NITI Aayog and UNICEF collaboration on child related SDGs.

Why in news?

• NITI Aayog and UNICEF India have signed a Statement of Intent (Sol) on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) with a focus on children.
• Sol seeks to formalize a framework to launch the first report on ‘State of India’s Children: Status and Trends in Multidimensional Child Development’.
• It will help in understanding the multidimensional attainments and deprivations among children.
• UNICEF India and NITI Aayog are developing a comprehensive measure to understand the multidimensional attainments and deprivations among children across health and nutrition, education, water and sanitation, household living standards; etc.

About UNICEF

• United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF)is a special program of the United Nations (UN) devoted to aiding national efforts to improve the health, nutrition, education, and general welfare of children.

• UNICEF was created in 1946 as International Children’s Emergency Fund (ICEF) by UN relief Rehabilitation Administration to help children affected by World War II.
• UNICEF became a permanent part of the United Nations in 1953.
  • The name was shortened to United Nations Children Fund but it is still referred to as UNICEF.
• It is mandated by the United Nations General Assembly to advocate for the protection of children’s rights, to help meet their basic needs and to expand their opportunities to reach their full potential.
• UNICEF is guided by the Convention on the Rights of the Child, 1989.
  • It strives to establish children’s rights as enduring ethical principles and international standards of behaviour towards children.
• Awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1965 for “promotion of brotherhood among the nations”.
• Headquarters: New York City.
  • It works in over 190 countries and territories with 7 regional offices.