United Nations Children's Fund

By : Alankar Agnihotri

Introduction

United Nations Children's international organization.

Fund

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After the end of World War II in 1946, The United Nations (UN) established a program aimed to provide the basic necessities of life to famine and disease ridden children in Europe. On the 11th of December, 1946, UNICEF was born. At that time, its name was United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund. In 1953, United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund dropped the word Emergency from its name. Its name became United Nations Children's Fund.

Introduction

UNICEF was created for the purpose of addressing the needs of underprivileged children which include diminishing the prevalence of disease, malnutrition, HIV/AIDS and violence while ensuring all children have access to quality education. UNICEF has been working for over 60 years in different countries all over the world. In 1965, this organization received the Nobel Peace Prize for its work. But, many people and governments have not always praised the work of the UNICEF.

Objectives
UNICEF has decided the following 5 areas as priority or main areas:

* Some other priority areas are the child in the family, and sports for development.

Partnerships and Partner groups

UNICEF is funded exclusively by voluntary contributions, and the National Committees collectively raise around one-third of UNICEF's annual income. This comes through contributions from corporations, civil society organizations and more than 6 million individual donors worldwide. They also rally many different partners including the media, national and local government officials, NGOs, specialists such as doctors and lawyers, corporations, schools, young people and the general public on issues related to childrens rights. UNICEF relies on contributions from governments and private donors and UNICEF's total income for 2008 was $3,372,540,239.

Partnerships and Partner groups

Civil Society

UNICEF is not funded exclusively by voluntary contributions, and the National Committee collectively raise around one-third of UNICEF's annual income. This comes through contributions from corporations, civil society organizations and more than 6 million individual donors worldwide. Broadly categorise in following four: Global Programme Partnerships (GPP) Civil society Corporate Sector Academia and media

Academia & Media

Outcomes for Children

Global Programme Partnerships

Corporate partners

Global Programme Partnerships

UNICEF in 80 GPPs with 40 focusing on health and HIV/AIDS
UNICEFs roles
Host: e.g. UN Girls Education Initiative Other Governance role in 33 GPPs, e.g Sub Committee on Nutrition Partner : UNAIDS -Collaborator : - Global Fund to fight AIDS, TB & Malaria

The international system of development finance is expanding

Public Other private non profit Private Bilateral Donors Multilateral Donors
World Bank IMF UNDP EC Regional dev. banks & agencies Others, e.g. Islamic Dev. Bank Emerging donors UN Specialised Agencies

GPPs

NGOs

Private for profit

22 DAC donors Incl. bilateral development banks and agencies

GFATM GAVI Global Environment Facility Fast Track Initiative/ Education for All Etc.
International NGOs Foundations Firms

National NGOs in donor countries

Households (e.g. remittances and other private transfers)

Commercial Banks

Other OECD donors (non-DAC)

National NGOs in developing countries

Private Investors

UNICEF

Corporate Sector
Functions Traditional focus on resource mobilization ($117m in 2007) New ways of engaging with corporates Wider resource mobilization Influencing behaviour and practice of corporate sector Co-development of strategic partnerships and programmes Innovations for children Survey among corporate partners 628 corporate partners identified Problems with UNICEFs administrative structure More investment in co-development of programmes and employee motivation
UNICEF

Civil Society and others

Civil Society partners implement programmes generate innovative practices advocate for childrens rights and promote policy prepare for and respond to emergencies facilitate the participation of children and young UNICEF has thousands of CSO partners Only global partnerships are coordinated No data base available Academia and think tanks contribute to research and analysis build institutional capacity
Media partnerships raise awareness about childrens rights provide space for child participation

UNICEF has been working in India since 1949

Strengths and weaknesses

Conclusion: Way forward

All levels involved in partnerships and collaborations, but many engagements remain ad hoc More strategic and selective approach needed Minimise administrative burden Monitoring and evaluation tools needed to measure additional results through UNICEFs engagement to assess evolving nature and life cycle of partnerships to strengthen risk management, encourage innovation and reduce the bureaucratic burden

UNICEF

Conclusion : Way forward

More strategic and selective with regards to GPPs Ensure better alignment with country priorities Greater selectivity needs to be exercised
Develop stronger partnerships with CSOs Partner Contractor Utilise the potential of partnerships with the Corporate Sector, while managing the risks

Strengthen cooperation with knowledge partners and (new) media

Reference
Wikipedia : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UNICEF Martigny II Where Are We Now?, UNICEF Evaluation Office. May 2003. (MARTIGNY II, p. 2) Meta-evaluation of the Quality of Evaluations Supported by UNICEF Country Offices, 2000-2001. June 2003. (EVALUATIONS) Multilateral Organizations Performance Assessment Network (MOPAN): Report from the PilotExercise. December 2003. Evaluation of ECHO's Cooperation with UNICEF and UNICEF activities funded by ECHO.January 2004. (ECHO) Report of Supply Division Evalu@TING March 30-April 1, 2004 DFID Multilateral Assessment Framework on UNICEF May 27th, 2004. (DFID) Evaluation of UNICEF strategy in India (Sept. 2007-June2013). 2009 (INDIA) The Mid-Term Review of the UNICEF Medium Term Strategic Plan 2002-2005, Synthesis Report, DPP. July 2004. (MTR) Managing for Results in the UN System, Joint Inspection Unit, UN Geneva, 2004 Parts I, II, III,Draft. July 2004. (JIU) Global Consultation UNICEF in a Changing World 1-3 July 2004. Dubai Summary Report.2004. (DUBAI) Brizee, A. (2009) Memo Writing [online], available: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/printable/590/ [accessed 3 Oct 2009] UNICEF (2008) Who We Are [online], available: http://www.unicef.org/about/who/index_introduction.html [accessed 10 Oct 2009]

For more information and interviews, please contact:

Caroline den Dulk Chief of Communication, UNICEF India Tel: +91-98-1810-6093; E-mail: cdendulk@unicef.org Geetanjali Master, Communication Specialist, UNICEF India Tel: +91-98-1810-5861; E-mail: gmaster@unicef.org Sonia Sarkar, Communication Officer- Media, UNICEF India Tel: +91-98-101-70289; E-mail: ssarkar@unicef.org

Thank you