The purpose of the research brief is to: (1) Make potential users aware of the map and its contents; (2) Identify areas in which there is ample evidence to guide policy and practice, and so encourage policymakers and practitioners to use the map as a way to access rigorous studies of effectiveness;and (3) Identify gaps in the evidence base, and so encourage research commissioners to commission studies to fill these evidence gaps. [This brief is an update of the 2020 version. It was written with assistance from Yashika Kanojia.]

UNICEF Innocenti's Report Card 17 explores how the 43 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and/or the European Union (EU) countries are faring in providing healthy environments for children. Do children have clean water to drink? Do they have good-quality air to breathe? Are their homes free of lead and mould? How many children live in overcrowded homes? How many have access to green play spaces, safe from road traffic? Data show that a nation's wealth does not guarantee a healthy environment. Far too many children are deprived of a healthy home, irreversibly damaging their current and future well-being. Beyond children's immediate environments, over-consumption in some of the world's richest countries is destroying children's environments globally. This threatens both children worldwide and future generations. To provide all children with safe and healthy environments, governments, policymakers, businesses and all stakeholders are called to act on a set of policy recommendations. The report focuses on the following questions: (1) How do environmental factors affect children's well-being? (2) How are many of the world's richest countries faring in terms of providing a healthy environment in which children can live, develop and thrive? and (3) What actions can these countries take to improve the environments in which children live? [This report was written with contributions from Dominic Richardson, Gunilla Olsson, Celine Little, Dagna Rams, Gro Dehli Villanger, Nicole Quattrini, Tim Huijts, Mirza Balaj and Terje Eikemo.]

Learning remains largely out of reach for many of the most vulnerable children around the world. In low- and middle-income countries, an estimated 56% of children cannot read a simple text by the age of 10. This share is projected to rise to 70% after the pandemic. The school closures imposed by the COVID-19 outbreak, coupled with an enduring tendency in low-income countries to allocate a limited share of the national education budget to the most vulnerable, are further widening inequalities in the global learning crisis landscape. The Let Us Learn (LUL) initiative implements innovative education programmes to improve learning for the most vulnerable children in five countries with high levels of out-of-school children: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Liberia, Madagascar and Nepal. This report documents the outcomes, lessons learned and recommendations based on the experience of the initiative across four types of learning programmes spanning the education lifecycle: (1) pre-primary education; (2) accelerated learning pathways; (3) programmes to reduce barriers to access and stay in formal school; and (4) vocational training.

This research brief is one of a series of six briefs, which provide an overview of available evidence shown in the Campbell-UNICEF Mega-Map of the effectiveness of interventions to improve child well-being in low- and middle-income countries. Five of these briefs summarize evidence as mapped against the five goal areas of UNICEF's 2018-2021 Strategic Plan. A sixth special brief was added to focus specifically on COVID-19 and other epidemics and major crises. It is anticipated that the briefs will also be useful for others working in the child well-being space. This brief provides an overview of the available evidence related to child health and development. The purpose of the research brief is to: (1) Make potential users aware of the map and its contents; (2) Identify areas in which there is ample evidence to guide policy and practice, and so encourage policymakers and practitioners to use the map as a way to access rigorous studies of effectiveness; and (3) Identify gaps in the evidence base, and so encourage research commissioners to commission studies to fill these evidence gaps. [This brief is an update of the 2020 version. It was written with assistance from Yashika Kanojia.]

By illuminating why and how interventions work in real world settings, Implementation Research (IR) is a powerful tool for increasing the likelihood that evidence-based interventions, programmes and policies are successfully implemented. The insights that IR generates help bridge the 'know-do gap'--the gap between what we know works and what actually happens on the ground when we try to put a policy or intervention into place. IR is a means for increasing the likelihood of successful outcomes, reducing the risk of wastage and failure and accelerating programme and system improvements to reduce inequities and achieve desired results. This paper, prepared by the Centre for Evidence and Implementation in collaboration with UNICEF, aims to promote a shared understanding of IR and its relevance to UNICEF's work. [This paper was prepared by the Centre for Evidence and Implementation, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), and CHAIN--Centre for Global Health Inequalities Research.]

