Achieving results for children
The case for support
Girls play in the schoolyard at Santo Niño Elementary School in the town of Tanauan, Leyte Province,
the Philippines – one of the areas hardest hit by Super Typhoon Haiyan in November 2013.
Their school was badly damaged by the storm.
“
CONTENTS
The next steps of our journey will depend
on our willingness to adapt to the changing
world around us to infuse equity throughout
our programmes and the post-2015 targets
and to find new ways to realize the rights
– and brighten the futures – of the most
disadvantaged children around the world.
”
Anthony Lake, Executive Director, UNICEF
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© UNICEF/UNI157813/Pirozzi
Page
Overview: The world’s . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
children at the start of the
implementation of
Agenda 2030
Why partner with UNICEF? . . . . . . . 4
Action for children: What . . . . . . . . 6
we want to achieve by 2017
Transforming children’s lives: . . . . . 8
How UNICEF delivers results
Additional information and . . . . . 10
background materials
1
OVERVIEW: The world’s children at the start of the
implementation of Agenda 2030
© UNICEF/UNI186082/Nijimbere
On 30 May 2015, four children stand on a shore of Lake Cohoha, which straddles the border between Burundi and Rwanda.
They are part of the Batwa indigenous group that has ties on both sides of the border. The family had escaped to Rwanda
earlier in the year, but returned to Burundi when news from home was less worrisome.
Significant progress has been
made in the last decade,
yet huge gaps remain
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Fifteen years of concerted effort towards
meeting the Millennium Development Goals
(MDGs) have yielded tremendous progress
in tackling some of the world’s greatest
development challenges. Declines in child
mortality since 1990 have allowed an estimated
100 million more children to see their fifth
birthday. Some 721 million fewer people live in
extreme poverty today than in 1990. More than
2.5 billion people have gained access to improved
sources of drinking water in the past 25 years.
Upwards of 90 per cent of children in low- and
middle-income countries are now enrolling in
primary school.
Despite the gains, millions of children are yet
to be reached with the essentials of life, and
many children continue to be trapped in a vicious
cycle of inequity. There are still 960 million
people in the world practising open defecation.
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n 2015 alone, an estimated 5.9 million children will die before age 5.
The most recent data show that an estimated 4.3 million children,
including adolescents, are living with HIV. Almost 700 million people
still lack an improved drinking water source, and 2.4 billion people still
lack access to improved sanitation.
Furthermore, one in four children under 5
continues to suffer from stunting, involving
some 161 million children. Additionally, about
58 million boys and girls are still missing out
on their right to primary education, one in five
children of lower secondary school age are
out of school, and significant equity gaps exist
in learning outcomes. If current rates of child
marriage hold, the total number of women
married as children will grow from 700 million
today to 950 million in 2030. Children are overrepresented among the poor in developing
countries, and poverty among children is also a
rising concern in high-income countries.
Thus, overall, for millions of children, the
burden of disadvantage involves the lack of
opportunities throughout childhood and missed
chances in adolescence, creating conditions for
long-term inequality.
The evidence, nonetheless, suggests that
eliminating these deprivations among children
is more than a moral obligation for society; it
makes economic sense.
Investing in children is both an
obligation and an opportunity
Indisputable evidence shows that investments
in children generate significant economic
and social returns for society at large. These
benefits take many forms: from improving labour
productivity and lowering crime rates to breaking
inter-generational cycles of deprivation.
Better child health has immediate benefits,
such as lowering treatment costs and increased
school attendance. It is also associated with
lower fertility rates. In the long term, these
benefits translate into a more productive
labour force, higher life expectancy coupled
with increased wages and savings – ultimately
fuelling greater investments in the economy and
a cycle of growth. A 2014 study in The Lancet
estimates that increasing health expenditure in
74 high-income countries by US$5 per person
through 2035 could yield up to nine times that
value in economic benefits.
Education has long been considered a key
investment in individual productivity and
earnings. The evidence shows that, on average,
one more year of education brings a 10 per cent
increase in an individual’s earnings. Additionally,
if all students in low-income countries left
school with basic reading skills, some 171
million people could be lifted out of poverty. The
social and economic rates of return for primary
and secondary education are estimated to be
more than 20 per cent.
