UNICEF executive board president and Permanent Representative of Bangladesh to UN Rabab Fatima has said safely reopening schools with scaling up digital solutions and connectivity as well as maintaining routine immunizations for children amid COVID-19 pandemic are currently among priorities of UNICEF.
“UNICEF must be supported in its effort to assist our Governments to build back better for a more equitable, inclusive and greener society with a focus on innovation, efficiency and value for money,” said Fatima.
UNICEF priorities also include providing clean water and sanitation, better mental health support and psychosocial programming for children, Ambassador Fatima, who was unanimously elected as the President of the UNICEF’s EB, made the remark while addressing the closing segment of the four-day Annual Session of the Board in New York on Thursday which ended with unanimous adoption of six decisions providing UNICEF with important strategic guidance and support for carrying forward its critical work across the world.
Underscoring the importance of supporting the countries in their SDGs implementation endeavours, Ambassador Fatima reflected that continued financial support is critical for the UNICEF to carry out its mandate of saving children globally.
She also acknowledged the efforts by UNICEF to reach women, girls, and boys in crisis-affected countries with gender-based violence services, and the importance of the longer term funding requirements for UNICEF to facilitate the linking of humanitarian and development programming.
Highlighting the multidimensional challenges facing the Children and their families due to COVID-19, Ambassador Fatima appreciated UNICEF’s efforts to help the Governments to strengthen and expand their social protection coverage.
She further encouraged UNICEF to complement and support the work of national governments through a consultative process and effective interagency collaboration.
The closing session was addressed, among others, Chairperson of the UNICEF Global Staff Association Noma Owens-Ibie and UNICEF Executive Director Ms. Henrietta H. Fore.
A video highlighting the work of five winning teams of the UNICEF Staff Teams Awards for 2019 was featured in the event.Ms. Fore, in her remarks, described the UNICEF staffs as the backbone of the organization and mentioned that an effective interagency collaboration is key to support communities, children, and young people to tackle COVID-19 crisis across the globe.
