What We Do
Discover how UNICEF builds a better future for every child in West and Central Africa.
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Africa's opportunity
Africa will experience a sharp rise in its child and youth populations over the next few decades – a demographic transition that offers a huge opportunity for growth and poverty reduction.
Africa’s prosperity will depend on whether children – particularly the most disadvantaged children – are prioritised in policy decisions being taken today. The policy and investment choices being made now will impact the well-being of Africa’s children and shape the continent’s future.
Children now account for almost half of all Africa’s population, and by 2055 Africa will be home to one billion children.
By the end of the century, it is projected that Africa will be home to nearly half of the world's children.
In West and Central Africa, UNICEF works with partners across the region to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, a set of global goals to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure that all people enjoy peace and prosperity by 2030.
We act at crucial moments in a child’ life, starting where a child’s lifecycle begins, in pregnancy all the way to adulthood.
Child Survival
Every woman, newborn, child, and adolescent should have an equal chance to survive and thrive.
Five Priorities
Education
Every child should complete a quality and relevant basic education
Child Protection
Every child has a right to be protected from violence, abuse, and exploitation.
Water, Sanitation and Hygiene
Every child has a right to water, sanitation and a safe and clean community.
A Fair Chance in Life
Every child has a right to reach his or her full potential without discrimination.
Eight Key Results
Immunization Plus
Free access to basic health care and vaccines against the six major vaccine-preventable diseases.
Stunting and Malnutrition
Prevention of stunting through breastfeeding promotion, complementary foods, and micronutrient supplementation.
Access to Education
Inclusive access to education, expansion of early learning programmes, vocational training and national data production.
Quality Learning
Improved teaching skills, quality standards, life skills programmes and early learning assessments.
Violence and Exploitation
Prevention of sexual violence, violence in and around schools, and physical violence, including during conflict and other disasters.
Child Marriage
Advocating for laws and policies to protect women and girls affected by female genital mutilation/cutting and mobilization of communities to change behaviour.
Birth Registration
Increasing birth registration rates through the health system and in remote communities, as well as modernizing civil registration and vital statistic systems.
Sanitation and Open Defecation
Eliminating open defecation by changing social behaviour and building basic and well-managed sanitation systems in poor communities.
Convergence
These results will be achieved through convergence – rather than a focus on traditional sector strategies – so there are multiple opportunities to reach children.
This approach focusses on key stages during a child’s life: the early years in the community, the school years and adolescence. For example, a child could receive a birth certificate at birth, when she comes in for immunization or other treatment, or when he registers for first grade at school.
Early Years in the Community
Help to deliver immunization, prevention of stunting, birth registration in children under five, and campaigns against open defecation and for handwashing
School years
Facilitate access to quality primary education and completion of secondary education, especially for girls. It provides opportunities to roll out campaigns against early marriage, deliver water and sanitation, and promote birth registration, adolescent health, and protection against violence and abuse.
Adolescence
Offers an opportunity to reach children with integrated campaigns against female genital mutilation/cutting, child marriage, protection from violence and exploitation, including in humanitarian contexts, with emphasis on out-of-school adolescents, particularly girls.