Thus, investments for children, particularly the
most disadvantaged, are investments not just in
tackling inequality and poverty, but investments
that contribute substantially to economic
development. 3
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Why partner with UNICEF?
UNICEF delivers results for children
that change their lives, focusing on
the most excluded
• Focusing first and most intently on the
children left furthest behind lies at the heart
of the mission and work of UNICEF. Whether
children come from the poorest homes
or the most marginalized ethnic groups,
UNICEF has long been committed to putting
the rights of children at the top of global and
national agendas. This commitment is in line
with the Convention on the Rights of the
Child and embedded in UNICEF’s mission
statement: “In everything it does, the most
disadvantaged children and the countries in
greatest need have priority.”
© UNICEF/UNI186112/Calvin
On 21 May 2015, seated on the ground, a boy feeds a
younger child in Nyarugusu refugee camp, in Kigoma
Region, United Republic of Tanzania.
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NICEF’s networking, convening
and advocacy roles and its unique
partnerships support the development
of innovative real-time solutions to the
challenges that interfere with realizing
rights for children and achieving equity.
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• UNICEF promotes the rights and wellbeing of every child, everywhere. Together
with partners, UNICEF works in 190
countries and territories to translate that
commitment into practical action, making a
special effort to reach the most vulnerable
and excluded children. In 157 of the 190
countries, UNICEF, in cooperation with
governments and other partners, executes
country programmes that focus on the most
disadvantaged children, including those living
in fragile contexts, those with disabilities,
those who are affected by rapid
urbanization and those affected by
environmental degradation.
• UNICEF’s comparative advantages give it a
distinctive position to support the realization
of the rights of children, especially the most
disadvantaged children. These advantages
include an international normative mandate
based on the widely ratified Convention
on the Rights of the Child; proven capacity
in multiple sectors; a mandate that
covers the development-humanitarian
continuum; a strong field presence and a
capacity to engage concurrently at multiple
levels – global, regional, country and
local – to address barriers to child wellbeing. In addition, UNICEF is one of a few
international organizations that has the
capacity to address all the key dimensions
of child well-being – including health care,
nutrition, access to safe
water and sanitation,
education and protection –
in both development and
humanitarian situations.
UNICEF has the capacity
and reach to support
the direct provision of
essential services for
children, strengthen
the capacity of partners
engaged directly in the
provision of services
and provide evidencebased policy advice to
governments with the
capacity to expand
service delivery.
UNICEF works on strategic and
innovative activities and partnerships
that leverage funding and can be scaled
up for the benefit of entire societies
• UNICEF’s networking, convening and advocacy
roles and its unique partnerships support
the development of innovative and real-time
solutions to the challenges that interfere with
realizing rights for children and achieving equity
in a diverse range of national contexts.
• UNICEF is committed to and uses innovative
approaches to better the lives of children.
Fundamentally, UNICEF innovation work has
a focus on providing access to information,
© UNICEF/UNI181407/Esiebo
On 16 March 2015, Rose Zeeharrah lies next to
her daughter and son across a bed in a camp
for internally displaced persons, in Yola, the
capital of Adamawa, Nigeria. The family moved
to the camp after members of the Boko Haram
attacked their home village. In the camp, the family
receives food support from Nigeria’s National
Emergency Management Agency, while UNICEF
provides educational and medical support for
the children, along with boreholes that provide clean
water for the family and other displaced people.
opportunity and choice to the world’s most
vulnerable populations. Furthermore, globally
UNICEF leads in collecting data, monitoring
and reporting on the situation of children. The
Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS)
implemented by 108 countries form the basis
of monitoring the achievement of the MDGs
and setting the baseline for the Sustainable
Development Goals agenda.
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NICEF’s comparative advantages give it a distinctive position to support
the realization of the rights of children … These advantages include an
international normative mandate based on the widely ratified Convention on the
Rights of the Child; proven capacity in multiple sectors; a mandate that covers the
development-humanitarian continuum; a strong field presence and a capacity –
global, regional, country and local – to address barriers to child well-being.
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Action for children: What we want to achieve by 2017
UNICEF’s Strategic Plan 2014–2017 describes the
key areas of the organization’s work and expected
results – globally as well as in some 157 countries
where UNICEF has programmes on the ground.
