IN THIS ISSUE Vaccinating the most remote places on Earth Preventing malnutrition in Cambodia - UNICEF Australia
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06 IN THIS ISSUE Vaccinating the most remote places on Earth Preventing malnutrition in Cambodia Australian youth raise their voice
02 // Contents
EMERGENCY UPDATE
IN THIS ISSUE In 2020 you supported
the COVID-19 global Responding
03
Welcome letter &
response by helping
us deliver:
to the India
the latest news
COVID-19 Crisis
Earlier this year, India experienced one
04 of the worst COVID-19 outbreaks of
CAMBODIA
Preventing childhood
200 million the pandemic so far. At the peak of the
crisis, more than 400,000 cases were
medical masks being reported per day, the highest of
malnutrition
any country since the pandemic began.
But in times of crisis, you step up.
You helped us to deliver essential
06
services and life-saving oxygen supplies
NORTHERN TERRITORY to families in India and the wider South
How locally led Indigenous
education is changing lives
3.3 million Asia region. Our team on the ground
are delivering these supplies, alongside
diagnostic tests
COVID-19 vaccine doses, syringes,
masks, and testing kits where they are
07 needed the most.
CANBERRA The UNICEF Australia supporter
community has played a critical role
Meet our Young in India, installing the first nine of 26
Ambassador Emily
16,795 Oxygen Generation Plants in Arunachal
oxygen concentrators Pradesh, Gujarat, Nagaland, Maharashtra,
Meghalaya and Tripura. With these
08 plants, you are saving lives now, but will
NEPAL also help to serve patients long in the
Vaccinating the most If you’d like to contribute to future, including newborns and children
our ongoing fight against suffering from pneumonia, or mothers
remote places on Earth
COVID-19 or find out more, experiencing complications during labour.
please scan this QR code. Thank you for responding so
generously and urgently in this time
of crisis, we couldn’t have done it
without you.
ON THE COVER: A happy child washes his hands
at a local hand pump during the COVID-19
pandemic in a remote village of Rajasthan, ABOVE: May 2021, Alert Citizen Forum’s volunteers
India. © UNICEF/UN0389244/Panjwani talk to residents in Mumbai, during a door-to-door
awareness event promoting the CoWin registration
TOP: UNICEF teams on the ground in India in India. The COVID Vaccine Intelligence Network
delivering and installing the first life-saving (CoWin) digital platform is used to coordinate
Oxygen Generation Plants in parts of India. COVID-19 vaccines distribution in India. © UNICEF/
© UNICEF/UN0470103/Rami UN0459629/Koyande
Issue 6 // Impact // 03
I know for many of you, juggling with UNICEF set to deliver 2 billion
home-schooling, the disappointment of vaccines this year.
cancelled trips and being separated from Conflict, natural disasters and paused
loved ones is incredibly difficult and our vaccination campaigns are threatening
thoughts go out to you. families from India to Yemen, it has
But during COVID-19, our work to never been more important to have your
protect every child does not stop. support. We are grateful to have such
Earlier this year your generous support an incredible community of UNICEF
WELCOME LETTER helped us provide critical relief for the supporters across the country who are
children of Tigray, Ethiopia. Escalating powering our mission to reach the most
Tony Stuart, CEO conflict and displacement means that
parents are struggling to keep their
vulnerable. We cannot thank you enough.
I hope you enjoy reading about the
The first half of 2021 has been incredibly children safe. So far this year you have impact you have made so far this year.
busy at UNICEF Australia. We have been helped us to raise over $210k which can UNICEF is entirely funded by voluntary
working with local partners who are help us to deliver nutritional high energy donations, so all of this is possible
delivering education programs in the biscuits to over 180,000 children affected because of you. We look forward to
Northern Territory, sending critical oxygen by the Tigray crisis, whether in Ethiopia or working together to continue to protect
supplies to India during the COVID-19 neighbouring Sudan. every child, and I encourage you all to
crisis, and UNICEF teams have trekked Here in Australia, your generous roll up your sleeve and book in to get
up mountains to reach the most remote support has reached the most remote vaccinated when it’s your turn. It’s our
communities with COVID-19 vaccines. Indigenous communities with continued greatest chance of overcoming this virus.
