UNICEF Philippines
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UNICEF Philippines is one of over 190 country offices of the
United Nations Children’s Fund UNICEF (), originally called the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund in full, now officially United Nations Children's Fund, is an agency of the United Nations responsible for providing humanitarian and developmental aid to c ...
(
UNICEF UNICEF (), originally called the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund in full, now officially United Nations Children's Fund, is an agency of the United Nations responsible for providing Humanitarianism, humanitarian and Devel ...
). One of the first UNICEF offices established in Asia, it works to uphold the rights of children in the Philippines, including their right to education, healthcare and protection from abuse and exploitation. It also advocates for political change in support of children, and works with partners from the public and private sectors to create change through sustainable programs. UNICEF was created in 1946 to provide food, clothing and healthcare to children in Europe after the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
. In 1953, the
UN General Assembly The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA or GA; french: link=no, Assemblée générale, AG) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN), serving as the main deliberative, policymaking, and representative organ of the UN. Curr ...
extended UNICEF’s mandate. and in 1989 it adopted the UN
Convention on the Rights of the Child The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (commonly abbreviated as the CRC or UNCRC) is an international human rights treaty which sets out the civil, political, economic, social, health and cultural rights of children. The Con ...
(CRC), which has since become the most widely adopted human rights treaty in history. The CRC now underpins UNICEF’s work around the world, including in the Philippines, and defines children’s rights.


Programs


Child protection

UNICEF works to provide a safe and protective environment for vulnerable children, including victims of abuse, exploitation and violence. UNICEF develops and strengthens
child protection Child protection is the safeguarding of children from violence, exploitation, abuse, and neglect. Article 19 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child provides for the protection of children in and out of the home. One of the ways to e ...
networks at the community, local and national levels. The organization also supports the establishment of Child Protection Units and specialized courts to help victims of child exploitation and abuse. In the Philippines, UNICEF has lobbied successfully for the passage of several major laws to protect children’s rights, including the Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act and the Anti-Child Pornography Act of 2009.


Disaster risk reduction

UNICEF's
disaster risk reduction Disaster risk reduction (DRR) sometimes called disaster risk management (DRM) is a systematic approach to identifying, assessing and reducing the risks of disaster. It aims to reduce socio-economic vulnerabilities to disaster as well as dealing w ...
(DRR) program aims to establish models of child-centered disaster risk management for eventual replication by local government units (LGU), as a basis for integrating DRR in their local development plans. Aside from bridging the gap between community-based activities and public policy, UNICEF also facilitates the partnership of non-government organizations with LGUs to adopt child-sensitive and child-centered DRR and
climate change adaptation Climate change adaptation is the process of adjusting to current or expected effects of climate change.IPCC, 2022Annex II: Glossary öller, V., R. van Diemen, J.B.R. Matthews, C. Méndez, S. Semenov, J.S. Fuglestvedt, A. Reisinger (eds.) InClimat ...
plans and programs.


Education

UNICEF works to achieve quality and inclusive education for all children in the Philippines. UNICEF supports the Philippine Government’s thrust to expand access to quality Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD), which includes universal
Kindergarten Kindergarten is a preschool educational approach based on playing, singing, practical activities such as drawing, and social interaction as part of the transition from home to school. Such institutions were originally made in the late 18th cent ...
. UNICEF's education program aims to provide an equitable platform for learning to ensure that young children are ready to learn and enter school at the right age, and that marginalized and excluded children participate in and complete quality elementary education.


Health and nutrition

UNICEF's health program supports the Philippine Government’s Universal Health Care Agenda and poverty reduction initiatives to serve the poorest families and most vulnerable groups, particularly women and their newborn babies and beneficiaries of the conditional cash transfer program. In line with UNICEF’s equity focus on regions identified by the government as the most disadvantaged, the organization's programs are being implemented in areas that have the lowest number and coverage of health facilities and skilled birth attendants, while supporting the institutionalization of standards to improve the quality of healthcare services for mothers and children at the national level. UNICEF's nutrition program aims to improve child survival, growth and development through life-cycle nutrition security interventions. UNICEF's nutrition programs in the Philippines include: increasing access among pregnant and lactating women and children under 5 years old to interventions that prevent under-nutrition and micro-nutrient deficiencies; treatment of acute malnutrition; sustaining positive nutrition behavior in vulnerable local government units; and supports the government in promoting
breastfeeding Breastfeeding, or nursing, is the process by which human breast milk is fed to a child. Breast milk may be from the breast, or may be expressed by hand or pumped and fed to the infant. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that br ...
and Infant and Young Child Feeding practices.


