Education, interrupted: Mitigating the COVID-19 learning crisis

After many years of progress, the child poverty rate in Canada has moved in the wrong direction. In fact, the poverty rate rose more sharply for children than for the general population. Canada is now a middle performer among rich countries for its rate of child poverty.    Host: Saara Chaudry Guests: Lisa Wolff, Director of Policy and Research, UNICEF Canada Terence Hamilton, Policy Specialist, UNICEF Canada  David, Teerka and Mihir, Youth Participants   Producers: Sara Faruqi and Priyadarshini Mitra Composed and mixed by: Chandra Bulucon

A holiday special episode of the For Every Child podcast featuring a conversation between UNICEF Canada ambassadors and actors Simu Liu and Saara Chaudry about what inspires them to advocate for child rights and their hopes for children in 2024.   Host: Saara Chaudry Guest: Simu Liu, Actor and UNICEF Canada Ambassador Producers: Sara Faruqi and Priyadarshini Mitra Composed and mixed by: Chandra Bulucon

Host Saara Chaudry speaks to Dr. Marcia Brophy, one of UNICEF's global mental health and psychosocial advisors, on the impact of conflict on child and adolescent mental health - and the support and services needed.  Host: Saara Chaudry Guests:  Dr. Marcia Brophy, Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) & Innovation Specialist, UNICEF Producers: Sara Faruqi and Priyadarshini Mitra Composed and mixed by: Chandra Bulucon

From Afghan dreamer to achiever, Somaya Faruqi, captain of the Afghan Girls Robotics team talks about education and empowerment. Yasmine Sherif, Executive Director of Education Cannot Wait, takes us into the world of delivering education to children living in crisis settings. And Sam, a young teacher from Ghana talks about how he ensures all the children in his primary school class are getting a quality education. Host: Saara Chaudry Guests:  Somaya Faruqi, Captain of the Afghan Girls Robotics team Sam, school teacher in Anyima, Ghana  Yasmine Sherif, Executive Director, Education Cannot Wait  Producers: Sara Faruqi and Priyadarshini Mitra Composed and mixed by: Chandra Bulucon Additional music:  (Ambient) Love (CC BY) by Kirk Osamayo and Blue Skies by HoliznaCC0 c/o Free Music Archive

From autonomous airships to open-source AI mapping hard-to-reach areas and a compression garment developed by NASA saving the lives of thousands of mothers worldwide - what role does innovation play at an organization like UNICEF? In this episode we speak to entrepreneurs and innovators - all working to make a better world for children.  Host: Saara Chaudry Guests:  Bo Percival, Senior Advisor, Innovation, UNICEF Stephani Sy, Founder, Thinking Machines Spencer Horner, founder & CEO, Cloudline Producers: Sara Faruqi and Priyadarshini Mitra Composed and mixed by: Chandra Bulucon

It’s not an easy time to be a child or young person. In this episode of the For Every Child podcast, we look at how mental health support differs in different contexts and countries, what tools and support we can provide young people and children to help them with their mental health and what UNICEF is doing to ensure young people are being heard when it comes to understanding their needs.   Host: Saara Chaudry   Guests: Zeinab Hijazi, Senior Mental Health Technical Advisor, UNICEF and Matin Moradkhan, UNICEF Canada Youth Advocate    Producers: Sara Faruqi and Priyadarshini Mitra   Composed and mixed by: Chandra Bulucon

It’s 2023 and 1 in 5 children is still not protected against vaccine preventable diseases, according to UNICEF’s latest State of the World’s Children report. In this episode of the For Every Child podcast, we mark World Immunization Week, and look at what it would take to build back immunity following the pandemic – globally and in Canada. Host: Saara Chaudry Guests: Lily Caprani, Head of Global Advocacy (Health, Nutrition, Climate), UNICEF Dr. Vinita Dubey, Associate Medical Officer of Health at Toronto Public Health Producer: Sara Faruqi  Composed and mixed by: Chandra Bulucon

Eights years into the conflict in Yemen and many children have known nothing but war in their lives. Peter Hawkins, UNICEF’s representative in Yemen speaks about what is being done to build resilience in communities and what the current challenges are in terms of education and nutrition. Host: Saara Chaudry, UNICEF Canada Ambassador  Guests: Peter Hawkins, UNICEF Representative, Yemen Waleed Al- Ahdal, Al-jufainah IDP camp resident, Yemen Producers: Sara Faruqi and Priyodarshini Mitra Composed and Mixed by: Chandra Bulucon  

In this episode of the podcast we hear from youth impacted by the war in Ukraine and the earthquake in Syria and Türkiye, and learn about the work UNICEF is doing to support those suffering due to these crises. Host: Saara Chaudry, UNICEF Canada Ambassador  Guests:  Yulia, UNICEF Youth Advocate, Poland David Morley, UNICEF Canada CEO and President Taisia, UPskill participant, UNICEF Ukraine   Producers: Sara Faruqi & Priyadarshini Mitra   Sound Mix: Chandra Bulucon  

There are more children in school than out of school today. Yet, millions of them are unable to comprehend simple text. In this episode we explore this learning gap and look at what are the challenges when it comes to getting an education - in the classroom and in getting children to the classrooms. Host: Saara Chaudry, UNICEF Canada Ambassador Guests: Ree-Anna Robinson, UNICEF Jamaica Youth Advocate Robert Jenkins: Director, Global Director, Education & Adolescent Development, UNICEF Producers: Sara Faruqi and Priyadarshini Mitra Composed and Mixed by: Chandra Bulucon