United Nations Childrens Fund (UNICEF)
1. In the past year, has the governing body of your organization taken any decisions to advance sustainable, inclusive, science- and evidence-based solutions for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and ensure that no one is left behind? If yes, please briefly mention these decisions taken by your governing body in 2024 and provide the respective symbols.
UNICEF's Division of Data, Analytics, Planning and Monitoring (DAPM) has revised all UNICEF procedures and guidance related to programme planning, implementation, monitoring, reporting and evaluation, to ensure UNICEF programmes are inclusive and evidence- and data-based. Principles of sustainability, inclusion and evidence-based programming are the foundation of the new Rights and Results programming for every child learning programme, that supports rights and results-based capacity building across the organization.
In addition, UNICEF is continuing its journey to highlight evidence-based policy solutions and is working with partners to support their implementation and sustainability. It has recently developed a policy brief which underscores examples of evidence-based policy interventions for every child, that can be applied – at least in part – by every government, and that support impact across multiple outcomes at national level to guide optimization of public policies that will lead to improved child outcomes.
2. During 2024, what actions have your entities taken to improve coordination among UN system entities across policy and normative activities as well as with ECOSOC subsidiary bodies with a view to increase impact and accelerate the implementation of the 2030 Agenda? Please provide any relevant links.
Capacity development is recognized as a key driver of transformation toward the 2030 Agenda, and the Integrated Policy Practitioners’ Network (IPPN)—a flagship UN initiative co-led by UNDP, FAO, ILO, IOM, UNAIDS, UNESCO, UNFPA, UNICEF, UN Women, and WFP—serves as a collaborative platform to deepen policy integration for SDG acceleration. By convening development experts from government, the private sector, academia, civil society, and 37 UN entities, the IPPN fosters both individual and collective capability building.
3. In the past year, has your organization organized any intergovernmentally mandated conferences, forums or events that contributed to the achievement of the SDGs, or has been in the process of planning and organizing any such mandated events to be held next year?
Event Name | Proven solutions for children: accelerating progress for the SDGs and beyond |
Event Dates | 23 September 2024 |
Event Location (City, Country) | New York, USA |
Relevant SDGs | 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 13 and 17 |
Description (max 150 words): please include a short summary of the event’s mandate and contributions to the SDGs, including its main outcome(s) | The 2024 UNGA side event titled "Proven solutions for children: accelerating progress for the SDGs and beyond" aimed to foster high-level dialogue on achieving scale and impact for proven solutions for children. The event brought together leaders from government, civil society, the private sector, and youth advocates to discuss actionable policy and programming solutions, investments, and the institutional and political support needed to achieve significant progress towards the child-related SDGs. By prioritizing, financing, and implementing concrete, cost-effective, and evidence-backed policy solutions at scale, the event sought to secure immediate and long-lasting impacts for children. This initiative built on the 2023 UNICEF Champions for Children event and emphasized the importance of investing in children to present specific evidence-based solutions championed by governments and other stakeholders. |
Website (if applicable) |
Event Name | Global Ministerial Conference on Ending Violence against Children |
Event Dates | 7-8 November 2024 |
Event Location (City, Country) | Bogota, Colombia |
Relevant SDGs | 16, 3, 5, 1, 8, 10 |
Description (max 150 words): please include a short summary of the event’s mandate and contributions to the SDGs, including its main outcome(s) | The Conference produced high-level global and national commitments which aim to reinvigorate collective efforts to end violence against children based on a shared recognition of the widespread prevalence of this issue; it’s profound impact on children and societies; and the existence of robust and scalable proven solutions. UNICEF partnered with co-host the Governments of Colombia and Sweden, along with WHO & the SRSG-VAC. The Conference was preceded by two days of pre-conference satellite events. Participation included approximately 1300 people from 113 official government delegations, UN agencies, civil society organizations, academia and youth and child representatives. Some 91 countries and 20 organizations presented pledges on concrete measures to accelerate efforts to end violence against children. In UNICEF programme countries we supported national processes to develop these pledges which will also provide a framework for UNICEF support to child protection efforts at national level for years to come. |
Website (if applicable) | Transforming childhood through proven solutions to end violence against children |
4. In the past year, has your organization published or planned to publish any analytical work, guidance or reference materials, or toolkits to guide and support the implementation of SDGs at national, regional and global levels? Please select up to three to highlight, especially those that address interlinkages among the SDGs.
