El Niño conditions persisting during the 2015/16 planting season have caused the worst drought in 35 years in Southern Africa, resulting in a second consecutive failed harvest. This has created severe food shortages and compounded existing vulnerabilities. Since July 2016, Namibia and Botswana have... declared national drought emergencies, in addition to the declarations made earlier by Lesotho, Malawi, Swaziland and Zimbabwe. Madagascar issued a letter of solidarity with the SADC Appeal, and Mozambique has maintained a red alert in affected areas.
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Women and girls with mental and intellectual disabilities were perceived to be most at risk of sexual violence, and family and service providers may only become aware of sexual violence against them when they become pregnant.
Discrimination by GBV service providers, family and community members was... the most common barrier to access. Inadequate transportation and inappropriate communication approaches were also common impediments.
On this website you can download the report in different languages,
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National Child Traumatic Stress Network National Center for PTSD | The field of school safety and emergency management has evolved significantly over the past decade. Tragically, acts of violence, natural disasters, and terrorist attacks have taught us many lessons. We also know that other types of ...emergencies can impact schools, including medical emergencies, transportation accidents, sports injuries, peer victimization, public health emergencies, and the sudden death of a member of the school community. We now recognize the need for school emergency management plans that are up-to-date and take an “all-hazards” approach with clear communication channels and procedures that effectively reunite parents and caregivers with students. We have also learned that preparing school administrators, teachers, and school partnering agencies before a critical event is crucial for effective response, the value of ongoing training and emergency exercises, and that having intervention models that address the public health, mental health, and psychosocial needs of students and staff is essential to a safe school environment and the resumption of learning.
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"Helping Traumatized Children Learn is the result of an extraordinary collaboration among educators, parents, mental health professionals, community groups, and attorneys determined to help children experiencing the traumatic effects of exposure to family violence succeed in school."
This pan-African report describes and analyses the cultural, social, physical and other societal barriers preventing children with disabilities in Africa from realising their full human potential. It also describes the opportunities, initiatives and good practices that exist, that indicate the progr...ess, albeit insufficient, that has been made towards realising the rights for children with disabilities in Africa. Recommendations and priorities for action are presented which promote inclusive and accessible laws, policies, and programmes for children with disabilities throughout Africa
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Protecting children on the move from violence, abuse and exploitation
The Call to Action on Protection from GBV in Emergencies, formally launched in 2013 by the United Kingdom and Sweden, aims to fundamentally transform the way GBV is addressed in humanitarian operations via the collective action of numerous partners, each bringing our various strengths and capacities... to the table. Our goal is to drive change and foster accountability within the humanitarian sphere. The commitment to act and to hold ourselves accountable for action is what binds us together under the Call to Action.
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This Review summarizes many of the persistent biological alterations associated with childhood maltreatment including changes in neuroendocrine and neurotransmitter systems and pro-inflammatory cytokines in addition to specific alterations in brain areas associated with mood regulation. Finally, I d...iscuss several candidate gene polymorphisms that interact with childhood maltreatment to modulate vulnerability to major depression and PTSD and epigenetic mechanisms thought to transduce environmental stressors into disease vulnerability.
Neuron Review, vol. 89, March 2, 2016 pp.892-909
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This literature review summarizes the link between psychological well-being and entrepreneurial outcomes for small and medium-size enterprises in fragile, conflict, and violence–affected contexts. It identifies potentially promising, scalable psychosocial training interventions, based on cognitive...-behavioral therapy approaches, that can be adapted and implemented to improve psychological health at the individual level, that could lead to better business performance at the firm level.
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This document provides training and guidance on the reasons for, and the impact of, violence, coercion and abuse within mental health and related settings. It also provides guidance on how to implement strategies to end the use of coercion, violence and abuse in these settings.
In the post-colonial history of the Central African Republic, violence has often been the shortest way to presidential power. President Bozizé presented little deviation from this narrative after coming to power after a coup d’état in 2003. Whilst he faced armed opposition and a conflict-affecte...d northwest from the outset, it is not until the rise of the Séléka, that the CAR entered into an era of unprecedented violence.
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Scant data exists on the prevalence of violence against children worldwide. However, available information, including the United Nations Secretary-General’s Study on Violence against Children, shows that violence against children is a global problem. This desktop study aims to glean from published... and grey literature the extent of sexual violence and exploitation against children in Lesotho. The goal of this study is to better understand the government of Lesotho's national response efforts to reduce violence against children.
