Trinity Mount Ministries

Showing posts with label UNICEF. Show all posts
Showing posts with label UNICEF. Show all posts

Monday, May 11, 2020

How to keep your child safe online while stuck at home during the COVID-19 outbreak



If your family is stuck at home during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, it’s likely your children are spending a lot more time online. School, chats wivriends and grandparents, even music lessons — so much has shifted online.

Being connected helps children and teenagers reduce the impact of this new (temporary) normal and encourages them to continue with their lives. But it also presents a new set of challenges for every parent. How can you maximize all that the internet has to offer, while minimizing the potential harm? It’s not an easy balance on a normal day, let alone when facing a health crisis like COVID-19.
 

5 ways you can help keep your children safe online


1. Keep them safe with open communication

Have an honest dialogue with your children about who they communicate with and how. Make sure they understand the value of kind and supportive interactions and that mean, discriminatory or inappropriate contact is never acceptable. If your children experience any of these, encourage them to tell you or a trusted adult immediately. Be alert if your child appears to be upset or secretive with online activities or if they are experiencing cyberbullying.

Work with your child to establish rules on how, when and where devices can be used.
 

2. Use technology to protect them

Check that your child’s device is running the latest software and antivirus programs, and that privacy settings are on. Keep webcams covered when not in use. For younger children, tools such as parental controls, including safe search, can help keep online experiences positive.

Be cautious of free online educational resources. Your child should never have to provide a photo or their full name to use these resources. Remember to check the privacy settings to minimize data collection. Help your child learn to keep personal information private, especially from strangers.
 

3. Spend time with them online

Create opportunities for your child to have safe and positive online interactions with friends, family and you. Connecting with others is more important than ever at the moment and this can be an excellent opportunity for you to model kindness and empathy in your “virtual interactions”.

Help your child recognize and avoid misinformation and age-inappropriate content that may increase anxiety about the COVID-19 virus. Many digital resources from credible organizations like UNICEF and the World Health Organization are available for you and your child to learn about the virus together.

Spend time with your child to identify age appropriate apps, games and other online entertainment.

>> How to talk to your child about coronavirus

 

Boy at home with family sitting at a table on a laptop
UNICEF/UNI320740/Dejongh
Alain, 12, learning from home in Côte d'Ivoire. "I like to study at home, and it's easy to follow classes online. Of course I miss my friends, but it's also nice to spend more time with my dad at home."


4. Encourage healthy online habits

Promote and monitor good behavior online and on video calls. Encourage your children to be kind and respectful to classmates, to be mindful of what clothes they wear and to avoid joining video calls from a bedroom. 

Familiarize yourself with school policies and helplines to report cyberbullying or inappropriate online content.

As children spend more time online, they can be exposed to more advertising that may promote unhealthy foods, gender stereotypes or age-inappropriate material. Help them recognize online ads and use the opportunity to explore together what is wrong with some of the negative messaging you see.

>> How to deal with cyberbullying
 

5. Let them have fun and express themselves

Spending time at home can be a great opportunity for your children to use their voices online to share their views and support those in need during this crisis.

Encourage your child to take advantage of digital tools that get them up and moving, like online exercise videos for kids and video games that require physical movement.

Remember to balance online recreation with offline activities, including time outside, if possible.  


Sunday, August 5, 2018

UNICEF joins partners in emphasizing the benefits of breastfeeding

Welcome to World Breastfeeding Week!
To celebrate, UNICEF joins partners in emphasizing the benefits of breastfeeding, and renewing our longstanding commitment to promoting the practice to help ensure the healthy growth, development and survival of children around the world. 
A community health volunteer advises a mother on breastfeeding, nutrition and infant care as part of a UNICEF-supported program in Jharkhand State, India. In recent years, India has seen a significant increase in the percentage of women who exclusively breastfeed their babies for the first six months of life, thanks to the implementation of new policies that effectively promote the practice. © UNICEF/UNI148848/Vishwanathan
UNICEF has long advocated for breastfeeding as the way to give babies the best start in life. In the developing world, it's the closest thing there is to a magic bullet against child malnutrition and infant mortality. 
Breastmilk is safe and reliable. It is always the right temperature, requires no preparation and is available even in environments with poor sanitation and unsafe drinking water — a steady and complete source of nutrition, even when resources are scarce and in times of crisis. Breastmilk contains all the water a baby needs, even in hot climates.
It also contains a mother's antibodies needed to combat disease. Children who are breastfed are less likely to contract diarrhea-related illnesses and respiratory infections, and are at lower risk of obesity, diabetes and other chronic conditions later in life. Breastfeeding is also known to boost cognitive development and lead to higher educational achievement.

