Catherine Russell's Opening Remarks at the Executive Board

"Excellencies, distinguished delegates, colleagues,

"It is a pleasure to welcome you to the 2025 Annual Session of the UNICEF Executive Board. Let me begin by extending heartfelt thanks to you, Ambassador Hikmat for your leadership as President of the Executive Board, and indeed to the entire Bureau. We deeply appreciate your guidance and your steadfast support to UNICEF.

"This session comes at a pivotal time. We are midway through a year of extraordinary challenge and significant transition — for the world, for our organization, and, above all, for children.

"In the coming days, you will review our 2024 results and strategic direction through several important documents and updates. These include the annual report of the Executive Director, the draft Strategic Plan for 2026–2029, and critical reports on humanitarian action, risk management, and protection from sexual exploitation and abuse – among others.

"I am also pleased that we will hear directly from the Chair of the Global Staff Association. The Association’s advocacy and work on behalf of UNICEF’s most important resource – our people – continues to be essential as we navigate an evolving and difficult funding environment, and the profound organizational changes underway.

"Excellencies, the world continues to confront deepening instability and inequality. Children are bearing the brunt of cascading crises — from conflict and climate shocks to economic turmoil. More than 460 million children are now living in or fleeing from conflict. And nearly a billion children live in poverty.

"UNICEF remains resolute in our mission to uphold the rights and well-being of every child, everywhere. Last year alone, we responded to hundreds of emergencies in over 100 countries, reaching tens of millions of children with lifesaving health care, nutrition, education, protection, and water and sanitation services.

"Our staff continue to serve with extraordinary dedication, often in some of the most challenging environments. I want to take this opportunity to thank them. It is their tireless efforts that drive our impact and uphold the values we all share.

"Thanks to their work, UNICEF achieved important progress in 2024:

"We delivered over 1.5 billion polio vaccine doses to 87 countries, contributing to a 25 per cent reduction in global polio cases.

"We provided early detection services of wasting to 251 million children under five, and treatment for 9.3 million children with severe acute malnutrition.

"We delivered education support for 26 million out-of-school children and adolescents — including 9 million in humanitarian crises and 3.7 million children on the move.

"And nearly 33 million people gained access to safe water through the work of UNICEF and our partners, with impressive gains in Latin America and the Caribbean, and the Middle East and North Africa.

"In humanitarian action, 2024 was another year of profound need and wide-scale response. We reached more than 56 million people — including 31 million children — with essential humanitarian assistance across the globe. This included responses to crises in Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gaza, Haiti, the Horn of Africa, Sudan, and Ukraine.

"As needs grow and funding tightens, we are sharpening our humanitarian focus — prioritizing life-saving interventions for the most vulnerable in the hardest-to-reach areas, while strengthening the protection of children and communities, and continuing to build resilience. Our humanitarian action is guided by international humanitarian and human rights law, and grounded in a commitment to accountability and principled delivery.

"Looking ahead, we will continue to localize our efforts, support national systems, and strengthen our ability to anticipate and prepare for emergencies.

"We are also helping lead efforts to simplify the humanitarian response architecture — including the cluster system where UNICEF leads the WASH, nutrition, and education clusters — in line with the broader Humanitarian Reset, and the UN80 reform agenda. These steps aim to ensure we remain agile, fit-for-purpose, and able to deliver effectively for children in crisis.

"UNICEF is a central part of this change — to better serve the growing number of children who are living through crises.

"Faced with resource constraints across the system, both the Resident and Humanitarian Coordination systems must recalibrate to optimize and align efforts. Coordination is most critical in large, complex crises — often in lower income countries, and especially in fragile and conflict settings. It is in these contexts that we need a more agile and integrated coordination model to deliver better impact together.

"Excellencies, as you’ll hear in more detail over the course of the week, we delivered real results for children in 2024 – results that built on decades of progress in child rights and survival.

"We must protect this progress, but the sudden and sharp global funding crisis puts our critical work at tremendous risk. In 2026, UNICEF projects at least a 20 per cent reduction in total income from 2024 levels, with a 26 per cent drop from the public sector.

"This decline is not just a UNICEF crisis — it is impacting the entire humanitarian and development ecosystem, with grave implications for children worldwide. In 2026, UNICEF is expecting only $250 million dollars from the public sector in regular resources. This is the lowest figure in more than a decade. These regular resources contribute to our institutional budget, which underpins our country programmes and critical oversight functions.

"Millions of children risk losing essential services due to funding cuts. This includes up to 15 million children who could lose access to life-saving nutrition services, more than 20 million children and families at risk of missing out on essential healthcare, over 11 million who could lose access to safe water and sanitation services, and nearly 2 million children who could face disrupted access to education.

"In response, UNICEF continues to implement bold changes to enhance our agility, efficiency and readiness for the future, and to be better equipped to deliver at scale – a process which began even before the sharp decline in funding support.

"Under our Future Focus Initiative, we are further realigning structures and resources to sharpen programmatic focus and reduce operating costs. This includes consolidating several Headquarters and regional offices, relocating functions to lower-cost duty stations building on our HQ Efficiencies Initiative, and establishing Centers of Programmatic Excellence to support country offices in locations closer to the people we serve.

