UNICEF

Prayer Service for Children and Young People

Join ACT Alliance, Caritas Internationalis, The Episcopal Church, World Council of Churches and World Vision in prayer for children and young people and for world leaders to give them life in all its fullness, on 8am Eastern at the Church Center for the UN in NYC on Monday, Sept. 19, on the margins of the 77th session of the UN General Assembly.

The multiple and interconnected crisis and conflicts facing the world have serious and devastating psychological, physical and social impact on children and young people. Over 78 million are out of school; 120 million who are attending school are not achieving required proficiency; and overall 222 million children and young people are in need of educational support. Failing health systems have resulted in 25 million children missing out on one or more doses of critical vaccines. It is the largest drop in a generation, according to UNICEF and WHO. On top of this gap, children are facing severe acute malnutrition, which weakens their immunity; this together with missed vaccines, threatens their very lives. Hunger crisis and immunization gaps converge into a real crisis for the survival, development and protection of children and young people.

We call on world leaders gathering at the United Nations to rally around urgent actions to save entire generations of children and young people.

Learn more and register here: eventbrite.com/e/prayer-service-for-children-and-young-people-tickets-407996958887

____________________________________________________________________________________________

CoNGO Notes: For more information on the Committee of Religious NGOs at the United Nations, please visit rngos.wordpress.com. For more information on the NGO Committee on Children’s Rights/NY, please visit childrightsny.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on Intergenerational Solidarity, please email the vice chair at susanneseperson@gmail.com. For more information on the NGO Committee on Human Rights, please email the co-chairs at bobbinassar@yahoo.com or bknotts@uua.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on Education, Learning, and Literacy, please visit facebook.com/NGOCELLatUN. 

[monthly mtg] NGO Committee on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples

NGO Committee on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples

Agenda for June 16, 2022

Zoom link: https://fordham.zoom.us/j/85797881478

1. Moment of Silence in Honor of the Land we are on and the Native Peoples of this Land

2. Welcome and Review of Agenda

3. Meeting Minutes of April 21, 2022

4. Report of the Executive Committee

5. Guest Speaker: Dan Baron Cohen is a community performance educator and eco-cultural activist of Welsh-Quebecois origin and has lived in Brazil since 1998 and in the Brazilian Amazonian city of Marabá since 2009. He has developed numerous programs with indigenous peoples of the Amazon/Brazil and worked with UNESCO and UNICEF. See below for more.

6. Update on Indigenous Health Subcommittee [Rashmi]

7. Update on the Education Subcommittee [Rick]

8. Other Items and Announcements

Guest speaker bio for Dan Baron Cohen, community educator and eco-cultural activist:

Dan works with Afro-Indigenous Youth in Amazonian region of Para, Brazil. The Rivers of Meeting education project, began by awakening sleeping cultural roots and human rights through Afro-Contemporary percussion, dance and lyrics workshops. Over 12 years, excluded youth were nurtured to become community workshop leaders and coordinators of medicinal plants, street library/cinema projects, dance and audiovisual companies, annual festival and workshop courses in their Community University of the Rivers, to defend the River Tocantins and nurture an eco-village based on eco-pedagogies for sustainable community.

__________________________________________________________________________________________

CoNGO Notes: The NGO Committee on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples is a Substantive Committee of the Conference of NGOs in Consultative Relationship with the United Nations. Likewise, for more information on the NGO Committee on Human Rights, please email the co-chairs at bobbinassar@yahoo.com or bknotts@uua.org. 

