Providing as many children as possible with access to education is important. But teaching quality is also crucial. The deficits became even more apparent last year. Worldwide, the average effective schooling time is just 7.9 school years. There is a lack of well-trained teaching staff. Teaching materials are inadequate. Classrooms are overcrowded. As a result, an estimated 617 million children and young people did not reach the minimum requirements in reading and mathematics in 2021, even though two-thirds of them do attend school. The Bundesplatz campaign was a media success and raised awareness of the crisis among the Swiss population.

Changing the world with education

During its 75th anniversary year, UNICEF Switzerland and Liechtenstein focused its donations on educational programs.

In Uganda, for example, a program to promote early childhood education was implemented together with the Ministry of Education. In Ethiopia, parents of vulnerable children were educated about childcare practices. In Malawi, we continued to develop the skills of teaching staff. In Nepal, UNICEF supported an early childhood development program until December 2021.

Education holds the key to every child’s personal development, as well as being a catalyst for social mobility, equal opportunities and economic development within entire countries. It is the most effective investment against poverty.

Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, the global learning crisis had already excluded 258 million children from schools. Not being able to attend school meant that more than 370 million children did not receive a school meal last year. This is often their only source of regular, healthy nutrition. Children’s mental health is suffering. There has been an increase in the number of children dropping out of school. Gender equality is regressing. Child marriages will increase.

Star Weeks 2021 collected “back to school” donations for schoolchildren in Brazil. Hundreds of thousands of girls and boys in South America’s largest country are being denied their right to education. And due to the pandemic and resulting school closures, over 5.5 million children and young people had no access to school activities in 2020, either in print or digital form, in class or remotely.

Through the Star Weeks campaign, UNICEF is making a valuable contribution to ensuring that disadvantaged children between the ages of 7 and 12 can receive a good education and stay in school. This includes modern teaching materials that are adapted to the children’s age and can be used both in the classroom and for online teaching. The aim is also to get teachers to learn to deliver exciting lessons that children can participate in from home.

Star Weeks: Children helping children

Thousands of children again contributed fantastic, creative and fun ideas in 2021. They baked cakes, made Christmas decorations, knitted socks, painted candles, ran long distances for a good cause, performed a musical and sold hot punch on the street.

Southern Madagascar has suffered four years of severe drought. In the last year alone, more than one million people on the island have been in urgent need of food and humanitarian aid. Many families have had to sell what little they owned to survive. Vao was a farmer. Now the only thing she can do is sell wood. Exhausted and hungry, she does not know how to cope with each new day that comes. Often the only source of food is wild cactus.

Health centers

UNICEF is on the ground, and cares for malnourished children like Vao’s at the Ambohimalaza Health Center. They receive medical care and regain their strength thanks to a therapeutic peanut paste that is rich in calories and nutrients. Three volunteer nurses help at the health center.

“We’re now treating more than 200 cases of severe acute malnutrition,” explains Asaaze Angeline, the head nurse (August 4, 2021).

Vao also received additional packets of the nutrient-rich peanut paste. Families living at the health center also receive two 20-liter containers of water per day. Polluted water frequently leads to illness in children and is one of the causes of malnutrition. Ensuring access to clean water remains one of the key targets of UNICEF’s work in Madagascar.

While adolescence may bring with it an increased risk of mental illness, it is also a crucial phase of life during which healthy behavior patterns as well as emotional and social learning develop. To reduce the increasing burden of mental health disorders, it is crucial to focus on young people’s mental wellbeing. Despite growing awareness of the negative impact, there are large gaps in investment, particularly in mental health support and prevention programs. In addition to expanding high-quality childcare, child education and family-friendly measures, UNICEF particularly recommends improving access to mental health support, at the regional level, in schools and online.

Together with its partner, the Z Zurich Foundation, UNICEF Switzerland and Liechtenstein has initiated a program that aims to support more than half a million young people and their caregivers in seven countries. A communication campaign is also intended to reach 30 million people worldwide over the next three years. The vision for this partnership is a world where every young person receives support in order to improve their mental wellbeing.

Carla was 13 years old when her parents died. She dropped out of school and has been fending for herself and her and her daughter’s livelihood ever since. Then came the COVID-19 pandemic and the lockdown. During that period, her partner left her for another woman. She traveled distances of more than 20 km a day to sell her sweets. Her existential fears brought on depression. She began to self-harm and had suicidal thoughts. Her last hope was UNICEF’s Familia Segura emergency hotline. Since then, she has been receiving psychological support. She has regained the courage to face life. Her wish is that one day, her daughter will be better off than she is and will be able to go to school.

The hotline started in 2020. The free service is aimed at children, young people and women who need psychological help. By the end of 2021, the hotline had received 50,982 calls. The timing could not have been better, as the outbreak of the pandemic has dramatically increased the need for psychological support. According to a recent study by the Institute of Behavioral Research at the Catholic University of Bolivia, one in five people in Bolivia suffer from some form of psychological stress.

Bolivia invests only 0.2 percent of its national health budget in mental health services. Since 2019, UNICEF Switzerland and Liechtenstein has been supporting the prevention of violence against children and young people. Domestic violence, especially violence against children, is still widespread in Bolivia. Children’s right to protection is violated on a daily basis. Our measures support vulnerable families in preventing violence. They strengthen the child protection system in Bolivia and improve girls’ and boys’ access to services that offer them protection and help.

The goal is to protect children from violence. When violence does occur, the child protection system should be able to identify affected children at an early stage and provide them with appropriate support.