"We know these changes are difficult, as they will directly impact staff, including many tremendously talented members of our team. But we are committed to supporting the entire UNICEF family throughout the transition, and we are determined to continue to meet the needs of the millions of children who rely on us. We must come out of this process leaner and more effective.

"More broadly, UNICEF continues to be a leader across the UN in ensuring the integrity of our operations.

"As part of this commitment, last month, we introduced a revised and robust anti-fraud policy along with a new mechanism to sanction implementing partners found to have engaged in fraud or other misconduct. As part of our ongoing effort to maintain confidence with our donors, we have adopted a new policy that will ensure all donors are given timely notification of integrity issues.

"These internal reforms are designed to support the ambitious vision laid out in our new Strategic Plan, 2026–2029, which you will review during this session. The Plan will guide UNICEF’s final push to help achieve the child-related Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. It reflects our commitment to sharpen focus, strengthen systems, scale proven solutions, and build impactful partnerships.

"The Plan identifies five key impact results to achieve by 2029:

"Save 10 million child lives and ensure 500 million children are healthy, well-nourished, and developmentally on-track, enable 350 million children and young people to learn and gain skills, lift 100 million children out of poverty, protect 350 million children from violence, and shield 500 million children from disasters, climate and environmental risks.

"To deliver these goals, the Plan integrates evidence-based strategies, emphasizes meaningful engagement with children and adolescents, and prioritizes scale, equity and resilience — particularly in fragile and conflict-affected settings.

"The Plan also commits UNICEF to supporting and reinforcing national systems, promoting inclusive governance, and ensuring our work is rooted in the rights of children as articulated in the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

"We will align these strategic shifts with the broader UN reform agenda. This includes the UN80 initiative, led by the Secretary-General. The UN must become fit for the 21st Century. That means a UN that is bold, effective and efficient. UNICEF fully supports practical, results-driven reforms that deliver better outcomes for children.

"Excellencies,

"In this time of tremendous change and upheaval – in which children face deepening challenges – UNICEF’s mandate is more relevant than ever. But relevance is not enough. We must also be effective, efficient, principled, and trusted.

"This demands flexibility in how we are funded. Nearly half of all humanitarian funding received by UNICEF last year went to just five emergencies — a pattern driven by earmarked contributions. We must reverse this trend. Flexible funding is not a luxury. It is a lifeline. It is what allows us to reach children, quickly and at scale, wherever the need is greatest — quickly, equitably and with impact.

"As we look ahead, we cannot ignore the fact that the future of traditional development assistance is increasingly uncertain.

"Shifting donor priorities and constrained fiscal environments are leading to development assistance being repurposed. For UNICEF, the implications for children and our organization are profound.

"This is why UNICEF has adopted a conservative financial planning scenario, projecting a minimum 20 per cent drop in income between now and 2026–2029. These projections are sobering, and they underscore the need to future-proof our business model — both in terms of income generation and programmatic delivery.

"We are pursuing new partnerships across the multilateral system, including with development banks, to help governments access and invest concessional financing for children. And we are deepening relationships with both traditional and emerging donors.

"At the same time, we continue to advocate for donor governments to deliver on their commitments to core resources. As signatories to the Funding Compact, we urge all partners to meet those obligations — and to consider thematic contributions as a preferred option for earmarked funding. Now, only a handful of signatories to the Funding Compact do so. UNICEF is being held accountable to deliver on our commitments, and we will continue to uphold our end of the agreement.

"We are especially grateful to programme countries that continue to support UNICEF’s work through core contributions. We hope we can continue to count on your support.

"Beyond public sector contributions, UNICEF’s private sector engagement continues to play an increasingly vital role in sustaining our global programmes.

"In 2024, UNICEF’s Private Fundraising and Partnerships operations mobilized over $1.9 billion in revenue. This includes nearly $950 million in regular resources, accounting for the majority of regular resources raised across the organization.

"These funds – largely driven by individual giving, by our fantastic National Committees, and corporate partners – provide UNICEF with the flexibility and predictability needed to act quickly and equitably. They also reflect the trust placed in us by millions of individual supporters, many of them among your nationals and constituents, who believe in our mission.

"But let me be clear: increasing support from individuals and the private sector will not offset shrinking public sector contributions. Government funding for UNICEF remains essential to ensuring that our lifesaving work for children continues and we are grateful for the steadfast support of our public sector partners.

"In 2024, total public sector contributions to UNICEF were $6.07 billion, including regular resource contributions of $513 million. I want to sincerely thank all of you who continue to champion flexible, unearmarked resources and support for our regular programmes. We simply cannot deliver without it.

"Here, I must reiterate our economic outlook is grim, with public sector funding down by 26 per cent, and regular resources cut by 50 per cent, which is critically insufficient to support our lifesaving work for children. We all must do better.

"In closing, let me return to the reason we are all here: children. Today, UNICEF is present in countries and territories across the globe, working with governments, partners and communities to give every child a fair chance — no matter who they are or where they live.

"Despite the challenges, I do remain hopeful. Because I see the difference we are making. Because I believe in the dedication of our staff, the power of our partnerships, and the strength and commitment of this Board.

"Together, we can continue to be a force for good — and a source of hope — for the world’s children.

"Thank you."