United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF)
1. Since the adoption of the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs, has the governing body of your organization taken (or will it take) any decisions or new strategies to guide the implementation of the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs? If any, please provide a brief summary below, including the overarching vision of your organization.
Yes, UNICEF has fully integrated the SDGs into our new Strategic Plan 2018-21, which took effect at the start of 2018. Additionally, this strategic plan has a "Common chapter to the Strategic Plans of UNDP, UNICEF, UNFPA and UN-Women" which aligns our work to those of our sister development organizations and outlines how the UN Development System needs to work together in a collaborative and cohesive matter in support of implementation of the SDGs. Documentation: https://www.unicef.org/about/execboard/files/2017-17-Rev1-Strategic_Plan_2018-2021-ODS-EN.pdf
2.1 SDG-specific strategies, plans or work programmes
UNICEF's 5 strategic plan priorities directly relate to 11 of the SDGs. Some sector-specific plans and strategies also take the SDGs into account. For example,
UNICEF's Strategy for Health and Strategy for Water Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH), were both completed in 2015 and are aligned to the SDGs' timeline (2016-2030):
The health strategy is focused on two overarching goals which are:
1. End preventable maternal, newborn and child deaths
2. Promote the health and development of all children.
And the WASH strategy focuses on the first two SDG 6 targets as the centerpiece of our programming work:
1. By 2030, achieve universal and equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water for all;
2. By 2030, achieve access to adequate and equitable sanitation and hygiene for all and end open defecation, paying special attention to the needs of women and girls and those in vulnerable situations.
The SDG target (16.2) on ending all forms of violence against children was the result of advocacy from UNICEF and key child-focused partners, that the SDGs needed to directly address the child protection agenda in a way that the MDGs did not. UNICEF has been strongly focused on Ending Violence against children and was a key partner in launching the Global Partnership to End Violence Against Children.
UNICEF also strongly advocated for the inclusion of a specific reference to child poverty within the SDG framework, which is important for understanding how resources may be allocated within a household. UNICEF, together with Save the Children and other key partners launched the End Child Poverty Global Coalition, released a guide to achieve that vision which places achieving this goal explicitly within the context of the SDGs.
2.3 Readjusting or updating results-based budgeting and management, including performance indicators:
UNICEF is also committed to supporting the collection of data that can be disaggregated by gender, age, wealth quintile, disability status and other dimension of inequality, to understand those that are being left behind so they can be targeted/prioritized for support. UNICEF serves as either the custodian or co-custodian of 17 SDG indicators and our Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS) have been updated to assist with collection of additional SDG-related data.
UNICEF was also one of the founders of EvalPartners, a group of evaluation practitioners who aim to: 1) Contribute to create an enabling environment for evaluation relevant to the SDGs; 2) Provide a platform for dialogue, advocacy and knowledge generation in relation to evaluation and the SDGs; 3) Assist in strengthening the institutional capacities of evaluators to conduct evaluations in support of SDG implementation and review processes; 4) Support national initiatives to build evaluation initiatives in relation to national planning and SDGs implementation; and 5) Foster inter-linkages and interaction between initiatives to strengthen evaluation and implement and review the SDGs. The Group also has developed a Global Evaluation Agenda (GEO) 2016-2020 to support this work.
2.4 Action to enhance support to the principle of "leaving no one behind" and to integrated policy approaches:
The SDGs focus on "leaving no one behind" directly complements UNICEF's focus on equity and reaching every child. Our Gender Action Plan (2018-21) aims to 1) Promote Gender Equality a) for girls and boys and b) in care and support of all children; as well as support 2) Adolescent girls' well-being & empowerment. We are also focused on children with disabilities and other children that might be marginalized or excluded due to ethnicity, location, income or other factors. UNICEF's 2017 report: Narrowing the Gaps, also articulates a case for the power of investing in the poorest and most marginalized children.
