Europe and Central Asia

Ivan playing violin Ivan used to live in Mariupol, Ukraine, with his sister and parents. He went to a school that specialized in art and spent his summers in a family house in a village near the city. He was 15 when the war escalated. "I finished art school and got into civil engineering high school, but I didn't even get to finish the first year…

Life changes around pregnancy make women more vulnerable to mental illness including depression and anxiety. In Kazakhstan, nearly 60 per cent of mothers experience postpartum depression, among the highest rates recorded globally. Diana Madyraimova is a 35-year-old mother of three from Taraz, Kazakhstan who experienced postpartum anxiety and…

Amid war and displacement, humanitarian cash transfers play a vital role in supporting the most vulnerable families in Ukraine. Without this support, damaged infrastructure and soaring inflation can leave many struggling to afford to heat their homes or feed their children. Since March 2022, families with children have received a lifeline, thanks…

Vaccines are one of humanity's greatest achievement. In the last 50 years alone, they’ve saved nearly 154 million lives – that’s more than 3 million lives a year or six people every minute for five decades. WHO recommends 13 universal immunizations across the life course to defend against deadly illnesses, from pneumonia to diphtheria to measles…

Trigger warning: This story includes description of child sexual abuse.  “This is me,” explains Matthew, pointing to a school photo of an eleven-year-old boy. “By the time this photo was taken, I had been sexually abused by my uncle for five years. The abuse continued for another three years,” says Matthew McVarish, co-founder of the Brave…

Discrimination, a weak social welfare system and a lack of statutory and primary family support services are contributing to the overuse of institutionalizing children with disabilities and children from marginalised communities in boarding schools across Europe and Central Asia. Boarding schools and residential education facilities lead to…, Closure of residential special schools in Moldova, As part of ongoing deinstitutionalisation efforts in Moldova, the Government closed all general boarding schools. Only two residential special schools remain for children with mainly sensory disabilities, and these are also in the process of being closed. Some of these closed facilities have been repurposed for social services or as resource…

When 65-year-old Akif heard that his grandson and two sons had been caught up in a landmine explosion, he raced to help – only to find himself facing the same fate. “We saw that one of my sons was lying on the ground,” recalls Akif, who lives in a village near Agdam, in Azerbaijan. “I called to him but he didn’t respond, and he was covered in…

Climate change has already irreversibly changed the lives of everyone worldwide, with children carrying the heaviest burden. With concerns over water scarcity, air pollution and increased heatwaves, children and young people in Central Asian countries are taking steps to safeguard their futures., Saving water in the classroom, Fifth-grade students from Shchuchinsk, Kazakhstan recently created an eco-project as part of a programme to develop social entrepreneurship in their schools and communities. Yaroslav, who led the team of students was driven by his concern over problems caused by attitudes towards natural resources "Watching TV programmes about drying rivers and…, Choosing to live in a beautiful world, Children in Tajikistan are using art to express the importance of access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene. Fotima is a sixth-grade student in Dushanbe, Tajikistan and one of the winners of a nationwide art competition dedicated to Youth and Children’s Water Forum, hosted by UNICEF. “My drawing has a main key message” Fotima says. “The choice…, Creating innovative technology for water, Shakhzoda and her team recently took the first place in a regional competition #SeedsForTheFuture for the best #TECH4GOOD project. “In Uzbekistan, we face a significant issue with water scarcity, leading some farmers to rely on groundwater for irrigation. Unfortunately, this water often contains high levels of salt and heavy metals, making it…

In this interview, Sheeba Harma, the Regional Gender Adviser for UNICEF in Europe and Central Asia, shares insights on women's and girls' rights by answering four key questions. With over 20 years of experience, Sheeba has previously worked as regional adviser in UNICEF Regional Office for South Asia and  has spent seven years in Afghanistan…

“What makes you feel safe?” is one of the questions posed to a group of adolescent girls during a discussion about gender inequalities and stereotypes at a support centre in the Czech Republic. For a generation of Ukrainian girls whose lives have been profoundly impacted by the escalation of the war in Ukraine in 2022, the answer to this question…

"This school is my second home. I really like the atmosphere," says 13-year-old Masha, who arrived in Hungary following the escalation of the war in Ukraine. She now attends a local public school but spends her afternoons at the Piarist secondary school which runs a tailored educational programme supported by UNICEF’s Refugee Response Office in…

Children’s right to inclusive, quality education remains a challenge for children globally. This is especially true for the nearly 11 million children with disabilities living in 55 countries and territories in Europe and Central Asia.  UNICEF’s recent report presents data from nine countries across the region and outlines the challenges children…, What are countries doing to address this situation?, Governments in the region are showing a strong commitment to reverse these trends.  In all four countries and territories in the Western Balkans, ministries of education have put in place ambitious inclusive education reforms that have resulted in systemic changes and attitudinal shifts, and represent good practices for the entire region. In…, What needs to be done?, Inclusive education is not an end goal, it is a continuous process of learning, innovating and improving policies, practices and school culture to accommodate and support the needs of all children. Development organisations such as UNICEF call for renewed commitment to inclusive education including revising national policy and legislation, and…