Children around the globe rely on UNICEF programs to survive, grow and thrive — programs that lift societies and make the world safer. Today, more than ever, support from the private sector, including individual donors, is critical to help fill dangerous funding gaps that threaten important humanitarian and development work. The stakes are high. Learn more, including how to advocate to preserve U.S. foreign aid.
United States Government support to UNICEF has been a mainstay for the organization, continuing uninterrupted, with bipartisan Congressional support, under 14 U.S. Presidents — including President Trump during his first term.
That support has been abruptly upended, and this disruption to ongoing interventions — in health, in nutrition, in child protection and other critical areas — puts millions of children’s lives at risk.
Related: Investing in Global Humanitarian Aid to Build a Safer, Stronger America
With a decades-long partnership disrupted, dangerous funding gaps
UNICEF is 100 percent voluntarily funded, and the U.S. Government is UNICEF’s top donor. With this sudden U.S. foreign aid freeze, support from private sector donors — individuals, corporations, foundations and civil society organizations — has become even more important to ensure UNICEF programs can continue, programs that children rely on to survive, grow and thrive. Programs that ease the impacts of humanitarian crises, build resilience in communities, lift societies and make the whole world safer.
Unrestricted contributions from private donors can help UNICEF fill dangerous funding gaps in places where children’s needs remain urgent, including the Democratic Republic of Congo, Gaza, Haiti, Sudan and Ukraine — places where children continue to suffer grave violations of their basic human rights and where UNICEF provides a lifeline.
Donate to support UNICEF programs today.
The lifesaving programs under threat with loss of U.S. Government funding
To give a better idea of what is at stake:
In NUTRITION: Funding from the U.S. Government supports the nutrition pipeline, including the provision of ready-to-use therapeutic food, lifesaving treatment for children with life-threatening severe acute malnutrition. UNICEF’s holistic approach to keeping children nourished includes improving access to healthy foods, supporting breastfeeding and training millions of community health workers around the world.
In HEALTH: UNICEF procures vaccines to reach 45 percent of the world’s children under age 5. Continued, timely support for child immunization is crucial for preventing outbreaks of disease, including across borders — diseases like polio, which is on the cusp of being eradicated thanks in large part to funding from the U.S. Government.
UNICEF is also the lead agency on the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV and the provision of pediatric treatment of HIV/AIDS. Disruptions and delays in funding for those programs puts those children at risk.
In CHILD PROTECTION: UNICEF works with partners around the world to protect children from violence, exploitation and abuse. This includes a focus on the unique needs of girls and women, recognizing their exposure to sexual violence and helping to ensure support is available for every survivor.
UNICEF reaches over 13 million people every year with gender-based programming in humanitarian settings — services and support for those who are most vulnerable, including care for child survivors of sexual violence and creative models that use cash assistance to reduce that vulnerability.
In EDUCATION: Sending a child to school has life-changing impact. Without school, children become more vulnerable to child labor, child marriage and recruitment into armed groups. School is also the touch point for school feeding programs and for identifying kids who need health and protection services.
After COVID-19, the world can ill afford another major upheaval in children’s education, particularly children already caught in conflict- and climate-driven crises.
UNICEF works to improve equitable access to education, stem learning loss, boost foundational literacy and numeracy and expand schools’ access to the internet. Education for the world’s most vulnerable children not only improves the economic outlook of communities and entire nations, but also reduces the risk of conflict and leads to more stable societies.
In EMERGENCY RESPONSE: In fragile settings, where resources are scarce — often the same places bearing the brunt of the effects of climate change while contributing very little to its causes — even brief lapses in humanitarian assistance can undermine relief and recovery efforts.
One in three children — 739 million children worldwide — live in areas exposed to water scarcity. Almost one in four are exposed to extreme heat waves. Increasing severe cycles of drought and flooding related to climate change have put children at enormous risk of malnutrition, disease and displacement.
Related: Turning Climate Hardship into Hope in Eastern and Southern Africa
UNICEF and partners’ ongoing work to address the global climate crisis — efforts to strengthen systems children rely on to survive, grow and thrive, to build resilience of communities in the face of environmental shocks — could all be threatened by the U.S. foreign aid freeze.
In today’s world, humanitarian emergencies are only escalating. UNICEF responded to 483 emergencies affecting children around the globe last year, nearly double the number of pre-pandemic years. And these crises not only endanger children’s lives, they jeopardize U.S. policy interests and national security.
So much is on the line. As the situation continues to evolve, UNICEF USA believes UNICEF programs will stand up under scrutiny, and stands firm in our commitment to keep delivering for children.
Stand with us. Take action by urging Members of Congress to support ongoing U.S. investments in foreign aid. Help UNICEF continue to reach hundreds of millions of children worldwide with the support they need to be healthy, educated, protected and respected.