This online course covers basic concepts around the humanitarian system and reform, undernutrition and response in emergencies, individual assessment, and micronutrients.
We commissioned eight documentaries from award-winning film makers and 30 shorts from new and emerging talents. The films are moving, subtle and thought-provoking stories, but they also tackle big issues and pose difficult questions.
The films were shown around the world in November 2012 on more than 70 national broadcasters. The documentaries are now all free to view online. We'll make them available on DVD and in languages other than English soon. We'll also be adding educational resources to help people use them as teaching tools
UNICEF Contributing to Sustainable Development, Equity and Children's Rights:
Tree Planting, Ethiopia.........................................................................21
Rainforest Protection and Disaster Risk Reduction, Guyana..................... 26
Swimming Lessons for Emergencies, Bangladesh....................................31
Preparing for Natural Disasters, Philippines........................................... 33
Cyclone Proof Schools, Madagascar...................................................... 35
Skills-based Learning Materials and Packages, Nigeria............................ 44
Junior Ambassador Programme..................................................... 50
National and International Conference for Children and Youth, Brazil. 53
Children Advocating United4Climate, Zambia................................. 61
Voices of Youth............................................................................ 64
UNICEF correspondent Nina Martinek reports on Nigerien community development programmes that are providing food security through cereal banks. Credits: Producer:Nina Martinek
Cherry, Lynne. The Great Kapok Tree. San Diego, CA: Voyager Books, 2000.
Age Range: 4 - 8 years
Publisher's Description: If a tree falls in the forest... someone or something will always be there to hear it. Many, many creatures will feel the effects when their source of sustenance and shelter falls to the earth. So when a man is sent into the Amazon rain forest one day, under instructions to chop down a great kapok tree, many eyes watch him nervously. It's not long before he grows tired, though, and the "heat and hum" of the rain forest lulls him to sleep. One by one, snakes, bees, monkeys, birds, frogs, and even a jaguar emerge from the jungle canopy to plead with the sleeping ax-man to spare their home. When the man awakens, startled at all the rare and marvelous animals surrounding him, he picks up his ax as if to begin chopping again, then drops it and walks away, presumably never to return.
Unfortunately, there's always someone else who is willing to take his place, but the message of this environmental book is plain: Save the rain forest! The story itself is not overly compelling, but each personalized entreaty from the animals provides an accurate and persuasive scientific argument for preserving nature's gifts. Lynne Cherry's fertile watercolor and colored-pencil illustrations, including a map of the tropical rain forests of the world, are vivid and colorful. A fine starting point for a discussion about conservation.
Tomecek, Stephen M. What A Great Idea! Inventions That Changed The World. New York, NY: Scholastic Inc., 2003.
Age Range: 8 and up
Publisher's Description: Rather than presenting a "how it works" compendium or a series of mini-biographies, Tomecek puts significant inventions and discoveries in a historical context. Dividing the text into five broad time periods, he offers a series of essays on important advances that occurred in each "age." For example, the Metal Age (3500 B.C.-A.D. 1) includes discussions of measurement, money, irrigation, waterwheels, and maps. Each two-page explanation provides some background and a brief description of how the invention works as well as information about its impact on society and on later discoveries. What emerges is a sense of interconnectedness that other books often lack. Especially in the early essays, the influence of Chinese, Egyptian, and other civilizations is clear. However, even the explanations of recent discoveries acknowledge that inventions seldom occur in isolation. Full-color diagrams and illustrations are well integrated into each spread, providing additional insights into the topic without cluttering the pages. Although Tomecek mentions only a fraction of the inventors and inventions covered in Roger Bridgman's 1000 Inventions and Discoveries (DK, 2002), his work not only highlights past accomplishments but also encourages further explorations.
Inches, Alison. The Adventures of a Plastic Bottle: A Story About Recycling. New York, NY: Little Simon, 2009.
Age Range: 4 and up
Publisher's Description: Learn about recycling from a new perspective! Peek into this diary of a plastic bottle as it goes on a journey from the refinery plant, to the manufacturing line, to the store shelf, to a garbage can, and finally to a recycling plant where it emerges into it's new life...as a fleece jacket! Told from the point of view of a free-spirited plastic bottle, kids can share in the daily experiences and inner thoughts of the bottle through his personal journal. The diary entries will be fun and humorous yet point out the ecological significance behind each product and the resources used to make it. Readers will never look at a plastic bottle the same way again!
Susan Campbell Bartoletti, Growing Up In Coal Country (New York: Sandpiper, 1999).
Age Level: 8 and up
Publisher Description: Inspired by her in-laws' recollections of working in coal country, Susan Campbell Bartoletti has gathered the voices of men, women, and children who immigrated to and worked in northeastern Pennsylvania at the turn of the century. The story that emerges is not just a story of long hours, little pay, and hazardous working conditions; it is also the uniquely American story of immigrant families working together to make a new life for themselves. It is a story of hardship and sacrifice, yet also of triumph and the fulfillment of hopes and dreams.