Executive Board: Key results are underpinned by strong governance, internal control and oversight
Annual session of 2024
NEW YORK, United States of America, 18 June 2024 ─ The 2024 annual session of the UNICEF Executive Board ended last Friday after the completion of a rich 20-item agenda that included topics such as annual results reporting, humanitarian action, Board governance, and oversight and internal control.
In his opening remarks last Tuesday morning, UNICEF Executive Board President, H.E. Mr. Ernest Rwamucyo, Permanent Representative of Rwanda to the United Nations, said “we are meeting at a time of unprecedented circumstances and challenges all around us and, because of this, the UNICEF mission to help make a real difference in the lives of children around the world is increasingly important.”
These concerns were amplified in the opening statement made by UNICEF Executive Director Russell as she addressed the Board. “Conditions remain especially precarious for more than 400 million children living in conflict zones, where parties are committing grave violations of their rights…. Today over 1 billion children, nearly half the world’s children, live in countries that are at extremely high risk from the impacts of climate change,” she said. “Beyond conflict and the climate crisis, advocating for the rights of all children means focusing on those from all marginalized groups, including children with disabilities, children living in poverty and girls.”
Taking stock of progress for children in 2022–2023
The year 2023 marked the halfway point of the Sustainable Development Goals and the UNICEF Strategic Plan, 2022–2025. During the session, UNICEF presented the mid-term review of the Plan, which was combined with the 2023 annual report of the Executive Director.
The compounding nature of climate change, spiralling violence and increasing economic fragility has had a negative impact on children worldwide, and on UNICEF’s work too. It has slowed down poverty reduction and accelerated learning loss, making it difficult to pursue long-term development in some countries.
Yet, the midterm review found notable gains to celebrate. UNICEF has continued to demonstrate strong performance across the five Goal Areas of its Strategic Plan, while addressing humanitarian challenges to save children’s lives and protect their rights. In the first two years of the Strategic Plan, the organization boosted its ability to analyse data and do more with the resources it has – to reach every child. In 2023, this produced tangible results, such as:
- Over 70 per cent of children under the age of 5 years in 47 high-mortality countries were reached to address wasting.
- 6.2 million doses of the world’s first malaria vaccine were delivered to seven African countries.
- Over 106 million households were supported with cash transfers.
- Nearly 11 million adolescent girls received prevention and care interventions to address child marriage.
- 38 countries were reached with the Learning Passport – a tool to provide uninterrupted education for refugee children, children in humanitarian settings and those in areas lacking connectivity.
While the review clearly indicates that progress is not happening fast enough, and some Goal Areas require more attention – for example water, sanitation and hygiene; and primary health care and mental health – UNICEF remains resolute in the face of current challenges, striving to future-proof its work beyond 2030.
Looking ahead, UNICEF will determine the necessary course corrections in response to the evolving situation of children and the findings of its midterm review. This includes remaining steadfast in prioritizing the rights and needs of children; expanding work on climate action with a focus on children; positioning itself as a strategic contributor to Africa’s development agenda, focused on solutions for the rights of adolescent girls; and striving for more strategic allocation and use of resources.
Responding to increasingly complex humanitarian crises
In a year characterized by growing humanitarian needs and increasing complexity of crises, UNICEF strove to provide inclusive humanitarian support, helping children with disabilities, adolescents, girls and young women.
In 2023, the organization responded to 412 emergencies in 107 countries. Ten of these crises were categorized as Level 3 – requiring organization-wide activation – including in places like the State of Palestine, Haiti, Sudan and the response to the earthquake in the Syrian Arab Republic and Türkiye.
“Far too many girls and boys were exposed to humanitarian crises in which their rights were ignored and very often denied. Protection of children has become an acute concern everywhere”, said Ms. Lucia Elmi, the recently appointed UNICEF Director of Emergency Programmes.
In 2023, UNICEF and its thousands of partners overcame critical obstacles to meet the needs of children and families in humanitarian crises. Some key results include:
- Clean water and sanitation for 42.4 million people.
- Access to education for 17.7 million children.
- Community-based mental health and psychosocial support services for 13.1 million children and families.
- Interventions designed to prevent gender-based violence and support survivors for 23.1 million women and children.
- Delivery of $893.1 million worth of supplies in preparation for, or in response to, emergencies.
These results were achieved against the backdrop of a world increasingly hostile to children’s rights. With nearly one in five children globally living or fleeing from conflict zones, grave violations against children were all too common.
And, as reported during the session, key bottlenecks to the humanitarian response during the year included access challenges that impeded reaching all children in need, the safety and security of humanitarian workers and constrained resources, with needs outpacing the support received by UNICEF. By the end of 2023, only one-third of funding for humanitarian needs had been received.
Delegations called on all actors to respect humanitarian law, expressed concerns about the funding gap, stressed the importance of flexible funding, emphasized the need to strengthen localization in ways that are meaningful, and encouraged more integration of a gender perspective into all humanitarian efforts.