The pandemic continues to affect all education, thanks to our local partners
of us. I am writing this from a Sydney on the ground. Wherever they live, every
lockdown and my family, including my child deserves a great education.
two children, have had to learn how to And globally, the largest and most Tony Stuart
effectively study and work from home. complex vaccine mission continues, Chief Executive
© U
ICN
EF
/U
N0
482
523
NEWS UPDATE
Lebanon
August 2021 marks one year since the
A mother holds her 1 year old son Zewila who was provided devastating Beirut blasts that impacted
with a supply of life-saving peanut butter nutritional paste the lives of thousands of families.
for malnourished children. © UNICEF/UN0475530/
This tragedy, the impacts of COVID-19
and ongoing political instability mean
Lebanese families are struggling.
NEWS UPDATE
weekly admissions of children to treat Children are the hidden victims
Ethiopia severe acute malnutrition. 140,000
children across the country are facing
of this escalating crisis. Poverty
has doubled to 55%, with parents
Ongoing fighting and civil war are famine-like conditions, but with essential struggling to provide for their little ones.
colliding with drought and the pandemic services like health centres under siege, Our teams are on the ground working
in the northern region of Tigray, families are at risk. to rebuild hospitals, schools, and
pushing hundreds of thousands into UNICEF is calling for hostilities to restore water services. UNICEF has
catastrophic hunger. cease in the interests of every child’s right expanded psychological and malnutrition
In June, 33,000 children in to protection. Thanks to your support, support programs, youth cash-for-work
inaccessible parts of the Tigray region our teams are on the ground delivering programs, and the COVID-19 vaccine
were severely malnourished, with health essential nutrition treatment, emergency rollout to actively support more than
clinics seeing a four-fold increase in healthcare and water supplies. 70,000 at-risk children and their families.
04 // Asia-Pacific Programs
The road to CAMBODIA
preventing
childhood
malnutrition
How UNICEF is using a sustainable solution to
prevent childhood malnutrition in Cambodia.
I
t is a complex road that Thanks to your commitment and workers, but pre-school teachers,
humanitarians, medical donations, we have made incredible community members, and parents.
professionals and global progress and are working to protect Our teams on the ground have
communities must travel to solve every child. But it’s not an easy task. found that by upskilling families in
childhood malnutrition. Preventing malnutrition in young early nutrition practices, children see
In this issue, we’re taking a closer children requires a holistic approach a drastic and sustainable change to
look at the situation facing children in that includes improving its diagnosis, their nutritional intake.
Cambodia, a country UNICEF Australia access to healthcare and nutritious
has directly supported for seven years. food. It’s not just a job for health
The view to Palai village in the Ratanakiri province.
© UNICEF Cambodia/2021/Antoine Raab
Issue 6 // Impact // 05
“I JUST WANT
MY DAUGHTER
TO GROW UP
STRONG.”
SOLINA’S MUM
Meet Mr. Hen and Mr. Lonh, healthcare with Nutrix, a therapeutic food to treat
workers in the remote community of malnourished children, developed by
Ratanakiri Province, in the northeast UNICEF. The supplement provides vital
of Cambodia. On a recent trip to their nutrients to support Solina’s full recovery.
village, our teams spoke to them about Health workers will now continue to
the impact they are seeing. monitor Solina in follow-up appointments.
“I remember that a lot of children Stories like these drive our passion
used to die, especially the littlest ones to end child malnutrition for good. With
under five. But last year, there was your support, every year we help more
not a single death here, and that is a parents to nourish their children and see
tremendous change,” says Mr. Hen, who them thrive. CLOCKWISE FROM TOP:
has actively served his community for Thanks to our Australian supporters, 1. Mr. Hen. © UNICEF Cambodia/2021/Antoine Raab
2. Solina plays with her mother shortly after she
20 years. UNICEF delivered nutrition programs was diagnosed with severe acute malnutrition.
