UNICEF was meant to be a temporary post-war fund; it never closed
Set up in December 1946 to feed and clothe children uprooted by the Second World War, the emergency fund became a permanent United Nations body in 1953, kept its famous acronym after changing its name, and now works in almost every country while living entirely on voluntary donations.
The idea had a champion before the agency existed. In September 1943 the Polish health specialist Ludwik Rajchman argued in print for a health service inside the coming international organisation, even suggesting members pay a health tax. When the relief administration known as UNRRA wound down, Rajchman pushed to channel its leftover money into feeding children. A General Assembly resolution created the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund on 11 December 1946, and Maurice Pate, a veteran of relief work in Belgium, was chosen to run it.
Its remit widened quickly. From 1950 it took on the long-term needs of women and children, especially in developing countries, and in 1953 it became a fixed part of the UN system under the shorter name United Nations Children's Fund. Its work today spans vaccination, HIV treatment for mothers and children, nutrition, sanitation, schooling and disaster relief. Its honours include the 1965 Nobel Peace Prize, plus later awards from India in 1989 and Spain's Princess of Asturias foundation in 2006.
Scale is the striking thing. In 2018 alone the agency helped with 27 million births, gave pentavalent vaccines to an estimated 65.5 million children, treated four million for severe acute malnutrition and answered 285 emergencies across 90 countries. Income in 2024 reached 8.61 billion dollars, with public-sector partners supplying 4.92 billion. A Supply Division split between Copenhagen and New York handles more than 3 billion dollars of aid.
Fundraising has a grassroots side. Independent national committees raise about a third of annual income from companies and roughly six million individual donors. In the United States, Nepal and elsewhere, children have collected coins for the agency while trick-or-treating on Halloween, sometimes in place of sweets, although Canada dropped that programme in 2006. A 36-member executive board, elected by the UN Economic and Social Council, sets policy and approves programmes.
Source: UNICEF