UNICEF will continue efforts to overcome access constraints, support local production and procurement of medical products and supplies, and speak out publicly to ensure the extreme condition of millions of children today are never considered acceptable.
As a signatory of the Grand Bargain (the agreement between humanitarian donors and aid organizations to make humanitarian aid more effective and efficient), UNICEF will also continue to advocate for quality funding to meet the humanitarian needs of children, wherever they are – emphasizing multi-year, flexible and unearmarked funding.
Enablers of UNICEF’s work
The success and sustainability of UNICEF programmes and projects on the ground, the strength of its policies and the depth and reach of its partnerships are dependent on strong governance, internal control and oversight.
Governance of UNICEF by the Executive Board was a new item on the session agenda. The Board considered an assessment of how it executes its governance and oversight functions, which was prepared by the Joint Inspection Unit. The assessment covers the Boards of all the United Nations sister agencies – UNDP/UNFPA/UNOPS, UN-Women as well as UNICEF, and was considered at their respective annual sessions.
Improved oversight by the Boards will ensure their alignment with the highest international standards and best practices. It will ensure that more resources reach children and families who are in need. It will improve the effectiveness of the Boards, allowing the agencies they govern to more efficiently deliver on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
UNICEF stands ready to support the way forward on the assessment, as stipulated in the decision adopted by its Board, recognizing that the organization – and the children it serves – can only stand to benefit from the Board’s strengthened governance and oversight.
“Evaluation efforts are an important part of the organization’s broader commitment to constantly assess the effectiveness of our work. UNICEF invests in data and research and is engaged in systematic, thorough reviews of its work on the ground. This commitment to evaluation is broad and deep in UNICEF”, said Executive Director Russell. In addition to an annual report on the evaluation function, two evaluation reports of UNICEF’s work in the areas of advocacy and social and behavioural change were presented during the session.
Overall, evaluation quality remained high, despite challenges. In 2023, progress was made in areas such as impact evaluations, evaluation syntheses and national evaluation capacity development that will help UNICEF and its partners make a difference for children in the medium to longer term. Gender and disability continued to be important considerations.
In 2023, internal audit and investigations launched a review of the UNICEF overall fraud framework, managed new and expanding non-investigative demands, and prepared for a pilot project that will use artificial intelligence in support of its workplan, among other undertakings. In 2024, the office will continue to expand its work to address fraud and corruption risks, including by launching a temporary fraud investigations task force, and also launching an external quality assurance review of its internal audit function.
In 2023, the UNICEF Ethics Office continued to serve as a trusted advisor within UNICEF to staff and management at all levels. The office reported on how it has worked to strengthen its impact and broaden its reach within UNICEF, and to continue to partner with other UNICEF divisions and offices to promote ethics and integrity within the organization. Delegations commended the office for its work in 2023 and highlighted the importance of robust ethical standards, which are critical to preserve UNICEF as a trusted and respected organization, enabling it to deliver on its mission.
The Board also heard an update on risk management. In an increasingly complex internal and external risk landscape, UNICEF is proactively strengthening its approach based on a revamped risk management vision, strategy and implementation plan. Building on a solid foundation, the UNICEF evolved enterprise risk management framework is designed to serve as a true enabler of results in an uncertain and volatile environment. Delegations commended UNICEF for the update on the evolved enterprise risk management framework, for the fact that it complements rather than replaces existing efforts and welcomed the organization’s ongoing dialogue with the Board as the system is being implemented.
Closing of the session
In keeping with UNICEF’s annual tradition of recognizing and celebrating the exemplary efforts and achievements of its worldwide staff during the annual session, Executive Director Russell announced the eight teams that were selected to receive the Staff Team Awards for 2023.
But UNICEF was not alone in recognizing that its staff often go the extra mile. Throughout the session, delegates expressed support for the life-saving and live-changing work of the UNICEF staff worldwide, and for their well-being. Delegations shared their recognition that fulfilling the obligation to stay and deliver can come at a high cost, both for UNICEF staff and their families. They asserted that the Board took its responsibility to monitor and follow up on issues of workplace culture for UNICEF staff seriously and that they would continue to do so.
By the end of its annual session, the Board had adopted 13 decisions.
“We wholeheartedly thank the facilitators and the experts for the dedicated hours spent in achieving this positive outcome” said Executive Director Russell in her closing remarks.
She was followed by Ambassador Rwamcuyo, who expressed his appreciation for the work of those whose contributions had led to the adoption of the decisions, which he said will allow the organization to “continue to make progress across the five Goal Areas of its Strategic Plan, maximize its income and leverage influence from the private sector, achieve results for children through humanitarian action…, strengthen its organizational culture, prevent and protect against sexual exploitation and abuse, increase its coherence with other United Nations organizations, continue to proactively strengthen its risk management approach, and provide independent oversight and assurance”.
***
The Executive Board will meet at the United Nations Headquarters for its second regular session from 3 to 6 September 2024.
