H.E. Ms. Maleeha Lodhi, Executive Board President of UNICEF, opened the morning session of today’s meeting and summarized the dangers and struggles that many children in the world face today. Mr. Anthony Lake, Executive Director of UNICEF, introduced the special focus theme of equity.

Ms. Rebecca Grynspan, Secretary-General of the Ibero-American Secretariat, served as guest speaker for the special focus session on equity. She emphasized the critical factor of investment in early childhood education, and spoke about Latin America’s decline in income inequality over the last ten years. Kevin Jenkins, of World Vision International, also spoke on behalf of a number of children-focused organizations. Representatives from a variety of delegations offered comments, affirming their commitments to equity as a key component of UNICEF’s vision going forward.

In the afternoon session, the Executive Director reported on progress of the first year of the strategic plan. Highlights included mixed progress in narrowing equity gaps among children, overall progress in child development, and marked improvement in child protection. Representatives commented on issues including differences between humanitarian and development responses, as well as continued progress on regional cooperation for children’s issues.

Meeting: United Nations Children’s Fund Executive Board, Annual Session 2015             Date & Location:  16 June 2015; 10:00 – 18:00, Conference Room 1, UN Headquarters, New York
Speakers: H.E. Ms. Maleeha Lodhi, Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Pakistan (UNICEF Executive Board President); Anthony Lake, Executive Director, UNICEF; Mr. Nicolas Pron, Secretary of the Executive Board, UNICEF; Ms. Rebeca Grynspan, Secretary-General of the Ibero-American Secretariat; Kevin Jenkins, President and Chief Executive Officer, World Vision International; H.E. Mr. Heiko Thoms, Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Germany; Permanent Representatives from Guatemala, Panama, Ecuador, Zambia, United States, Netherlands, Kazakhstan, Colombia, Egypt, Bangladesh, Canada, Switzerland, Belarus, Cameroon, Syria, Bulgaria, Germany, Japan, Republic of Korea, New Zealand, Colombia
Written By WIT Representative: Laurence Hochman
Edited By WIT Representative: Parth Shingala