Mr. Lonh says that it’s sometimes as across 97 different communes in © UNICEF Cambodia/2021/Antoine Raab
Cambodia in 2020, provided treatment 3. Mr. Lonh. © UNICEF Cambodia/2021/Antoine Raab
simple as educating parents that their
children cannot eat the same diet as to over 5,700 severely malnourished
them, “People don’t really understand children, and reached over 22,700
how nutrition works, especially for parents and caregivers through our
children. They don’t know all the different
micronutrients and vitamins a young
child needs. Often, they will just try and
parenting education program.
Empowering communities through
education is essential to not only protect
32%
of children under five in
give a young child the exact same food children in the short term, but to create Cambodia are stunted, meaning
as an adult, not knowing that they might sustainable change. This year, we are they are short for their age as a
need more vegetables, for example.” expanding a training program for key result of long-term undernutrition.
On the day we met him, Mr. Lonh community members, like Mr. Hen and
treated only one patient for malnutrition, Mr. Lonh, to continue their essential
9.6%
Solina, a two-year-old girl. The young work in these rural communities, as well
mother of Solina was emotional at the as investing in visual aids and discussion
clinic. “I knew she was a bit small and guides for parents and caregivers.
I was worried about why she wasn’t COVID-19 has not made things easy, are wasted or acutely
growing more... when they said she with restrictions on group gatherings malnourished, meaning they
are underweight for their height,
had severe acute malnutrition I was a and education sessions, but we won’t
usually a result of a severe
bit shocked. But I am glad they told me. stop working to protect every child. It is
shortage of food or a high
That means I know what to do now.” thanks to your generosity that this work incidence of infectious diseases,
Mr. Lonh comforted Solina’s mother, can continue, and we look towards a especially diarrhoea.
took her through vital nutritional and future where every child is nourished,
health information, and provided her healthy and happy.
06 // Australian Programs
“I WANT THE KIDS
TO HAVE A GOOD
FUTURE AND GET
A GOOD JOB.”
DEANDRA, INDI KINDI
EDUCATOR
“When we drive around the
community, the kids get excited, they
come running and say ‘Indi Kindi is
coming!’,” says Deandra.
“Every morning I see their smiling
faces and it makes me happy. The
Children learn and play at the Indi Kindi early childhood education initiative. © Wayne Quillam young mums see us as an inspiration as
we are teaching their kids.”
Currently the initiative operates in
Giving children the best
Borroloola four to five days a week, as
well as one day a week via an outreach
service to Robinson River, about two
start to life
and a half hours’ drive away.
By working together, this ongoing
partnership aims to create long-term
and sustainable impact in remote
Introducing our new partnership helping to deliver Aboriginal communities, helping
Early Childhood Development programs in remote children to reach their potential for years
to come.
Aboriginal communities Alice Hall, UNICEF Australia’s Early
Childhood Development Specialist,
A
ll parents want their children to Deandra, a Garrawa woman, is says the most effective programs are
access good education and build an Indi Kindi educator in the remote those that are built and delivered by
a bright future. But in many community of Borroloola. She is the community.
remote communities in the Northern celebrating five years of helping children “It is essential to spend time in
Territory, limited access to early childhood prepare for their first years of school. the community, build relationships,
education is leaving kids behind. She first brought her son – aged one listen and engage local people to be
Only 79 per cent of Indigenous at the time – to an Indi Kindi early champions of the program now and into
children living in very remote areas childhood education session in 2013. the future,” she says.
attend early childhood education He enjoyed looking at the books and “When I visited Borroloola, I saw
compared to 96 per cent of those living learning to count. evidence that these ways of working
in inner regional areas, according to the Led by local Aboriginal women and are present in Indi Kindi’s work.”
2020 Closing the Gap Report. Without supported by UNICEF Australia, the Through inclusive and culturally
education during these crucial years, Indi Kindi initiative aims to give children appropriate early childhood education,
children are more likely to experience the best start to life by integrating children have the chance to develop a
poor health and education outcomes. education, health and wellbeing. life-long love for learning.
