Children's emergency fund

UNICEF's founding and early child-relief programmes

UNICEF began as an emergency fund for children after the Second World War and developed into a permanent international institution.

When: 1946 onward
Where: United Nations; international

Entertainer Danny Kaye in a Norwegian archival photograph. He became UNICEF’s first Goodwill Ambassador in 1954; this is not a photograph of the 1946 founding.

UNICEF began as an emergency fund for children after the Second World War and developed into a permanent international institution.

Background

Children facing the aftermath of war

Displacement, hunger and damaged services placed children at particular risk. The new fund's mandate concerned assistance to children and adolescents rather than assigning them responsibility for the actions of wartime governments.^[3]

What happened

11 December 1946
The General Assembly establishes the fund
Resolution 57(I) created the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund. The founding document established the institution and its purposes within the developing UN system.^[2]

Impact & evidence

Relief and development

An expanding remit

Work extended beyond the initial emergency toward child health, nutrition and other basic services. The familiar acronym survived the organisation's later change of name and permanent status.^[3]

Aftermath & legacy

Institutional history and measured outcomes

UNICEF became an important part of international cooperation concerning children. Its own histories explain its mandate and development; assessments of particular programmes also require evidence about delivery, local conditions and outcomes rather than relying on institutional self-description alone.^[3]

Sources & image credits (4)

Bjørn Fjørtoft Image source ↗