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UNICEF - Brief Portrait

Established
 1946

Headquarters
New York

Organization
Executive Board with 36 members

Direction
Anthony Lake (USA)

Representation
in 155 countries; supported by 37 national UNICEF committees

Staff
over 7000 members

Financing
Contributions of the donor countries and private donations (primarily via the UNICEF national committees).

Budget 2011
USD 3.71 bln

Swiss contribution 2012 
CHF 20 mln

Links
 www.unicef.org
www.unicef.ch

Videos
International Cooperation: A profession

Mandate of the United Nations Children’s Fund

The United Nations Children’s Fund, UNICEF, was founded in 1946 with headquarters in New York. UNICEF is operational worldwide working for the well-being of children and women. As a politically and religiously independent institution it aims to improve the living conditions of children in developing countries.

The main tasks of the UNICEF

unicef-logo.gifAt its founding after the Second World War, UNICEF’s original mandate was to help children in Europe. Since then UNICEF has expanded its field of activities. Today the organization is active worldwide working for the well-being and rights of children and women in the following ways:

Central to UNICEF activities which contribute to the realization of the Millennium Development Goals are the following five priorities for 2006 - 2013

UNICEF and Switzerland

For many years, UNICEF has been the most important partner for Switzerland in the long-term promotion of children in developing and transition countries.

The SDC is the body within the Swiss administration responsible for cooperation with UNICEF. The SDC allocates an annual general contribution of CHF 20 million to UNICEF and also directly supports individual UNICEF projects in different countries such as the social reintegration of street children in Romania or the fight against child labour in Pakistan. In addition, the SDC is supporting a UNICEF special programme in 2010 and 2011 in the area of protecting children against violence with an annual amount of 500,000 Swiss francs.

Switzerland had a seat on the UNICEF Executive Board on a rotating basis. Switzerland was represented in 2009 and 2010 by the SDC which involves itself actively in Executive Board meetings. This participation enables Switzerland to participate in the planning and monitoring of UNICEF activities

National efforts are supported by the Swiss UNICEF Committee which, as do 36 other national committees, contributes to the financing of UNICEF programmes. The activities of the Swiss committee are funded exclusively by private donations and the sale of UNICEF cards and gifts.

UNICEF project example: “Back to School” programme in Afghanistan – school attendance never so high!

Thirty years of conflict in Afghanistan left around 75% of schools either damaged or destroyed. Attending school was difficult, particularly for girls.

Today, thanks to the efforts of the new government and the help of UNICEF school attendance has never been so high. Two years after the end of the Taliban regime, the number of children attending school has quadrupled. The development regarding girls is very positive. Thirty five per cent of all children enrolled in primary school are girls. In 2002, the figure was a mere 3%. Nevertheless UNICEF estimates that there are still more than a million girls between the ages of 7 and 13 who are not going to school. Moreover, of the 100,000 registered teachers in Afghanistan fewer than 15% have professional training in education.

Therefore UNICEF is continuing its efforts, together with the Afghan government, to improve access to education and the quality of the education system in general. This includes the distribution of teaching material to four million children and 80,000 primary school teachers, the construction and repair of schools and the promotion of training and advanced training of teachers.

Further information and news on the situation in Afghanistan

Additional Information and Documents