Our humanitarian aid work at UNICEF
Fostering cooperation and strengthening support for vulnerable children in crisis
Children are more vulnerable to disease, malnutrition and violence than anyone during humanitarian crises, both natural and man-made. UNICEF was created right after World War II to respond to children’s needs with life-saving humanitarian assistance.
Today, over 70 years later, a lot has changed, but UNICEF’s fundamental mission has not. Humanitarian aid efforts continue to be central to UNICEF. Every year, we respond to more than 300 humanitarian situations and continue to strengthen partnerships that allow UNICEF to better respond to the needs of more children everywhere.
Our partnership with the EU for humanitarian aid
The Humanitarian Aid Section of the UNICEF Office for Relations with European Union (EU) Institutions strategically engages key EU institutions to further support children and advocate for their rights in emergencies.
This is achieved – in part – by providing evidence on UNICEF’s impact for children through our emergency programmes, communicating the situation of children and their needs across many areas of the world. The Section works closely with the European Commission’s Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection department (DG ECHO), to make children’s wellbeing during humanitarian emergencies a priority for EU institutions, from a programme, financial and policy perspectives.
Day in and day out UNICEF and the EU work to save the lives of children and their families in emergencies
Additionally, the Section maintains and expands UNICEF’s networks with different EU Institutions, namely the EU Parliament and EU Council Working Party for Humanitarian Affairs (COHAFA), increasing their participation to showcase children rights issues through advocacy events and other forms of outreach communications.
The Section also leads other UNICEF offices in their engagement with DG ECHO, strengthening their dialogue with the ECHO partners on the ground and/or in other capitals which ultimately leads to enhanced partnership, increased resources mobilized - saving millions of lives of children around the world.
