UNICEF: EU Child Guarantee (2022)

Five-year-old Alexander attends a session with Ms. Desislava Sevova at Zvezditsa Kindergarten in Burgas, Bulgaria, on July 27, 2021. Alexander suffers from hydrocephalus and requires special care to avoid trauma or accidental impacts. The kindergarten cares for 13 special needs children, among others, with only one specialist on staff. © Maciek Nabrdalik / VII for UNICEF.

THE PROJECT

A collaborative production aimed at crafting impactful videos, photography edits, written texts, and social media content to spotlight the European Union Child Guarantee Policy (EUCG) in collaboration with UNICEF.

The EUCG, supported by UNICEF, seeks to break the cycle of poverty by providing access to a key set of services to all children at risk of poverty or social exclusion and to create opportunities for these children to thrive in adulthood. Every story is presented through the perspective of an individual child or a young adult, empowering them with a voice in their own destinies.

The final campaign was presented to EU and governmental policy decision-makers to create a wider public awareness of the EUCG and UNICEF’s work.

Five-year-old Alexander, who has hydrocephalus and needs special attention to prevent trauma or accidental injuries, is photographed at Zvezditsa Kindergarten in Burgas, Bulgaria, on July 27, 2021. This kindergarten, which provides care for 13 children with special needs among others, operates with just one specialist on staff. Photo by Maciek Nabrdalik/VII for UNICEF.

Waiting for the other family members, Mamajang helps his grandmother serve tagliatelle al ragù for the midday lunch in Montecchio Maggiore (Vicenza), Italy, on May 13, 2021. Photo by Franco Pagetti/VII for UNICEF.

Tancredi Oglialoro is greeted by UNICEF staff Federica Tornincasa, Intersectional Discrimination Consultant, and Maddalena Grechi, Youth Engagement and Advocacy Expert, at the venue entrance on the first day of the YAB meeting held at the Luiss Hub in Milan on December 12, 2022. Reunions tend to be very emotional after a few months of separation. Photo by Marko Risovic/VII Mentor Program for UNICEF.

A working group led by Francesco Bonatesta, Ilias Boussetta, Irene Nonno, and others, mentored by Maddalena Grechi, a Youth Engagement and Advocacy Expert from UNICEF, discuss issues to be addressed in front of others later during the final stages of the YAB meeting on December 17, 2022, in Milan, Italy. Photo by Marko Risovic/VII Mentor Program for UNICEF.

(Left to right) Carlotta Sabino and Francesco Bonatesta, former members of the EU Strategy for Children’s Rights, Giulia Fusco, volunteer, Ezekiel Mieza, care leaver, and Al Amin, former unaccompanied and separated child, engage in a conversation during a break at the YAB meeting on December 17, 2022. Having formed a strong bond, they offer each other significant support. Photo by Marko Risovic/VII Mentor Program for UNICEF.

Sarah Martinelli from UNICEF Italy assists participants of the YAB meeting in Milan to prepare their final presentations, which focus on strategies for improving youth policies in Italy, on December 18, 2022 in Milan.

A boy looks at food in boxes that are made for donation at Salaam Foundation's Islamic food bank in Rotterdam, the Netherlands on the 28th of July 2021. This food bank is organized multiple times a week, and has been in existence for over two decades. Part of the food that is being donated to people, is being donated to the food bank by stores and shops. Some of it would otherwise go to waste and would be thrown away. About a third of all the food produced in the world for human consumption is lost or wasted. This is not only an ethical and economic issue, but wasting food also depletes the environment. And natural resources are all ready limited. © Ilvy Njiokiktjien / VII.

Content Authenticity Initiative

VII Photo partnered with the Content Authenticity Initiative (CAI) for a series of case studies by VII contributing photographers Ziyah Gafic, Maciek Nabrdalik, and Ilvy Njiokiktjien.

Mahdi Mahmud was hung on the roof of the hall in the house by the intelligence and reconnaissance unit from (the ERD) force For the purpose of torture and interrogation. Mehdi Mahmoud was displaced from Mosul with his family to his village; Mehdi Mahmoud and his son Ahmad, 16 years old, were arrested upon arrival. More than an hour of torture, later they were released. Two weeks later, I heard that the (ERD) intelligence center arrested Ahmad Mahdi, who was killed by a group of detainees near Qabr al-Abd village in the Hammam al-Alil area of south Musol.11,23,2016 © Ali Arkady / VII.

Strappado

In 2016, Iraqi photojournalist Ali Arkady embedded with the country’s special forces – an elite group of both Sunnis & Shiites who were battling ISIS in the name of a unified Iraq – to document the effort.