On 17 September 1981, AGFUND formalised a pledge of $40 million to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim (right) observes the pledge signing by Prince Talal bin Abdul Aziz al-Saud of Saudi Arabia. Looking on are, from left, Mohamad Aboul-Nasr, Permanent Representative of Oman; Mohammad A. Abulhassan, Permanent Representative of Kuwait; Salman Mohaded al-Saffar, Permanent Representative of Bahrain; James P. Grant, Executive Director of UNICEF; Gaafar M. Allagany, Alternate Representative of Saudi Arabia; Jasim Yousif Jamal, Permanent Representative of Qatar; Fahim Sultan al- Qasimi, Permanent Representative of the United Arab Emirates; and Zuhair Ibrahim Mohamed, Permanent Representative of Iraq.

One of the first AGFUND-UNICEF programmes provided women’s development services in several countries around the world, including Indonesia, Sudan, Cameroon, Morocco, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Thailand, Tanzania, Guatemala, Colombia, Egypt and Haiti. In this photo dated 1983 in Pakistan, girls share books during an informal study session.

Over the years, UNICEF and AGFUND have saved millions of lives. As early as 1983, AGFUND generously supported a UNICEF programme for child health and survival-infant mortality reduction in 5 countries: Ethiopia, Uganda, Sudan, Bolivia, and Nigeria. On this 1984 photo from Ethiopia, a displaced woman cradles her sick child in an overcrowded drought relief camp in the north-eastern town of Bati. Emergency food supplies and medicine are being rushed to relief centres in Bati and other drought-stricken areas. That year, Ethiopia witnessed a severe drought has resulted in a devastating famine, killing more than 1 million people and leaving 7 million others facing malnutrition and starvation. Food and water were among the urgent necessities. UNICEF relief supplies included food, vaccines, blankets and water supply equipment.

In the early years of the partnership, UNICEF and AGFUND focused on health services contributing to global efforts to reduce child mortality. According to global data, 1 in 11 children died before reaching age 5 in 1990, compared to 1 in 27 in 2019.

In 1989, UNICEF and AGFUND began a project offering integrated mother-child health services in Iraq. In this photo, a girl stands amidst rubble in Wadi Al Aain neighbourhood, which was damaged in bombing raids on the city of Mosul. The principal dangers for children and women affected by the Persian Gulf war were malnutrition and epidemics caused by water-borne and vaccine-preventable diseases resulting from the collapse of essential services in parts of the country. During the same year, UNICEF delivered vaccine supplies and equipment to Kuwait and assisted in developing programmes to treat war-related psychological trauma in Kuwaiti children and women.

Between 1989 and 1996, and thanks to AGFUND’s support, UNICEF expanded child survival services to address the needs of mothers, newborns, and children and ensure they have access to affordable, quality health care, good nutrition, and clean water. Today, children, newborns and mothers have a greater chance of surviving than they did just two decades ago. On this photo dated 15 June 1992, a volunteer nurse gave a polio vaccine to a baby girl at the Quarantine health centre in East Beirut.

In 2001, UNICEF and AGFUND agreed to provide emergency support to afghan refugees-women and children in Pakistan. On this photo, taken on 2 October 2001, boys watch as trucks, topped by banners bearing the UNICEF logo, pass by Nasir Bagh, a makeshift camp for Afghan refugees who have left official camps, in the city of Peshawar. The trucks are part of a children'­s winter convoy,­ en route to various cities inside Afghanistan.

In 2005, deadly hurricane Stan had devastating effects on communities throughout Central America. AGFUND help UNICEF assist children and women affected by floods and mudslides in Guatemala. In this 2005 photo, a mother holds her daughter in the rubble of her parents’ former home in the remote mountainous village of El Cua in the region of San Marcos. The family lost a five-year-old daughter when a mudslide caused by Hurricane Stan crushed her parents’ house. “We left her with her grandmother because she wanted to play with her cousins,” the mother said. “A few hours later, they were all gone. How could I know what would happen to my child? I’ve lost her and my parents. I would do anything to bring them back.” The mudslide devastated the village, burying 53 people and destroying a school and many homes and churches. UNICEF had immediately responded to priority needs and has distributed food, antibiotics, oral rehydration salts, a water purifying machine and other emergency relief supplies and equipment. Additional UNICEF support included protection and care for orphans and unaccompanied children.

Following a devastating earthquake that hit the island of Java on 27 May 2006, AGFUND and UNICEF teamed up to support relief efforts through a project benefiting 160.000 women and 200,000 children. In this photo from 2006, a boy looks up from writing in Seyegan Elementary School in Pundong Village in the earthquake-ravaged southern district of Bantul in Yogyakarta Province on the island of Java. Students were attending classes in tents while the school was being repaired. More than 1,200 primary schools in the area were destroyed or severely damaged by the earthquake. Due to the earthquake, some 5,700 people were killed, and more than 37,000 others were injured. The disaster severely damaged or destroyed infrastructure, transportation and communication systems, homes and schools. About 40 per cent of the roughly 130,000 people displaced in the region were children from the southern district of Bantul in Yogyakarta Province, which, with neighbouring Klaten District in Central Java Province, was among the areas hardest hit. UNICEF established children’s centres to provide trauma counselling and recreational activities and supported family-tracing and reunification services for separated or unaccompanied children. Nationally, UNICEF supported mass measles and polio campaigns and a breastfeeding campaign, providing vitamin A supplements for children under five, and training counsellors and midwives to combat widespread child malnutrition and improve feeding practices. UNICEF also worked with the Government to strengthen policies to control the marketing of breastmilk substitutes, which lack antibodies to protect babies from various infections and diseases.

In 2010, AGFUND supported UNICEF’s emergency response to floods in Pakistan. Due to disruption in water supplies and sanitation services in flood-affected areas, children, especially those under the age of five, were particularly vulnerable to diseases such as diarrhoea and cholera. Clean drinking water, sanitation and hygiene kits, vaccinations and medicines, high energy biscuits, treatment for severely malnourished children, and school supplies were needed urgently. UNICEF, along with its partners, supported the provision of safe drinking water, adequate sanitation and hygiene promotion services to more than 1.8 million people. Almost the same number benefited from health supplies through UNICEF-supported medical camps. In this photo, dated 22 August 2010, a girl looks on in Sukkur, Pakistan, backdropped by a camp for people affected by the floods.

In 2017, Yemen was hit by a large cholera outbreak which escalated rapidly, and at its peak, there were over 50,000 new cases per week. By the end of that year, there were more than a million suspected cases, with 2,237 associated deaths. AGFUND stepped up and provided UNICEF with a financial grant to expand emergency response. In this photo taken 12 July 2017, a girl with acute watery diarrhoea/suspected cholera received treatment with oral rehydration solution. Acute watery diarrhoea caused by cholera or other infections can result in severe dehydration, which can rapidly result in death unless treated quickly and properly.

In May 2021, an escalation of hostilities in the Gaza Strip significantly impacted the mental health and well-being of children and their families. An estimated 250,000 children needed mental health and protection services to help them cope with this exposure to violence. AGFUND quickly announced a contribution to UNICEF’s mental health and psychosocial support programmes for children affected by the recent escalation of hostilities in the Gaza Strip. In this photo from May 2021, a Palestinian girl and boy salvage items from inside their damaged home after being targeted in Gaza City.