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Individual Commitment

Core Commitment

• What led your organization to make the commitment?

  UNICEF recognised increased use of explosive weapons in populated areas with civilian infrastructure, including schools and hospitals, leading to increase in death and injury to children and their families thereby resulting into life-long implications. This commitment would contribute to strengthening the UN monitoring and reporting mechanism as a key instrument for addressing grave violations against children in situations of armed conflict because of its link to the Security Council. This evidence is critical to informing programmatic and advocacy interventions, as well as normative change, to end and prevent grave violations against children during armed conflict.

• Achievements at a glance

  UNICEF contributed towards increasing safety, security and confidentiality for victims, survivors, monitors, sources and partners. Technical support was provided to Country Task Forces on Monitoring and Reporting including capacity building on Children and Armed Conflict policies and procedures. Supported interventions for children affected by armed conflict including release and reintegration programmes, services for victims and survivors of sexual violence, psycho-social services for children who have suffered distress, and victim assistance for children injured during conflict.
  
  UNICEF strengthened evidence building on the impact - and advocacy against the use - of explosive weapons in populated areas through participation in the International Campaign to Ban Landmines fact-sheet on the impact of mines and explosive remnants of war on children and in characterization of explosive weapons global advisory board among others.

• How is your organization assessing progress

  Progress is being assessed through regular reporting obligations through the Global Horizontal Notes, the UN Secretary-General's annual report on children and armed conflict, and country-specific reports on the situation of children affected by armed conflict. Activities include monitoring of implementation of Action Plans signed by parties to conflict with the UN to end and prevent grave violations; implementation of advocacy interventions for the release and reintegration of children associated with armed forces or groups; delivery of services for victims, survivors of sexual violence; and the provision of psycho-social services for children who have witnessed and feared violence, and suffered immense distress.

• Challenges faced in implementation

  Monitoring and reporting on grave violations is an inherently challenging activity because of the sensitivity of the subject and the insecure environment in which UNICEF and its partners operate. UNICEF must take a neutral approach, monitoring violations committed by all parties and advocating for steps to end and prevent these violations.
  
  Monitoring and reporting of grave violations committed against children requires specialist monitoring expertise from trained protection and human rights personnel who are trained to act in the best interests of the child, and is also labor intensive.

• Next step to advance implementation in 2017

  UNICEF will strengthen the country level strategies for addressing grave violations as well as overall global approach to the agenda so as to influence the policy and normative discourse. UNICEF will advocate that the Monitoring and Reporting Mechanism should be used as a basis to foster compliance of parties to conflict with international child protection standards and norms; highlight evidence-base on the impact on children of explosive weapons in populated areas; advocate with government counterparts and non-state parties to discuss violations, prevention, response and accountability; promote a political declaration on the use of explosive weapons in populated areas.

• If you had one message for the annual report on what is most needed to advance the transformation 'Respect and protect civilians and civilian objects in the conduct of hostilities', what would it be

  Targeted strategies should be developed to engage parties to conflict, both State and non-State actors, to prevent and end grave violations, including the development and implementation of Action Plans. Evidence-based generated should be leveraged to bear witness, and inform advocacy and programmatic interventions to protect children affected by armed conflict.

• Cross cutting issues

  ☑People-centred approach

• Specific initiatives

  ☑A Global Undertaking on Health in Crisis Settings

• Other related Agenda for Humanity transformations

  ☑2C - Speak out on violations

Individual Commitment

Core Commitment

• What led your organization to make the commitment?

  UNICEF recognized the need for robust institutional and system wide programming to prevent and respond to gender-based violence (GBV). UNICEF is committed to applying innovative technologies to our programming efforts. We need open source technology platforms and other innovative solutions, including to support real-time GBV risk mapping, and strengthen feedback mechanisms to track the meaningful participation of girls and women in all humanitarian interventions.

• Achievements at a glance

  UNICEF launched the Innovation Gender Challenge which is an opportunity for UNICEF Country Offices (COs) to secure additional financial and technical resources to move forward creative technological solutions that advance their gender programme results, including the prevention and response to GBV in emergency contexts. UNICEF supported the development of the Primero open source on Child Protection data management platform, which supports a module for Gender based Violence and extending Gender Based Violence Information Management System including case management functionality.
  
