Yerevan, July 28, 2022 – UNICEF and partners announced the official opening of two new youth houses in Ejmiatsin and Armavir today. The events were attended by UNICEF Representative Christine Weigand, Second Secretary for Economic Cooperation at the Embassy of Japan in Armenia, Rika Onodera, Head of Vagharshapat Community Diana Gasparyan, Head of Armavir Community Davit Khudatyan and President of Council of Gyumri Youth Initiative Center NGO Artur Najaryan. The youth houses were established based on UNICEF’s concept of safe spaces for children and adolescents and will support more than 700 adolescents if both communities. “The Government of Japan has implemented various projects which contribute to infrastructure development and human resource enhancement for socioeconomic and regional development in Armenia. In particular, we focus on educational field in implementing assistance to Armenia, as we believe that children are priceless treasures and education is a foundation for development of a country. We sincerely hope that the youth houses established with the financial assistance from the Government of Japan will serve as an important educational center for the youth of Ejmiatsin and Armavir communities for a long time,” noted the Embassy of Japan in Armenia. “Safe spaces are places where adolescents gather, participate in informal educational opportunities, try to solve community problems, learn to work as a team, obtain 21st century skills and more. We know that these activities help to increase resilience and play an important role in providing overall psychosocial support to adolescents. Importantly, these spaces are also designed to provide support with referral to additional, more specialized interventions and services,” said Christine Weigand, UNICEF Representative in Armenia. The youth houses were made possible thanks to effective collaboration with community leaders and partners. The municipalities of Vagharshapat and Armavir selected and allocated the premises of the youth houses. Together with the Gyumri Youth Initiative Center NGO, UNICEF renovated and furnished, as well as supplied the centers with utensils, development games, learning and recreation materials for various ages of children. In addition, UNICEF and YIC trained new staff members for the centers on adolescent development, principles of working with adolescents and young people and provision of child-friendly services. To ensure the sustainability of the centers, both communities included the operation costs of the centers, including staffing and utilities, in the five-year budget plan of the communities. “We were excited to join our hands for this goal, because in our community, as in a number of other communities across Armenia, there was a need to support young people, create suitable educational opportunities for them, but there were no suitable resources. We are sure that starting today, this center will become a favorite place for our young people, and they will obtain new skills here,” noted Armavir community leader Davit Khudatyan. “Strong and motivated young people are the backbone of our community, society and state, and every community should do everything possible to keep this potential in the community contributing to its development. This model provides a secure environment where we can motivate young people from school age. I believe that this center will become one of the important educational centers of our community forming responsible citizens,” noted Diana Gasparyan in her opening speech. “Having many years of experience in the field of youth work, we can surely state that open youth centers create excellent opportunities for adolescents and young people to learn, express themselves, organize their free time. This contributes not only to their individual development and growth, but also, the development of their community,” said Artur Najaryan, Chairman of the Board of the Gyumri Center for Youth Initiatives NGO. By the end of this year, UNICEF and partners will establish another youth house in Gavar town in Gehgarkunik region, with the support of the Government of Japan.

NEW YORK, 20 July 2022 – Nearly three quarters of young people aged 15 to 24 in 92 countries with available data are off-track to acquire the skills needed for employment, according to a new report published today by the Education Commission and UNICEF ahead of World Youth Skills Day. Recovering learning: Are children and youth on track in skills development? features analyses on skills development in early childhood, and among children of primary school age and youth. The data highlight low levels of skills among children and young people across all age groups, with young people in low-income countries the least likely to have the skills required to thrive, particularly in future employment opportunities, decent work, and entrepreneurship. “An inspired, skilled generation of children and young people is critical for prosperity, progression, and the success of societies and economies. Yet, the majority of children and young people across the world have been failed by their education systems, leaving them uneducated, uninspired, and unskilled -- the perfect storm for unproductivity,” said UNICEF Director of Education Robert Jenkins. “Investment in cost-effective, proven solutions to fast-track learning and skills development for today’s generation and future generations is urgently needed to address this crisis.” With high rates of out-of-school young people and low attainment of secondary-level skills, countries worldwide are facing a skills crisis, with the majority of youth unprepared to take part in today’s workforce, the report notes. Deep disparities across countries and among those from the poorest communities are increasing inequalities. In at least 1 in 3 low-income countries with available data, more than 85 percent of young people are off-track in the secondary-level, digital, and job-specific skills attainment, the report notes.  "To give young people the best chance to succeed and recover learning losses due to the pandemic, we need to support them holistically. But we can't recover what we don't measure. We need to know where children and youth are in building the range of skills they need and monitor their progress. That's why the Education Commission, UNICEF, and partners have been working to address critical data gaps, including the launch of the World Skills Clock to help track progress on and raise awareness around youth skills attainment around the world so we can target urgent action to prepare this generation to thrive in the future," said Education Commission Executive Director Liesbet Steer. Data from 77 countries show that less than three-quarters of children aged between 3 and 5 years old are developmentally on track in at least three out of the four domains of literacy-numeracy, physical, social-emotional, and learning. At approximately 10 years old, the majority of children in low- and middle-income countries are unable to read and understand a simple text. These foundational skills are the building blocks for further learning and skills development, the report notes. Basic literacy and numeracy; transferable skills including life skills and socioemotional skills; digital skills, which allow individuals to use and understand technology; job-specific skills, which support the transition into the workforce; and entrepreneurial skills are essential for children to thrive. These skills are also critical for the development of societies and economies. UNICEF and the Education Commission are urging governments to reach every child with quality education and break down the barriers that put them at risk of dropping out; assess children’s learning levels and provide tailored catch-up classes to bring them up to speed; prioritize foundational skills to build a strong base for lifelong learning; and support psychosocial health and well-being by providing holistic support. The report outlines the need for more extensive data on the skills gap among children and young people across all age groups.

GENEVA/NEW YORK,15 July 2022 – The largest sustained decline in childhood vaccinations in approximately 30 years has been recorded in official data published today by WHO and UNICEF. The percentage of children who received three doses of the vaccine against diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis (DTP3) – a marker for immunization coverage within and across countries – fell 5 percentage points between 2019 and 2021 to 81 per cent. As a result, 25 million children missed out on one or more doses of DTP through routine immunization services in 2021 alone. This is 2 million more than those who missed out in 2020 and 6 million more than in 2019. The decline was due to many factors including an increased number of children living in conflict and fragile settings where immunization access is often challenging, increased misinformation and COVID-19 related issues such as service and supply chain disruptions, resource diversion to response efforts, and containment measures that limited immunization service access and availability. “This is a red alert for child health. We are witnessing the largest sustained drop in childhood immunization in a generation. The consequences will be measured in lives,” said Catherine Russell, UNICEF Executive Director. “While a pandemic hangover was expected last year as a result of COVID-19 disruptions and lockdowns, what we are seeing now is a continued decline. COVID-19 is not an excuse. We need immunization catch-ups for the missing millions or we will inevitably witness more outbreaks, more sick children and greater pressure on already strained health systems.” 18 million of the 25 million children did not receive a single dose of DTP during the year, the vast majority of whom live in low- and middle-income countries, with India, Nigeria, Indonesia, Ethiopia and the Philippines recording the highest numbers. It was hoped that 2021 would be a year of recovery during which strained immunization programmes would rebuild and the cohort of children missed in 2020 would be caught-up. Instead, DTP3 coverage was set back to its lowest level since 2008 which, along with declines in coverage for other basic vaccines, pushed the world off-track to meet global goals, including the immunization indicator for the Sustainable Development Goals. This historic backsliding in rates of immunization is happening against a backdrop of rapidly rising rates of severe acute malnutrition. A malnourished child already has weakened immunity and missed vaccinations can mean common childhood illnesses quickly become lethal to them. The convergence of a hunger crisis with a growing immunization gap threatens to create the conditions for a child survival crisis.  “Planning and tackling COVID-19 should also go hand-in-hand with vaccinating for killer diseases like measles, pneumonia and diarrhea,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General. “It’s not a question of either/or, it’s possible to do both”. Monumental efforts will be required to reach universal levels of coverage and to prevent outbreaks. Inadequate coverage levels have already resulted in avoidable outbreaks of measles and polio in the past 12 months, underscoring the vital role of immunization in keeping children, adolescents, adults, and societies healthy. First dose measles coverage dropped to 81 per cent in 2021, also the lowest level since 2008. This meant 24.7 million children missed their first measles dose in 2021, 5.3 million more than in 2019. A further 14.7 million did not receive their needed second dose. Similarly, compared to 2019, 6.7 million more children missed the third dose of polio vaccine. WHO and UNICEF are working with Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance and other partners to deliver the global Immunization Agenda 2030 (IA2030), a strategy for all countries and relevant global partners to achieve set goals on preventing diseases through immunization and delivering vaccines to everyone, everywhere, at every age. The IA2030 partners call on governments and relevant actors to: Ensure political commitment from national governments and increase domestic resource allocation to strengthen and sustain immunization within PHC; Intensify efforts for catch-up vaccination to address backsliding on routine immunization, and expand outreach services in underserved areas to reach missed children and implement campaigns to prevent outbreaks; Implement evidence-based, people-centred, and tailored strategies to build trust in vaccines and immunization, counter misinformation and increase vaccine uptake particularly among vulnerable communities; Prioritize health information and disease surveillance systems strengthening to provide the data and monitoring needed for programmes to have maximum impact

“Far too many children go to schools without safe drinking water, clean toilets, and soap for handwashing—making learning difficult,” said Kelly Ann Naylor, UNICEF Director of Water, Sanitation, Hygiene and Climate, Environment, Energy, and Disaster Risk Reduction. “The COVID-19 pandemic underscored the importance of providing healthy and inclusive learning environments. To protect children’s education, the road to recovery must include equipping schools with the most basic services to fight infectious diseases today and in the future.” “Access to water, sanitation and hygiene is not only essential for effective infection prevention and control, but also a prerequisite for children’s health, development and well-being,” said Dr Maria Neira, WHO Director, Department of Environment, Climate Change and Health. “Schools should be settings where children thrive and not be subjected to hardship or infections due to lack of, or poorly maintained, basic infrastructure.” Schools play a critical role in promoting the formation of healthy habits and behaviours, yet many still lacked basic WASH services in 2021. According to the latest data from the WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP): Globally, 29 per cent of schools still lack basic drinking water services, impacting 546 million schoolchildren; 28 per cent of schools still lack basic sanitation services, impacting 539 million schoolchildren; and 42 per cent of schools still do not have basic hygiene services, 802 million schoolchildren. One-third of children without basic services at their school live in LDCs, and over half live in fragile contexts. Sub-Saharan Africa and Oceania are the only two regions where coverage of basic sanitation and hygiene services in schools remains under 50 per cent; sub-Saharan Africa is the only region where coverage of basic drinking water services in schools remains under 50 per cent. Achieving universal coverage in schools globally by 2030 requires a 14-fold increase in current rates of progress on basic drinking water, a three-fold increase in rates of progress on basic sanitation, and a five-fold increase in basic hygiene services. In LDCs and fragile contexts, achieving universal coverage of basic sanitation services in schools by 2030 would require over 100-fold and 50-fold increases in respective current rates of progress. Improving pandemic preparedness and response will require more frequent monitoring of WASH and other elements of infection prevention and control (IPC) in schools, including cleaning, disinfection and solid waste management. Providing disability-accessible WASH services in schools is key to achieving inclusive learning for all children. Still, only a limited number of countries report on this indicator and national definitions vary, and far fewer provide disability-accessible WASH. Emerging national data shows that disability-accessible WASH coverage is low and varies widely between school levels and urban and rural locations, with schools more likely to have accessible drinking water than accessible sanitation or hygiene. In half the countries with data available, less than a quarter of schools had disability-accessible toilets. For example, in Yemen, 8 in 10 schools had toilets, but only 1 in 50 schools had disability-accessible toilets. In most countries with data, schools were more likely to have adapted infrastructure and materials – such as ramps, assistive technology, learning materials – than disability-accessible toilets. For example, in El Salvador, 2 in 5 schools have adapted infrastructure and materials, but just 1 in 20 have disability-accessible toilets. ### Situation in Armenia As of 2022, in Armenia, according to the Education Management Information System (EMIS): More than 12500 school-students (3% ) and 1580 teachers (4%) in  135 public schools (9%) do not have sewage system within the territory of the school. Almost 4400 school-students (1%) and almost 630 teachers (1.6%) in 70 schools (5%) do not have access to water (both drinking/portable or for handwashing), and Almost 3600 school-students (0.9%) and 517 teachers (1.3%) in more than 60 schools neither have access to sanitation nor water. During the 2021-2022 academic year, UNICEF improved the basic water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) services in 15 schools in Ararat, Armavir, Kotayk and Syunik marzes, making the schools disability accessible. This year, 5 additional schools will be supported in Goris, Kapan and Sisian communities of Syunik marz. In addition, together with the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports, UNICEF plans to assess the sanitation and hygiene services of academic institutions, as well as review existing standards to improve basic water, sanitation, and hygiene services in academic institutions and provide a dignified environment both for students and teachers.