HIV and AIDS

UNICEF is supporting the Philippine government's
HIV The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of ''Lentivirus'' (a subgroup of retrovirus) that infect humans. Over time, they cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of the immune ...
response by gathering data and strategic information, advocating for laws that are responsive to the needs of children and young people, providing life skills and leadership training to adolescents, and helping the government, NGOs and youth networks improve service delivery to respond to the
crisis A crisis ( : crises; : critical) is either any event or period that will (or might) lead to an unstable and dangerous situation affecting an individual, group, or all of society. Crises are negative changes in the human or environmental affair ...
.


Social policy

UNICEF provides technical assistance to the Philippine government in expanding social protection programs that help children and families who do not receive basic social services, such as street families, indigenous people and migrant families.


Water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH)

UNICEF aims to achieve universal use and access to sustainable and resilient basic sanitation and safe water with improved hygiene behavior in disadvantaged households, schools and Early Childhood Care and Development centers in the Philippines. The organization's WASH program focuses on the poorest villages with the lowest WASH coverage, and scaling up interventions to support government programs that address WASH issues at the national level.


Emergency response

UNICEF is able to respond rapidly to a
natural disaster A natural disaster is "the negative impact following an actual occurrence of natural hazard in the event that it significantly harms a community". A natural disaster can cause loss of life or damage property, and typically leaves some econ ...
or humanitarian emergency upon the request of the Philippine government. UNICEF's emergency response programs provide support to the government-led response in the areas of child protection, education, health, nutrition, and WASH. Recently, UNICEF has provided assistance to those affected by the
Marawi crisis The siege of Marawi ( fil, Pagkubkob sa Marawi), also known as the Marawi crisis (), and the Battle of Marawi (), was a five-month-long armed conflict in Marawi, Philippines, that started on May 23, 2017, between Philippine government securit ...
, Typhoon Nock-Ten, Typhoon Haima,
Typhoon Melor Typhoon Melor, known in the Philippines as Typhoon Nona, was a powerful tropical cyclone that struck the Philippines in December 2015. The twenty-seventh named storm and the eighteenth typhoon of the annual typhoon season, Melor killed 51 peopl ...
,
Typhoon Koppu Typhoon Koppu, known in the Philippines as Typhoon Lando, was a powerful and devastating tropical cyclone that struck Luzon in October 2015. It was the twenty-fourth named storm and the fifteenth typhoon of the 2015 Pacific typhoon season, annual ...
, Typhoon Hagupit,
Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan, known in the Philippines as Super Typhoon Yolanda, was one of the most powerful tropical cyclones ever recorded. On making landfall, Haiyan devastated portions of Southeast Asia, particularly the Philippines. It is one of the ...
and the
Zamboanga City crisis The Zamboanga City crisis (Filipino: ''Krisis sa Zamboanga;'' Chavacano: ''Crisis na Zamboanga'') or Zamboanga Siege was an armed conflict in Zamboanga City, Philippines between the government forces of the Philippines and Moro rebels from t ...
.


Celebrity ambassadors

UNICEF Philippines has appointed two National Goodwill Ambassador:
Gary Valenciano Edgardo Jose Santiago Valenciano (, born August 6, 1964), also known as Gary V., is a Filipino singer-songwriter, dancer, musician, actor, music producer and television host. Valenciano has released 39 albums, and won the Awit Award for "Bes ...
and
Anne Curtis Anne Curtis-Smith(; born 17 February 1985) is a Filipino-Australian actress, model, television host, entrepreneur and recording artist. She is dubbed as the "''Multimedia Superstar''" for her talent and influence. Curtis has received numerou ...
. In 1998, UNICEF conferred on musician Gary Valenciano the title of UNICEF National Ambassador, the first in the Philippines. As National Ambassador, he helps increase awareness about the issues that affect children in the Philippines and their rights to education, health, protection, participation, and assistance during emergencies. Actress, television host and recording artist Anne Curtis was appointed UNICEF Celebrity Advocate for Children in 2014. Her work for UNICEF focuses on promoting Early Childhood Care & Development.


References

{{Reflist, 2


External links


UNICEF PhilippinesUNICEF global website
UNICEF Child-related organizations in the Philippines Organizations based in Manila