Financing for Universal and Crisis-Responsive Social Protection and Decent Work: Proposals of 2021 UN Inter-Agency Working Group

Join the NGO Committee on Financing for Development on Tuesday, April 26, from 8 – 9:30am EST for an official side event of the 2022 ECOSOC Financing for Development Forum on Financing for Universal and Crisis-Responsive Social Protection and Decent Work: Proposals of 2021 UN Inter-Agency Working Group

Speakers:

  • H.E. Mr. Phillippe Kridelka, Ambassador, Permanent Representative of Belgium to the United Nations
  • Mr. Helmut Schwarzner, Senior Social Security Specialist for the Americas, Social Protection Department, ILO Geneva
  • Mr. David Stewart, Chief of Child Strategy and Social Protection, UNICEF
  • Dr. Santosh Mehrotra, Research Fellow, IZA Institute of Labor Economics, Bonn, Germany
  • Ms. Tikhala Itaye, Director, Global Movement Building, Women in Global Health

Moderator: Dr. Barry Herman, Member Advisory Board, Social Justice in Global Development

Register here: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZYsfuqqrjwiHtLVutntuRo0xgsa9K_vEKxP

Co-sponsors: Vivat International, Women First International Fund, Salesian Missions, International Labour Organization, World Vision, Social Justice in Global Development

Background: Social protection refers to assuring a basic income floor and access to basic healthcare throughout the life cycle. It should be provided universally to all people in need, but that is far from current practice. While decent jobs, including self-employment, are mainly in the private economy, meeting the qualifications for most jobs usually requires education and good health, which are primarily public service functions. Thus, programs to promote social protection and decent jobs entail adequate, effective, and fair national systems of taxation, complemented by international assistance, often in the form of technical assistance but also sometimes in aid-financed budget support, as for low-income countries.

The experience of the pandemic laid bare inadequate systems to deliver cash transfers to compensate for the economic costs of the crisis and inadequate public health systems to deliver vaccines, tests, and protective equipment, along with the very limited capacity, especially in developing countries, to maintain employment during the crisis-induced economic contraction. The pandemic experience requires us to think about preparing better “shock responsive” social protection and health systems and stronger counter-cyclical policies. Preparation, in turn, requires consideration of ways to mobilize the necessary domestic and international financial resources on an ongoing basis and with the capacity to meet the higher expenditure needs at times of crisis.

While the inter-agency report concluded with 21 separate proposals, speakers in the side event will be asked to discuss one or more of the proposals. There is no expectation that all 21 proposals would be covered, nor is that necessary. What is necessary is to bring the attention of the FfD Follow-up Forum for consideration by policymakers the work of the 16 cooperating agencies in the task force and the civil society, labor, employer, and youth stakeholders that were consulted in preparing the report.

______________________________________________________________________________________

CoNGO Notes: The NGO Committee on Financing for Development is a Substantive Committee of the Conference of NGOs in Consultative Relationship with the United Nations.

Global Forum for Children and Youth (CY21)

Dear colleagues and partners,On December 7-9, UNICEF and partners will convene the Global Forum for Children and Youth (CY21), which includes leaders, experts, change-makers, and influencers together with children and youth to discuss and accelerate proven and new solutions, inspire commitments to create change and mobilize knowledge and resources to advance child rights to meet the SDGs by 2030. We encourage all our partners to follow the forum online.  Ahead of the event, we would like to request you to please share the CY21 teaser video on your platforms. The video assets (with editable files) and suggested post copy are available to download here. The daily agenda during the event are found on these links:7 December8 December9 December The Global Forum for Children and Youth convenes children and young people themselves, along with leaders across the United Nations, government, business, philanthropy, and civil society, as well as authors, artists, and influencers. You can find the list of speakers here. You may also find other available resources to support you on the links below.

Here is the link to stream the forum online.

___________________________________________________________________________________________

CoNGO Notes: For more information on the NGO Committee on Children’s Rights, please visit childrightsny.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on Education, Learning, and Literacy, please visit facebook.com/NGOCELLatUN. For more information on the NGO Committee on Human Rights, please email the co-chairs at bobbinassar@gmail.com or bknotts@uua.org. 