The widespread school closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic have exacerbated the learning crisis for children living in Eastern and Southern Africa. The crisis has also shown the great need to develop resilient education systems that can provide learning when schools are forced to close. Understanding how to provide remote learning equitably utilizing multiple modalities and emphasizing low-tech solutions in Eastern and Southern Africa is critical given the great challenges facing the region in terms of electricity and connectivity access. This report provides a summary of lessons learned in the East and Southern Africa region from remote learning during COVID-19 and provides concrete recommendations on how to increase the resilience of education systems.

Of the nearly 1 billion people with a disability, 80% live in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) and 240 million are children. Children with disabilities remain one of the most marginalized and excluded groups in society. This protocol to the Evidence and Gap Map on the Effectiveness of Inclusive Interventions for Children with Disabilities Living in LMICs aims to identify the available evidence on inclusive interventions to improve access to health, education and social services for these children, and enable them to participate fully in society by addressing discrimination, improving living conditions, incorporating mainstreaming approaches and promoting empowerment. It highlights gaps in the evidence to prioritize future research and evaluation agendas; identifies contextual factors related to various populations and settings; and provides a database of peer-reviewed and grey literature in this area. [For the companion report "Inclusive Interventions for Children with Disabilities: An Evidence and Gap Map from Low- and Middle-Income Countries. Inclusion Matters," see ED627681.]

When schools started closing their doors due to COVID-19, countries in Europe and Central Asia quickly provided alternative learning solutions for children to continue learning. More than 90 per cent of countries offered digital solutions to ensure that education activities could continue. However, lack of access to digital devices and a reliable internet connection excluded a significant amount of already marginalized children and threatened to widen the existing learning disparities. This report builds on existing evidence highlighting key lessons learned during the pandemic to promote learning for all during school closure and provides actionable policy recommendations on how to bridge the digital divide and build resilient education systems in Europe and Central Asia.

The World Health Organization estimates that 1 billion people in the world live with a disability, of whom UNICEF estimates 240 million are children. The majority of the world's children with disabilities live in low- and middle-income countries, where humanitarian crises are most likely to occur. Humanitarian crises increase the prevalence of child disability and the need for assistive technologies (AT) as children sustain new disabling injuries, children with disabilities lose their assistive devices, or access to limited existing health services is worsened by crisis. In addition, there are likely to be many more children with disabilities in humanitarian settings whose need for AT has never been identified. This literature review discusses the barriers to AT provision in humanitarian settings and considers possible entry points for provision in future. Recommendations include: coordination platforms for the provision of AT; gathering evidence on existing in-country AT provision and strengthening those systems; designing programmes for AT provision that account for pre-existing barriers, within-crises barriers including those internal to humanitarian organisations like UNICEF.

South Sudan is in a protracted crisis. Four million people have been displaced and many have been left living with high levels of injury, poverty and food insecurity. The impact of the crisis on children -- who make up over 29% of the population -- is particularly high, and a large number are at risk of being born with or acquiring a disability. Assistive technologies (AT) -- the systems, services and products that enhance the functioning of people with impairments -- are likely to be required by many children in South Sudan with disabilities. There is no reliable data available on disability prevalence or AT needs in South Sudan, though estimates suggest a range between 10% and 15% of the population. This work aims to understand the landscape of AT provision and the barriers and facilitators to provision and provides recommendations for priority actions.

Due to the impacts of the ongoing conflict, Afghanistan's child population is at high risk of being born with or acquiring a primary or secondary disability. According to a recent estimate, up to 17% of Afghanistan's children live with some form of disability. Assistive Technologies -- the systems, services and products that enhance the functioning of people with impairments -- are likely to be required by a large proportion of children with disabilities in Afghanistan. Afghanistan has signed and ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which includes a commitment to provide assistive technologies equitably to all who need it. However, little action has been taken to meet this commitment, and there continues to be a vast gap between need and provision. This work presents the the barriers and facilitators to provision and provides recommendations to begin to close the gap.