Optimal breastfeeding would save more than 820,000 young lives every year

According to researchers, achieving near-universal breastfeeding would save more than 820,000 young lives every year in developing countries. Optimal breastfeeding, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), means starting breastfeeding within an hour of birth, exclusive breastfeeding (meaning no additional foods or liquids, not even water) for the first six months of life and continued breastfeeding until age 2 or beyond.
A growing number of Chinese mothers are overcoming obstacles to breastfeeding their babies after maternity leave. As a working mother, Fiona, above, managed to breastfeed her baby for 28 months. “I made it because I learned correct knowledge of breastfeeding online, and also having a healthy baby makes me more confident," she told UNICEF. "But the biggest support is what I got from my family.” © UNICEF/UNI166592/Liu
And yet, an estimated 3 out of 5 babies are not breastfed within that first hour, putting them at higher risk of death and disease, and making them less likely to continue breastfeeding, according to a new report by UNICEF and WHO. Most of these babies are born in low- and middle-income countries.
Even a delay of a few hours can have life-threatening consequences. Studies show that newborns who began breastfeeding between two and 23 hours after birth had a 33% greater risk of dying compared with those who began breastfeeding within one hour of birth; and among newborns who started breastfeeding a day or more after birth, the risk was more than twice as high.
Skin-to-skin contact along with suckling stimulates the mother's production of breastmilk and — critically — colostrum, often called baby's first vaccine. "When it comes to the start of breastfeeding, timing is everything," UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta H. Fore said. The UNICEF/WHO report, entitled Capture the Moment, analyzes data from 76 countries and explores the reasons so many newborns are left waiting too long. "Each year, millions of newborns miss out on the benefits of early breastfeeding, and the reasons — all too often — are things we can change," Fore said. 
While overall breastfeeding rates have gone up in recent years, other persistent gaps are a strong indication that countries are not informing, empowering and supporting every mother to breastfeed. 
As part of its global campaign Every Child Alive, UNICEF urges governments, the private sector, civil society groups and communities to work together to increase breastfeeding rates by:
  • increasing awareness of the health benefits of breastfeeding and other advantages 
  • increasing funding for breastfeeding support programs 
  • implementing measures to regulate the marketing of infant formula and other breastmilk substitutes 
  • adopting workplace policies that support breastfeeding for working mothers 
  • implementing 10 steps to successful breastfeeding in maternity facilities 
  • ensuring mothers receive appropriate counseling and practical assistance in the first week after delivery, to increase their chances of success. 
"Breastfeeding is the best gift a mother, rich or poor, can give her child, as well as herself," said Shahida Azfar, UNICEF's Acting Deputy Executive Director. "We must give the world's mothers the support they need to breastfeed."
There has been progress in recent years. Countries like India and Vietnam, for example, have put into place strong policies to protect and promote breastfeeding. Others, like Turkmenistan, have very high rates of mothers giving birth in baby-friendly hospitals where breastfeeding is encouraged. Almost all mothers in New Zealand and Sri Lanka give birth at a baby-friendly facility. Cultural and political factors also play a role, as well as the level of support a new mother receives from her baby's father, her family, employer and community.
Breastfeeding and sustainable development go hand in hand. Improving the health and well-being of women and children provides a foundation for a more prosperous future for all. 
World Breastfeeding Week 2018 runs August 1 through August 7. Join the conversation! 

Top photo: A mother breastfeeds her 6-month-old baby outside a health center in the village of Preak Krabao, Kang Meas District, Cambodia. © UNICEF/UN074025/Pirozzi

Friday, August 3, 2018

Olivia Harrison speaks to global UNICEF leaders and UNICEF Kid Power school in Boston


Support UNICEF’s Emergency Relief Efforts for Children Impacted by Hurricane Matthew

  • In response to the urgent and growing crisis in Haiti, the George Harrison Fund for UNICEF will match all donations to UNICEF’s relief efforts for children impacted by Hurricane Matthew. All donations will be matched $1-for-$1 until Thursday at 11:59pm PT.
    Read more...
  • Olivia Harrison speaks to global UNICEF leaders and UNICEF Kid Power school in Boston

    Olivia Harrison visited Boston to address the 60th Annual Meeting of UNICEF National Committees and visit with children who participated in the groundbreaking UNICEF Kid Power
    Read more...
  • Celebrating the 44th anniversary of the Concert for Bangladesh: George Harrison Fund for UNICEF invests in innovative program to promote fitness and save lives