3.1 Mainstreaming the SDGs in development plans and policies or through national sustainable development plans/strategies:
UNICEF has been an active contributor to the UN Development System's support to countries in their SDG implementation effort which is known as MAPS (Mainstreaming, Acceleration and Policy Support.)
Mainstreaming: https://undg.org/2030-agenda/mainstreaming-2030-agenda/
Acceleration Toolkit: https://undg.org/2030-agenda/sdg-acceleration-toolkit/
UNICEF also contributes to the Guidelines to Support Country Reporting on the SDGs.
3.2 Mainstreaming the SDGs in sectoral strategies, including specific SDG/target strategies:
At the country level, UNICEF also provides this support. For example in many country contexts UNICEF is working with Governments to establish SDG baselines on children (see example of report from Indonesia).
3.3 Data and statistical capacity building:
As mentioned in Question #2, UNICEF also supports governments in data and statistical capacity building including serving as custodian/co-custodian of 17 child-related targets and through the MICS surveys.
3.5 Multi-stakeholder partnerships:
A key area of UNICEF's work is also facilitating awareness of the SDGs among children and youth. This is done through our foundational partnership in the World's Largest Lesson, a global initiative that bring the SDGs to the classroom through freely available lesson plans, videos, comics and other educational and creative content. The World's Largest Lesson has reached millions of children in over 160 countries since its launch in 2015. In 2017, it also saw impressive reach via social media - mentioned over 70,000 and reaching over 463.4 million users. A related initiative, Comics Uniting Nations, specifically uses the medium of comics to bring the messages of the SDGs to children and young people in and outside of the classroom.
UNICEF has also initiated an SDG Activate Talk series, which aims to showcase the work that children and youth are doing on the SDGs in their schools, communities or through their professional endeavors. The methodology has been written up and made available publicly for other to use.
4.1 Supporting the intergovernmental body of your organization in contributing to the thematic review of the HLPF:
UNICEF has been very involved in the HLPF process. Every year, UNICEF provides a set of "Key Asks and Principles" to our country, regional and national committee offices, who are often called on by governments to assist in the VNR process. External 2-pager issue briefs containing the messaging in the key asks has been developed for sharing with external partners on the specific SDGs under review in addition to cross-cutting issues such as:
• Key Asks and Principles for 2018 National Review Activities -- Investing in Children
• Key Asks and Principles for 2018 National Review Activities -- Participation of Children and Adolescents
• Key Asks and Principles for 2018 National Review Activities: Collection of disaggregated data on the situation of children
UNICEF also worked closely with the Group of Friends of Children and the SDGs, a non-negotiating group of 55 Member States who advocate for children within the context of SDG implementation efforts. At the 2017 HLPF 53 of the 55 members of the Group issued a statement on children (delivered by the Government of Luxembourg) and Group Members (in the national capacities) also advocated for key language on children to be included in the 2017 Ministerial Declaration.
4.2 Contributing to policy/background briefs for the HLPF:
See the above response regarding UNICEF's Key Asks. UNICEF also conducts an internal analysis of all VNR reports from a child rights lens, which is shared to UNICEF staff in the field. This aims to assist our offices in understanding what constitutes strongly child-focused VNRs and where more work is needed. This analysis is also used to iterate our annual Key Asks documentation.
4.3 Helping organize SDG-specific events in the preparatory process:
At the country level, we have also supported organizing SDG-specific events and consultations, including with children and youth (In Indonesia, Morocco, Jordan, Ethiopia, Nepal, etc)
4.4 Organizing side evens or speaking at the HLPF:
At the HLPF in 2017, UNICEF also organized several side events, in partnership with Member States and other partners:
• Bringing Awareness and Action on the SDGs to the Classroom: A Presentation of Students' Experience with the World's Largest Lesson (In partnership with Argentina, Bulgaria and Malaysia);
• Perception Data as Metric of Well-Being (In partnership with Guatemala and Zimbabwe);
• Ending Child Poverty and Violence against Children: A Conversation with Leaders on investing in Children to Achieve the SDGs (In partnership with Sweden and Indonesia).
