UNICEF - 2024 Global Annual Results Report Humanitarian Action

Global Annual Results Report 2024

Humanitarian actionCover image: © UNICEF/UNI538375/Benekire Seraphin, 10, carries his new UNICEF schoolbag received at the Bulengo primary school for displaced people in Goma, North Kivu Province, Democratic Republic of the Congo, in February 2024.

UNICEF supported construction and rehabilitation of 17 temporary classrooms and the distribution of 3,000 school kits at the school.

Expression of thanks: © UNICEF/UNI604915/Himu Shaila shares a happy moment with her mother in January 2024.

Her family resides in an urban slum in Rajshahi city, Bangladesh, where they have long endured living conditions contaminated by foul sewage. Climate change-related droughts, floods, or cyclones have made the situation worse, as low-quality latrine pits and septic tanks become inundated or severely damaged, increasing health and safety risks, especially for children. UNICEF is supporting construction of a drain near Shaila’s house, part of a larger wastewater treatment project, and along with provision of clean water this will enable Shaila and her friends to safely play outside.Expression of thanks UNICEF expresses its gratitude to all resource partners whose overall contributions supported the organization’s humanitarian action in 2024. The achievements described in this report were the result of these continued partnerships. In particular, UNICEF expresses its sincere appreciation to all resource partners that contributed thematically to the organization’s work in humanitarian responses. Thanks to thematic funding and its flexibility, UNICEF has been able to provide timely and effective technical, operational and programming support to countries in all regions as part of its efforts to prepare and deliver life-saving protection and assistance to children and families. On behalf of children, their families and communities in urgent need, UNICEF is especially grateful for contributions of global, regional and country humanitarian thematic funds, which provide the most flexible resources for emergency response. The work of UNICEF is funded entirely through the voluntary support of millions of people around the world and our partners in government, civil society and the private

global, regional and country humanitarian thematic funds, which provide the most flexible resources for emergency response. The work of UNICEF is funded entirely through the voluntary support of millions of people around the world and our partners in government, civil society and the private sector. Voluntary contributions enable UNICEF to deliver on its mandate to protect children’s rights, to help meet their basic needs and to expand their opportunities to reach their full potential. We take this opportunity to thank all our partners for their commitment and trust in UNICEF .Contents Introduction ................................................3

SPOTLIGHT : Global humanitarian thematic funding  .....................................................5

Strategic context ........................................6 Calamity for children in so many places ..........................7 The global UNICEF response ..........................................8 UNICEF staff ..........................................................10 Engaging for humanitarian access ........................11 Gender equality and the response to gender-based violence ...........................................12 The humanitarian supply response ........................13

SPOTLIGHT : Supply and logistics response to disease outbreaks  .............................................14

Investing in critical partnerships and expanding support for local partners ......................15 Remaining accountable to the children and families we serve ............................................17 Looking ahead ..........................................18

UNICEF results for children: 2024 in review ..........................................20

January .........................................................................22 State of Palestine ...................................................23 CASE STUDY 1: UNICEF’s committed response to critical sanitation needs in the Gaza Strip, State of Palestine  .........................24 CASE STUDY 2: Overcoming extraordinary challenges to provide meaningful education opportunities in the Gaza Strip, State of Palestine ..................................................25 Child protection ......................................................26 Myanmar ................................................................27 Y emen ....................................................................28 February ........................................................................29 Ukraine ...................................................................30 Mental health and psychosocial support ................30 CASE STUDY 3: Scaled national programmes support child and caregiver mental health in the Syrian Arab Republic ....................................31 Chad .......................................................................32 Nutrition .................................................................32 March ............................................................................35 Mozambique ..........................................................36 Global humanitarian thematic funding ...................36 Cluster coordination ...............................................36 April ...............................................................................37

support child and caregiver mental health in the Syrian Arab Republic ....................................31 Chad .......................................................................32 Nutrition .................................................................32 March ............................................................................35 Mozambique ..........................................................36 Global humanitarian thematic funding ...................36 Cluster coordination ...............................................36 April ...............................................................................37 Haiti ........................................................................38 Social and behaviour change and community engagement ...........................................................38 CASE STUDY 4: Social and behaviour change is a backbone of the UNICEF response to the Morocco earthquake .............................................40 May ...............................................................................41 Mali ........................................................................42 Democratic Republic of the Congo ........................42 Humanitarian cash transfers ..................................43 June ..............................................................................45 Sudan .....................................................................46 CASE STUDY 5: A broad range of protection interventions is required to protect Sudan’s children amid ongoing conflict ...............................47 Burkina Faso ..........................................................49