There are 240 million children with disabilities in the world; half of them are out of school. Many are invisible, stigmatized, hidden by their families and abandoned by their governments. Children with disabilities, especially in humanitarian settings, are among the poorest members of the population and one of the most marginalized and excluded groups in society. With only an estimated 1 in 10 children with a need for assistive devices having access, UNICEF's Office of Research -- Innocenti undertook a study to better understand the nature and drivers of Assistive Technology (AT) access in humanitarian settings. This document provides a synthesis of the project's various reports and papers: (1) a thematic literature review summarizes the academic evidence base regarding the provision of AT in humanitarian settings, including the nature and scale of provision and barriers and facilitators of access and provision; and (2) three case studies of countries affected by crisis to triangulate the findings of the literature review and fill identified knowledge gaps with real-world examples: Afghanistan, South Sudan, and the State of Palestine. [For the literature review, see ED620416. For the Afghanistan and South Sudan case studies, see ED620403 and ED620415, respectively.]

This series of briefs draws on the findings of multi-country research based on first-hand migration experiences of 1,634 children and young people moving between Somalia, Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt (available at www.unicef-irc.org/child-migration-hoa). The briefs highlight findings that can inform decision makers when designing child-sensitive solutions for children on the move (COM), in line with relevant objectives of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (GCM). This third brief in the series presents vulnerability, discrimination and xenophobia. [For Brief 1, see ED620508. For Brief 2, see ED620510.]

This series of briefs draws on the findings of multi-country research based on first-hand migration experiences of 1,634 children and young people moving between Somalia, Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt1 (available at www.unicef-irc.org/child-migration-hoa). The briefs highlight findings that can inform decision makers when designing child-sensitive solutions for children on the move (COM), in line with relevant objectives of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (GCM). This first brief in the series presents strengthening child protection systems and ending child immigration detention. [For Brief 2, see ED620510. For Brief 3, see ED620509.]

In Afghanistan, 93% of children cannot read a simple text by the age of 10. Education is not available to everyone, especially for girls and children in remote areas. A form of community-based education, called Accelerated Learning Centers (ALCs), can help close the distance barrier and meet the needs of out-of-school children and girls. In May 2021, an assessment of foundational literacy and numeracy skills of ALC students and nearby government school students was conducted. Results show that children at ALCs are learning at similar levels or better compared with children who attend government schools. This report provides insight into practices to improve education in rural areas in Afghanistan.

Emerging evidence shows a positive association between women school leaders and student performance. Some studies suggest women school leaders are more likely than their male counterparts to adopt effective management practices that may contribute to improved outcomes. However, women remain largely underrepresented in school leadership positions, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. This brief presents emerging insights on the association between women school leaders and education outcomes and draws attention to women's underrepresentation in school leadership roles. It highlights the need for further research on gender and school leadership to identify policies and practices that can be implemented to increase women's representation and scale high-quality management practices adopted by women leaders to more schools to improve education outcomes for all children. [The development of this brief was a collaborative effort with the Gender at the Centre Initiative (GCI), led by International Institute for Educational Planning-UNESCO Dakar and the UN Girls' Education Initiative.]

New research from UNICEF Innocenti and Western Sydney University explores the question: what does well-being mean to children in a digital age? This first-phase report prioritises the voices of children, collected through workshops with over 300 children from 13 countries along with analysis of existing survey data from 34,000 children aged 9-17 across 30 countries. As digital technology plays an increasingly important role in children's development, the "Responsible Innovation in Technology for Children" (RITEC) project, co-founded with the LEGO Group and funded by the LEGO Foundation, aims to create practical tools for businesses and governments that will empower them to put the well-being of children at the centre of digital design. This report reveals a newly developed well-being framework for children. Made up of eight child-centric well-being outcomes, the framework is a first step towards helping tech developers and policymakers develop a common understanding of how digital experiences can positively influence aspects of child well-being. The report aims to inform the design of digital products and services used by children, as well as the laws that govern them. [This report was prepared by Western Sydney University.]

One tool that many families own, across the globe, is a basic mobile phone. The use of low-cost basic mobile phones for educational purposes in humanitarian settings is critical where access to connectivity and higher cost devices is limited. The portability of mobile phones, combined with their communication features, offers multiple uses to support education in emergency (EiE). This report is the second of a two-part series that aims to provide practitioners with guidance and resources on, and lessons learned for, using mobile technology in EiE settings. The series draws from a review of the existing literature with feedback from and interviews with EiE practitioners. The first piece of this series -- "On Call: The Use of Mobile Phones for Learning in Emergencies" (ED624512) -- explores how basic mobile phones can be used to support EiE learning programmes and teacher training. It emphasizes key practices that education practitioners have adopted to improve the equity and safety of mobile phone-based programmes. The present report, the second in this series, instead provides guidance on planning and delivering learning assessments through mobile technology.