80%
of Indigenous children in
3,000
healthy, hot meals prepared
97-100%
of families say their children
Borroloola reached with for children, families and have shown improvement in
early childhood education staff each year developmental milestones
Issue 6 // Impact // 07
Meet our Young
Ambassador, Emily
Growing up in regional Victoria, Emily has always believed
young voices could change the world. At just eight years old,
she organised a fundraiser to protect orangutans from losing
their natural habitat.
Today, her passion for advocacy continues as a UNICEF
©U
Australia Young Ambassador. Each year the program provides
NI
CE
FA
youth aged 15-24 with a platform to speak up for children’s rights.
us
ra
l
t
At UNICEF Australia, we caught up with Emily to reflect on her ia
/ 20
21
/P.
recent trip to Parliament House, where she took the big issues to Mo
ran
the nation’s leaders alongside her fellow Young Ambassadors.
In June, you visited Parliament House You spoke to countless children and made it somewhat easier to juggle
to talk with politicians about the young people in 2020 about issues my commitments. I am one of the
Young Ambassador’s latest report that matter to them. Is there one few that has thrived learning and
Children’s Voices in a Changing World. story that has stayed with you? working from home. My teachers
What are the top issues for young While speaking to a class in New were very accommodating and
people? South Wales, one student spoke of the allowed me the flexibility to complete
Young people clearly identified mental difficulties she was experiencing because my schoolwork around my Young
health as a major concern. While of the COVID-19 pandemic. She had Ambassador commitments.
COVID-19 has had a significant impact, family in Zimbabwe but had struggled
young people believe that it has only to have consistent contact with them What is one change you’d like to see
exacerbated pre-existing issues. during lockdown. At the same time, she for children and young people in
Young people also identify climate was completing Year 11 and helping her Australia?
change as one of their top concerns younger brother through online schooling. I would like to see young people from
for the future. They recognised that if I believe her story stayed in my mind as around Australia have their voices heard
governments can react as quickly as they she embodied the unseen struggles of and not dismissed because of their
have to a scientists’ advice surrounding young people during a global pandemic. age. Young people can lead movements
a global pandemic, there is no reason and just because they are effectively
why we shouldn’t respond to another What was 2020 like for you? using their voices does not mean they
existential threat like global warming. Like everyone, 2020 required an are complaining or whining but simply
extreme amount of adaptation and wishing to be heard. Young people have
flexibility. The transition to online a voice and must be allowed to use it as
school while I was completing Year ultimately, they are the experts of their
12 was initially difficult. However, it own lives.
Dr Katie Allen MP with UNICEF Australia Young
Ambassadors Emily, Hawa and Jumana at Parliament
House, Canberra. © UNICEF Australia/2021/P. Moran
08 // Asia-Pacific Programs
NEPAL
Reaching the
most remote
places on earth
Crossing mountains and rivers to
deliver COVID-19 vaccines in Nepal
Thanks to your support, our teams in Nepal have responded to the recent outbreak by delivering:
1,250 75,000 2 million
oxygen concentrators masks surgical gloves
© UNICEF/UN0431111/
Issue 6 // Impact // 09
A
fter many days of travel, Indra, “I CAME HERE BY ROAD FROM KATHMANDU, NEPAL.
a UNICEF Health Officer, is
in Jumla – one of the most
IT TOOK FIVE DAYS TO ARRIVE AT THIS PLACE.”
remote districts of Karnali Province, INDRA KALA TAMANG, UNICEF HEALTH OFFICER
in northwest Nepal – to help ensure
COVID-19 vaccinations get delivered
smoothly. The difficult geography in this During the two-day vaccination In 2020 alone, UNICEF installed
part of Nepal means vaccines must be campaign, more than 120 elderly 290 pieces of cold chain equipment,
transported by porters on foot. people from the community arrived to like fridges and cold boxes, throughout
In March, Nepal was among the get vaccinated. Nepal. This equipment is now being
first countries in Asia to receive “It was great to see that our efforts used to deliver COVID-19 vaccines to
COVID-19 vaccines through the to communicate with them and more Nepalese communities.