WASH ....................................................................49

Education ...............................................................50 July ...............................................................................52 Natural disasters and climate-related emergencies ..........................................................53 CASE STUDY 6: Scaling up cash assistance to protect vulnerable women and children from climate-related shocks in Bangladesh ....................54 Disability inclusion..................................................55 CASE STUDY 7: Resilience for All – Multiplying results for children using disability-inclusive disaster risk reduction ...........................................56 August ..........................................................................57 Mpox ......................................................................58 CASE STUDY 8: Preventing maternal and newborn deaths from mpox through integrated nutrition support .....................................................58 Health emergencies preparedness and response ........................................................59CASE STUDY 9: Strengthening maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ...........................62 HIV .........................................................................63 CASE STUDY 10: UNICEF partners with the Ministry of Health and other organizations to sustain life-saving HIV services amid war in Ukraine  ..............................................................64 September ....................................................................65 Lebanon .................................................................66 Social policy ...........................................................66

SPOTLIGHT : Core resources save lives ..................67

CASE STUDY 11 Empowering and equipping youth

Ministry of Health and other organizations to sustain life-saving HIV services amid war in Ukraine  ..............................................................64 September ....................................................................65 Lebanon .................................................................66 Social policy ...........................................................66

SPOTLIGHT : Core resources save lives ..................67

CASE STUDY 11 Empowering and equipping youth to take a leadership role in the humanitarian response in Lebanon .......................68 CASE STUDY 12: Leveraging national systems to deliver emergency cash for individuals with disabilities after hostilities escalated in Lebanon  ............................................69 October .........................................................................70 Afghanistan ............................................................71 Children on the move .............................................71 CASE STUDY 13: The FairChance Tongorara programme for youth on the move in Zimbabwe boosts confidence and skills of refugee youth  ...................................................73 November .....................................................................74 Adolescent development and participation ............75 December .....................................................................77 Polio .......................................................................78 Endnotes ...................................................79 Annex 1: Global Humanitarian Thematic Funding 2024 ..........................81 Annex 2: Financial Report .....................109 Terminology ..........................................................109 Concentration of funding in a smaller group of partners ................................................. 110 Public sector resource partners ........................... 111 Private sector resource partners ..........................111 Flexible funding ....................................................114

Looking ahead: Uncertain funding landscape ...... 118

Humanitarian expenses ......................................123 Case studies in resource mobilization ..................125 Case study 1: Extreme weather conditions: UNICEF engaged with multiple funding streams for preparedness and response .............125 Case study 2: Burkina Faso .................................126 Case study 3: Lebanon.........................................127 Annex 3: Humanitarian Data Companion .............................................1283 Global Annual Results Report 2024 | UNICEF Introduction Dagem, 1, smiles during a visit to the Shumsheha health centre, in Amhara Region, Ethiopia, in December 2024. Besides providing him with a healthy, balanced diet, his mom, Fasica, makes sure he receives all the vaccines he needs. Through the CARE4Health

Introduction Dagem, 1, smiles during a visit to the Shumsheha health centre, in Amhara Region, Ethiopia, in December 2024. Besides providing him with a healthy, balanced diet, his mom, Fasica, makes sure he receives all the vaccines he needs. Through the CARE4Health project, UNICEF has supported systems strengthening of the primary health care system, including restoration of health facilities affected by conflict and natural disasters.4 Humanitarian Action This report on humanitarian results in 2024 was prepared as the landscape for humanitarian assistance – and the prospects for children harmed and threatened by conflict, displacement, climate change and natural disasters – was rapidly changing. The needs of children and families, however, endured and deepened. The children living in the Gaza Strip, in the State of Palestine, continued to be under constant threat, suffering from malnutrition, lack of healthcare, displacement, and killed and injured at alarming rates. Children in the Sudan were still living in or fleeing a war that had engulfed their communities and left them hungry, and which had left nearly every child in the country out of school. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, mpox posed a particular threat to pregnant women and children 2024 – but, especially in the eastern part of the country, communities were also grappling with the harms and challenges of resurgent conflict, high levels of gender-based violence and large population displacements. A similar litany can be cited for Myanmar, where millions have been displaced due to conflict; and Ukraine, where children and families continue to be harmed by active conflict; and the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, where socioeconomic and political crises continue to exacerbate the chronic exclusion of rural marginalized populations, including Indigenous communities, leading to a rapid and severe deterioration in their health, nutrition and living conditions. And for Haiti, where displacement numbers skyrocketed and instances of grave violations against children surged; and in the multiple countries in Eastern and Southern Africa that declared food emergencies due to El Niño-related drought; and

