Humanitarian Action for Children 2022 – Myanmar

HIGHLIGHTS

Myanmar is experiencing an unprecedented humanitarian and human rights crisis. Multiple challenges, including a political crisis, escalating conflict and violence, the ongoing COVID19 pandemic, climate-related disasters, rising poverty and a collapse in public services, have left an estimated 14.4 million people, including 5 million children, in need of humanitarian assistance. These inter-related risks are threatening child survival, development, and well-being across the country, and also, worsening conditions in Rakhine State for a safe and dignified return of Rohingya refugees.

Notably, 1 million children have not been immunized against communicable diseases, 3 million children lack access to a safe water supply since early 2021, and 12 million children have no access to organized education services - some for over a year.

UNICEF’s humanitarian strategy focuses on delivering life-saving humanitarian assistance to ensure continuity of critical services at scale and promoting durable solutions that strengthen local capacities.

Amid a constrained funding landscape, UNICEF requires US$151.4 million to respond to the multi-sectoral humanitarian needs of children in Myanmar in 2022.

Humanitarian strategy

UNICEF’s humanitarian strategy in Myanmar is aligned with the final 2022 Humanitarian Needs Overview and Humanitarian Response Plan. UNICEF will continue to support cluster coordination, leading the nutrition and WASH clusters and co-leading the education and child protection sub-clusters. In response to the crisis, UNICEF is adapting the way it works to achieve continuity of critical services at scale, coordinating with an extensive and diverse network of partners, including national and international NGOs and private sector partners, and drawing on its strong field presence through its two main offices and seven field offices. UNICEF will focus on reaching the most vulnerable children, including displaced, stateless, children with disabilities and those in hard-to-reach areas, including areas under martial law.

With millions exposed to violence, abuse and exploitation, UNICEF will support children’s access to mental health and psychosocial support and quality legal aid, as well as contribute to mitigating the risks posed by landmines and explosive remnants of war and monitoring and reporting of grave child rights violations. UNICEF will protect children from falling into extreme poverty, generating data and evidence on the impact of the crisis, and providing unconditional cash grants. UNICEF will increase children’s access to safe learning environments, including through complementary and distance-learning opportunities for primary- and middle-school aged children, as well as nonformal education for children who were out of the formal system even prior to the current range of crisis.

With the health system under threat, UNICEF will provide life-saving emergency medical services to pregnant women, new mothers, and children, procure essential medicines and supplies to save lives, as well as COVID-19 infection prevention and control, and case management. With nationwide routine immunization suspended, UNICEF will work to carry out routine immunization at the community level throughout the country. WASH programming will focus on the delivery of clean water to vulnerable households in urban and rural areas, as well as provision of life-saving interventions to vulnerable populations, including displaced populations. UNICEF will screen and treat children with severe acute malnutrition, as well as provide life-saving micronutrient supplements and strengthen infant and young child feeding practices.

UNICEF will integrate initiatives to ensure protection from sexual exploitation and abuse, mitigate the risk of genderbased violence and promote accountability to affected populations (AAP) throughout programmes supported by UNICEF. Across its programmes, UNICEF will seek to provide durable, cost-effective solutions that will help strengthen the resilience of local communities and institutions

Source: UN Children's Fund