UNICEF Global Guardians Annual Report 2023

UNICEF GLOBAL GUARDIANS ANNUAL REPORT 2023

A MESSAGE FROM STEPHANIE MORAN, UNICEF UK’S

DIRECTOR OF PHILANTHROPY

Dear Global Guardians,

Since taking on the role as Director of Philanthropy in January this year, it has been my pleasure to see the remarkable impact this group of dedicated supporters have achieved.

I have seen first-hand how the support you provide allows us to respond immediately during emergencies, gives us the opportunity to invest now in challenges that will face children tomorrow, and continue our work around the world as one of the leading voices for children. Thank You.

Throughout this report, you will see how your support has enabled UNICEF to reach children in some of the most vulnerable communities across the world during their time of need, and how you are helping children realise their rights. Only through such flexible support are we able to be one of the first humanitarian actors to respond to emergencies, and it is only with this flexibility that we are able to respond to the evolving needs of children.

We are also pleased to share with you how your flexible funding has allowed us to invest in innovation that will shape the future for children. UNICEF are working across the globe to connect children with the endless opportunities in technology, health, education, and more – and we won’t stop until every child can access this potential.

I am continually inspired by the work you have helped us achieve and I am proud to count you as some of our most influential changemakers. Thank You for all that you help us achieve.

Yours sincerely,

Stephanie Moran Director of Philanthropy, UNICEF UK

Cover Image: Dalisto, 2, and his mother, Mirriam, at their home in Katete District, eastern Zambia.

Final Page: Zenaba, a 35-year-old mother of four, cuddles her baby at a camp for internally displaced people in Liwa, western Chad.

8-year-old Anita attends her first class at the UNICEF-supported temporary learning centre for flood-affected families in Sindh Province, Pakistan.

GLOBAL GUARDIANS

Flexible funding to transform children’s lives

Around the world, millions of children continue to face crisis, conflict, poverty and systemic inequality. Children in every corner of the globe are being denied access to the healthcare, nutrition, water and education they need to survive, thrive and seize new opportunities.

Global Guardians are helping us to meet the scale of this global crisis. Thanks to you, we are reaching millions of children, families and communities with groundbreaking, life-saving interventions.

As a Global Guardian, your donation is supporting UNICEF’s Core Resources for Results, our most flexible funding pool. These flexible funds are UNICEF’s most important, most effective and most valuable tool to help children worldwide, because they can be deployed when and where they are needed most.

Core Resources enable UNICEF to launch and maintain programmes in 190 countries and territories worldwide. These funds are distributed based on need, helping us to fulfil our mission to reach every child.

Thanks to your donation, we can launch a response the moment a crisis occurs, while also staying on the ground to develop long-term interventions for children. And Core Resources helps us to create innovative, exciting new solutions that have the power to transform entire communities.

Your donation is making a real difference. In this report, you’ll read about the stories of Mukesh, İmge, and the countless other children whose lives have been transformed by your donation. Thank You for your amazing, tireless commitment to UNICEF’s vital work.

“Our work is made possible through Core Resources for Results. These unrestricted resources provide the greatest predictability, flexibility, and efficiency of all the funding UNICEF receives. Whether it is strengthening our humanitarian action, our capacity to innovate, or our ability to help children in forgotten crises, Core Resources are quite simply the bedrock upon which all our efforts and impact for children are based.”

Catherine Russell, UNICEF Executive Director

Adolescent reporters Palak, 10 (right), and Rimjhim, 11 (left), from Jharkhand, eastern India, raise awareness of key child rights issues within in their community.

GLOBAL SPOTLIGHTS

Tackling child poverty in Tunisia

Across Tunisia, countless children are facing severe poverty, deprivation and hardship. Before 2020, the child poverty rate was far higher than the poverty rate of the adult population, and almost 60 per cent of children were excluded from family allowances or child benefits schemes.

