By Chris Niles

NEW YORK, United States of America, 14 May 2013 – Gender equality and education will be critical in planning the development agenda that succeeds the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), according to the Secretary-General’s Special Adviser on Post-2015 Development Planning Amina Mohammed.

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With the international community assessing the gains made by the MDGs and forging a path for the future after the 2015 deadline, Ms. Mohammed has been appointed by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to help create an inclusive and sustainable development plan.

By Rudina Vojvoda

NEW YORK, 29 April 2013 – Members of the Youth Advocacy Group (YAG) gathered last week in Washington, DC, to advise high-level policy-makers on issues around education. Over the next year, the young leaders will provide strategic advice on young people’s priorities, mobilize youth groups and act as a connector between the Global Education First Initiative (GEFI) and young people all over the world.

Podcast moderator Femi Oke caught up with Salathiel Ntakirutimana, the representative for Burundi, and Sumaya Saluja, the representative for India. The young leaders talked about their experiences, the role of education in young people’s lives and their work with YAG.

By Shimali Senanayake

NEW YORK, 11 April 2013 – Teaching children to make peace in the classroom, on the playground, at home and in their communities can have a lasting impact on children to live in a world free of violence and conflict, said Grace Akallo, activist, formerly associated with an armed group.

Ms. Akallo spoke to UNICEF Television after a recent meeting on ways to end violence against girls in school.

“Millions of children inside Syria and across the region are witnessing their past and their futures disappear amidst the rubble and destruction of this prolonged conflict.”

–UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake

By Priyanka Pruthi

NEW YORK, 12 March 2013 – For the past two years, the world has seen crisis explode in the Syrian Arab Republic. Twenty-four months of chaos and conflict have cost the country thousands of lives, many of them children.

The wait for a political solution seems never-ending. It’s a wait that has torn a country apart and placed it on the verge of losing a generation to violence.

By Pi James

NEW YORK, 11 March 2013 – On the eve of International Women’s Day, a panel of five experts representing academia, government, civil society and the United Nations called for an end to violence against girls through better and earlier monitoring and interventions, improved education systems, and a coordinated multi-sectoral response.

Millions of girls are vulnerable to violence around the world, UNICEF Deputy Executive Director Geeta Rao Gupta said, opening the UNICEF-convened side event Girls Growing up Free of Violence: Promoting tolerance, equality and respect for the 57th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women, in New York.

“Violence against girls is truly a cross-sectoral issue, and we are committed to working together towards a day when girls and women can live free of violence,” Ms. Rao Gupta said.

Adjusting to life in a camp in the Niger is difficult, for Malian refugee children – but school provides a place to learn, play and forge friendships.

By Shushan Mebrahtu

UNICEF correspondent Chris Niles reports on a UNICEF-supported programme in the Niger ensuring that Malian refugee children are able to continue their education.

MANGAIZE, Niger, 1 March 2013 – It is the first day of class for Malian refugee children at the primary school in Mangaize camp.

Adjusting to a new life in the camp, which stretches over the Sahara Desert, is not easy, particularly for children who have escaped the violence back home.

But, at this school, they are trying to return to normalcy. They are excited to learn, play and socialize with their friends.