COVID-19 has abruptly thrust the rights and wellbeing of children and families into greater risk around the world. The impact of COVID-19 on children continues to be vast. Risks posed to children’s survival and development, to their special protections, education, health and access to food, for example, are being greatly compounded not only by COVID-19, but also by government responses.
With roughly a third of the global population estimated to be under age 18, children 1 account for a huge proportion of our population. Successful delivery of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals (henceforth ‘SDGs’), which relate to all ages, heavily relies on our ability to effectively and robustly respond to the distinct needs and rights of children. Even prior to COVID-19, our global task to achieve these global goals by 2030 seemed daunting. In the light of COVID-19, achieving the SDGs is even more challenging.
To effectively mitigate the impact of COVID-19 in the light of protecting children’s wellbeing, and ultimately for our collective societal future, policy and practice responses must be distinctively designed to address children’s wellbeing needs.
Policymakers, and those working with children, are at the heart of pandemic responses as they continue to support children’s wellbeing, rise to many new challenges, and respond in new, innovative, and in some cases, unprecedented ways. To address the impact of COVID-19 on children in the long term, the COVID 4P Log Project sought to better understand the changing demands on these policies and practices across different cultures and contexts, in 22 countries and five continents. This report presents the findings of the COVID 4P Log Project.