    August 1, 2015 marks the 44th anniversary of George Harrison’s groundbreaking Concert for Bangladesh, as well as 10 years since former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan approached the Harrison family
  • Celebrating the 44th anniversary of the Concert for Bangladesh: George Harrison Fund for UNICEF invests in innovative program to promote fitness and save lives
    31 July 2015

    August 1, 2015 marks the 44th anniversary of George Harrison’s groundbreaking Concert for Bangladesh, as well as 10 years since former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan approached the Harrison family and created the George Harrison Fund for UNICEF to formalize UNICEF’s longstanding relationship with the Harrisons. In the tradition established by George and Ravi Shankar, the George Harrison Fund for UNICEF has supported programs in Bangladesh, Brazil, India, Angola, Romania, the Horn of Africa and Burma. This year, the Fund brought critical aid to victims of the earthquake in Nepal and invested in a groundbreaking new movement powered by kids called UNICEF Kid Power.
    Built for a new generation of global citizens, Kid Power uses the world’s first wearable-for-good to get kids moving by tapping into their inherent desire to help their peers. By joining Kid Power and getting more active, kids take action to fight global malnutrition with every move.
    Learn More at: UNICEF Kid Power
    To participate, kids wear Kid Power Bands, which measure their movement and unlock Kid Power Points. The more active they are, the more points they earn. Kid Power Points are then converted into funding by partners, which UNICEF deploys to deliver lifesaving packets of ready-to-use therapeutic food (RUTF) to severely malnourished children. The George Harrison Fund for UNICEF is the founding partner of UNICEFKid Power and its generous support has allowed the U.S. Fund for UNICEF to pursue this 21st century approach to global citizenship.
    Following a seed investment by the George Harrison Fund and a successful city-wide pilot in Sacramento, California, in October, 2014, the U.S. Fund for UNICEF launched Kid Power in New York, Boston and Dallas in March 2015. As of today more than 12,000 American 3rd, 4th and 5th graders have joined the Kid Power movement. They have earned enough “Kid Power Points” to feed and save the lives of more than 1,260 kids in some of the world’s poorest countries.
    In addition, Disney and Lucasfilm team up to launch Star Wars Force for Change and the second phase of this campaign focuses on mobilizing Star Wars fans to raise money for Kid Power. None of this would have been possible without this visionary investment by the George Harrison Fund for UNICEF.
    There are plans to expand UNICEF Kid Power to 100,000 American students in 10 cities starting in March 2016. The hope is to eventually get 1,000,000 American kids moving to help save the lives of 1,000,000 kids worldwide.
    Nepal
    On April 25, 2015, a massive 7.9-magnitude earthquake struck Nepal, the country’s deadliest in more than 80 years. Just a few weeks later on May 12, a second earthquake of 7.3 magnitude struck. More than 8,800 people died, nearly a third of them children. Another 22,309 people were injured and more than 450,000 people were displaced.
    The morning of the quake, both UNICEF and the George Harrison Fund for UNICEF responded immediately. The Fund released $500,000 to UNICEF to provide life-saving aid to the more than 1.1 million children who were affected by the events.
    This aid provided hundreds of thousands of people with clean water, sanitation facilities and hygiene kits within the first 48 hours. UNICEF set up over 182 Child-Friendly Spaces and 610 Temporary Learning Centers, where children could play and learn while their parents set about rebuilding their homes and lives.
    It is a long road ahead for many in Nepal, but UNICEF, with the support of donors like the George Harrison Fund for UNICEF, will be there as the people of Nepal work to build back better and stronger. UNICEF thanks the Harrison Family and the George Harrison Fund for UNICEF for their faith and action and their ongoing efforts to protect the health, safety and well.


  • Wednesday, May 16, 2018

    UNICEF Reunite Children With Their Families

    Sarah Ferguson

    Becoming separated from their children is a nightmare scenario for parents. When families are caught in humanitarian crises — natural disasters, armed conflict, emergencies — thousands of children go missing.  The longer a child is separated from her or his family, the more difficult it is to locate them and the more at risk a child is to violence, economic and sexual exploitation, abuse and potential trafficking. UNICEF and partners are dedicated to keeping families together, and to reuniting children with their parents and loving caregivers when crisis pulls them apart. 

    UNICEF helped reunited 7-year-old Daoussiya with her mother, Hassana, after the little girl spent four months being forced to beg in Algeria.