COVAX Facility – the global initiative convince them had not gone in vain,” This year, we aim to deliver 2 billion
to ensure equal access to COVID-19 Nanda says. COVID-19 vaccines, protecting frontline
vaccines worldwide. But we have a long way to go. In health workers, teachers and the
Since then, 348,000 doses have been May, a new strain of the virus spread most vulnerable. By mid-June 2021
delivered across the country to help to every district in Nepal, with a 25 per COVAX had delivered more than 88
protect health workers and the most cent surge in cases among children and million vaccine doses to 131 countries
vulnerable against potential outbreaks. adolescents. As of July 2021, there have and territories.
“There was so much uncertainty at been more than 640,000 confirmed
the time about the disease, with all kinds cases of COVID-19.
of rumours going around, creating panic Our teams can reach remote places
and anxiety,” says another health worker like Jumla with COVID-19 vaccines
in Jumla, Nanda. thanks to years of strengthening the
When the Government of Nepal cold chain to keep vaccines safe. Every
launched the vaccination campaign year we vaccinate half the world’s
earlier this year, health workers were children against preventable disease
given priority. Nanda’s relief and pride and now we have been called upon to
knew no bounds. vaccinate the world against COVID-19.
“Being put in the first priority
group made me feel like our efforts
and sacrifices as health workers were
being recognised,” he says. “I felt
very validated.”
Nanda was eager to see vaccines
reach the most vulnerable in his
community. Together with his team, he
mobilised community health volunteers
to go door to door and even called
senior citizens on the phone to urge
them to come and get the vaccine.
One of these senior citizens was
81-year-old Chaitee.
“I’m very excited to go get the shot,”
she says. “Why wouldn’t I be happy to
get the vaccine?”
INSET: An elderly local of the Kankasundari area
in Jumla District in Nepal’s remote far west
receives the COVID-19 vaccine at the hands of
nurse Jandevi at the Malikabota Health Post.
© UNICEF/UN0431179/ L. Prasad Ngakhusi
RIGHT: In March 2021, porters carry COVID-19
vaccines, crossing mountains and rivers to reach
health facilities in Nepal’s remote far-west region.
© UNICEF/UN0427644/
Delivering COVID vaccines is a fast-moving part of UNICEF’s work. This information is correct at the time of
printing this publication in early August 2021. For the latest updates please visit www.unicef.org.au
10 // Profiles
DONOR PROFILE
Proud Victorian, Jim Sisson, has been full recovery, I thought it appropriate to
Jim Sisson
an active humanitarian for many make a contribution to UNICEF efforts
years. Having worked for multiple to protect every child from this disease.”
NGOs in countries like Timor-Leste Since our work began 75 years
A POLIO SURVIVOR MAKING A and Afghanistan, Jim witnessed ago, UNICEF has protected millions of
LASTING DIFFERENCE IN THE LIVES UNICEF’s field work in action, leaving a children around the world from life-
OF CHILDREN EVERYWHERE WITH lasting impression. threatening diseases like polio. Like
A GIFT IN HIS WILL “I have been a regular donor to Jim, a meaningful gift in your will can
UNICEF for some time now and I’m help create a future where every child
pleased to say that I have also made has access to not only life-changing
provision in my will for UNICEF,” vaccines, but also other essentials like
says Jim. food, water and education.
“What initially prompted me to
support UNICEF occurred a while ago As little as 1% of your estate
after I watched a documentary called could have a lasting impact on a
Cold Chain Mission with UNICEF child’s life. You can find out more
Goodwill Ambassador Ewan McGregor about how to leave a legacy in
on UNICEF’s work vaccinating the your will to UNICEF Australia by
world’s hardest-to-reach children. getting in touch with our Gifts in
That film described a UNICEF Wills team, Hannah and Abi, via
program to reach kids in South Asia with email at bequests@unicef.org.au
Children in Lahore, Pakistan welcome the polio
the polio vaccine. As I had contracted or phone on 1300 884 233.
vaccination team. ©UNICEF/ UN0399457/Bukhari the disease back in 1952 and made a
Priority Program Results
As UNICEF Australia, we have a special commitment to children here at home and our closest neighbours in the Asia Pacific
region. Your donations make these Priority Programs possible.
