United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) - Institutional Support 2013

This grant represents Canada's institutional support to the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). UNICEF uses these funds along with other donor funding to achieve its mandate. Guided by the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child UNICEF works to ensure that children’s basic needs are met and that all children are given the opportunity to reach their full potential. UNICEF seeks to ensure that children have access to health care clean water food and education; that they are protected from violence and abuse; and that they receive relief in disaster situations. UNICEF is guided in its work by its 2006-2013 Medium-Term Strategic Plan. This plan identifies five inter-related focus areas that reflect UNICEF’s main contributions to international development and to meeting the Millennium Development Goals: (1) child survival and development; (2) basic education and gender equality; (3) children and HIV/AIDS; (4) child protection; and (5) policy advocacy and partnerships. UNICEF's humanitarian and emergency assistance focuses on addressing children's basic needs imrpoving access to clean water and saniation for communities and displaced persons and protecting children's rights. Canada's support to UNICEF helps to advance children's survival the equal rights of women and girls as well as their full participation in development.

The expected outputs for this project include: (1) at least 50 countries have implemented effective nutrition programs (through supplementation and fortification) for young children by the end of 2013; (2) in all program countries water supply services have increased; (3) the number of new pediatric HIV infections is reduced by at least 40%; (4) in all priority countries at least 60% of adolescents in school and out of school have the necessary information skills and services to reduce their risk and vulnerability to HIV; and (5) there are more countries with improved systems of justice for children.