Children and young people's access to food, education, play and leisure in times of crisis: An international, integrative review of policy responses, impacts and adaptations during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic led to an unprecedented global moment when the core needs of children and young people (rights for education, food, play and leisure) were not adequately addressed, recognised from a policy perspective and to varying extents, ignored. This paper, by bringing scholarship and grey literature together, provides an integrative, international, comprehensive review and analysis of how the pandemic affected children's core needs (and rights) simultaneously. It also reviews and compares adaptations—often local, informal and/or community-led—that attempted to respond to the shortcomings and negative impacts of more formal policy measures, including lockdowns themselves. By doing so, it engages with the question of resilience and calls for children and young people's needs and voices to be heard in the future, particularly considering future forms of crisis-preparedness that can better account for children and young people's needs.