UNICEF is committed to reaching children in need across Tunisia – and thanks to donors like the Global Guardians, we were able to launch groundbreaking interventions that meet the needs of hundreds of thousands of children.

In 2019, funding from Core Resources allowed us to launch a comprehensive analysis of child poverty in Tunisia, which concluded that a universal child benefit scheme would help to significantly reduce poverty among the most vulnerable children.

These insights, and our evidence-based advocacy, encouraged the Government to expand the child benefits scheme in Tunisia. As a result, children under five from poor and vulnerable households were able to receive child benefits for the very first time.

And our work didn’t stop there. In 2022, UNICEF mobilised more than $60 million in Core Resources funding in order to expand this child benefit to all eligible children under the age of 18, providing countless children and young people with new opportunities they have never had the chance to access before. Now, in 2023, more than 510,000 children across Tunisia are reached with the child benefit scheme.

These amazing results were only made possible thanks to donors like you. Thanks to your tireless commitment to UNICEF’s work, you are helping us to advocate for change and lift vulnerable children out of poverty and deprivation.

Siblings Mohammed, 8, Aya, 6, and Yousef, 6, play at their home in Beja province, northwestern Tunisia.

“I am so proud of how our teams of dedicated professionals were able to meet the needs of the most vulnerable victims of the Chad floods. Their expert planning and preparation were first rate. We are deeply appreciative of our generous and understanding donors. Once again, their support of [Core Resources] meant we were able to get aid to the children quickly and effectively.”

Jacques Boyer

UNICEF Representative in Chad

Combating deadly malnutrition in Chad

Children in Chad are extremely vulnerable to the extremes caused by climate change. In an ordinary year, children face the harsh impact of both drought and flooding – and 2022 was not an ordinary year.

Communities were was already reeling from the effects of conflict and a drought that caused malnutrition rates to soar. Then, in August, two solid months of torrential rain battered the country, causing immense damage to homes, infrastructure and agriculture. In light of this, the Government of Chad announced a food and nutrition emergency.

Thanks to the flexible funding offered by Core Resources, UNICEF could respond immediately to this crisis. This flexible funding has helped to support more than 200 expert staff members across the country, who could quickly scale up our response as soon as this crisis hit. Thanks to Core Resources, our teams could also prepare logistics in advance, allowing us to reach children in need with essential supplies quickly and effectively.

Thanks to donors like you, UNICEF was able to launch life-saving nutrition interventions for vulnerable children. We provided treatment for more than 334,000 young children suffering from severe acute malnutrition, achieving an exceptional cure rate of 94 per cent. We were also able to significantly improve children’s dietary diversity, helping children to receive a more balanced and nutritious diet.

Alongside this life-saving response, we have worked with communities to build their resilience and prevent malnutrition. We have procured supplies of vitamin supplements and deworming tablets, which play a major role in the prevention of malnutrition.

A baby waits for his turn to be weighed and measured at the provincial hospital in Mao, eastern Chad.

Donors like you are making a huge difference. You are helping the most vulnerable children to survive and thrive, even in the face of immense crisis.

“The research that [Core Resources] funded was vital. There is now clear and solid data that tells us young lives can be saved by switching to cleaner power generation. And we have identified that children themselves see it as a priority. This evidence base is essential to unlocking more funding, which will allow us to take the project to scale.”

Data-powered change for schools in Viet Nam

Climate change is putting Viet Nam’s children at risk. UNICEF’s ground-breaking Children’s Climate Risk Index ranks Viet Nam as the 37th most at-risk country in the world.

And Viet Nam still relies on fossil fuels for the vast majority of its energy, exacerbating climate change and producing air pollution that causes over 60,000 deaths each year.

A detailed study, commissioned by UNICEF in 2019, looked into the damaging impacts of climate change on children and their schooling. The study found that severe weather and a lack of dependable energy was disrupting children’s education, especially in remote and rural areas. The study also showed that climate change and diminished air quality would continue to impact children’s learning and wellbeing in the longer term.

