The State of the World's Children 2011: Adolescence - An Age of Opportunity

Many best wishes. This note introduces you, as a valued member of The Communication Initiative network, to a just-released report by one of our Partners, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). "The State of the World's Children 2011: Adolescence - An Age of Opportunity" was created in support of the second International Year of Youth, which began on August 12 2010. This Year recognises the right of children to express their views freely on all matters affecting them - a guiding principle of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC).

The report: examines the global state of adolescents; outlines the challenges they face in health, education, protection, and participation; and explores the risks and vulnerabilities of this stage in life. It also stresses the imperative of investing in the world's 1.2 billion adolescents, based on the belief that these investments can break entrenched cycles of poverty and inequity. "Adolescence is a pivot point - an opportunity to consolidate the gains we have made in early childhood or risk seeing those gains wiped out," said Anthony Lake, UNICEF Executive Director. "We need to focus more attention now on reaching adolescents - especially adolescent girls - investing in education, health and other measures to engage them in the process of improving their own lives."

As part of its commitment to promoting the active engagement of adolescents worldwide in the decisions that affect their lives, UNICEF also re-launched Voices of Youth (VOY), a youth website on global themes. The platform is youth-driven and allows young people to learn, discuss, and take action on matters that affect their lives. For more information, see http://www.comminit.com/redirect.cgi?m=b8791e6c151ba0f388c7fdeb6c2ac555

Excerpts from "The State of the World's Children 2011", with an emphasis on communication-related elements, follow.

For more information on the report, including the PDF version, a selection of perspectives contributed by authors from around the world, and relevant statistics, please go to: http://www.comminit.com/redirect.cgi?m=3c488b46eff532ed635a7ae39a03aeef

Direct access to the PDF download site: http://www.comminit.com/redirect.cgi?m=6228509f04e20f8e73765bf585cb03b1
Direct access to the perspectives: http://www.comminit.com/redirect.cgi?m=5fb9709c65665c97a19ad946d03e7d5b
Direct access to the statistics: http://www.comminit.com/redirect.cgi?m=29a9163992c95386a0df8cf895501cfb


Excerpts from: "The State of the World's Children 2011: Adolescence - An Age of Opportunity" (UNICEF, February 25 2011)

Chapter 1: The Emerging Generation (pages 1-15)

"...The well-being and the active participation of adolescents are fundamental to the effectiveness of a life-cycle approach that can break the intergenerational transmission of poverty, exclusion and discrimination....

Over the past two to three decades, the international community has paid increasing attention to the particular needs of adolescents. This reflects a keener understanding of participation as a right of all children and especially of adolescents...."


Chapter 2: Realizing the Rights of Adolescents (pages 16-39)

"...Offering adolescents and young people high-quality reproductive health services, and ensuring that they have sound knowledge of sexually transmitted infections, empowers them in their choices and behaviours. Making such services and knowledge available in early adolescence, particularly for girls, is imperative...

Studies show that adolescents avoid health care services...and distrust staff....Adolescent-friendly health facilities should be physically accessible, open at convenient times, require no appointments, offer services for free and provide referrals to other relevant services. In addition, cultural, generational and gender-specific barriers must be broken down to make way for an open dialogue between adolescents and trained staff who can provide effective treatment and counselling...

It is also vital to extend the opportunity to participate first in basic education and subsequently in technical and vocational courses to adolescents from marginalized groups within society...

Sexual violence and abuse occur in many different forms and may happen anywhere: at home, in school, at work, in the community or even in cyberspace...

Experience shows that programmes that cut across sectors, promote discussion, debate and broad participation and successfully, over time, generate consensus around human rights principles and corresponding social change, can lead to a decrease in harmful practices that predominantly affect women and girls. This directly results in greater equality between men and women, reduced child mortality and improved maternal health...

[I]t is essential to take steps to raise the awareness of boys and men about gender relations and power....Gender equality requires the committed participation of all - men and boys, women and girls - to eradicate discrimination based on sex and age...."


Chapter 3: Global Challenges for Adolescents (pages 40-59)

"...Incorporating adolescents' perspectives and knowledge and encouraging their participation in disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation strategies is not just a matter of principle - it is an imperative...

ICT [information and communication technology] offers the potential to remove barriers to education and literacy and to hand adolescents a key to unlock many of the benefits of the modern knowledge economy and not be left adrift by globalization. The panels on youth and technology presented throughout this report highlight that adolescents and young people are particularly receptive to new technology and adapt to its demands with alacrity when they are given the chance. The poor in many developing countries, however, remain largely excluded from ICT and its benefits...

Adolescents are sometimes perceived as a threat to community peace and security....While incarceration is clearly unavoidable in some circumstances, it is essential to explore alternatives to custodial sentencing wherever possible, including counselling, probation and community service, as well as restorative justice that involves the child, family, community and victim and promotes restitution and reconciliation...

The past two decades have witnessed a growing recognition of the impact of armed conflict on children and youth....Adolescent participation in challenging situations can...allow young people to develop their problem-solving and negotiating skills while fostering a wider atmosphere of tolerance, democratic practice and non-violence...."


Chapter 4: Investing in Adolescents (pages 60-77)

"...Major gaps in data on adolescents pose one of the biggest challenges to promoting their rights. While this report has examined a rich vein of factual information on late adolescence, the knowledge base remains limited....The available data suggest that poverty is a major factor preventing adolescents from fully participating in education, and that it sustains conditions that heighten their risk of protection abuses. Few countries, however, have key indicators broken down by geographic location or wealth quintiles...

Investing in education and training for adolescents and young people is perhaps the single most promising action to end extreme poverty during this decade...

National youth councils, community service initiatives, digital communication and other forms of adolescent participation mentioned in this report are all effective means of educating youth about their rights while empowering them as decision-makers...

Building a protective environment requires breaking the silence around taboo topics such as sexual exploitation and abuse. It involves promoting open discussion by both media and society and ensuring that adolescents have access to hotlines, social workers, shelters and youth clubs so they can talk about these topics and seek respite from violence, exploitation, abuse and discrimination that occur within the family or community...

Many key development agents have already joined in a global consensus on the importance of investing in adolescence and youth. These stakeholders, at all levels, must now pull together to support young people in developing the skills and capacities they need to pull themselves out of poverty...."


To download the full report, "The State of the World's Children 2011: Adolescence - An Age of Opportunity" (UNICEF, February 25 2011), please see: http://www.comminit.com/redirect.cgi?m=3c488b46eff532ed635a7ae39a03aeef

Direct access to the PDF download site: http://www.comminit.com/redirect.cgi?m=6228509f04e20f8e73765bf585cb03b1
Direct access to the perspectives: http://www.comminit.com/redirect.cgi?m=5fb9709c65665c97a19ad946d03e7d5b
Direct access to the statistics: http://www.comminit.com/redirect.cgi?m=29a9163992c95386a0df8cf895501cfb

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