UNICEF - United Nations Children's Fund

Published purpose

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.