Using this valuable knowledge and insight, UNICEF is working to develop climate-smart schools across Viet Nam. Utilising Core Resources funding, we have begun to install rooftop solar power systems within schools. Alongside this, we are developing a new teacher training package, helping more than 1.1 million teachers to expand their knowledge and understanding about climate change. These exciting new solutions are already having a transformative impact for children in Viet Nam, helping schools to access reliable, renewable energy, while also contributing to lower air pollution levels across the country. Thanks to supporters like the Global Guardians, supporting UNICEF’s flexible Core Resources funding, we are able to develop solutions that are specifically tailored to the challenges faced by children in Viet Nam.

Lesley Miller, UNICEF Viet Nam Deputy Representative

Han studies at a UNICEF-supported primary school in Ninh Thuan, southeastern Viet Nam.

UNICEF IN EMERGENCIES

This year, millions of children and their families are facing crisis and disaster. Conflict, malnutrition and deadly disease outbreaks are putting the lives of countless children at risk. Meanwhile, climate change is making natural disasters and extreme weather events more frequent and more severe. Over the past twelve months, droughts, floods and fires have caused immense damage and disruption to children’s lives.

In 2023, an estimated 339 million people will be in need of urgent humanitarian assistance. And as crises escalate, millions of families around the world have been forcibly displaced from their homes, depriving them of the security and basic services they need.

The scale of this crisis is immense – but the tireless commitment of donors like the Global Guardians is helping us to match it. Your donation is helping us to launch life-saving interventions whenever and wherever disaster strikes.

Your donation is making a real difference. Together, we are restoring basic services, procuring essential supplies and helping children go back to school. And we are working with communities, helping them to recover, rebuild and improve their resilience.

None of this vital work would be possible without donors like you. The map below offers a snapshot of just some of the crises UNICEF has been working to address in 2023:

Providing a lifeline after devastating floods in Pakistan

Eleven-year-old Mukesh lives in Sindh Province, southeastern Pakistan, along with his parents and four siblings. But one fateful day in August 2022, Mukesh’s life was changed forever, as devastating floods left one third of Pakistan underwater.

“The rain had washed away all our home,” Mukesh explains. Mukesh was just one of the 33 million people affected by these unprecedented floods. Mukesh’s family, along with millions of others, were forced to flee their home. His family sought refuge in makeshift tents at a camp in nearby Rajar, where clean water, healthcare, education and job opportunities were severely limited.

“We’ve been here for about a month,” says Mukesh. “I used to go to the school, but now there is no school, no teacher. I wanted to become a doctor as there is no doctor in our village.”

Thanks to the tireless support of donors like the Global Guardians, UNICEF is there for children like Mukesh. UNICEF and partners distributed medicines, mosquito nets and hygiene kits to Mukesh’s family, helping to protect them against disease. Since the start of the floods, we have delivered 1.5 million hygiene kits to affected families across Pakistan.

UNICEF is also distributing water purification tablets to families like Mukesh’s, ensuring the family can have safe, clean water to drink. Thanks to supporters like you, we have helped 1.7 million people impacted by the floods to access safe water

Supporters like you are making a huge difference, offering a lifeline to children like Mukesh, and helping them to survive and thrive, even in the toughest situations. Meanwhile, a year on from the floods, Core Resources funds are helping communities to build resilience and mitigate the impacts of future climate hazards.

Mukesh, 11, stands outside his house. This entire section of his village was flooded with water.

Responding to escalating conflict in Sudan

After years of conflict, instability and economic crisis, children in Sudan are already facing widespread poverty and high rates of malnutrition. And for months, a new wave of deadly violence has been sweeping across Sudan, putting millions of children in more danger than ever before.

This violence has disrupted many of the services that families rely on. Schools have closed, hospitals have been damaged, and skyrocketing prices mean that millions of families cannot afford the food they need to survive. Close to 14 million children are in need of urgent assistance throughout the country.

