UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell's remarks at the first regular session of the UNICEF Executive Board
UNICEF
As prepared for delivery
04 February 2025
NEW YORK, 4 February 2025 - "Excellencies, distinguished delegates, colleagues, it is good to be with you for this first regular session of the UNICEF Executive Board for 2025.
"Congratulations again to Ambassador Hikmat on his appointment as President of the Executive Board, and to the new members of the Bureau. Thank you for your leadership and consistent support for UNICEF's mission for children.
"I look forward to working closely with members of the Bureau and the Board in 2025, especially given the weighty items UNICEF will be presenting for the Board's consideration over the course of the year - including, of course, the new Strategic Plan and the integrated budget.
"UNICEF senior leadership and the Executive Board Secretariat are closely following the Member-State-led process of reviewing JIU recommendations on governance and oversight of the Boards of UNICEF and its sister agencies. In our view, more efficient and stronger Boards equal stronger agencies.
"I am very pleased that this week, we will continue our practice of involving children and youth during Board sessions. We will hear from them during the discussions on quality secondary education for adolescent girls, and during the update on the UNICEF Disability Inclusion Policy and Strategy.
"To our Board members, thank you in advance for your collaboration and engagement this week. We have much to accomplish in just a few days, including the consideration of seven draft decisions for adoption. These cover five new country programme documents and evaluations, the current Strategic Plan, and the Gender Policy and Action Plans.
"Excellencies, the world in 2025 is one of significant political shifts and volatility, economic uncertainty and growing inequality, rising discrimination and hate speech, and deepening humanitarian crises - from conflicts to climate change.
"UNICEF is the bulwark against threats to children's rights and their wellbeing - especially during these challenging and unpredictable times. To succeed, UNICEF must be at its best.
"We knew coming into 2025 that we could face new challenges in resource mobilization around the globe, and we have been preparing for reductions in development assistance across the board. With regard to the United States, our teams are thoroughly evaluating the impact of the 90-day funding pause on the work of UNICEF and our partners, and we are seeking clarity on longer-term implications.
"In Europe, we have received warnings of reduced ODA budgets that could impact our collective ability to accelerate progress on the child-related SDGs.
"In the coming weeks and months, we will continue to prioritize the sustained delivery of our programs for children, and communicate with our staff and National Committee partners as the situation evolves.
"We will work to strongly position UNICEF in a challenging environment by demonstrating the value and impact of our work, and by expanding our partnerships with Multilateral Development Banks, international financial institutions, and Global Funds like the Green Climate Fund and Gavi.
"And we are prioritizing Innovative Financing for Children to accelerate progress on the SDGs. Innovative Financing is now a key function in our Private Sector Division, where we will continue to work hard at growing income from private sector partners.
"Our National Committees are invaluable to UNICEF's successful private sector engagement in high income countries. National Committee contributions now account for more than 50 per cent of UNICEF's regular resources. This funding is critical to our ability to allocate funds quickly, where they are needed most. I look forward to the update on National Committee advocacy and fundraising results that we will hear during this week's session.
"In addition, we are constantly evaluating our operations and resources to ensure optimal effectiveness and efficiency. At UNICEF, we must always be the best stewards possible for the precious resources entrusted to us. To this end, we rely on our strong internal controls as well as our skilled oversight offices.
"We have zero tolerance for wrongdoing and for inaction when problems arise, and we are always looking for ways to do better. We are implementing a new anti-fraud and corruption policy, and we are adopting a notification framework to ensure our resource partners are consistently and adequately notified of any issues.
"Our challenge is to be as effective as possible so that we are better able to deliver for every child in need. This is a key consideration in the ongoing evaluation of the current Strategic Plan, and in the development of the new Strategic Plan for 2026 to 2029, both of which you will hear more about over the next few days.
"We have been conducting briefings with different regional groups on the new Plan. And we will continue consulting closely in partnership with Board Members as we move to the design phase.
"As we develop the Plan, we are examining the child-related Sustainable Development Goals to identify gaps and opportunities to accelerate progress. The Strategic Plan will concentrate on driving results through focus, scale and impact, drawing on proven programme interventions, policy solutions and multi-stakeholder advocacy.
"The Strategic Plan will reflect UNICEF's commitment to addressing immediate humanitarian needs, while building resilience in communities and systems to withstand future shocks. This approach ensures that efforts in fragile and conflict settings save lives and contribute to sustainable development outcomes.
"More broadly, partnerships with donors, local implementing partners, and governments will continue to play a vital role as we strive to be more efficient and effective for children at scale.
