'Mali is one of the poorest countries in the world, and, despite indisputable improvements in getting more children into school in the last two decades, the goal of guaranteeing a quality education for all Malian children by 2015 is still far off.

Nearly 900,000 Malian children aged seven to 12 are out of school, most of them girls. Moreover, those children that are in school often get a poor education because of large classes, poor infrastructure, lack of materials, and, in particular, a la more...

'Mali is one of the poorest countries in the world, and, despite indisputable improvements in getting more children into school in the last two decades, the goal of guaranteeing a quality education for all Malian children by 2015 is still far off.

Nearly 900,000 Malian children aged seven to 12 are out of school, most of them girls. Moreover, those children that are in school often get a poor education because of large classes, poor infrastructure, lack of materials, and, in particular, a la more...

'This article, published in the Bulletin of the World Health Organization, examines associations between exposure to physical violence (PV) or sexual violence (SV) and adverse health behaviours among a sample of children in five African countries. The authors, using a cross-sectional analysis of data from Namibia, Swaziland, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe – countries that participated in the Global School-based Student Health Survey in 2003 or 2004 – compared the relative frequency of several a more...

'This Handbook is a review on existing literature and case studies in India and Philippines which have a specific focus on integrating children in to Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) policies and programmes. It is part of a course organised by Asian Disaster Preparedness Centre on how to successfully carry out community disaster risk reduction. With increasing focus on child participation in development and post disaster experiences, international NGOs and global institutions recognise the need to more...

'This report aims to draw the attention of the international community to the specific risks faced by children in developing countries due to climate variability and extremes, thus making it harder to achieve the child – related MDGs. It analyses the impacts of climate change upon children, and their role in mitigation and adaptation strategies. The report argues that children need to be mainstreamed into larger debates on climate change, hazards and vulnerabilities.

It begins with an overv more...

'Security sector reform (SSR) is increasingly being seen as a key component of post-conflict reconstruction. This is due to the recognition that for there to be an emergence of a fair and equitable society the state’s security apparatus needs to be inclusive of and responsive to the needs of all its citizens. Nowhere is this more needed than for children and young people who undoubtedly suffer most during conflict and violence. However, although there has been increased recognition of the need more...

'This paper investigates whether the death of a parent during middle childhood affects child schooling and subjective well-being (SWB) in Ethiopia. The data comes from two rounds of the Young Lives survey, conducted in 2002 and 2006, of an initial sample of 1000 children across 20 sentinel sites in Ethiopia. The children were seven to eight years of age in 2002 and 11 to 12 years of age in 2006, with around 80 losing a parent between rounds.'

'What are the impacts of of parental death and chronic poverty on children's education and health in Indonesia? This paper estimates the short- and long-term effects of maternal and paternal death on children’s school enrolment, educational attainment and health in Indonesia, and compare it with the effect of chronic poverty. The authors also investigate whether there are any gender dimensions of the effects.'

The world has come a long way in improving the health of children and mothers; however, the current economic crisis and global food challenges threaten to turn these successes around. The G8 must show that its commitments are not just to be met during good economic times, but will also be met in harder times. PDF: 426 Kb.

'This profile presents youth and adult literacy at the halfway point of the UN Literacy Decade (UNLD, 2003–2012), drawing on the many findings of the UNLD mid-Decade Review presented to the UN General Assembly in 2008. It puts the focus on youth and adults – with zero or low literacy skills.
This profile is neither a detailed report on progress, nor a manual on how to undertake literacy work. Rather, it presents the many dimensions of literacy which the varied range of stakeholders must co more...