The Strategic Plan focuses on seven outcomes:
health; HIV/AIDS; water, sanitation and hygiene
(WASH); education; nutrition; child protection;
and social inclusion. Humanitarian action, gender
equality and human rights cut across all seven
outcomes. Annex 1 provides a summary of some
of the results that UNICEF expects to achieve
through the Strategic Plan.
ANNEX 1: Planned outcomes of the UNICEF Strategic Plan 2014–2017
Health
UNICEF focuses on supporting global efforts to
reduce under-five mortality through improved and
equitable use of high-impact maternal, newborn
and child health interventions from pregnancy to
adolescence and promotion of healthy behaviours.
Key programme areas are immunization, polio
eradication, maternal and newborn health, child
health, health systems strengthening and health in
humanitarian situations.
In all programme areas, UNICEF continues to
partner with governments, other UN agencies, other
international organizations, civil society and the
private sector to achieve equitable results in health,
especially for the most disadvantaged children. Over
the course of the Strategic Plan, UNICEF seeks to
mobilize US$4.1 billion for work on children’s health,
of which US$2.5 billion has been raised, thus leaving
a funding gap of US$1.6 billion.
Water, sanitation and
hygiene (WASH)
UNICEF focuses on supporting global efforts to
eliminate open defecation and increase use of safe
drinking water through improved and equitable access
to safe drinking water sources, sanitation and healthy
environments and improved hygiene practices.
Key programme areas include water supply,
sanitation, hygiene, WASH in Schools and early
childhood development centres and WASH in
humanitarian situations.
Over the course of the Strategic Plan, UNICEF seeks
to mobilize US$2.2 billion for work on children and
WASH, of which US$1 billion has been raised, thus
leaving a funding gap of US$1.2 billion.
Nutrition
HIV and AIDS
Emphasis is placed on supporting global efforts to
prevent new HIV infections and increase treatment
during the first two decades of a child’s life through
improved and equitable use of proven HIV prevention
and treatment interventions by pregnant women,
children and adolescents.
Key programme areas include prevention of motherto-child transmission and infant male circumcision,
care and treatment of young children affected by
HIV/AIDS, adolescents and HIV/AIDS, protection
and support for children and families and HIV/AIDS
in humanitarian situations. Over the course of the
Strategic Plan, UNICEF seeks to mobilize US$740
million for work on children and HIV/AIDS, of which
US$258 million has been raised.
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Emphasis is placed on supporting global efforts
to reduce undernutrition, with particular focus on
stunting, through improved and equitable use of
nutritional support and improved nutrition and
care practices.
Key programme areas include infant and young
child feeding, micronutrients, nutrition and HIV,
community-based management of acute
malnutrition and nutrition in humanitarian situations.
UNICEF supports a focus on early childhood given
the crucial impact of nutrition during the first 1,000
days of life in preventing childhood stunting. Over
the course of the Strategic Plan, UNICEF seeks to
mobilize US$1.5 billion for work on children and
nutrition, of which US$672 million has been
raised, thus leaving a funding gap of over
US$800 million.
Child protection
The emphasis is on supporting global efforts to prevent violence, abuse, exploitation and neglect through improved and
equitable prevention and child protection systems.
Key programme areas include strengthening child protection systems; violence, exploitation and abuse; justice for children; birth
registration; strengthened families and communities and child protection in humanitarian situations, including the children and
armed conflict agenda. Continued investment in research and institutional strengthening will remain crucial for better results in
child protection. Through a new campaign to fight violence against children, UNICEF is working with partners to highlight this
issue and ’make the invisible visible.’ Over the course of the Strategic Plan, UNICEF seeks to mobilize US$1.8 billion for child
protection, of which US$952 million has been raised, thus leaving a funding gap of over US$800 million.
Education
Social inclusion
UNICEF focuses on supporting global efforts to provide access
to quality education for both boys and girls through improved
learning outcomes and equitable and inclusive education.
UNICEF is supporting global efforts to reduce
child poverty and discrimination against children
through improved policy environments and
systems for disadvantaged children.
Key programme areas include early learning, equity with a
focus on girls’ education and inclusive education, learning and
child-friendly schools and education in humanitarian situations.