The State of the World’s Children Report launch

Dear colleagues and partners,

Every year, UNICEF releases its flagship The State of the World’s Children global report, examining a key issue affecting children. These have ranged from children with disabilities, conflict and war, child labour, urbanization, early childhood development, and much more, making it the most comprehensive analysis of global trends that impact children.

This year, for the first time in UNICEF’s history, The State of the World’s Children will focus on child and adolescent mental health and well-being, reflecting a priority focus on mental health across UNICEF’s global programming, advocacy and communications. Growing awareness about the importance of mental health, the impact of COVID-19, and increased evidence on the value of optimizing mental health and developmental trajectories for children and adolescents, have combined to create fresh momentum and urgency around mental health of children, youth and caregivers.

The State of the World’s Children 2021 will present new data and trends on mental health, as well as perspectives from young people, and will help to strengthen UNICEF’s policy outreach and targeted advocacy at global, regional and national levels, as well as drive action and investment to protect and promote the mental health, well-being and development of children, young people, and their families.
The State of the World’s Children 2021 report will be available here on October 5th 00/01 GMT.

Key themes will include:

  • Mental health is central to children’s health and overall well-being: As Brock Chisholm, the World Health Organization’s (WHO) first Director-General, stated, “Without mental health there can be no true physical health.”
  • Mental health is a continuum: Everyone sits somewhere on the mental health continuum, and many, if not most, people move along it at some stage – from experiencing good mental health to anything from short-term distress to long-term disabling conditions.
  • Mental health must be understood along the life course: Every stage of life – from the period around pregnancy, to early childhood and the first decade, and on to adolescence and the second decade – offers unique moments when mental health can be supported and when it may be at risk.
  • Social determinants help shape mental health outcomes: Biology and genetics play a role in determining mental health, but so too do protective and risk factors in the child’s family, in school, in the community, and across society. Understanding these is key to developing policy approaches.
  • COVID-19: The report will address evidence for the mental health impact of COVID-19, as well as challenges in humanitarian situations and emergencies.
  • Mental health requires a pyramid of interventions: A range of multi-sectoral services and institutions are needed to promote good mental health for every child, protect vulnerable children, and care for children facing the greatest challenges. Launch plans

We will launch the report on 5th October at the Ministerial Summit on Mental Health organized by the French Government in Paris, alongside a series of ‘satellite’ launch events worldwide and a new mental health communications campaign.

On 5 and 6 October 2021, the French Minister for Solidarity and Health, Olivier Véran, and the Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, Jean-Yves Le Drian, will host the “Mind Our Rights, Now!” Global Mental Health Summit in Paris. The summit will be attended by high-level policy makers, international organizations, health professionals, experts and civil society actors, in addition to foundations and renowned academics, all of whom aim to strengthen international efforts that support mental health, promote respect for rights and foster worldwide innovative experiences. The summit aims to sustain the momentum generated by the International Conference on Mental Health hosted by the Netherlands in October 2019, and Ministerial MH Summit in the UK before it.

Ten thematic areas have been selected to advance the objectives of the summit and are a core part of the programme. UNICEF is co-leading the workstream focusing on Children and Adolescents, with WHO and War Child, aiming to develop a set of recommendations for mental health and psychosocial support for children, adolescents, and families, which will align closely with the SOWC report. The SOWC launch is officially part of the programme on the 5th October.

The global launch will initiate a series of regional and national events around the world, involving UNICEF offices and key partners, in which we aim to spark a global conversation about child and adolescent mental health and wellbeing. ‘Satellite’ events are being explored in strategic locations across Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, Africa, Asia, as well as the UAE, China and the US.

UNICEF will accompany the report launch with our new public engagement campaign, Mental Health #OnMyMind, which will provide a unifying creative concept and communications framework for all UNICEF offices and partners in support our global mental health advocacy strategy objectives over the next four years. A social media pack is available here.

____________________________________________________________________________________________

CoNGO Notes: For more information on the NGO Committee on Mental Health, please visit ngomentalhealth.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on Children’s Rights, please visit childrightsny.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on Intergenerational Solidarity, please email the vice chair at susanneseperson@gmail.com.