communities, leading to a rapid and severe deterioration in their health, nutrition and living conditions. And for Haiti, where displacement numbers skyrocketed and instances of grave violations against children surged; and in the multiple countries in Eastern and Southern Africa that declared food emergencies due to El Niño-related drought; and in Afghanistan, where girls and women continued to be denied their rights to education and participation in society and where the basic needs of millions of families were going unmet. In this context, UNICEF delivered: on its mandate to uphold children’s rights, on its commitment to empower a local response to children’s needs, on its promise to never give up. This Global Annual Results Report 2024: Humanitarian Action provides details on this, showing how UNICEF and its many local, national and international partners supported positive outcomes for children and their families. These partners included civil society organizations, womenled groups, organizations of persons with disabilities, national governments and local authorities, international non-governmental organizations and other United Nations agencies. These entities are the heartbeat of our work, and our support for and collaboration on their work is how we are investing in a better future for children. The achievements described here were made possible through the support of our resource partners. In 2024, UNICEF received $3.02 billion in humanitarian funding, resources that contributed to saving the lives and improving the prospects of many children and families. Resources that were provided as flexible funding – global humanitarian thematic funding, regional humanitarian thematic funding, or country thematic funding – provided UNICEF with maximum flexibility to respond to emerging and chronic needs of children in some of the worst places on earth to be a child. This Global Annual Results Report 2024: Humanitarian Action fulfils the reporting requirement linked to thematic funding, part of a streamlined reporting process that simplifies reporting and helps UNICEF apply more resources directly to the needs of children and families. All the results described in this report are made possible, either directly or indirectly, by this flexible funding (see

Action fulfils the reporting requirement linked to thematic funding, part of a streamlined reporting process that simplifies reporting and helps UNICEF apply more resources directly to the needs of children and families. All the results described in this report are made possible, either directly or indirectly, by this flexible funding (see SPOTLIGHT : Global Humanitarian Thematic Funding). Annex 1 contains details on contributions to global humanitarian thematic funding (GHTF) and on how these funds were allocated in 2024. Despite its critical achievements for children in 2024, a host of impediments prevented UNICEF from doing everything it set out to do. Obstacles to humanitarian access abounded, in the Gaza Strip, in Myanmar, in the Sudan, in Haiti, in Y emen and in so many other places. Belligerents continued to ignore humanitarian principles and international humanitarian law, making it more difficult if not impossible to assist children in some places. And there were financial constraints as well: Despite the generosity of our donors, only 31 per cent of our appeal requirement for 2024 was funded. It is in this context that we present the following report, laid out chronologically. As the year unfolded for children, so it did for us. The contexts and results described here are indicative, not exhaustive. For more details on results linked to each 2024 Humanitarian Action for Children appeal, see the Consolidated Emergency Reports, publicly available at <https://open.unicef.org/documents-and-resources>.5 Global Annual Results Report 2024 | UNICEF Spotlight Global humanitarian thematic funding Flexible funding saves lives. To illustrate this, there is perhaps no better example than UNICEF’s global humanitarian thematic fund (GHTF). GHTF is UNICEF’s strategic, flexible, multi-year emergency fund that pools donor contributions at the global level – allowing UNICEF to allocate funding where it is needed most. For UNICEF’s humanitarian response, GHTF provides unique critical flexibility.