Working with the Global Partnership for Education and others,
UNICEF supports innovations such as right age enrolment,
child-centred pedagogy and multilingual education with a view
to improve overall results, especially for the most disadvantaged
children, including girls and children with disabilities. UNICEF also
focuses its efforts on generating data and knowledge and for
ongoing quality improvements.
Over the course of the Strategic Plan, UNICEF seeks to mobilize
US$3 billion for work on children and education, of which US$1.7
billion has been raised, thus leaving a funding gap of US$1.3 billion.
Key programme areas include data and
evidence, child poverty analysis and social
protection, human rights, non-discrimination
and participation, public financial management,
policy advocacy on urban and climate change,
governance and decentralization and social
inclusion in humanitarian situations.
Over the course of the Strategic Plan, UNICEF
seeks to mobilize US$1.5 billion for work on
children and social inclusion, of which US$558
million has been raised, thus leaving a funding gap
of over US$900 million.
Furthermore, UNICEF pursues two cross-cutting priorities in support of the seven outcome areas: humanitarian
action and gender equality.
Gender equality
Humanitarian action
In gender equality, UNICEF continues to identify
and leverage positive cross-sectoral synergies and
linkages, such as the linkages between improved
girls’ education and an end to child marriage and
lower maternal mortality rates. Focus is also placed
on increasing access to services and opportunities by
women and girls and their inclusion and participation
in all facets of life, advocacy and technical support
on gender-equitable policies, budgeting and resource
allocations, and on collecting and using sexdisaggregated and other gender-related data. UNICEF
promotes gender-sensitive interventions as a core
programmatic priority and, to the extent possible, all
relevant policies and programmes mainstream gender
equality. UNICEF seeks US$326 million for targeted
and institutional strengthening programmes.
In humanitarian action, UNICEF strives to save
lives and protect rights as defined in the Core
Commitments for Children in Humanitarian Action
and in line with internationally accepted standards.
The focus is on systematically reducing vulnerability
to disasters and conflicts for effective prevention
of and response to crises, improving links between
development programmes and humanitarian
response and on promoting rapid recovery and
building community resilience to shocks that affect
children. Apart from the institutional architecture
for overseeing the various types of response,
humanitarian-related programmes are mainstreamed
in the above seven outcome areas. UNICEF’s funding
gap for strengthening the global architecture for
humanitarian action is US$177.6 million.
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Transforming children’s lives: How UNICEF delivers results
© UNICEF/UNI183482/Wandera
On 18 March 2015, children play at the Child Friendly Space (CFS) in Ayillo 2 settlement for South Sudanese
refugees in Pakelle, Adjumani district, Uganda. A total of 22 CFS centers have been built in conjunction
with Early Childhood Development centers across the three districts (Arua, Adjumani and Kiryandongo)
since 2014. These centers are providing psycho-social activities to refugee children.
UNICEF is uniquely positioned to deliver results
for children. Given its comparative strengths,
the evolving nature of the development context
and the enormous challenges children face,
UNICEF is constantly striving to implement
Strategy
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management practices and operational excellence based on clear principles, accountability
and transparency in order to achieve results for
children, especially the most disadvantaged.
These are outlined below.
Results
Generating
evidence for policy,
programming and
monitoring the
situation of children
UNICEF places emphasis on evidence-based decision making. Considerable effort
goes into generating both primary and secondary data on the well-being of children
for use by the entire development community, as well as for improving the design
and implementation of UNICEF-assisted programmes.
Investing in and
scaling up innovations
To seize the opportunities provided by new emerging technological and substantive
transformations, UNICEF is committed to and uses innovative approaches to
better the lives of children. Award-winning innovations are being developed and
used in an array of countries in areas such as youth engagement, birth registration,
transparency and accountability and using real-time information for better
programming and policy.
Strategy
Results
UNICEF prioritizes the forging of new approaches to collaboration and partnership
building, including jointly designing initiatives and managing for results. This includes
devising new collaboration modalities and recognizing the vital contributions of non-state
actors in delivering results for children, including with:
Partnership building
• The private sector: The tremendous power of the private sector to do good,
optimize opportunities for children and contribute to the creation of a socially and
economically just world is undisputed. UNICEF has already begun to realize the
full potential of the private sector by adopting the ‘Children’s Rights and Business
Principles’ and through its Integrated Corporate Engagement Strategy. UNICEF
is also creating spaces in which private companies are supported, guided and
encouraged to innovate for children, as well as expanding its engagement with
multi-stakeholder platforms.
