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For every child, results

UNICEF achievements in 2021

Students inside UNICEF temporary learning spaces in Southern Leyte — UNICEF Philippines/2022/Blanche Bacareza

In 2021, the second full year of the COVID-19 pandemic, UNICEF worked tirelessly with partners to protect the rights of every child in the Philippines from the impact of COVID-19 and other threats including armed conflict and climate change.

UNICEF continued to alleviate the impacts of these crises on children while strengthening national systems to reach the most marginalized, excluded children and communities, and to enhance preparedness and resilience in the face of future shocks.

Achievements in addressing public health needs, risk communication and community engagement, strengthening child protection mechanisms, supporting the continuity of education, generating evidence for social protection and responding to emergencies highlight the work of UNICEF.

This work was possible thanks to strong public, private and civil society partnerships, including across the United Nations system, and voluntary funding.

Highlights of UNICEF's work in the Philippines in 2021

A nurse assigned at the isolation and ICU wards of Dr. Jose Fabella Memorial Hospital, gets her first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine provided by the COVAX Facility. — UNICEF/UN0428439/Verzosa Kareen Mae Abalahin, 32, a nurse assigned at the isolation and ICU wards of Dr. Jose Fabella Memorial Hospital, gets her first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine provided by the COVAX Facility.

Protecting children from the impacts of COVID-19

Together with the World Health Organization (WHO), UNICEF supported the COVID-19 response by facilitating the country’s access to COVID-19 vaccines and supplies through the COVAX Facility.
Procured 62.2 million COVID-19 vaccine doses for the Philippines, administered to 30.7 million people, including 12- to 17-year-old children.
Supported the transportation and storage of the vaccines by procuring US$6.7 million worth of cold chain equipment distributed to 17 regions, 81 provinces and 1,120 municipalities and cities; 20,587 health providers and community health workers were trained on proper vaccination.
In partnership with GAVI, UNICEF provided US$4.9 million to support the vaccine roll-out in 10 regions with the highest numbers of unvaccinated adults. This support addressed critical gaps in the regions, including lack of health workers, mobilization of vaccination teams, and funding for volunteers.
Supported 19 cities and provinces on risk communication and community engagement to reach 5.4 million people with messages on COVID-19 prevention and vaccination, and mobilizing more than 13,000 local officials, community leaders, health workers, and other influencers to support vaccination drives.

UNICEF and Action Against Hunger Philippines are providing WASH supplies for most affected families in Caraga — Action Against Hunger Philippines/Benjie Montilla

Responding to emergencies

In 2021, UNICEF supported the Government-led response for the following emergencies through life-saving supplies and support to more than 191,000 people:

Armed conflict in Maguindanao
Taal Volcano eruption
Typhoon Rolly/Goni
Typhoon Ulysses/Vamco
Typhoon Odette/Rai

UNICEF/Louie Pacardo Namraida Drapal (left), 16 months old, plays with the height-measuring board used to monitor children with severe acute malnutrition. She had also gained weight since she was treated for SAM. She also grew 1.5 centimeters in just 3 months.

Protecting children's right to good health and nutrition

Supported the Department of Health (DOH) in vaccinating 4.7 million children under 5 years old against polio, and 4.4 million children against measles.
Co-developed and implemented the First 1,000 Days integrated packages that include health, food, early childhood development, social protection, and Water, Sanitation & Hygiene (WASH) services. These integrated services reached an estimated 334,636 parents and caregivers with nutrition, health and WASH messages; and trained health and day-care workers to effectively assess 4,468 children at risk of developmental delays.
Supported DOH’s Real-time Vaccination Monitoring and Analysis with Open Data Kit (ODK) technology and data visualization dashboards. This provided real-time monitoring and analysis to quickly inform decision-making and actions in the vaccination drives. The ODK system was subsequently used by DOH for both polio and measles-rubella campaigns.

Two girls wearing face masks while studying outside of school — ADZU SUGPAT/2021/Shekinah Benitez Gemma Dumapig and Lady Anne Werada, both 17 years old, are ALS learners in Polanco, Zamboanga del Norte. They discuss and review their activities in their Power for Youth ALS learning modules at Gemma’s home.

