The Future of Children seeks to promote effective policies and programs for children by providing policymakers, service providers, and the media with timely, objective information based on the best available research.

A school in one of India’s smallest states is pioneering the use of e-exams to help create a consistentcy, security and ease of use in its examinations system.

The main catalysts for the e-exams have been changes in teaching methods, including distance learning, and project-based learning, all of which call for a more user-friendly exam method that provides fast feedback, says Dr K Jayakumar Vice Chancellor, Sikkim Manipal University of Health, Medical & Technological Sciences.

Maria Isabel Rodriguez is a 57 years old women living in Medellin. For 2 years she has been using the ICTs in daily life. She realized that she needed to learn more about these new technologies to improve her business, and also to learn about all the city´s programs. Nowadays, she does all her accounting on her computer, checks e-mails and even chats with her younger brothers.
Maria Isabel also won the Seed Capital Contest in Medellin, which helped her to start her own business. She received more...

Despite a general lack of public awareness about mathematics, there is in this country a feeling that we are very good at mathematics and there is a certain pride in its past achievements. We have no doubt major past contributions to mathematics to our credit. The romantic story of Srinivasa Ramanujan no doubt contributes (very justifiably) to this belief. But there are other dubious claims on behalf of Vedic mathematics which are also taken quite seriously and contribute to this confidence in o more...

Kunskapsskolan is the largest of a number of private firms offering government funded education in Sweden. It is profitable with 30 schools and 700 employees teaching nearly 10,000 pupils. The vital tool of the systems approach is the "Kunskapsporten (“Knowledge Portal”), a website containing the entire syllabus. Youngsters spend 15 minutes each week with a tutor, reviewing the past week's progress and agreeing on goals and a timetable for the next one. This will include classes and lectures more...

YDSI is a national nonprofit research, evaluation and technical assistance organization that helps communities improve long-term outcomes for their youth.

The organization's work focuses on three types of activities:


1.Conducting and disseminating research supporting the use of a developmental approach to serving youth;

2. Evaluating the effectiveness of organizations and institutions in helping youth attain desired outcomes; and

3. Developing and providing technical assist more...

In Janaury 2008, the new website for the World Institute for Development Economics Research of the United Nations University (UNU-WIDER) was launched. The previous site had served its purpose for over nine busy years, and the new fully searchable site now captures and navigates the range and depth of projects, events, and publications. With a new opportunities section, thematic programme summaries, and a complete online catalogue of publications to browse (by JEL code and author), the new UNU-WI more...

Two new e-learning courses and resources for trainers have been released by the EC-FAO Food Security Programme.

Baseline Food Security Assessments describes the purpose and features of baseline assessments and how they differ from action-oriented assessments. It also provides guidance on selecting a baseline assessment method depending on context and on incorporating historical trends into food security assessments.

Availability Assessment and Analysis introduces the most commonly used me more...

infoDev has released the report "Survey of ICT in Education in Africa (Volume 2): 53 Country Reports", the culmination of a continental survey process conducted in 2007. This publication is a follow-up to the recently published infoDev report, "Survey of ICT and Education in Africa: A Summary Report based on 53 Country Surveys", which identifies 'new trends and old challenges' in the use of a variety of information and communication technologies in the education sector.

Each short report prov more...

"The number of open collaborative technologies has exploded
over the last years. What impact have they had on access to and
quality of education worldwide? Can developing countries afford
these expensive technologies and thus avoid remaining on the
sidelines of the digital revolution? What about copyright issues?
What role for UNESCO?" UNESCO Bureau of Public Information Memo. (PFD, 2 pages.)