Rights and results

Realizing rights, getting results

UNICEF aims to make the best possible contribution to children’s and women’s rights through a combination of a human rights based approach to our programmes of cooperation with national governments and results-based planning and management. 

For UNICEF, a human rights based approach to programming means that:

• The ultimate aim of all UNICEF-supported activities is the realization of the rights of children and women, as laid down in the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.
• Human rights and child rights principles guide our work in all sectors – and at each stage of the process. These principles include: universality, non-discrimination, the best interests of the child, the right to survival and development, the indivisibility and interdependence of human rights, accountability and respect for the voice of the child.
• UNICEF programmes of cooperation support those who have obligations to respect, protect and fulfil rights, by helping them develop their capacities to do so. And UNICEF helps those with rights to develop their capacity to claim their rights.

Children’s and women’s rights are realized when development programmes deliver results. Results-based planning and management requires UNICEF and its cooperating partners to clearly define the expected results of programmes at the outset, agree on performance indicators, allocate resources to achieve the results, and to regularly review and evaluate  progress, making adjustments as necessary.