Construction

UNICEF supports its programmes with tailored construction solutions to meet the needs of children, including education, nutrition, health and health emergencies, immunization, and water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH).  

Globally, nearly a third of primary schools lack basic water services, a quarter do not have electricity and approximately one half are lacking disability-adapted infrastructure, according to a joint study by WHO/UNICEF. As a result, many children around the world do not have adequate classrooms where they can learn in a safe and comfortable environment.  

Nearly 1.2 billion children – almost double the number in 2019 – now live in countries experiencing emergencies where urgent responses are required to restore essential school or health infrastructure.  
 

Support to UNICEF's programmes

In other cases, countries do not have the warehouse capacity or physical infrastructure to safely store the vaccines and other life-saving supplies that UNICEF delivers for children. Indeed, close to 48 million children under age 5 will die of preventable causes between 2020 and 2030, many of whom will lack access to basic health care infrastructure.

UNICEF works with local governments on building projects that work towards our mission to ensure that every child has the chance to grow up healthy, happy, and safe. Our construction initiatives directly support UNICEF’s programmes and the five goal areas of the UNICEF Strategic Plan, 2022-2025.  

We drive innovation to meet the needs of children whether it means rapid scale-up of new classrooms to get children back to school after an emergency or the use of sustainable local materials to build health facilities in hard-to-reach locations. 
 

Collaborative effort

UNICEF construction projects are always a collaborative effort between UNICEF country offices and host country stakeholders, with technical support from UNICEF Supply Division. UNICEF leverages its technical expertise and organizational capacity to provide coordination between:

• Host country government actors
• UNICEF implementing partners, such as NGOs
• Contractors, including engineering and quality assurance firms  
• Local communities

Country office teams collaborate with Supply Division to develop a project-specific construction strategy. UNICEF country office engineers and programme leaders work with government counterparts to define the need, select the sites, and design the construction project. Supply Division also provides a host of construction-related tools and services to our country offices including:

• Project design
• Planning
• Procurement
• Risk management

• Implementation strategies