Access Ends Hunger: How Can We Improve Access to Essential Resources?

This last year has highlighted incredible disparities in access to essential resources. The World Food Programme estimates that, due to COVID-19, 111 million more people are without access to sufficient nutrition. And UNICEF has determined that 500 million students are cut off from remote learning options at a time when remote learning is their only option.

Equitable access to critical resources such as education, technology and healthcare is an essential part of ending hunger. With access, people are able to leverage their own capacity and build better futures for themselves and their communities. So, how exactly does bridging gaps in access end hunger and poverty?

Join us Thursday, May 27 from 9:00 – 10:15 AM ET to find out!

Join Hunger Project leaders and our Goodwill Ambassador, Dora Nyambe, in a conversation about the importance of improving access to technology, health care and education. Importantly, they’ll also explore the challenges of removing barriers that prevent equitable access in Africa.

Speakers:

  • Irene Naikaali Ssentongo, Head of Programs in Uganda
  • Samuel Mutambo, National Program Director in Zambia
  • Dora Nyambe, Goodwill Ambassador to The Hunger Project
  • Moderated by our President & CEO Tim Prewitt

Learn more about the speakers and register for the event here.

______________________________________________________________________________________________

CoNGO Notes: For more information on the NGO Committee on Sustainable Development-Vienna, please visit ngocsdvienna.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on Sustainable Development-NY, please visit ngocsd-ny.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on Financing for Development, please visit ngosonffd.org. 

Managing debt, climate and nature in the pandemic recovery

The pressure of growing public debt  is hindering efforts to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, and tackling the climate crisis and biodiversity loss in emerging economies.

Join leading thinkers and practitioners to discuss emerging research into the causes and consequences of public debt challenges, how these challenges are impacting efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement, and what is being done to advance the most promising solutions.

Speakers include IIED researcher Sejal Patel, Prof Stephany Griffith-Jones, and our Ambassador to the UN the Hon. Bob Rae.

After 10 years running the e-discussion Recovery with a Human Face (2010-20) at UNICEF and ILO, it was closed and replaced by this new discussion on Global Social Justice [GSJ]. Please share your inputs by e-mailing: gsj@list.globalsocialjustice.org. This e-discussion is intended to facilitate the exchange of knowledge and ideas; the views expressed by contributors do not necessarily reflect the policies of GSJ. We look forward to your participation, and your reactions and thoughts about priorities for the international development community.

______________________________________________________________________________________________

CoNGO Notes: For more information on the NGO Committee on Financing for Development, please visit ngosonffd.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on Sustainable Development-NY, please visit ngocsd-ny.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on Sustainable Development-Vienna, please visit ngocsdvienna.org.

UN Friends of Mental Health and Well-Being in Times of COVID-19

Dear colleagues and members of the Group of Friends of Mental Health and Well-Being,

Please consider yourselves invited to an event on Mental Health and Well-Being in Times of COVID-19 being held on March 30th from 9:00 to 10:15 am EST. This event is co-organized by the World Health Organization, the Co-Chairs of the UN Group of Friends of Mental Health and Well-being, UNICEF, the International Association of Applied Psychology (IAAP), the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), and the UN System Workplace Mental Health and Well-being.

Presenting experience from professionals in the field and examples from member states, the event will share practical tools, best practices and resources, as well as self-care tools, to help navigate through this difficult time and to strengthen and support our mental health and psychosocial well-being.

We hope you will be able to join us for this important conversation. Please register here!

Best regards,

Pierre-David Jean
First Secretary (Political) | Premier Secrétaire (Politique)
pierre-david.jean@international.gc.ca

Tel. (212) 848-1136 
Permanent Mission of Canada to the United Nations |
Mission Permanente du Canada auprès des Nations-Unies
Government of Canada | Gouvernement du Canada

______________________________________________________________________________________________

CoNGO Notes: For more information on the NGO Committee on Mental Health, please visit ngomentalhealth.org. For more information on the NGO Committee for Rare Diseases, please visit ngocommitteerarediseases.org.