strategic, flexible, multi-year emergency fund that pools donor contributions at the global level – allowing UNICEF to allocate funding where it is needed most. For UNICEF’s humanitarian response, GHTF provides unique critical flexibility. In a volatile world, flexibility is everything. Thanks to GHTF , UNICEF can be fast in responding to the needs of children in emergencies, UNICEF can be fair because we can meet the needs of children in hard-to-reach areas and in underfunded emergencies, and UNICEF can be prepared for future shocks, enabling a faster and more cost-effective response when a disaster strikes. For example, UNICEF immediately allocated $2 million in GHTF to scale up the response in Lebanon following the escalation of hostilities in September and provided more than $1 .2 million in GHTF for El Niño preparedness activities in Angola, Madagascar and Namibia. For more information on GHTF and numerous examples from around the world on the impact of these funds, see Annex 1: Global Humanitarian Thematic Funding 2024. The 2024 results presented in the Global Annual Results Report 2024: Humanitarian action were directly or indirectly made possible by GHTF . The flexibility of the GHTF is an important component of everything UNICEF does in emergencies. GHTF is often used as catalytic funding that can kick-start a response and cover critical gaps, addressing children’s needs and promoting equity, everywhere. In 2024, UNICEF allocated a total of $66 million in GHTF to more than 80 offices around the world, including 73 country offices and 7 regional offices and to headquarters offices, for emergency response, preparedness and support. Throughout the year, UNICEF made more than 150 individual GHTF allocations based on established criteria by analysing critical unmet needs for the most vulnerable children, critical funding gaps and/or preparedness gaps, implementation capacity of recipient offices and alignment with initiatives to strengthen efficiency and effectiveness

support. Throughout the year, UNICEF made more than 150 individual GHTF allocations based on established criteria by analysing critical unmet needs for the most vulnerable children, critical funding gaps and/or preparedness gaps, implementation capacity of recipient offices and alignment with initiatives to strengthen efficiency and effectiveness of humanitarian action. UNICEF extends its gratitude to all partners that support GHTF . By contributing high-quality funding like GHTF , partners show their firm trust in UNICEF’s principled role in reaching every child, everywhere. The results achieved in 2024 would not have been possible without you. Samira and her children shelter on the streets of Martyrs Square in Beirut, Lebanon, in October 2024, after fleeing bombardment. “I didn’t wish this to happen for my children, I wanted them to have dreams, go to school, play, and spend their time laughing. I don’t want them to live in fear and homeless” .6 Humanitarian Action Strategic context Maribel, 17 , stands on the beach in Tumaco, on the Pacific coast in southern Colombia, in March 2024. At age 16, she stepped on a land mine and lost a part of her right leg. She dreams of becoming a lawyer to defend others against injustice. Colombia is one of the countries most contaminated by anti-personnel mines in the world, with more than 100 victims per year, 60 per cent of them civilians. Many mines have accumulated during years of armed conflict, and new ones appear every day due to the increase in confrontations and new hostilities between armed actors.7 Global Annual Results Report 2024 | UNICEF Calamity for children in so many places Conflict, climate emergencies and natural disasters continued to be calamitous for the realization of children’s rights in 2024. Children were killed and injured; suffered other grave violations of their rights; and were forcibly displaced. They were malnourished; they were left without healthcare; and their education was disrupted. For many of them, their prospects for a childhood free from fear

rights in 2024. Children were killed and injured; suffered other grave violations of their rights; and were forcibly displaced. They were malnourished; they were left without healthcare; and their education was disrupted. For many of them, their prospects for a childhood free from fear were shattered. UNICEF estimated a total of 183.5 million children required humanitarian assistance during the year. The United Nations verified 41,370 grave violations in 2024, the highest number of grave violations against children in armed conflict since the inception of the Children and Armed Conflict mandate almost 30 years ago 1. This marks a 25 per cent increase compared with 2023 and the third consecutive year with alarming 2 figures. Indiscriminate attacks, disregard for ceasefires and peace agreements, and deepening humanitarian crises – with a blatant disregard for international law and the rights and special protections of children by all parties to conflict – severely weakened the protection of children in hostilities. Of the 41,370 grave violations verified in 2024, 36,221 were committed in 2024 and 5,149 were committed earlier but verified in 2024. Violations affected 22,495 children in 2024 (14,383 boys, 7 ,320 girls, 792 sex unknown). While non-State armed groups were responsible for almost 50 per cent of grave violations, government forces were the main perpetrator of the killing and maiming of children, attacks on schools and hospitals and the denial of humanitarian access. 3 Conflict and climate-related emergencies that devastated water, sanitation and health infrastructure drove disease outbreaks. The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the rapidly escalating mpox epidemic in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and other African countries a public health emergency of international concern in August 2024, and UNICEF subsequently declared a Level 3 corporate emergency. Cholera threatened around 1 billion people, with the disease’s resurgence impacting families in 33 countries.