Helping ensure learning continuity

Supported the Department of Education (DepEd) in implementing and improving digital and self-learning modalities in local languages through online learning platforms, television, radio, and distribution of printed modules, benefitting more than 3 million children in Grades 1 to 3.
Distributed School-in-a-Bag packages containing laptops, tablets and other technological resources provided to 50 multi-grade schools helping improve distance learning for 2,788 children and 161 teachers.
Developed an online learning platform to support DepEd’s Alternative Learning System benefitting 175,000 young people.
Conducted a longitudinal study on Early Childhood Care and Development which followed a cohort of 3,000 students from kindergarten to Grade 4 to measure their cognitive and socio-emotional learning. The study found a clear need for DepEd to strengthen its numeracy and literacy assessment policies and practices to support learners in meeting curriculum expectations.

UNICEF/Louie Pacardo Datu Nor Zukarno, 21, an evacuee from Mamasapano, Maguindanao, volunteers as a youth animator. His group looks after their fellow youth evacuees by leading play and learning sessions at the evacuation site.

Protecting children from violence, abuse and exploitation

UNICEF intensified its legislative and public advocacy resulting in the formulation and adoption of child protection policies by the government in:
(i) DepEd’s Comprehensive Strategic Plan for Child Protection in Schools and Other Learning Environments for 2022-2024
(ii) the Philippine National Police Child Protection Policy
(iii) the bill to Increase the Minimum Age of Statutory Rape from 12 to 16 years and the adoption of the Anti-Child Marriage Act
(iv) the formulation of the Implementing Rules and Regulations of the Family Court Act, and
(v) the integration of the Masayang Pamilya para sa Batang Pilipino (MaPa) in the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program – the national poverty alleviation programme.
Supported 14,109 children who experienced violence with health, social, justice and law enforcement services. Key interventions include mental health and psychosocial support for 5,033 children.
UNICEF worked with the Philippine National Police to develop and launch its Child Protection Policy which guarantees the protection and safety of children against all forms of violence under police responsibility.
As the lead organization of the SaferKidsPH, a consortium addressing online sexual abuse and exploitation of children in the Philippines, UNICEF supported the development of the Implementing Rules and Regulations of the Family Courts Act to improve the social welfare and counselling services in the court systems.

UNICEF Philippines/2021/Marge Francia Mishael Sabirin and her son Kheezar are being interviewed by DSWD Listahanan Enumerator Radzma Alegre in Basilan, Philippines. Mishael hopes that her family will be included in the government’s poverty registry to access grants to help with her son’s medical expenses.

Improving social protection and addressing child poverty

In partnership with the Department of Social Welfare and Development, UNICEF conducted assessments of child poverty: (i) the effects of COVID-19 on monetary poverty and multidimensional vulnerabilities in the Philippines with a special focus on children; and (ii) the impact of the Social Amelioration Program on reducing poverty and alleviating deprivations for approximately 17.5 million families amid COVID-19.
UNICEF supported the development and testing of a budget tracking tool that enables national and local governments to systematically track budget allocations and expenditures for programs, projects, and activities for children and their contribution to child outcomes. This presents important opportunities to strengthen the inclusivity, transparency and effectiveness of budget allocations in the government.
To ensure that vulnerable children in Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) are included in the updating of the national government social registry, UNICEF supported the household validation exercise in the Province of Basilan. The process resulted in the identification of 56,925 households to be included and prioritized in government poverty reduction programmes.

Officials from UNICEF and MPTC at the signing of the partnership — MPTC/2021

Strengthening partnerships to protect children's rights

In BARMM, UNICEF and UNESCO jointly supported the Ministry of Basic, Higher and Technical Education in the preparation of the Bangsamoro Education Reform and Development Plan to strengthen government capacities in education sector planning.
UNICEF strategically engaged with businesses to mobilize core assets and improve their practices.
(i) As a result of UNICEF’s training on child rights and business principles, PLDT/Smart overhauled their corporate policies to integrate children’s rights and implemented a capacity building programme on child online safety.
(ii) Through a tripartite agreement, Globe provided hardware and digital resources to set up tele-consult helplines in 47 barangays to respond to and manage Violence Against Children cases.
Metro Pacific Tollways Corporation (MPTC) inked a multi-year agreement with UNICEF to promote child road safety until 2024.
J&J Philippines continues to support programs on maternal health and adolescent mental wellness
QBE Group Shared Services Limited, the Australian and New Zealand Chamber of Commerce (ANZCHAM), and the Church of Latter Day Saints supported child protection efforts through the SAFERKIDSPH consortium
SM Supermalls and SM Foundation continue to support UNICEF’s Face-to-Face fundraising operations and Disaster Risk Reduction in Schools programs.

Download UNICEF Philippines report from January to June 2021

Download UNICEF Philippines report from Sept 2021 - Mar 2022

Download the UNICEF global 2021 annual report