The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted education systems around the world, resulting in an unprecedented emergency with school closures affecting 1.6 billion learners (Azevedo et al., 2021). This brought to light the need for resilient education systems that can provide education during emergencies and school closures (UNICEF, 2021). The challenge of reaching and educating children when schooling is interrupted is not new for education in emergencies (EiE) practitioners who develop and implement programmes in complex crises with limited resources. One tool that many families own is a mobile phone. Low-cost basic mobile phones can be used in humanitarian settings to support remote learning and are critical where access to connectivity and higher-cost devices such as laptops are limited. The portability of mobile phones, combined with their communication features, offers multiple uses in EiE. This report explores the use of mobile phones in EiE settings by combining a review of the existing literature with feedback from, and interviews with EiE practitioners on two critical questions: (1) How can basic mobile phones be used to support EiE learning programmes and teacher training?; and (2) What are the key practices undertaken by education practitioners to improve the equity and safety of mobile phone-based education programmes? Implementing an education programme would be incomplete without a learning assessment. Moreover, can mobile phones themselves be used to measure learning in EiE settings? While this question lies beyond the scope of this report, it is investigated in the second report in the series: "On Call: Using Mobile Technologies to Measure Learning in Emergencies" (ED624513). The complementary report outlines the key implementation steps and uses of mobile devices to support learning assessment needs in emergencies.

The COVID-19 pandemic transformed internet connectivity from an important asset to an essential piece of infrastructure. Yet two thirds of the world's school-aged children still have no fixed internet connection at home. This lack of connectivity limits their ability to go online; prevents them from participating and competing in the modern economy; and risks isolating them from the world. This research brief presents new data on children's internet access in five countries in Eastern and Southern Africa. It provides estimates of the frequency with which children use the internet and assesses the most common barriers they face. Finally, it explores the potential consequences of leaving these bottlenecks unaddressed. [This publication was financially supported by The Saudi Esports Federation.]

Joint efforts by the Government of Nepal, development partners and key stakeholders to achieve SDG 4 by 2030 have improved education access, participation and retention. However, learning outcomes in Nepal remain stagnant. What resources and contextual factors are associated with good school performance in Nepal? By merging and analyzing existing administrative datasets in Nepal, this report helps to identify positive deviant schools -- those that outperform other schools despite sharing similar contexts and resources. Data Must Speak -- a global initiative implemented since 2014 -- aims to address the evidence gaps to mitigate the learning crisis using existing data. The DMS Positive Deviance Research is co-created and co-implemented with Ministries of Education and key partners. DMS research relies on mixed methods and innovative approaches (i.e., positive deviance approach, behavioural sciences, implementation research and scaling science) to generate knowledge and practical lessons about 'what works', 'why' and 'how' to scale grassroots solutions for national policymakers and the broader international community of education stakeholders. DMS research is currently being implemented in 14 countries: Brazil, Burkina Faso, Chad, Cote d'Ivoire, Ethiopia, Ghana, the Lao People's Democratic Republic, Madagascar, Mali, Nepal, Niger, the United Republic of Tanzania, Togo and Zambia. [The Data Must Speak (DMS) Positive Deviance research in Nepal is a collaborative effort made possible by the commitment of the Nepal Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MoEST), UNICEF Nepal, UNICEF Office of Research - Innocenti and key partners from Nepal's education sector.]

The Avaliação Longitudinal da Desistência Escolar (ALDE, Longitudinal Assessment of School Dropout) is the first nationally representative mixed-method longitudinal survey in Mozambique. Since 2018, the ALDE survey has annually collected longitudinal, nationally representative data from around 5,400 primary school students (from grades 1 to 7) in 60 schools across all eleven provinces in the country. This report presents the results of the quantitative data collected in 2019 and focuses on the determinants of school dropouts in the country. When children leave school prematurely, not only is their learning interrupted, but the trajectories of their future opportunities and lives are forever altered. This report explores the multidimensional process of school dropouts, investigating how individual, household, community and school-level factors interact to lead children in Mozambique to dropout of education. Through this analysis, the report provides important and actionable recommendations to improve education policy in Mozambique towards its journey to achieve learning for every child. [This report was prepared with UNICEF Mozambique and the Pedagogical University of Maputo.]