UNICEF

Table of Contents

• Overview
• Thematic Focus
• Strategy
• Achievements

Overview

UNICEF works to improve the social and economic conditions of children by increasing children's access to health care, safe drinking water, food, and education; protecting children from violence and abuse; and providing emergency relief after disasters.

Canada has been a strong supporter of UNICEF since its establishment in 1946. Today, UNICEF is the United Nations' (UN) development agency most known by Canadians and a trusted CIDA partner. UNICEF works in more than 155 developing countries.

Canada sits on the 36-member Executive Board of UNICEF, on a rotating basis.

In 2009-2010, through CIDA, Canada contributed about $58 million to UNICEF for long-term institutional support, humanitarian assistance, and specific programming. For example, in Afghanistan, CIDA has worked closely with UNICEF to eradicate polio by providing millions of vaccines. In Colombia, CIDA is working with UNICEF to strengthen child protection. CIDA also supports the Catalytic Initiative to Save a Million Lives―a multidonor initiative that works to reduce child deaths in Africa.

Thematic Focus

UNICEF's mandate aligns closely with two of CIDA's priority themes: securing the future of children and youth and increasing food security.

Children and youth

UNICEF's focus on health, education, and child protection makes it one of CIDA's key partners in securing a future for children and youth and in improving child survival and maternal health, quality education, and the safety of children and youth.

Food security

UNICEF contributes to food security through its health and nutrition work and its substantial humanitarian programming. UNICEF's focus on delivering Vitamin A and other life-saving interventions, to children under the age of five, contributes to CIDA's strategy of meeting the nutrition needs of the most vulnerable. UNICEF also takes a lead role in providing safe drinking water.

CIDA's Strategy for Working with UNICEF

CIDA's work with UNICEF focusses on four strategic objectives:

1. Helping UNICEF increase its reach to the most vulnerable and under-served children and youth by:
   • Further scaling-up high impact health and nutrition interventions, with the greatest impact on child survival and development
   • Reducing gender disparities and improving access to, participation in, and completion of quality basic education for the most vulnerable and under-served children
   • Reducing adolescent risks and vulnerability to HIV/AIDS by increasing access to and use of gender-sensitive prevention information, skills and services
   • Accelerating implementation of the Child Protection Strategy
   • Collecting and analysing more sex- and age-disaggregated data so that more vulnerable groups can be targeted
2. Supporting UNICEF's efforts to work more effectively and strategically with partners and other United Nations agencies to advance the long-term sustainability of results for children and youth
3. Helping to strengthen UNICEF's capacity to respond to humanitarian crises, for example by increasing technical expertise, field capacity and stockpiles and taking into account environmental factors during crises, especially those relating to natural disaster and water and sanitation
4. Supporting UNICEF's more active role in United Nations reform efforts to make sure its programs are coherent, coordinated and focused, which includes:
   • Increasing joint programming efforts and improving national coordination mechanisms
   • Assessing and developing a strategic plan outlining a clear division of labour for the areas in which UNICEF works with other organizations
   • Supporting UNICEF's system-wide efforts to harmonize business practices

Achievements

In 2010, with the support of CIDA and other donors, UNICEF:

• Responded to 290 humanitarian situations in 98 countries and provided reintegration support to 28,000 children affected by armed conflict
• Strengthened child protection systems in 131 countries
• Helped advance gender equality in education through the United Nations Girls' Education Initiative, a partnership whose efforts have led to the Dakar Declaration on Accelerating Girls' Education and Gender Equality and the development of 18 country action plans on girls' rights to education
• Continued to support national immunization campaigns, resulting in 170 million children being vaccinated against measles and 1 billion against polio
• Helped scale up the management of severe acute malnutrition in 51 countries and more than doubled the provision of ready-to-use therapeutic foods to treat about 1 million children.
• Conducted the fourth round of its multiple indicator cluster surveys in 21 countries and territories, producing important internationally comparable data on children's well-being
• Raised more than $175 million through some 600 corporate partners who have taken up the cause of child rights