UNICEF education staff share their stories

NEW YORK, 4 January 2012 – We asked UNICEF education staff around the globe to tell us about their most inspiring moment they experienced in 2011. Something that they would not forget and reminded them why they chose this profession. Here are some of their stories.

© UNICEF/NYHQ2011-0262/NesbittLackson and his smiling mother, Agness Chabu sit in their home in Lusaka, Zambia. Ms. Chabu and her husband, Innocent, are both HIV-positive. Ms. Chabu participated in the Chelstone Clinic’s Preventing Mother-to-Child Transmission of HIV programme during her pregnancy with Lackson and through his first 18 months. Lackson is now 23 months old and HIV-negative.

1 December 2011 marks World AIDS Day — a day for people around the globe to come together to tackle AIDS, show their support for individuals living with HIV/AIDS and to commemorate individuals who have died from it. Visit the World AIDS Day campaign website to find out more, and please find some highlighted information from the Inter-Agency Network for Education in Emergencies (INEE) about the pandemic included below.

© UNICEF/NYHQ2011-0770/Olivier Asselin
Sierra Leone. 2011.

19 January 2012 – In 2011, UNICEF commissioned research to investigate the role of education in peacebuilding in conflict-affected states, as part of the Education and Emergencies and Post-Crisis Transition (EEPCT) programme – a partnership between UNICEF, the Government of the Netherlands and the European Commission.

© UNICEF Zimbabwe/2011/Chikerema
UNICEF trucks deliver secondary school textbooks to the UNICEF Zimbabwe Distribution Centre in Harare.

HARARE, Zimbabwe, 18 November 2011 –Following the successful distribution of 15 million textbooks countrywide, the Inclusive Government of Zimbabwe, UNICEF and the international donor community, will distribute an additional seven million textbooks to all 2,345 secondary schools while simultaneously launching the second phase of the Education Transition Fund.

The Education Transition Fund is an innovative multi-donor funding mechanism launched in 2010 by the Ministry of Education, Sports, Arts and Culture, in partnership with UNICEF and the international donor community, to bridge the funding gap in the education sector during the transition period, from emergency to recovery.

© UNICEF/INDA2011-00070/Graham Crouch
Caption: Pausha Madharia (16 years old) holding a youth newspaper that aims to give voice to the youth of rural India. Based on the Article 12 of the United Nations Convention on the rights of the child, children have the right to speak freely and to articulate their concerns. This bi-monthly newspaper titled Children Independence and sponsored by UNICEF encourages children to ask who, what, when and why from senior members of the community.

By Rudina Vojvoda

NEW YORK, USA, 21 November, 2011 – This year marks the 22nd anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Ratified by 193 states, the Convention has gained wide support worldwide and transformed the way children are treated around the globe. Yet, children’s right to education as a fundamental human right remains a challenge especially for those living in conflict areas.

UNICEF podcast moderator Femi Oke spoke with two experts, Professor Philip G. Alston and Professor David M. Smolin, about the achievements of the last 22 years as well as the challenges that lie ahead.

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By Daisy Serem

TURKANA DISTRICT, Kenya, 11 November 2011- Lowa Lokopu, lost her husband four years ago after he fell ill. Forced to take up the responsibility of running a family alone, she struggles to provide for her five children.

Lowa’s eldest daughter, Sheila, a student at Napuu Primary School, was only 13 years old when her father died. Her educational pursuits became increasingly challenging as the family did not have enough money for food and school supplies. Sheila would walk almost five kilometers to school and back home every day as she could not afford boarding at the school. It was during this time that she conceived her first child at the age of 15.