16 June 2017 – A majority of children aged between three- and four-years-old in 74 countries, or about 40 million, have fathers who do not play or engage in early learning activities with them, according to a new study released today by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

&#8220What these numbers show us is that father’s are struggling to play an active role in their children’s early years,&#8221 said Laurence Chandy, UNICEF Director of Data, Research and Policy, in a statement on the study, released as some 80 countries around the world are set to celebrate Father’s Day this coming Sunday.

&#8220We must break down the barriers that prevent fathers from providing their babies and young children a conducive environment for them to thrive, including love, play, protection and nutritious food,&#8221 he said.

The UNICEF analysis examined whether children aged three and four engaged in any play and early learning activities with their fathers, such as having their father read to the children, tell them stories or sing with them; taking them outside, playing with them; and naming, counting or drawing with them.

UNICEF urges governments and the private sector to increase spending and influence policies to support early childhood development programmes that focus on providing parents with the resources and information they need to provide nurturing care to their children.

&#8220We must ensure that all parents have the time, resources and knowledge they need to fully support their children’s early development,&#8221 Mr. Chandy said.

Advances in neuroscience have proven that when children spend their earliest years in a nurturing, stimulating environment, new neural connections can form at a once-in-a-lifetime speed of 1,000 per second. These connections help determine their health, ability to learn and deal with stress, and even influence their earning capacity as adults.

Research also suggests that exposure to violence and a lack of stimulation and care can prevent neural connections from occurring; and when children positively interact with their fathers, they have better psychological health, self-esteem and life-satisfaction in the long-term.

Read more: Super Dads: New UNICEF campaign spotlights fathers’ critical role in children’s early development

This month, UNICEF is inviting families to post photos and videos of what it takes to be ‘super dads,’ using the hashtag #EarlyMomentsMatter on their Instagram and Twitter accounts.

Photos and videos of UNICEF ambassadors and supporters who have got behind the campaign are being posted on UNICEF’s Instagram and Twitter, and featured on the campaign’s gallery, to inspire families across the world to share their ‘super dads’ moments.

16 June 2017 – As the clock ticks towards the 2030 deadline for meeting global goals to eradicate hunger and poverty, the United Nations agriculture agency today asserted that five vitally important emerging economies, known collective as the ‘BRICS’ countries, are well positioned to take a leading role in helping the world achieve these targets.

These five countries &#8211 Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa &#8211 form an economic block that accounts for more than 40 per cent of the world’s population and over 20 per cent of global gross domestic product (GDP). Together, they produce more than one-third of global cereal production, with Russia becoming the largest wheat exporter in the world.

&#8220The BRICS countries play an important political role in the international arena. Developing countries around the world look to your successes in economic development over the past few decades as an example to follow,&#8221 said Kundhavi Kadiresan, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Regional Representative for Asia and the Pacific, during a statement to the 7th Meeting of the BRICS Ministers of Agriculture, in Nanjing, China.

&#8220Your experiences provide a path that can help us all meet our global collective commitments, namely those of the 2030 Agenda &#8211 its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) &#8211 and the Paris Agreement [on climate change],&#8221 added Ms. Kadiresan.

She pointed out that, despite trends towards urbanization, as poverty in the world today is primarily rural, accelerating rural development will be key to achieving the SDGs.

&#8220The question is how can we do this?&#8221 continued the regional representative. &#8220Our experiences in countries in different parts of the world have shown that it can best be done through a combination of agricultural growth and targeted social protection, but also through growth in the rural nonfarm economy.&#8221

She underscored that agriculture can be a driver of sustained and inclusive rural growth, saying &#8220In low-income countries, growth originating from agriculture is twice as effective in reducing poverty as growth originating from other sectors of the economy.”

All tools, approaches and technologies must also be accessible to poor farmers in developing countries for increased production and productivity.

An excellent example is South Africa’s Fetsa Tlala, a government-led initiative to support subsistence and smallholder farmers expand cultivated land to food production.

Agricultural growth

Achieving agricultural growth would require research and development investments, in which BRICS countries could play a leading role as all five have strong agricultural research systems working on developing countries’ challenges. Biotechnology and agro-ecological approaches would also be essential.

Information and communication technologies (ICTs) are becoming more widespread by the day, and they offer a promising approach to address many of the challenges small farmers face with regard to information on prices, weather forecasts, vaccines, financial services, and much more.

FAO is collaborating with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the International Food Policy Research Institute to make sure these technologies benefit smallholders.

Ms. Kadiresan also points out that social protection programmes also play a key role in rural development &#8211 reducing poverty, benefitting health and strengthening family farmer confidence.