  UNICEF’s work in strengthening protection and response to Sexual Exploitation and Abuse includes:
  - Activating UNICEF Sexual Exploitation and Abuse Notification Alerts aligned with UN-wide real time reporting;
  - Co-chairing development of the Uniform Protocol on Sexual Exploitation and Abuse Victim Assistance;
  - Strengthening cooperation with Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) investigations, including safeguarding children during investigatory interviews; and
  - Contributing to the development of Standard Operating Procedures for community-based complaint mechanisms.

• How is your organization assessing progress

  UNICEF assesses progress against targets/milestones established in programme design documents and through UNICEF institutional Gender Key performance indicators. For Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Abuse, UNICEF assesses progress against the indicators as outlined in the Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Abuse Minimum Operating Standards, and organizational accountabilities as determined in consultation with the Secretary-General's Protection of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse Special Coordinator.

• Challenges faced in implementation

  - Weak processes to support timely technical deployment in resource constrained areas; capacity of implementing partners to provide technical support; and need for new accountability models as a result of digitizing sensitive data.
  - Weak coordination of Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Abuse strategies; however, efforts are being made by the UN Sexual Exploitation and Abuse Task Force and through the IASC Accountability to Affected Population/Protection from Sexual Exploitation Abuse Working Group. Strengthening accountability measures should also include the accountability of Member States/TTCs.

• Next step to advance implementation in 2017

  - UNICEF will strengthen its capacity-building for global deployment teams, expanded partnerships for governance and scaling, securing consistent funding.
  - UNICEF will conduct a field testing of the Victim Assistance Protocol which will be followed by operationalizing the community-based complaint mechanisms.
  - UNICEF will continue its participation in UN-wide vetting of recruitment of UN personnel and roll out of the mandatory Sexual Exploitation and Abuse training for staff.
  - UNICEF will put systems in place to ensure implementation of the Secretary-General’s PSEA “game-changing” strategy.

• If you had one message for the annual report on what is most needed to advance the transformation 'Take concrete steps to improve compliance and accountability', what would it be

  There should be coordinated implementation of the Secretary-General’s new Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Abuse strategy, in particular scaling up assistance for all victims of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse, including medical care, psychosocial support, a safety plan to address risks, basic material assistance and legal assistance.

• Cross cutting issues

  ☑Accountability to affected people ☑ Gender ☑ Innovation

• Other related Agenda for Humanity transformations

  ☑3D - Empower and protect women and girls

Individual Commitment

• What led your organization to make the commitment?

  UNICEF recognizes that children with disabilities represent one of the most excluded and marginalized groups in situations of armed conflict and disasters. Despite facing greater risk and vulnerability, children with disabilities are often not included in humanitarian interventions. UNICEF recognized the disparities faced by children with disabilities and calls for improvements in their access to services, and in their participation in all aspects of life. The current lack of accurate data impedes the development, implementation and evaluation of policies and programmes that would improve the lives of children with disabilities.

• Achievements at a glance

  UNICEF is working to systematically mainstream issues of children with disabilities in humanitarian action. In addition to including children with disabilities in regular programmes and putting in place targeted interventions to address the specific needs of children with disabilities, UNICEF is also addressing issues of inclusion through policies, guidance, capacity building and supplies. In 2016, UNICEF launched the 1st and 2nd round of cash transfers to families of children with disabilities in Aleppo (USD 40 per month per child distributed bi-monthly). More than 49,000 Education in Emergency kits with disability guidance were delivered to 50 countries.

• How is your organization assessing progress

  UNICEF Country Offices through the Country Office Annual reports are required to report on the work they undertake to address issues related to children with disabilities. UNICEF’s RAM indicators have also been revised and now include several indicators on children with disabilities. For inclusive supplies the UNICEF Supply Division tracks the number of disability inclusive emergency kits that are being sent to the field and the countries that they are being sent.

• Challenges faced in implementation

  • Lack of prioritization by country governments of the need to collect child disability data.
  • Lack of system-wide policies, guidelines, and tools that strengthen effectiveness and accountability.
  • Lack of local capacity and resources for the effective planning and implementation of child disability data collection.