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In this course you will examine the interconnections between poverty, development and violent conflict. This is one of seven Medical Peace Work courses.
The report covers: drivers of humanitarian crises in the region, particularly the intensification of violence in the DRC; manifestations of humanitarian needs, including record levels of displacement and food insecurity; and constraints to meeting humanitarian needs, including obstacles to humanitar...ian access and inadequate funding
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The report showed commitments made three decades ago to protect the rights of children remain unfulfilled for millions. Violence still affects countless children. Discrimination based on age, gender, disability, sexual orientation and religion harms children worldwide.
Key factors include a lack ...of investment in critically important services. Most countries fall well short of spending the 5-6% of GDP needed to ensure universal coverage of essential health care. And foreign aid, which many lower income countries rely on, is falling short in areas such as health, education, protection and child care.
Another factor, the report said, is the lack of quality data. Governments tend to rely on data that reflects national averages, making it difficult to identify the needs of specific children and to monitor progress. Comprehensive data collection and disaggregation of data by gender, age, disability and locality, are increasingly important as rights violations disproportionately affect disadvantaged children.
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Asia is home to more than half of the world’s 1.1 billion girls. Gender inequality in many parts of the region means that girls are often systematically disadvantaged and oppressed by poverty, violence, exclusion and discrimination. Girls’ development is hampered by child, early and forced marri...age and high adolescent pregnancy rates. Across the region, genderbased violence against girls and women constitutes a serious and widespread rights violation, particularly with regard to domestic violence, marital rape, and trafficking in women and girls.
Emerging data shows that since the outbreak of COVID-19, violence against girls and women, particularly domestic violence, has intensified
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Inferences through Machine Learning.Background Report.
What are the major origins and drivers of different types of conflict? Sorting out the main
causes of conflict and war is difficult and often shaped by ideological believes. Even today,
historians and political scientists have discussions on... the primary causes of the First World
War. There are several types of conflict, ranging from international and civil wars to local
conflicts, riots and revolution. And there are many theories that explain these different types
of conflict, which mostly focus on economic conditions and a range of factors that can foster
grievances and greed, creating incentives to initiate or join a conflict
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It is widely understood that the food insecurity crisis in the Sahel and the Horn of Africa is one of the world’s fastest growing and most neglected crises. It lacks sufficient global focus, resources and urgency. As in so many crises, women and girls are disproportionately affected and shoulder t...he consequences of protracted neglect, with unconscionable impacts on their safety, life chances and agency.
Gaining a holistic view of the gendered drivers, risks and impacts of food insecurity in the Sahel and the Horn of Africa is difficult. This is due to a lack of data and prioritization, and the large geographical and socioeconomic terrain covered by both regions. However, what we do know about this crisis is more than enough to urgently address the needs of women and girls.
An OCHA discussion paper on this topic (which will be published imminently, and from which this policy brief is drawn) found that there is:
A strong risk of profound regression in gender equality gains made to date in the countries of concern, including on education, sexual and reproductive health, and the economic independence of women and girls (with knock-on effects on broader humanitarian and development outcomes).
An increasing challenge to reverse what must be recognized as a protracted and growing gender-based violence (GBV) emergency in the Sahel and the Horn of Africa.
The food insecurity crisis in the Sahel and the Horn of Africa is protracted, multidimensional and highly gendered, with spiralling impacts on gender equality and food security outcomes. It is driven by interwoven and overlapping factors, including climate change, political instability, conflict, socioeconomic conditions, migration and displacement and, more recently, COVID-19 and the war in Ukraine. Interlinked with these factors are gendered structural drivers of food insecurity, including deeply entrenched gender inequalities and harmful social norms. Gendered risks and impacts of food insecurity include alarming limitations on access to education, sexual and reproductive health rights, women’s agency and participation, and dramatic increases in different existing forms of GBV and the emergence of new ones. Recognition of such gendered dimensions of food insecurity and of the need for a multisectoral approach in the response is key to addressing the crisis, along-side sustained commitment and adequate allocation of resources. This policy brief draws out key findings from the OCHA discussion paper on this topic, which includes a desk review of studies, assessments and reports, and interviews with local women’s organizations on the front lines of the food insecurity crisis in communities across both regions.
Below are the most pressing gendered drivers, risks and impacts of food insecurity (not in order of priority), as well as key gaps in the current humanitarian response to food insecurity, and recommendations to take forward.
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