"An example of this, which we will discuss in more detail, is the Vaccine Independence Initiative, or VII. As countries increasingly rely on domestic financing of supply purchases, the Initiative is an important tool in our work to provide access to essential supplies for children, beyond vaccines.
"VII acts as a revolving fund that supports countries using domestic resources for lifesaving supplies to bridge short-term funding gaps that could otherwise lead to delays in procurement and delivery. This enables interventions to move forward quickly, so that critical supplies can reach children on time.
"Between 2020 and 2024, VII support to countries increased exponentially - with a throughput of over $1.7 billion in essential supplies for children, and more than 100 countries supported. This included nearly 1 billion doses of vaccines and 9 million cartons of RUTF that reached children faster than would have otherwise been possible.
"Beyond the VII, I am pleased to confirm that we continue our strong commitment and work to procure supplies and contracted services in support of countries for children across the world, in immunization, health, nutrition, education and other sectors. This enables governments and other partners to leverage UNICEF's procurement scale and expertise.
"Preliminary figures for 2024 show that we procured a total of $5.4 billion of supplies and contracted services. More than $2.3 billion of this procurement was performed on behalf of governments and development partners, using their own resources.
"Excellencies, as you know, a renewed strategic emphasis on reaching the most vulnerable children will be integral to UNICEF's Strategic Plan.
"This includes the 240 million children with disabilities worldwide. Since the launch of UNICEF's Disability Inclusion Policy and Strategy in 2023, we have accelerated disability inclusion work across the organization. Together with our partners, we are reaching more children with disabilities and their families with the support they need to thrive and meaningfully participate in society.
"We rely on your continued efforts to further advance our work in this area.
"Reaching the most vulnerable children also means focusing on girls. The rights and agency of girls are at the heart of what UNICEF does. Today, our programming - in all major sectors - has an explicit focus on adolescent girls. And we are increasing our efforts to work with governments and partners to accelerate progress.
"We have learned much from the independent evaluation of UNICEF's Gender Action Plan and Gender Policy. It confirms that the organization has established a bold vision for gender equality. Later this year, we will be sharing our new Action Plan for your review, and the rights of adolescent girls will feature prominently.
"Excellencies, throughout UNICEF's history, humanitarian action has been central to our efforts to reach the most vulnerable. Last year saw shockingly high levels of rights violations and violence against children in humanitarian settings.
"This year, UNICEF estimates that more than 213 million children in 146 countries and territories will need humanitarian assistance - a staggering figure. The percentage of the world's children living in conflict zones has nearly doubled, from 10 per cent in the 1990s to almost 19 per cent today.
"This includes Gaza and Lebanon, where the nascent ceasefires are facilitating lifesaving assistance and recovery, and the release of hostages, or Haiti and Sudan where horrific violence - including against children - has led to widespread hunger, including famine in some areas, and the collapse of essential services.
"We also cannot forget places that we don't often see in the news, like the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Myanmar, the Sahel, and Syria.
"Across our humanitarian operations, we are strengthening the systems that children rely on to support longer-term development goals. We are also investing significantly in early warning systems, anticipatory action, and preparedness measures.
"Here, I would like to underscore a critical point about humanitarian funding. In 2024, nearly 50 per cent of humanitarian funding received by UNICEF went to only five emergencies because those contributions were earmarked. We must urgently reverse this trend by increasing the proportion of regular resources and flexible humanitarian funding. No matter where they are, all children have the same rights under international law, and each must have access to principled humanitarian action.
"Later this session, we will hear from our Director of Emergency Programmes about UNICEF's focus on equity in humanitarian action.
This will cover five key areas: access to populations in need, funding equity between crises, the inclusion of marginalized populations in humanitarian response, maintaining quality, and addressing the causes of children's vulnerabilities.
"I would like to pause here to recognize the efforts of UNICEF staff and partners working in hardship duty stations to reach children in need. Thanks to you and to all the UNICEF staff for what you do every day to support children.
"Excellencies, I want to thank you again for coming together this week, and for your collaboration and insights.
"With your support, UNICEF works in more than 190 countries and territories, saving and uplifting the lives of millions of children - even in the hardest-to-reach places.
"I am incredibly proud of UNICEF's work and the positive difference it is making in the lives of children in all parts of the world.
"I look forward to hearing from you during the session, and to working closely with you in the year ahead as we strive to create a world fit for every child, where their rights are upheld, and where they have every opportunity to grow and to thrive.
"Thank you."
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