5. How has your organization cooperated with other UN system organizations to achieve coherence and synergies in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs? In this regard, has your organization launched or intend to launch any joint programmes or projects in collaboration with other UN entities? Are there any results or lessons you would like to highlight that might help improve the design and impact of such efforts? Has your organization participated in any of the following coordination systemwide mechanisms or any other relevant platform - CEB, UNDG, EC-ESA Plus, RCMs, UN-Energy, UN-Water, UN-Ocean, IAEG, IATT? Please specify which and indicate any suggestions you may have about improving collaborations within and across these mechanisms/platforms:
UNICEF is an active participant in the UNDG at HQ and regional level, and in UNCTs at country level. In these fora, UNICEF contributes and leads in a wide range of system-wide processes and mechanisms to drive coherence and synergies, including:
• Development of UNDAFs aligned with national government strategies and plans
• Contributed to MAPS missions (see question #3)
• Participation in UNCT Results Groups (In 2016 UNICEF offices participated in 772 Results Groups in 125 Countries, of which UNICEF led or co-led 245 groups)
• Partnering with 27 agencies to implement a total of 227 joint programmes in 2016 - for example in Sierra Leone, under the H6 partnership, UNICEF, UNAIDS, UNFPA, WHO, UN Women and the World Bank continued to provide leadership in reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health, working under an established division of labor to deliver the President's Recovery Priorities. In Somalia, UNICEF and WFP provided unconditional cash transfers for 5,000 household returnees using the SCOPE platform (a WFP-developed system enabling registration of populations into an e-system and capturing data such as household-size, telephone numbers and biometric data.
UNICEF is currently working within the UNDG and UNCTs to further strengthen system-wide coherence in support of the SDGs, aligned with the SG's Reform Agenda, and will participate fully in the monitoring and reporting system which is proposed to be established in the SG's Report, under the leadership of the UNDG and the DSG.
In addition to the UNDG, UNICEF is a full participant of the CEB, RCMs, UN-Water, IASC, and other mechanisms. UNICEF is not a member of ECESA-Plus, as we are unsure of the need for this mechanism vis-à-vis the UNDG and other mechanisms chaired by the SG and DSG.
6. How has your organization engaged with stakeholder groups, both in supporting implementation at the country, regional and global levels, and within your own organization? If yes, please provide main highlights, including any lessons learned:
Yes, we engage we a wide variety of partners and stakeholder groups in supporting SDG implementation including: children and youth, UN entities, child-focused NGOs, government partners, and the private sector. We have, for example:
• Conducted global and national consultations with children and youth on what they know about the SDGs and what they think about progress on the Goals (in partnership with governments, child-focused NGOs, child/youth led organizations). See global example here, example from country-level/Morocco here.
• Worked with UN system entities on joint guidance and support materials (see question #3/MAPS);
• Worked with child-focused NGOs (Save the Children, ChildFund Alliance, World Vision, Plan International, SOS Children's Villages) on joint advocacy messaging and joint side events, especially on the topics of: ending violence against children; getting to zero/reaching the most marginalized children through equity-driven approaches; the importance of child participation in SDG implementation and monitoring efforts.
• Worked with NGOs PCI Media Impact and Project Everyone to bring the SDGs to children in and outside of the classroom through World's Largest Lesson and Comics Uniting Nations initiatives.
• Worked with schools and school programmes (e.g. Nord Anglia Education, NYC Junior Ambassadors programme) to get children aware of and activated on the SDGs.
7. Has your organization organized any conferences, forums or events designed to facilitate exchange of experience, peer and mutual learning? If yes, please provide a brief summary below and include lessons learned and gaps identified based on the outcomes of these events. Please also include any events you plan to organize in the coming years.
