The world’s youngest nation, South Sudan, needs teachers, doctors, lawyers and engineers, not soldiers.
That’s according to the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) which is working to remove children from the ranks of armed groups in the country.
South Sudan gained independence five years ago but roughly half that period has been marred by conflict.
UNICEF estimates at least 16,000 children have participated in the fighting.
Young girls from the favelas of Rio de Janeiro are attending the Olympic Games as part of a programme launched by UN Women.
The ‘One Win Leads to Another’ programme brought 350 girls to attend Olympic events.
The initiative uses sports to empower young women and girls, thus enabling them to take control of their lives.
A “piano prodigy” from Jordan will use his musical talents to advocate for some of the world’s most marginalized children, particularly those caught in conflict, violence and poverty.
Zade Dirani was this week appointed Regional Ambassador for the Middle East and North Africa by the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF).
The pianist and composer said he firmly believes that music is a powerful tool for peace and co-existence.
When it comes to true educational equality for the world’s indigenous peoples, nation states need to “work together” with local leaders and embrace their common heritage.
That’s the view of Karla Jessen Williamson, an Inuit from Greenland, who is the former Executive Director of the Arctic Institute of North America and currently an academic at the University of Saskatchewan, in Canada.
Young people are nearly three times more likely to be jobless than adults, according to data from the United Nations.
Improving education and training to help the world’s estimated 73 million unemployed youth enter the workforce is the goal of World Youth Skills Day observed on 15 July.
Basma Baghall has been speaking to the UN Secretary-General’s Envoy on Youth, Ahmad Alhendawi.
More than 260 million children are out of school, the UN said Friday, warning that it is a serious challenge to Global Goals on education.
Just as worrying is the finding that 142 million 15 to 17-year-olds do not attend lessons, according to the data, released by UN agency UNESCO and the Global Education Monitoring Report.
The research also confirms that armed conflict keeps more than one in three primary school-age children away from the classroom, as UNESCO’s Friedrich Huebler told Daniel Johnson.
