EU Statement – UNICEF Executive Board: updated financial estimates 2024-2027

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EU Statement - UNICEF Executive Board: updated financial estimates 2024-2027

04.09.2024 Press and information team of the Delegation to the UN in New York

3 September 2024, New York - UNICEF Executive Board meeting on Agenda Item 10: UNICEF Strategic Plan: updated financial estimates, 2024-2027

Mr President, Madam Executive Director,

I am speaking on behalf of the European Union as a donor.

The European Union is unequivocally committed to promote the rights of children everywhere. We take pride in our contribution to this cause as one of UNICEF's largest donors.

Let me therefore raise five points in regard to your greatly appreciated update on the financial framework for 2024-2027:

1. We note that UNICEF's annual income is projected to decline by 2 per cent in 2024 compared with the 2023 actual income, due to a gradual decrease in the Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator (ACT-A) funding and decreases in emergency funding. The annual income is projected to remain at a similar level in 2025 followed by a 1 and 2 per cent increase in 2026 and 2027 respectively. Although UNICEF considers these projections to be a conservative estimate, we remain cautious about the prospect of the projected increase in funding in the current environment and based on the trends for 2024.

1. We profoundly regret that humanitarian contributions declined by 18 per cent in 2023 and that of the $11.1 billion Humanitarian Action for Children appeal for 2023, only $3.48 billion was funded as of 31 December 2023.

Therefore, we would like to inquire:

• How has this affected UNICEF's response to humanitarian needs, especially for the less visible or forgotten crises?
• Will this will have an impact on the formulation of future UNICEF HAC appeals?

1. In 2023 the top 6 resource partners of humanitarian funding -including the European Commission - accounted for 54 per cent of the total and that they are consistently the main public contributors to UNICEF. In view of the recent decrease in humanitarian funding, we encourage UNICEF to intensify their outreach to new donors to continue to expand the donor base. In parallel, UNICEF should build on the successful experiences of private sector funding for Ukraine by trying to secure significant commitments from the private sector.

1. The increase in the amounts of the Evaluation Pooled Fund and its positive impact on the institutional budget funding for the evaluation function at headquarters and in regional offices is a welcome development. We encourage UNICEF to secure appropriate budget for country-level evaluations as well.

1. It is also positive that the actual cost-recovery amount in 2023 exceeded the planned amount for the year and that the surplus has been partly transferred to the Cost Recovery Fund. We strongly support the joint cost-recovery policy of UNICEF, UNDP, UNFPA and UN-Women, and we encourage UNICEF to pursue its efforts towards a full recovery of direct and indirect costs.

I thank you.