Resource Name | UNICEF Guidance on Six Transitions and Four Engine Rooms for SDGs (The Programme Policy and Procedure site/PPPX) |
Relevant SDGs (list all relevant goals) | 6 Transitions are rooted in the 17 Goals: (1) food systems; (2) energy access and affordability; (3) digital connectivity; (4) education; (5) jobs and social protection; and (6) climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution. |
Publishing entity/entities | UNICEF (DAPM, PG and PPD) |
Target audience | UNICEF Regional and Country Offices |
Description (max 150 words) | The guidance summarizes 6T4Es and provides specific recommendations for ROs and COs on how to engage in implementation of 6 transitions on the ground. |
Language(s) | English |
Website (if applicable) | PPPX site is an internal SharePoint site |
Resource Name | Accelerating progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals and beyond . A Policy Solutions Report |
Relevant SDGs (list all relevant goals) | 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 13 and 17
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Publishing entity/entities | UNICEF (PG) and the Learning for Wellbeing Institute |
Target audience | Member State governments |
Description (max 150 words) | The report begins by highlighting the importance of child policy effects for advancing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and establishing universal child policies. It reviews global data and literature to identify effective policies for children and examines international organizations' priorities and the evidence base's limitations. The report then discusses attributes that enhance policy effectiveness. It also explores the implications of findings on governance, financial aspects, and access to relevant evidence for policymakers. Finally, it concludes with lessons from UNICEF and government partners to inform the SDG process and future initiatives. |
Language(s) | English |
Website (if applicable) | Policydecisions.org |
5. The United Nations has defined six key transitions, or transformative entry points, that can have catalytic and multiplier effects across the SDGs and which have been guiding the UN development system work since the 2023 SDG Summit. In the past year, how has your organization contributed to these transformative actions and how various actors are being rallied behind them to mobilize further leadership and investment to bring progress to scale? Please provide any relevant links.
UNICEF is actively engaged across the Six Transitions including:
The food systems transformation agenda called for by the Secretary-General is a child rights agenda. Food systems are failing to provide vulnerable children with sufficient, affordable nutritious foods, while inundating food environments with unhealthy, ultra-processed foods. UNICEF is working with small and medium scale business to incentivize the production of local, nutritious complementary foods, and is working with Governments to strengthen food-based regulatory and fiscal policies to protect children’s diets, including food labelling, marketing restrictions, health taxes and healthier school environments.
Energy access and affordability. Children worldwide face a host of environmental hazards related to unclean energy, like polluted air, contaminated water and toxic fumes. Access to clean, affordable energy is critical to a child's health. But renewable energy can also improve access to water through solar-powered pumps, or access to learning through off-grid lighting and connectivity. UNICEF works with its partners to support sustainable energy solutions that improve children’s health and development.
Wired for Good: Digital Connectivity for a Sustainable Future. An equitable digital future needs tomorrow’s voice, today. All children and youth must have the agency and resources to meaningfully participate in a digital future. UNICEF advocates for the role of children and youth to be present and prominent in the design, development, and maintenance of digital solutions which must include universal connectivity for an inclusive digital future. Digital commons, including technologies and services both existing and emerging, must be accessible, equitable and safe for all children and youth. The rights of every child must be respected, protected and fulfilled in the digital environment.
Making the Grade: Transforming Education. Adequate and equitable investment in foundational learning is a smart investment in the future of our communities. By equipping children with the necessary skills, academic as well as social and emotional skills, to succeed in school, work, and life, poverty levels will decline. Unfortunately, not all children have access to quality education, particularly those from marginalized and low-income communities. UNICEF is prioritizing adequate and equitable public financing for education that helps ensure that all children, regardless of their background, have access to opportunities to thrive and succeed, empowering them to engage in the other five transitions as well. For 2024, UNICEF is also partnering closely to support the AU African Year of Education.
Fostering inclusion: Strengthening social protection and decent jobs. The SG’s Global Accelerator on Jobs and Social protection offers a clear pathway to close coverage gap, including for children, create linkages between social protection and employment, as well as support building strong shock responsive systems ready for the challenges that children will face in fragile contexts. UNICEF has been a co-lead of this process from its inception, aiming to make it relevant to country level process, leveraging our leadership role at Country level in 17 countries that have joined, in key areas such as social assistance, inclusion and risk informed systems. Member States are joining this effort (Pathfinder countries) and UNICEF is supporting via Regional, CO and HQ offices to accelerate impact. Country-level implementation has been a priority in 2024, with the organization of several funding windows, including the M-GA which aims to foster collaboration with the World Bank.
