About UNICEF
UNICEF works in 190 countries and territories to help every child survive and thrive. UNICEF has spent 70 years working to improve the lives of children and their families.
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UNICEF at a glance
The United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) was established in 1946, in the aftermath of World War II. Our mandate was clear: to help children and young people whose lives and futures were at risk – no matter what role their country had played in the war.
What mattered to UNICEF was reaching every child in need, protecting children’s rights to survive, thrive, and reach their full potential.
Todday UNICEF works in over 190 countries and territories to protect the rights of every child.
Before, during and after humanitarian emergencies, UNICEF is on the ground, bringing lifesaving help and hope to children and families. Non-political and impartial, we are never neutral when it comes to defending children’s rights and safeguarding their lives and futures.
And we never give up.
UNICEF’s support to the Islamic Republic of Iran
UNICEF has been supporting the Government in its work for Iran’s children since the early 1950s. We initially assisted in the vaccination of children against tuberculosis and equipped the country's first pasteurized milk factory and later focused on supporting children's health programmes in Iran, such as promoting breastfeeding, vaccination and fighting against diarrhea. These collaborations between UNICEF and the Government were later expanded into other areas including strengthening the country's healthcare system, maternal health programmes, nutrition, fighting against micronutrient deficiency such as iodine, and acute respiratory infections. Programmes to support the education and protection of children were then added to the joint cooperation.
Discover more about UNICEF programmes in Iran.
Current Country Programme of Cooperation
The current country programme between the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran and UNICEF, from 2023 to 2027, is focused on the following areas:
Health and Nutrition
- Reduce neonatal and child mortality and morbidity rates at the national and district levels.
- Enhance nutritional status and alleviate malnutrition among pregnant and lactating women and children.
- Prevent outbreaks of vaccine-preventable and vector borne diseases like dengue and malaria.
- Support the Primary Health Care (PHC) systems in underserved areas.
Child Protection
- Contribute to implementing comprehensive national strategies to prevent children from living and working on the streets.
- Ensure children in alternative care can live in a supportive and caring environment that promotes the realisation of their full potential.
- Strengthen national capacities for prevention, early detection and response to violence against children.
Ensure that all boys and girls in contact with the law, including child victims and witnesses of crime and children in conflict with the law, benefit from equitable access to justice services and programmes.
Social Policy
- Ensure that all children have the equitable chance to live the life they deserve through removing the obstacles related to poverty. This includes identifying and targeting the most vulnerable children and their families such as refugee children and providing them with the required support to improve their living conditions, such as cash assistance towards improving access to social services.
- Support government to prioritise child poverty as a national policy and design smart, responsive and resilient poverty-alleviation strategies.
Emergency, WASH and Climate Change
- Strengthen local disaster coping capacities to enhance the resilience of children and vulnerable groups in disasters.
- Promote child-centered approaches on disaster risk reduction and management through offering technical expertise in the development of policies and guidelines.
- Strengthen coordination and response capabilities for delivering humanitarian assistance to Afghan refugees and their host communities.
- Strengthen the capacity of the national Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) sector to provide improved services and enhance emergency preparedness and response capacity in this sector.
- Protect the lives, health and well-being of children and the resilience of their communities by adapting essential social services to a changing climate and a degrading environment.
Education, Learning and Adolescent Well-being
- Enhance access to education for all children, including children with disabilities, and empower communities to help these children achieve their full potential without discrimination.
- Expand the education system's capacity to include refugee children and adolescent boys and girls.
- Increase the education system's capacity to provide quality education and promote children’s participation.
- Ensure that vulnerable adolescents and youth are empowered with the necessary skills in social harms prevention and enable them to live a healthy lifestyle and find descent employment after school.
Monitoring and Accountability
UNICEF will monitor and evaluate implementation of country programme activities to help improve the efficiency in achieving results for children. Progress towards planned results for children will be assessed using indicators in the results framework and through mid-year and annual reviews with key stakeholders. Enhanced in-house capacity and a result-based management culture will support UNICEF’s programmatic approach.