Supporters like you have been instrumental in our response to the crisis in Sudan. Thanks to donors like the Global Guardians, we could surge to respond with life-saving interventions the moment this crisis escalated.

Since April, we have:

ƒ Reached 2.8 million people with access to safe, clean drinking water

ƒ Screened 2.9 million children for malnutrition, and provided lifesaving treatment for 152,000 children suffering from deadly severe acute malnutrition

ƒ Helped more than 960,000 women and children to access healthcare in UNICEF-supported facilities

The huge scale, scope and reach of this response is only possible thanks to donors like you. Thanks to you, we will continue to work in Sudan, reaching children and families with the vital assistance and support they need, and helping communities to return to normality once this crisis has ended.

On 27th April, refugees from Sudan – mostly women and children – gather at a village over the border in neighbouring Chad.

“The earthquake turned everything upside down. We were left with just the clothes on our backs.”

Imge, a 35-year-old mother from Hatay, southern Türkiye

Imge and her son wait in line for UNICEF-supported supplies at a temporary shelter in Hatay, southeastern Turkiye.

Providing support after an earthquake in Türkiye and Syria

On Monday 6th February, the most severe earthquake in almost 100 years hit Syria and Türkiye (Turkey), devastating the lives of tens of thousands of children and their families. Months later, many of these families are still struggling to rebuild their lives.

Across the two countries, millions of children have lost their homes, and many still lack access to basic services. Crucial health centres and sanitation facilities have been damaged or destroyed, posing a grave risk as a cholera outbreak sweeps through the region. Meanwhile, millions of children are still unable to return to school.

We are committed to reaching every child affected by this crisis. Our teams have distributed life-saving supplies, are rebuilding critical infrastructure, trucking water to affected communities, and helping children return to school. Since the earthquake hit, we have:

ƒ Helped almost 3.2 million people in Syria and Türkiye access sources of safe water.

ƒ Helped 622,000 children access education, by rehabilitating schools, procuring materials and setting up temporary learning centres.

ƒ Procured vaccines for 1.2 million children to support immunisation work in Türkiye.

This response has been a lifeline for people like İmge, who was displaced from her home by the devastating earthquakes, along with her husband and two young children. Our distribution of hygiene kits helped İmge to meet the basic needs of her children, providing essential supplies to protect her baby’s health.

None of this would be possible without the amazing support of donors like the Global Guardians. Thanks to you, we are supporting families as they recover and rebuild, and helping to lay the foundations for children’s futures.

INNOVATION IN PRACTICE:

A snapshot of UNICEF’s groundbreaking interventions

Exploring new AI opportunities

Artificial intelligence (AI) is poised to transform communities around the world. This exciting new technology poses a range of risks – but it also presents immense, unmissable opportunities to help children and their families survive and thrive.

Since 2021, the UNICEF Venture Fund has been working to harness the potential of this new technology to improve children’s health, learning and social opportunities. Together with our partners, the Fund invested in eleven AI and data-focused startups, all from emerging markets.

Over the last eighteen months, these startups have worked to build, test and validate their solutions – and they are now well on their way to solve real-world problems within their communities.

These exciting, innovative startups have already begun to make a huge difference for children and young people across the world. Since 2021:

ƒ More than two million young people have used these new tools to gain new skills, improving their social, emotional and mental wellbeing.

ƒ Almost 185,000 users have been able to access improved digital educational tools.

ƒ Over 6,000 users worldwide have used these tools to access improved healthcare services within their communities.

Thanks to UNICEF’s investment, these new startup interventions have been able to improve their services and scale up quickly, reaching new audiences faster and more efficiently than before. These interventions will continue to have an impact for many years to come, helping millions of children and young people gain access to new opportunities in the future.

These young people in Jordan can use AI and data science to unlock new skills and discover new job opportunities.