- UNICEF has initiated implementation of its 2023-2030 Sustainability and Climate Change Action plan, guiding communities, governments and global leaders to work together to prioritize children’s needs. It centers around three objectives: (i) adapt the social services children rely on in the form of climate-smart programming; (ii) prepare and empower children with the skills and opportunities needed in a climate-changed world; and (iii) reduce emissions and advocating for the fulfilment of international agreements. In 2023, UNICEF implemented climate-smart programming for children in 122 countries and engaged young people in climate action and policy in 126 countries around the world, including in fragile and humanitarian contexts.
6. Please provide strategies (policies, guidance, plan) and/or collective actions taken to implement the 2024 Ministerial Declaration of the Economic and Social Council and the high-level political forum on sustainable development convened under the auspices of the Council. Please note any challenges foreseen and provide any relevant links.
UNICEF is a founding member of the Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty, as it represents a key instrument growing from the Brazilian G20 presidency and will support accelerated efforts against child poverty and malnutrition (SDG 1 and 2) and to expand inclusive social protection (SDG 1, 5, 16). Potential challenges include duplication and misalignment between already existing partnerships eg. SUN.
- UNICEF also took a leading role in in the 1st ministerial conference on Violence Against Children to support actions to eliminate violence against children in all its forms (SDGs 1, 3, 5, 16). Challenges include lack of investments in early childhood interventions including support for parenting and reduction of domestic violence, two key determinants of entrenched violence against children.
7. What collective efforts is your entity undertaking to support countries in accelerating the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals, especially in the areas of Goal 3 (Good health and well-being), Goal 5 (Gender equality), Goal 8 (Decent work and economic growth), Goal 14 (Life below water) and Goal 17 (Partnerships), which will go under in-depth review at the HLPF in 2025? Please note any achievements, challenges and gaps and provide any relevant links.
If your organization has been part of any initiatives or multi-stakeholder partnerships in the past year that support these goals, please copy the below table to fill out for each initiative/partnership.
Initiative/Partnership Name | Every Women Every Newborn every Where (EWENE) / Initiative (formerly named as Every Newborn Action Plan and Ending Preventable Maternal Mortality (ENAP-EPMM) |
Partners (please list all partners) | WHO, UNICEF and UNFPA are co-leading the EWENE initiative with support of multiple global MNH partners and Donors including USAID, GFF, BMGF, FCDO UK, Professional association (FIGO, AAP, MWA) |
Relevant SDGs (list all relevant goals) | SDG target 3.1, Maternal Mortality that calls for reduction of the global maternal mortality ratio (MMR) to less than 70 per 100,000 live births by 2030. For countries, the supplementary target is that their national MMR should be less than 140 per 100,000 live births by 2030. SDG 3.2, By 2030, end preventable deaths of newborns and children under 5 years of age, with all countries aiming to reduce neonatal mortality to at least as 12 per 1,000 live births or less. |
Member States benefiting from it | In general, all countries working to achieve the maternal and newborn mortality of 2030 are joining the EWENE across all regions and to develop MNH acceleration plans as part of their national RMNCAH strategy and plan. Still the main benefiting states are about 30 countries identified at the initiative update (in 2022-2023) with the highest burden of mortalities and these are located mainly in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia with few additional countries located in the Middle East and LACR and adversely impacted by humanitarian conflicts or with fragile contexts (Member states up to date joined the initiative: Burundi, Burkina Faso, CAR, Cote Ivoire, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Lesoto, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, Lebanon, Haiti, and Guatemala) |
Description (max 150 words) | Maternal and newborn related-mortality and morbidity remained too high in most low- and middle-income settings resulting in the development of two strategies post MDG agenda to ensure progress towards achieving the SDG maternal and newborn mortality targets: the Every newborn Action Plan (ENAP) in 2014, a roadmap to end preventable neonatal mortality and stillbirths, and Strategy for Ending Preventable Maternal Mortality (EPMM) in 2015. Both ENAP and EPMM outline specific mortality reduction and coverage targets, milestones to progress and recommendations to address the unacceptable high maternal and newborn mortalities and stillbirths. Maternal and newborn health are intrinsically linked; maternal deaths, newborn deaths and stillbirths share many common causes and solutions. Therefore, ENAP and EPMM progressively aligned their reporting tools, coverage targets and milestones by 2021-2022, and they established joint and specific coverage targets for critical high impact packages of interventions, focusing on primary health care services. The ENAP-EPMM initiative (named now as EWENE) is focusing on high burden mortality countries (mainly in Africa and South Asia) o accelerate their progress towards ending preventable deaths through the development, implementation, and monitoring of MNH acceleration plans that include full package of high priority, adopted context specific MNH interventions across the continuum of care. |
