NEW YORK and
BEIJING,
Nov. 20, 2014
/PRNewswire/ -- Urgent action is needed to prevent millions of children
from missing out on the benefits of innovation, UNICEF said in a new
report launched on the 25th anniversary of the Convention on the Rights
of the Child. Connectivity and collaboration can fuel new global
networks to leverage innovation to reach every child, according to the
children's agency.
The State of the World's Children Report - Reimagine the future:
Innovation forevery child calls on governments, development
professionals, businesses, activists and communities to work together to
drive new ideas for tackling some of the most pressing problems facing
children - and to find new ways of scaling up the best and most
promising local innovations.
The report is a crowd-sourced compilation of cutting-edge innovations
and an interactive platform that maps innovations in countries all over
the world and invites innovators to put their own ideas 'on the map.'
"Inequity is as old as humanity, but so is innovation - and it has
always driven humanity's progress," said UNICEF Executive
DirectorAnthony Lake. "In our ever-more connected world, local solutions
can have global impact - benefiting children in every country who still
face inequity and injustice every day.
"For innovation to benefit every child, we have to be more innovative
- rethinking the way we foster and fuel new ideas to solve our oldest
problems," said Lake. "The best solutions to our toughest challenges
won't come exclusively either from the top down or the grassroots up, or
from one group of nations to another. They will come from new problem
solving networks and communities of innovation that cross borders and
cross sectors to reach the hardest to reach - and they will come from
young people, adolescents and children themselves."
The United Nations General Assembly adopted the Convention on the
Rights of the Child in 1989. Since then, there has been tremendous
progress in advancing child rights - with a huge reduction in the
numbers of children dying before the age of five and increased access to
education and clean water.
However, the rights of millions of children are violated every day,
with the poorest 20 percent of the world's children twice as likely as
the richest 20 percent to die before their fifth birthday, almost one in
four children in the least developed countries engaged in child labour,
and millions of children regularly experiencing discrimination,
physical and sexual violence, and abuse and neglect.
China has made tremendous progress
in scientific and technological innovations that have contributed to
improving the lives of children inChina as well as around the world.
Many leading academic institutions, entrepreneurs and intellectuals are
developing new tools that can address disability, engage young people
and improve access to public information on important health and
development issues.
The latest edition of UNICEF's flagship report argues that
innovations such as oral rehydration salts or ready-to-use therapeutic
foods have helped drive radical change in the lives of millions of
children in the last 25 years - and that more innovative products,
processes, and partnerships are critical to realizing the rights of the
hardest to reach children.
The fully digital report includes multimedia and interactive content
that invites readers to share their own ideas and innovations, and
highlights outstanding innovations that are already improving lives in
countries around the world from a wide range of countries, including:
* Solar Ear, the world's first rechargeable hearing aid battery
charger, developed to meet the needs of communities lacking regular
access to electricity; it can be charged via the sun, household light,
or a cell phone plug. (Tendekayi Katsiga, Deaftronics,Botswana /
Zimbabwe)
* Community-based management of acute malnutrition (CMAM), a model of
care that moves away from the traditional, expensive, low-coverage model
of inpatient therapeutic feeding centres run by aid agencies, treats
people in their homes with the support of local clinics and using
ready-to-use therapeutic foods. (
Steve Collins,
co-Founder and Director of VALID Nutrition) * New ways to engage
Liberian youth in the midst of the Ebola crisis through U-report, a
mobile phone-based system developed with young people, that helps
examine what issues are most important to them. (UNICEF,Liberia) *
Floating schools that provide year-round access to education for
children living in flood-prone regions ofBangladesh. (
Mohammed Rezwan, Founding Executive Director of the NGO Shidhulai Swanirvar Sangstha) * Vibrasor, a device invented by two teenage girls in
Colombia, to help people with hearing impairments navigate safely through busy urban areas. (
Isamar Cartagena,
Katherine Fernandez)
* To find a new solution to help those without regular access to
electricity inNigeria, four teenage girls invented a urine-powered
generator. (
Nigeria) "There are so many
young inventors all cross the globe - even in the remotest corners -
who are committed to changing the world for children," says Bisman Deu, a
16-year old from Chandigarh,India whose invention of a building
material made from rice waste is featured in UNICEF's report.
"Every nation has different problems and every person has different
solutions," said Deu. "We need to learn from one another's experiences,
come together as a global community of innovation and keep producing
ideas that can make a real difference."
UNICEF has prioritized innovation across its network of more than 190
countries, setting up hubs around the world including inAfghanistan,
Chile,
Kosovo,
Uganda, and
Zambia to foster new ways of thinking, working and collaborating with partners and to nurture local talent.
Access the report at
http://sowc2015.unicef.org <http://sowc2015.unicef.org/>
Share your ideas and innovations
at http://sowc2015.unicef.org/your-innovations/
<http://sowc2015.unicef.org/your-innovations/>
Access broadcast quality photos, b-roll and multimedia content on:
The State of the World's Children Report - Reimagine the future:
Innovation forevery child:
http://uni.cf/1oNr5pM <http://uni.cf/1oNr5pM>The Convention on the Rights of the Child:
http://uni.cf/1xtF8RY <http://uni.cf/1xtF8RY>
About UNICEF: UNICEF promotes the rights and wellbeing of every
child, in everything we do. Together with our partners, we work in 190
countries and territories to translate that commitment into practical
action, focusing special effort on reaching the most vulnerable and
excluded children, to the benefit ofall children, everywhere. For more
information about UNICEF and its work visit:
www.unicef.org <http://www.unicef.org/>
About UNICEF Innovation: UNICEF Innovation
<http://www.unicef.org/innovation/innovation_73197.html> is an
interdisciplinary team of individuals around the world tasked with
identifying, prototyping, and scaling technologies and practices that
strengthen UNICEF's work to improve children's lives around the world.
For more information visit:
www.unicef.org/innovation <http://www.unicef.org/innovation>
Follow us on Twitter <http://twitter.com/UNICEF> and Facebook <http://www.facebook.com/unicef> using #EVERYchild
SOURCE UNICEF China
RELATED LINKS
http://sowc2015.unicef.org
http://sowc2015.unicef.org/your-innovations
http://uni.cf/1oNr5pM
http://uni.cf/1xtF8RY
http://www.unicef.org