COVID-19 Programs in Asia Pacific
6,200 28,789 10,267
children, adolescents, parents children reached across Papua children supported, including
and caregivers in 69 households New Guinea and Bangladesh with 4,903 girls, in early childhood
reached with remote access to malnutrition treatments. 33 education programs in Laos and
mental health and psychosocial healthcare workers and 17 rural health Timor-Leste by providing printed
support in Laos, Papua New volunteers in Papua New Guinea remote learning materials.
Guinea and Timor-Leste. were trained to provide support
to mothers in infant and young
child feeding and COVID-19 health
practices, reaching 12,212 people.
Australian Programs
27 80% 3,000+
communities reached through local of children under 5 have been young Australians, aged 13-17
partnerships, helping children recover reached by the Borroloola based years old, were consulted and
from the 2019/2020 bushfires. The program. In partnership with listened to, to understand
Bushfire Recovery Program reached the Moriarty Foundation, we are the effects of the COVID-19
over 12,200 children with back-to- supporting Aboriginal and Torres pandemic on their lives. Our
school support, as well as providing Strait Islander children living Young Ambassadors presented
4,900 children and adults with mental in remote communities in the these findings at Parliament
health and psychosocial programs. Northern Territory with access to House in June 2021.
early childhood education programs.Issue 6 // Impact // 11
Youth Voices “MY VISION OF A
Reimagining a better world BETTER WORLD IS
WHERE WE ARE FREE
OF DISEASES LIKE
Over a year into the pandemic, our young people and children have emerged more
resilient than ever, despite enduring lockdowns and interruptions to their education. COVID-19 AND WE TAKE
This year we have had the opportunity to interview many young Australians and
CARE OF OURSELVES,
have found that young people want a more active role in addressing some of the
biggest concerns for their generation, including climate change and mental health. EACH OTHER AND OUR
Imogen, a 16-year-old Australian expresses her view, “A better world is one
PLANET EARTH.”
where everyone speaks up about the issues that matter - Indigenous lives matter,
gender equality and environmental issues. We can change the world.” VIRAJ, 8
ZAVIER, 6
“The blue is the recycle
bin. Green is the rubbish
bin and red is the garden
bin. I am showing the
grown-ups how to put stuff
in the proper bins. The pink
person likes to listen and
save the environment. The
blue girl likes recycling. The
purple girl is jealous, and
she thinks putting stuff in
the wrong bin is ok.”
ANNIKA, 12
“This artwork describes
how hard the doctors,
nurses, and other
health professionals
have worked during the
coronavirus and what
life will look like after
our world is back to
the beautiful planet we
TIANA, 11 know and love.”
“My vision of a better world is a racism - free world full of
love and happiness. Also, a clean world that tries to stop
pollution from contaminating our lovely world. We must
take care of this world with compassion and care and do
the right thing. One man and one lady are holding the Earth,
representing gender equality and a racism - free world.”WE’LL
ALWAYS
FIND A
WAY TO
PROTECT
CHILDREN.
General Nurse Dominic, from Melsisi Mini
Hospital, trekking accross the mountainous
Pentecost Island, Vanuatu, to deliver the vaccine
order to the remote Tsingbwege Dispensary.
© UNICEF/UN0259818/Chute
Australian Committee for UNICEF Limited. 1300 884 233
PO Box 488 QUEEN VICTORIA BUILDING
1300 780 522
SYDNEY NSW 1230
support@unicef.org.au
ABN 35 080 581 437
unicef.org.au
UNICEF Australia acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country of the land and communities in which we and our partners work throughout
Australia, and their connection to their lands, waters, and communities. We pay respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and cultures,
and to Elders both past, present and emerging.You can also read