    When children from Niger were recruited into a begging ring in neighboring Algeria, UNICEF and partners worked hard to locate them and reunite them with their families. Seven-year-old Daoussiya spent four months begging on the streets before UNICEF helped her get home to her mother, Hassana, for a joyful reunion on Mother's Day.  © Ashley Gilbertson/VII Photos for UNICEF

    Thousands of civilians were killed in brutal urban warfare in the fight to free Mosul, Iraq from the Islamic State.  Thirteen-year-old Mohammed and his family became prisoners in their own home. "They ruined everything," Mohammed says. "People were starving. I tried to escape four times, but I got caught."

    His mother feared for his life, so she sent him away. He and a cousin ran through gunfire to cross a checkpoint, but they were worried about the rest of the family, still trapped in their neighborhood. Months later, Mohammed's mother and the other children dashed to safety. "I don't know how we escaped," his mother says, still in shock. "It was like a story from a book. These kids were running in the rain and the mud, barefoot and cold."  After three months on his own, Mohammed was reunited with his family by UNICEF. See Mohammed tell his powerful story above.

    In South Sudan, grateful mothers who have been reunited with their missing children hug UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore.

    Since civil war broke out in South Sudan in December 2013, over 17,000 children have been reported missing or have become separated from their families. UNICEF and partners have reunited almost 5,400 of those children with their families, to date. Above, ecstatic mothers hug UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta H. Fore in gratitude for bringing their children back to them. © UNICEF

    You can help UNICEF reunite children with their families:

    PROTECT CHILDREN

    Original Article

    Trinity Mount Ministries

    Monday, December 4, 2017

    UNICEF highlights child online safety at World Internet Conference

    Source: Xinhua

    WUZHEN, Zhejiang, Dec. 4 (Xinhua) -- Four sculptures stood in great contrast to the advanced technology on display in Wuzhen Internet International Conference and Exhibition Center; however, they attracted just as much, if not more, attention from visitors.

    The "Cyber Cocoon Kids" art installation, presented by UNICEF China at the on-going World Internet Conference, shows the four key online risks for children: cyberbullying, excessive internet use, online child sexual abuse and oversharing personal information.

    Artist Xie Yong and creative director Kevin Wang came up with the concept of "Cyber Cocoon Kids" to represent the potential isolation that can occur when children inhabit a cyber world that parents and caregivers do not fully understand.

    "Protecting children online is a vital issue in internet governance, and also closely linked to the Sustainable Development Goals," said Fatoumata Ndiaye, UNICEF deputy executive director.

    At the conference, UNICEF also co-hosted a Child Online Safety Forum bringing global experts to share learning, experience and practice in this area.

    "The internet offers children access to a whole world of possibilities to learn, connect and play," said Rana Flowers, UNICEF Representative to China. "As policy makers, digital industry representatives or as parents and caregivers, we need to protect children from the worst that digital technology has to offer and expand their access to the best."

    For Missing Children and Child Safety updates, join Trinity Mount Ministries on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/trinitymount

    And on Twitter: https://twitter.com/TrinityMount (@TrinityMount)

    Thursday, September 3, 2015

    Middle East and North Africa unrest has destroyed young dreams, says UNICEF:

    Education in nine states across region disrupted by violence and political upheaval, affecting schooling of almost 14 million children, claims agency
     A boy stands outside his school after airstrikes by government forces in the Syrian city of Marea in 2013. Unicef says unrest in the Mena region has affected almost 14 million children. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images

    Enduring conflicts and political upheaval across the Middle East and North Africa are stopping almost 14 million children from going to school and shattering “the hopes and dreams” of a generation, according to a new report from the UN children’s agency, Unicef.

    The study says the education systems in nine states – Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Libya, the Palestinian territories, Sudan, Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey – are now either directly or indirectly affected by violence.

    Of the 13.7 million children currently out of school in the region, 2.7 million are Syrian, 3 million Iraqi, 2 million Libyan, 3.1 million Sudanese and 2.9 million Yemeni.

    Bullets banish books in South Sudan as education becomes a casualty of war:

    Nearly 9,000 schools in Syria, Iraq, Yemen and Libya can no longer offer classes, some because they have been damaged or destroyed, others because they are being used to house displaced civilians or have been commandeered by warring parties. With schools sometimes deliberately targeted, thousands of teachers have fled and parents are too scared to send their children to continue their education.