• Next step to advance implementation in 2017

  - Integrate disability targets and indicators in UNICEF Strategic Plan 2018 – 2021.
  - Support the modification of education in emergencies kits (School in the Box, ECD Kit and Recreation Kit) to meet the needs of children with disabilities.
  - Support UNICEF staff and partners with a set of practical resources through finalization of a set of guidance booklets on including children and adolescents with disabilities in humanitarian action: Preparedness, Response and Early Recovery.

• If you had one message for the annual report on what is most needed to advance the transformation 'Address other groups or minorities in crisis settings', what would it be

  Humanitarian action need to ensure that the needs of children with disabilities, to education, healthcare, safe environment, clean drinking water etc, is adequately considered. Simple modification of interventions and services often enables mainstream programmes for children to be accessible to children with disabilities.

• Cross cutting issues

  ☑Accountability to affected people ☑ Disability

• Specific initiatives

  ☑Charter on Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities in Humanitarian Action

Individual Commitment

Core Commitment

• What led your organization to make the commitment?

  UNICEF recognizes the need for response and recovery programmes to contribute to a reduction of risk and systematic integration of risk analysis into programme design to increase preparedness and contribute to timely and efficient humanitarian action.The need for UNICEF to strengthen its capacity for designing risk-informed programmes and better planning for the impact of shocks and stresses to avoid possible disruptions to service delivery are reflected in UNICEF's support of the IFRC-convened “One Billion Coalition for Resilience”.

• Achievements at a glance

  - In the context of the One Billion coalition for Resilience, UNICEF and the IFRC jointly held a webinar and two workshops to bring together UNICEF country offices and National Red Cross/Crescent Societies and to develop joint activities towards strengthening community resilience.
  - The Capacity for Disaster Reduction Initiative (CADRI) Partnership has provided support to 23 countries and supported the development of 13 national strategies / plans (one of the 7 global Sendai targets).
  - UNICEF has also supported development of guidance on risk-informed programming (e.g. global modular guidance / partner with SAARC on a DRR framework around risk assessment & school safety).
  - UNICEF has supported Country Offices to include risk and resilience in the programme cycle (e.g. work with UNDP on risk assessment in Cape Verde; partner with IFRC on their '1 Billion Coalition for Resilience' using U-Report; support India State of Bihar to implement its Sendai DRR roadmap).

• How is your organization assessing progress

  The progress is assessed through UNICEF annual work plans; Country Programme development process (CPDs); UNICEF Annual Reports, etc. though progress differs by country depending on the context and country dynamics.

• Challenges faced in implementation

  • There are limited financial resources to support capacity development of national systems for risk analysis.
  • There is weak alignment and coordination between multiple partners supporting national processes.
  • There are varying capacities among the partners for the “1 Billion Coalition for Resilience” thus different levels of achievement towards the resilience results.

• Next step to advance implementation in 2017

  • UNICEF and the IFRC will jointly follow up on joint resilience building activities that started in 2016 and will document good practices and lessons learnt.
  • UNICEF will focus on expanding / activating the Capacity for Disaster Reduction Initiative in the regions in order to better align the initiative's support to United Nations Country Teams with regional priorities and promote wide dissemination of findings.
  • UNICEF will pilot the Guidance for Risk-informed programming in 3-4 countries and rollout in additional ones and advocate for inclusion of risk informed programming and resilience in 50% of new Country Programme Development Plans.

• If you had one message for the annual report on what is most needed to advance the transformation 'Anticipate, do not wait, for crises', what would it be

  In line with the Grand Bargain commitments, joint multi-hazard risk and vulnerability analysis need further advancement including capacity-building and systems strengthening. Additionally, existing funding mechanisms should allow for adequate and appropriate solutions to address the underlying drivers of crises.

• Cross cutting issues

  ☑Disaster Risk Reduction

• Specific initiatives

  ☑Global Partnership for Preparedness ☑ Risk and Vulnerability Data Platform

• Other related Agenda for Humanity transformations

  ☑5B - Invest according to risk