Germany
UNICEF public sector partner

Germany continued to be UNICEF’s second-largest resource partner, growing its 2021 contribution to $868 million in multi-year support. At the same time, Germany has been a champion for flexible funding, both in core resources and thematic funding. Germany is the first public sector partner to support the thematic area of safe and clean environments with flexible funding.
Our partnership focuses on resilience-building through a multi-sectoral approach, making Germany a top resource partner to several programme areas, including WASH and social protection. This approach has shown its validity, impact and particular relevance during the COVID-19 pandemic especially.
UNICEF’s partnership with the Government of Germany has a particular focus on the Middle East; West Africa; East and Southern Africa.
In 2021, Germany continued its strong investment in unearmarked, multi-year core contributions to UNICEF. It was the top resource partner to child protection; water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH); safe and clean environments; and social protection, inclusion and governance programme areas.
Germany is also a strong promoter of joint programmes with other UN agencies.
Launched in 2019, the “Building Resilience in the Sahel” programme contributes to increased resilience of communities in Mali, Mauritania and Niger. The multi-sectoral approach supports families in their efforts to improve their ability to prevent the effect of shocks and to manage residual risks. Since 2020, over 3 million vulnerable people (including 2.7 million children) in Mali, Mauritania and Niger have been directly reached. For example, UNICEF constructed 131 climate-resilient water systems since 2020, contributing to continued access to water for vulnerable communities.
In 2021, UNICEF and BMZ scaled up preventative interventions for child and maternal nutrition as a key strategy to act against food insecurity. In Burundi, 52,988 pregnant women received iron folic acid tablets for 180 days during pregnancy, which resulted in an average of 84% of women supplemented. A total of 30,096 children were reached with community-based home fortification activities. And to help transform food systems, "kitchen gardens" were established for 20,711 households. These household gardens contribute to behaviour change for improved eating habits by ensuring access to a variety of vegetables.
Germany is also currently providing invaluable support to UNICEF’s humanitarian response in many contexts, including in Afghanistan, Ukraine and the Sahel, through flexible funding. Germany is one of our top donors for the ACT-A response.
2021 contributions to UNICEF
Core Resources for Results: US$84 million
Other Resources (regular): US$657 million
Other Resources (emergency): US$127 million
Total: US$868 million