    The report, entitled Education Under Fire, says that almost a quarter of Syria’s teaching professionals – or about 52,200 teachers and 523 school counsellors – have left their posts since the crisis erupted in 2011.

    Over four years of conflict in Syria have also driven more than 4 million people – roughly a sixth of the population – to seek sanctuary in neighbouring countries, where their presence is placing huge strains on resources.

    More than 700,000 refugee children in Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey cannot go to school in their host countries because the national education infrastructure simply cannot cope with the increased student population.

    Unicef estimates that in Yemen, where six months of fighting have left the country on the verge of collapse, 2.9 million children are not going to school – many of whom were not in education even before the conflict escalated in March. More than 3,500 schools – about a quarter of the total – have been shut down and 600,000 children have not been able to sit their exams. 

    The ongoing violence in Libya, meanwhile, has left more than 434,000 people internally displaced and disrupted basic services including education. In the eastern city of Benghazi, enrolment rates have halved and only 65 of the city’s 239 schools are functioning.

    Unicef also says that last summer’s war in Gaza has caused “massive destruction to infrastructure including schools – and left deep scars in the psyche of children and their caregivers”.

    According to the UN, 281 schools suffered damage during the 51-day conflict and eight were completely destroyed. The destruction meant that nearly half a million children were unable to resume their education for several weeks when the 2014-15 school year began.

    War denying millions of children an education:

    Equally devastating, if less well covered, is the long-running conflict in Sudan, which has displaced 2.9 million people and left 1.2 million children under the age of five acutely malnourished. The country has also taken in approximately 50,000 refugee children from South Sudan who have fled the violence that has raged in their homeland for the past 20 months.

    “The destructive impact of conflict is being felt by children right across the region,” said Peter Salama, regional director for Unicef in the Middle East and North Africa.

    “It’s not just the physical damage being done to schools, but the despair felt by a generation of schoolchildren who see their hopes and futures shattered.”

    Unicef has repeatedly warned that Syrian children risk becoming a “lost generation” who will be denied the education and opportunities needed to help them rebuild the country if and when the fighting ends. Children and parents caught up in conflict “overwhelmingly” say that education is their number one priority, according to Unicef.

    The report urges the international community to increase its funding to enable children in the region to continue their education, arguing that through self-learning, informal education and expanded learning spaces, “children learn even in the most desperate of circumstances”.

    The study also calls on host governments, policymakers, the private sector and other partners to help strengthen the national education systems in conflict-hit countries and host communities by expanding learning spaces, recruiting and training teachers and providing learning materials.

    Last month, the head of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) warned that the impact of the Yemen conflict was already comparable to that of the much longer-running war in Syria.

    “This is not Syria, which had been a middle-income country five years ago,” said Peter Maurer. “Yemen was poor even before the conflict started.

    “From the outside, Yemen after five months of armed conflict looks like Syria after five years of conflict, and this is a very worrying signal.”

    On Wednesday, the ICRC said that warring parties in the city of Aleppo were using water and electricity as “weapons of war” and deliberately cutting supplies to its 2 million inhabitants.

    “Vital services for the people, such as the water supply, must be kept away from the politics of the Syrian conflict,” said the head of the ICRC delegation in Syria, Marianne Gasser.


     http://www.TrinityMount.Info

    Wednesday, August 19, 2015

    North East India - Gogoi directs strong action for child and women safety

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    Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on Monday directed comprehensive enforcement of laws to remove all encumbrances coming in the way of child and women safety and their development.

    The direction was given in a high-level meeting chaired by him, an official release said.

    He also directed the concerned department to formulate a strict deterrent to stop child and women trafficking, unlawful employment of children through placement agencies and other crimes related to children and women.

    The meeting decided to carry out a comprehensive survey on child labor in the state for evolving an action plan to tackle the problem of child labor.

    "Gogoi directed that a survey should be undertaken in consultation with Kailash Satyarthi Children Foundation and UNICEF.

    "A state level Advisory Council, headed by the Chief Minister, would be constituted to review the progress of the State Convergent Plan of Action for Child Abuse, which would be implemented in partnership with UNICEF," the release said.

    Assam would also partner with the Kailash Satyarthi Foundation for rehabilitation and welfare of trafficked children, it added.

    A mechanism would be put in place for fast tracking of cases related to child abuse and violence against women.

    The chief minister directed convening a meeting with NGOs working throughout the state in the field of child protection and development.

    "The government would also strengthen measures by legislation to prevent child marriage in the state," it added.

          Source: http://goo.gl/9fKVVW
     http://goo.gl/9fKVVW