About UNICEF
UNICEF is the global leader promoting and protecting children’s rights in 190 countries, including Ukraine
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UNICEF works in 190 countries and territories to reach the most vulnerable children and young people who are most in need. We work to save their lives. To protect their rights. To keep them safe from harm. To give them a childhood in which they are protected, healthy, and educated. To give them equal opportunities to fulfil their potential so that someday they can build a better world.
UNICEF is the world’s leading voice for children and young people as well as the voice of the children themselves. In everything we do, we work to engage and empower young people to have a voice in the decisions that affect their lives.
All children have a right to survive, thrive and fulfill their potential – to the benefit of a better world.
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) opened its office in Kyiv in 1997. Over the years, UNICEF has supported the Government of Ukraine with nearly US$ 130 million assistance to develop health, water and sanitation, education and children’s rights protection programmes.
Since the beginning of the conflict in eastern Ukraine, UNICEF has been working to fulfill core commitments to meet the humanitarian needs of children, in particular access to education, psychosocial assistance, water and sanitation, mine risk education, maternal and child health care, and services for people living with HIV/AIDS.
The main goal of the UNICEF programme for Ukraine is to contribute to the progressive realization of the rights of all children in Ukraine and to the reduction of equity gaps, maintaining a balance between humanitarian, recovery and development interventions, incorporating conflict-supportive programming and peace building in the framework of ongoing key reforms in social sectors and decentralization.
UNICEF is funded by the voluntary contributions of individuals, businesses, foundations and governments
UNICEF Representative in Ukraine
Anne-Claire Dufay assumed the position of UNICEF Representative to Ukraine in March 2026. She has over 29 years of international professional experience.
Ms. Dufay was previously UNICEF Deputy Regional Director for Latin American and the Caribbean from January 2023 to February 2026, and UNICEF Representative to Ghana from January 2018 to December 2022.
She served as UNICEF Deputy Special Representative in East Jerusalem from May 2014 to December 2017, and UNICEF Deputy Representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina from January 2009 to April 2014. She also worked in Child Protection with UNICEF in Myanmar, East Timor, and Bangladesh.
Before starting her career with UNICEF in 1998, Ms. Dufay joined the Commission for the Convention on the Rights of the Child (PRODEN) and the local NGO Casa Alianza in Guatemala. She also has experience with the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Paris.
Ms. Dufay holds a Post-Master's Degree in International Law and Economic Relations (Diplôme d'Etudes Approfondies en Droit des Relations Economiques Internationales et Communautaires) from the Paris X Nanterre University in France.
She speaks French, English, Spanish and Italian.
Ms. Dufay was born in France. During her childhood she lived in Algeria, Italy, Island of Reunion, and Ivory Coast. She is married with two children.