Republic of the Congo and other African countries a public health emergency of international concern in August 2024, and UNICEF subsequently declared a Level 3 corporate emergency. Cholera threatened around 1 billion people, with the disease’s resurgence impacting families in 33 countries. More than 800,000 cases and 5,800 deaths were reported globally between 1 January and 29 December 2024. 4 Other public health threats included measles, dengue and polio, among other disease outbreaks. Natural hazards and climate-related emergencies often compounded existing vulnerabilities faced by children. These disasters included typhoons (the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Myanmar, Viet Nam, the Philippines and Thailand) and cyclones (Malawi and Mozambique); flooding (Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Liberia, Mali, the Niger and Nigeria, and Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Pakistan); drought (the Amazon regions of Brazil, Colombia and Peru, and Botswana, Ethiopia, Lesotho, Malawi, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe); and heatwaves, with more than 2 billion people facing more than 30 days of extreme temperatures. 5 Y et, despite the high needs of children for nutrition support, medical care, immunization against preventable diseases, mental health care, shock-responsive social policies, safe education spaces, clean water to drink, and their overwhelming needs for protection, the physical and fiscal space for assisting children was highly constrained throughout the year. States and armed non-State actors hindered humanitarian access, often disregarding international humanitarian and human rights law in keeping people from the assistance they needed and humanitarian actors from providing relief. Conflict and violence against aid workers made 2024 the deadliest year for humanitarian actors ever recorded. 6 Official development assistance (ODA), money given by Governments for humanitarian and development efforts, continued its downward trajectory. By early 2025, significant reductions in funding for humanitarian action threatened to further upend

deadliest year for humanitarian actors ever recorded. 6 Official development assistance (ODA), money given by Governments for humanitarian and development efforts, continued its downward trajectory. By early 2025, significant reductions in funding for humanitarian action threatened to further upend and even halt life-saving care for children.

In short: in 2024, millions of children remained in the crosshairs of harms and challenges not of their own making.8

Humanitarian Action The global UNICEF response In 2024, UNICEF responded to 448 emergencies in 108 countries in 2024. See Figure 1 and Figure 2. A Level 3 corporate emergency response – the highest level of UNICEF humanitarian response – was applied to eight crises, activating organization-wide mobilization to help scale up the response. Level 3 responses in 2024 included those in Haiti; Lebanon; the State of Palestine and related cross-border operations; the Sudan; the Syrian Arab Republic and related cross-border operations; specific countries where exceptional use was made of UNICEF emergency polio procedures; and specific countries with mpox preparedness and response. The response in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (North Kivu, South Kivu and Ituri Provinces) was Level 3 until 14 June 2024. Level 2 responses – which mobilized additional supports for scaling up – were ongoing in Myanmar; and were deactivated during the year in eastern Chad, Ethiopia, Mali, Ukraine and Y emen. Details on contexts and results of these Level 2 and Level 3 responses are found throughout this report. FIGURE 1: UNICEF global response in 2024. In 2024, 104 country offices responded to 448 humanitarian crises, reaching millions of children with life-saving, gendersensitive and disability-inclusive interventions. 2024202320222021202020192018201720162015201420132012 79 83 98 102 108 102 90 96 152 153 128 285 289 294 310 344 337 285 281 455 483

sensitive and disability-inclusive interventions. 2024202320222021202020192018201720162015201420132012 79 83 98 102 108 102 90 96 152 153 128 285 289 294 310 344 337 285 281 455 483 442 104

IN COUNTRIES iv

448

RESPONDED TO

HUMANITARIAN

CRISES

107 412 i The figure is based on contributions received in 2024. Humanitarian funding includes other resources – emergency and other types of funding that support UNICEF humanitarian response. ii This total includes all programme supplies going to Level 2 and Level 3 emergencies; all programme supplies for any new Level 2 or Level 3 emergencies, from the date they are declared; specific relevant orders for the countries in which only a region or part of the country is in an emergency; and specific supplies flagged as emergency supplies in countries facing Level 1 crises. iii The figure represents expenses of humanitarian funding received in 2024 and carried over from the previous year. iv This total includes 134 natural disasters, 80 sociopolitical crises, 98 health emergencies, 29 nutrition crises and 107 other critical crises.

NUMBER OF

COUNTRIES

NUMBER OF

HUMANITARIAN CRISES UNICEF humanitarian responses, 2012–2024 TOTAL

DEPLOYMENTS

397 FUNDS

RECEIVED

$1.234

BILLION ii

SUPPLIES

DELIVERED

TOTAL

EXPENSES

$4.8

BILLION iii

$3.02

BILLION i9

Global Annual Res