Website | EWENE Website is still in process of development and finalization by WHO in coordination with main partners UNICEF and UNFPA. Plan of Website to go live on 15 November 2024. |
Initiative/Partnership Name | Health4Life Fund |
Partners (please list all partners) | WHO, UNFPA, UNICEF, UN Interagency Task Force (UNIATF) for NCDs and Mental Health, Mauritius, Philippines, Kenya, Uruguay |
Relevant SDGs (list all relevant goals) | SDG3.4 |
Member States benefiting from it | Rwanda, Zambia, 3 more expected soon |
Description (max 150 words) | The Health4Life Fund is a UN Multi-Partner Trust Fund established by UNICEF, WHO, and UNDP to catalyze country action on non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and mental health. This innovative fund integrates health and development agendas, recognizing that exposure to risk factors often begins in childhood. It is the first dedicated UN fund specifically addressing these interconnected health challenges. The Fund aggregates resources from various sources to provide grants to low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) for their priority needs. This support helps these countries accelerate towards achieving SDG 3.4 and encourages increased domestic financing for the long term. Countries are invited to submit catalytic proposals tailored to local contexts, addressing gaps in existing NCD programs. Rather than supplanting government efforts, the Health4Life Fund aims to enhance their capacity, strengthen local responses, and promote national ownership of NCD and mental health initiatives within communities. This mission is supported by the inclusion of member state Strategic Partners—currently Kenya, Mauritius, the Philippines, Scotland, and Uruguay—who guide the Fund’s direction and uphold its core principles, with some even pledging financial support. |
Website |
Initiative/Partnership Name | Primary Health Care Accelerator |
Partners (please list all partners) | WHO/UNICEF co-chair and multilateral and bilateral members: UNFPA, UNAids, GAVI, GFATM, World Bank, GFF, FCDO, and others. |
Relevant SDGs (list all relevant goals) | SDG 3,2,6 and 17 |
Member States benefiting from it | 20 high burden countries |
Description (max 150 words) | Primary Health Care Accelerator is the only global coordination mechanism for primary health care. It serves to coordinate knowledge, technical and financial expertise and resources with regions and countries and to galvanize country level action. It operates through quarterly meetings with all regions of all agencies and all countries to accelerate action through sharing experience. |
Website |
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Initiative/Partnership Name | Community Health Delivery Partnership (CHDP) |
Partners (please list all partners) | The CHDP is comprised of national, regional, and global partners, including ministries of health and other relevant ministries, civil society organizations, community health workers from designated CHDP countries, regional bodies such as the African Union, Africa CDC, and donors and multilateral initiatives including the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, CORE Group, Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, Global Financing Facility, The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, United States Agency for International Development, U.S. President’s Malaria Initiative, UNICEF, UNAIDS, World Bank, World Health Organization, and philanthropic organizations. |
Relevant SDGs (list all relevant goals) | SDGs 2,3,5,8,17 (More details are available in the CHDP ToC if needed) |
Member States benefiting from it | Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Haiti, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Mozambique, Niger, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia |
Description (max 150 words) | The CHDP is a country-driven collaboration of global, regional, and national stakeholders committed to increasing access to equitable, high-quality essential health services through community-based primary health care. The CHDP champions a country-led, data-driven approach to identify policy and program actions to advance national priorities, with the aim of supporting countries to strengthen the health system at the community level, including community health workers’ status, rights and protections. Central to the partnership, the CHDP seeks to enhance accountability of all stakeholders, and improve alignment and coordination of resources and efforts to advance national plans for strengthening community health. |
Website |
Initiative/Partnership Name | The Global Accelerator on Jobs and Social Protection for Just Transitions (GA) |
Partners (please list all partners) | It is implemented with ILO, UNDP, FAO, WFP and UN Women (also the World Bank through the MGA). |
Relevant SDGs (list all relevant goals) | 1 and 8 |
Member States benefiting from it | 17 countries are currently pathfinder countries/ benefiting from the initiative: Albania, Cabo Verde, Cambodia, Colombia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Guinea, Indonesia, Malawi, Namibia, Nepal, Pakistan, Paraguay, Philippines, Rwanda, Senegal, Uzbekistan,Viet Nam |
Description (max 150 words) | The Global Accelerator on Jobs and Social Protection for Just Transitions (GA) was launched in September 2021 by the UN Secretary-General. It is the main vehicle to support countries achieving one of the Six SDG transitions with catalytic effects across the SDGs and one of the High-Impact Initiatives to accelerate their achievement. It aims at helping countries bridge the global jobs gap of 400 million jobs and extend social protection to the 4 billion people currently excluded. |
Website | Global Accelerator on Jobs and Social Protection for Just Transitions | UN Global Accelerator |