• Civil society: UNICEF is engaging the full range of civil society strategically
and comprehensively to achieve meaningful, enduring results for children. In
particular, UNICEF is tapping into the incredible potential offered by all levels
of civil society, especially community-based organizations (CBOs), who are
distinctively placed to reach the most vulnerable populations, have unparalleled
knowledge of and access to marginalized communities and offer a potential
path for sustainable programming.
Enhancing capacity of
national institutions
Realizing child rights also depends on enhancing the capacity of institutions at both
the national and local levels to formulate and deliver policies and collect and analyse
evidence on progress in fulfilling children’s rights. These efforts focus on all branches of
government (executive, legislative and judicial) and a wide range of partners.
Improving the
effectiveness of
programmes in pursuit
of greater impact
To deliver sustainable results for children, UNICEF is focused on development solutions
with emphasis on building systems, in addition to directly providing services where public
systems are non-existent, especially in humanitarian situations. UNICEF achieves this by
investing in rigorous analysis of the situation of women and children that identifies the
most critical actions and goals for a given country context, as well as targets and relevant
actors for achieving those goals.
Accountability and
transparency
UNICEF is committed to making information about its programmes and operations
available to the public. It joined the International Aid Transparency Initiative in 2012
and is making information available on one or more of its public-access websites and/
or websites of the United Nations System. Additionally, UNICEF has also adopted the
International Public Sector Accounting Standards to enhance the quality of its financial
reporting by ensuring improved accountability, governance and transparency.
Investing in human
resource development
To meet the challenges of the twenty-first century and deliver against the Strategic Plan,
UNICEF is continuously improving both its mode of engagement, as well as the core
skills of its workforce. This includes a focus on a client-engagement model, in which
staff are responsive to the demands of the organization’s clients (children and partners).
Strengthening
advocacy and
communication
UNICEF communication and advocacy is strengthened by greater investment in
approaches that are contextual and evidence-based and that drive the organization’s
core principles and reinforce programming across all sectors. These include the use of
data and applied research/operational knowledge, building stronger relationships with
development actors and greater utilization of digital media to reach children and partners.
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Additional information and background materials
© UNICEF/UNI182039/Rich
On 21 March 2015, a local community leader praises the hard work of members of the Federation of Muslim
Women’s Associations in Nigeria (FOMWAN) in the Local Government Area of Dambatta, Kano State, Nigeria.
As women, members of FOMWAN have greater access to households and, therefore, have been instrumental
in ensuring more children are reached with vaccinations. Nigeria is one of just three countries worldwide where
polio remains endemic.
Strategic Plan 2014-2017
• (UNICEF, 2013); open PDF from <www.unicef.org/about/execboard/files/2013-21UNICEF_Strategic_Plan-ODS-English.pdf>.
• Results Framework; open PDF from <www.unicef.org/strategicplan/files/2014-8Final_results_framework_of_strategic_plan-ODS-EN.pdf>.
• Brochure; open PDF from <www.unicef.org/publicpartnerships/files/Brochure_
UNICEF_Strategic_Plan__2014-2017_e-version.pdf>.
• PowerPoint; open PDF from <www.unicef.org/publicpartnerships/files/UNICEF_
Strategic_Plan_2014_to_17.pdf>.
UNICEF Results Reports
(the annual Report on Regular Resources, the Annual Results Reports etc.)
• Website; open from <www.unicef.org/publicpartnerships/66662_66837.html>.
Key contacts for more information:
George Laryea-Adjei ([email protected])
Deputy Director, Division of Data, Research & Policy
Vidhya Ganesh ([email protected])
Deputy Director, Programme Division
Dominque Hyde ([email protected])
Deputy Director, Public Partnerships Division
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Jorge Olague ([email protected])
Deputy Director, Private Fundraising and Partnerships Division
For more information
scan this QR code or visit
www.unicef.org/publicpartnerships/
© United Nations Children’s Fund
December 2015