Supporting innovative AI startups around the world

Since 2021, the UNICEF Venture Fund has been working with pioneers, experts and innovators from emerging markets to develop exciting and innovative new solutions, in every corner of the globe.

These are a few examples of the innovative startups supported by this Fund:

AfriLearn, Nigeria

AI-powered recommender system that delivers personalised learning experiences to users

Serving 20,000 direct users and 400,000 indirect beneficiaries, including parents, teachers and schools

Talk2U, Brazil

Digital therapeutics platform to improve emotional and mental wellbeing

Two million beneficiaries reached on topics such as mental health and HIV

Om3ga, Serbia

Deep learning speech-to-text solution for Slavic languages, offering fast and accurate translation

The first and largest open public dataset for machine learning in the region

Tilli, Sri Lanka

Game-based, AI-powered social-emotional learning tool

5,000 learners have benefited from the solution to date

Neural Labs Africa, Kenya

Using AI to accelerate medical imaging diagnosis for respiratory diseases

Onboarded in five hospitals for clinical trials and screened over 5,000 images to date

BookBot, Indonesia

Gamified app with real-time speech recognition technology

Library of 2,500 books in Bahsa and English, with 32,000 downloads from children to date

New solutions to deliver life-saving Oxygen

Access to oxygen can be the difference between life and death for patients with severe COVID-19. It is also a critical treatment for children with pneumonia, which remains the leading infectious killer of children under 5 years, claiming over 800,000 lives every year.

The COVID pandemic has turned an existing oxygen gap in many low-income countries into a crisis. In many countries, the number of patients in need of oxygen therapy far outstrips the existing capacity at health facilities. An estimated 4.2 million children with pneumonia cannot access this life-saving medical gas each year.

UNICEF worked with experts across the industry to rapidly develop an innovative emergency solution: the Oxygen Plant-in-a-Box. This groundbreaking package includes everything needed to produce large volumes of medical grade oxygen in health facilities around the world.

These new oxygen plants have been a gamechanger for health facilities in remote and rural communities. Easily procured and rapidly deployed, plants can be operational within days of arriving at a facility, and are designed for health facilities that lack the resources to implement more complex systems.

Once installed, each plant can immediately deliver oxygen to patients via cylinders placed at their bedside, which are then returned to the plant to be refilled. The plants are also designed to be compatible with existing piping systems, allowing oxygen therapy to become a standard, integrated part of the health facilities’ work.

This innovation will help to save the lives of thousands of patients

This renewed supply of oxygen will be a lifeline for children with pneumonia, mothers with birth complications, and sick newborns –and it will also help countries to build back better and strengthen their health systems in the wake of the pandemic.

Grycian, Principal Biomedical Engineer at Kamuzu Central Hospital in Malawi, attends to the new oxygen plants.

THANK YOU

Global Guardians like you are helping to drive transformational change, making a real difference to children, families and communities in every corner of the globe.

Together, we have reached children in crisis with life-saving interventions, helped disadvantaged children return to education, and supported communities as they implement long-term, sustainable solutions.

We would love to hear from you. If you would like to know any more about the programmes your donation is helping to deliver, or if you know anyone who may be interested in becoming a Global Guardian, then please do get in touch.

For more information please contact:

Hannah Thami

Global Guardians Manager, UNICEF UK

HannahT@unicef.org.uk

Meha Patel

Philanthropy Manager, UNICEF UK

MehaP@unicef.org.uk

Dina, 9, washes vegetables with the help of UNICEF worker Michelle, at her home in Sololá, Guatemala.

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United Kingdom Committee for UNICEF (UNICEF UK), Registered Charity No. 1072612 (England & Wales), SC043677 (Scotland).

United Kingdom Committee for UNICEF. Registered Office:1 Westfield Avenue, London, E20 1HZ, United Kingdom Registered charity 1072612 (England and Wales) and SC043677 (Scotland). Registered company limited by guarantee 3663181 (England and Wales).