[CSocD59 Side Event] The Role of Digital Technologies to Stop Online Sexual Exploitation of Children

59th Session of the United Nations Commission for Social Development Virtual Side Event February 15, 2021 8:30AM EST – please register by February 13!

Priority Theme “Socially just transition towards sustainable development: the role of digital technologies on social development and well-being of all”

Event Title: The role of digital technologies to stop online sexual exploitation of children

Objectives:

1. To protect our youth from cyber exploitation, especially livestreamed sexual abuse.

2. To call on Member States to prioritize setting-up legally binding internet governance that will ensure respect of human rights, child protection, and equality for all.

3. To share creative and systemic good practices from the government, private technology industries and different stakeholders.

Speakers:

  • H.E. Enrique A. Manalo, Permanent Representative, Philippine Permanent Mission to the UN
  • Ambassador Per-Anders Sunesson, Deputy Director-General- Swedish Ministry for Health and Social Affairs, Former Ambassador at Large for Combating Trafficking in Persons, Swedish MFF
  • Abbie Gillgan, Policy Manager, Tackling Online Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (CSEA), United Kingdom Home Office Role of Digital Technologies: Stop Online Exploitation of Children
  • Richard Pursey, Executive Chairman & Co-Founder, SafeToNet Jaqueline Beauchere Global Digital Safety Advocate, Microsoft
  • Madeline and Jamie Gall, Youth Advocates
  • Marvie L. Misolas, MM Winifred Doherty, RGS, & Fred Sullivan, Co-Moderators

Register here!

Contact mmisolas@mksisters.org with questions.

_________________________________________________________________________________

CoNGO Notes: For more information on the NGO Committee on Children’s Rights, please visit childrightsny.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on Social Development, please visit ngosocdev.org. For more information on the Committee of Religious NGOs at the United Nations, please visit rngos.wordpress.com.

[IFFD Virtual Briefing] Parenting in the Digital Age: Policymaker Perspective

IFFD virtual briefing on “Parenting in the Digital Age” through a policymaker perspective

Co-organized by UN-DESA Division for Inclusive Social Development, with the participation of Center for Educational Research and Innovation – OECD, UNICEF Office of Research – Innocenti, Common Sense Media

Background Note

The global pandemic crisis has shown the great value of new technologies, especially for families. New technologies have enabled many people to continue working at home. They have helped many teachers and parents to continue to provide an education for their children when the schools closed. They have provided ways to stay connected with friends and relatives. They have been a way to reach out for help getting food and medicines. They have been a much-needed source of entertainment.

At the same time, new technologies have shown a darker side. Parents around the world are concerned about what impact the Internet is having on their children’s lives. Their concern is not so much about if they are spending too long online but more about how their online interactions are impacting on their health, happiness and wellbeing. They also worry about them being cyber-bullied, what their kids’ digital legacy will be and if they are safe online.

The event will focus on how policymakers can help parents and families to develop character and cyber-wisdom in their children. At the same time, it will spur parents’ proactivity in seeking to cultivate values, qualities and skills in their children.

Discussion Points

1. What is access and opportunities to digital technologies among different families? Digital opportunities and access for all (Curitiba Manifesto)
2. How does the digital gap impact the suitability and efficiency of parenting? (Venice Declaration)
3. How can policymakers, industry leaders and global media partners support parents in building a digital world that works better for every child, family and community? (Common Sense Media)

Register here!

___________________________________________________________________________________________

CoNGO Notes: For more information on the NGO Committee on the Family-NY, please visit ngofamilyny.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on Children’s Rights, childrightsny.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on Education, Learning, and Literacy, please visit facebook.com/NGOCELLatUN. 

1 2

Recent Posts