Yes, UNICEF has organized a variety of forums and events to facilitate knowledge exchange
• As referenced in question #3, UNICEF has kicked off a series of SDG Activate Talks, which showcase what children and youth are doing to make progress on the SDGs. See examples:
1) From Trashing to Treasuring: Community Change makers for a Sustainable World; 2) Young Change Makers Go Under the Sea: An SDG Activate Talk; 3) Youth Power the Planet: an Activate Talk (press release)
• As referenced in question #4, UNICEF organized a number of side events at the 2017 HLPF and plans to organize at least one event at the 2018 HLPF.
• UNICEF country and regional offices have participated in "MAPS Missions" whereby the UN system works with government partners on a roadmap for national SDG implementation
• As referenced in question #4, UNICEF has organized consultations at national level with children and youth, to bring their voices and views into the SDG VNR process.
• As part of the first annual World Children's Day, UNCEF Geneva worked with the United Nations Office in Geneva and youth groups on an event that brought over 300 children and youth to the Palais de Nations to discuss child rights within the context of the SDGs.
8. Is there any other information you would like to share, including annual reports of your organization and any impact assessment or evaluation reports? If yes, please use the space below and attach the document(s). Please also use this space to provide any other information, comments or remarks you deem necessary:
Relevant SDG Reports (examples, not an exhaustive list)
• Is Every Child Counted: Status of Data for Children in the SDGs
https://data.unicef.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/SDGs-publication-SPREADS-WEB-1.pdf
• Building the Future: Children and the Sustainable Development Goals in Rich Countries
https://www.unicef-irc.org/publications/890/
• Generation 2030 Africa 2.0: Prioritizing investments in children to reap the demographic dividend
https://www.unicef.org/publications/index_101219.html
• Narrowing the Gaps: The power of investing in the poorest children
https://www.unicef.org/publications/index_96534.html
• UN Coherence in Action: Delivering Results for Children
https://www.unicef.org/agenda2030/files/UN_Coherence_in_Action_WEB(1).pdf
• Mapping the Global Goals for Sustainable Development and the Convention on the Rights of the Child
https://www.unicef.org/agenda2030/files/SDG-CRC_mapping_FINAL.pdf
• Investing in All Children: Towards Equitable and Inclusive Sustainable Development
http://impakter.com/investing-all-children-towards-equitable-inclusive-sustainable-development/
• Contributing Partner: Building more Inclusive, Sustainable and Prosperous Societies in Europe and Central Asia
https://undg.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/2017-Regional-Advocacy-Paper-FINAL-19-June-2017.pdf
• Contributing Partner: The Sustainable Development Goals are Coming to Life - Stories of Country Implementation and UN
• Contributing Partner: The Global Conversation Begins
https://undg.org/document/the-global-conversation-begins/
• Contributing Partner: A Million Voices: The World We Want
https://undg.org/document/a-million-voices-the-world-we-want/
9. In your view, what should a strategic plan for the UN system in support of the 2030 Agenda and SDGs look like? What key elements should it include and major challenges address in such a road map?
• It should focus on the key areas where the UN system can support and has value add (there will be other areas/aspects of SDG implementation where the UN system does not have as direct a role).
• Recognize the importance of partnerships and how the UN system engages with different partners/stakeholders (CSOs, private sector, children and youth, the general public, media, academia, Parliamentarians, etc)
• Establish different working/reference groups for key elements of the plan
10. Please indicate one or two endeavor or initiatives you suggest that the UN system organizations could undertake together to support the implementation of the SDGs between now and 2030:
Collection of Perception Data directly from people on whether the SDGs are achieving desired results - as a complement to what official data and channels are indicating (A peoples "reality check" on whether the SDGs are improving lives.) UNICEF worked with WFP and the SDG Action Campaign on a pilot project in this space on 2016/17. The synthesis report of that pilot could provide some additional ideas