NGOs and UNICEF.

ACEI is one of more than 1,500 non-governmental organizations (NGOs) worldwide that are currently represented at the United Nations. We are proud to have consultative status with both the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). ACEI is also affiliated with the UN Department of Public Information (DPI).

NGOs represent many different interests, but we all work for the common good of humanity through our joint support of UNICEF. Gordon Klopf, former Chairman of the NGO/DPI Executive Committee and past Chair of the Working Group on Education, said of NGOs, "We are groups who serve the common good, representing and empowering people. We provide direct services, conduct studies and research, and in some instances serve as advocates for change through developing and supporting legislation and policy." At the 1993 NGO/DPI Annual Conference, Klopf called on NGOs to "spend more time, energy, expertise, and power on advocacy," citing the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which was adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1989, as a good example of effective advocacy.

Strong collaboration between NGOs and the United Nations is necessary. Indeed, hundreds of NGOs (including ACEI) have, for many years, effectively advocated with UNICEF for child survival, protection, and development. NGOs are helping to shape international policy and promote UNICEF initiatives designed to improve health care, water and sanitation systems, and nutrition and education in developing countries.

At the grassroots level, NGOs are involved in issues about human rights, the environment, arms control, health, refugees, and children's welfare. As an advocate for children, ACEI is focusing its attention currently on the issues of child soldiers, children and war, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and sexual exploitation, as well as on time treatment of women and children, the HIV/AIDS pandemic, standardized testing, child safety, and violence. Resolutions on these topics have been drafted and presented by time ACEI Public Affairs Committee at the Annual Business Meetings.

In response to a 1998 ACEI Resolution on "Advocacy," the Public Affairs Committee and Headquarters staff are working hard to help the ACEI membership and leaders at all levels of the organization to become more effective advocates for children. Resolutions, press releases, official statements, publications, journal and newsletter articles, letters to government officials, editorials, and conference sessions are all means that we use to draw attention to children's issues, and in the process, help to establish ACEI as a leading advocate for children. You can learn more about ACEI's advocacy efforts or review published resolutions on each of the key topics named above by visiting ACEI's Web site (www.acei.org) or by contacting Gina Hoagland, ACEI's Public Relations Manager.

ACEI also advocates for children at the UN Headquarters as a member of several Working Groups, including those on Education, the Convention on the Rights of the child, and the Girl Child. Members of the various groups represent NGOs from around the world and work closely with UNICEF officials to effect change. ACEI representatives share their expertise, help to formulate UN policy documents, develop action plans, build consensus on issues that affect children, and make recommendations in the best interests of children.

Since its inception in 1946, UNICEF has been responsible for saving the lives of millions of children worldwide and for improving conditions for countless other children. Programs for the immediate future are aimed at building broad-based partnerships with organizations such as the World Bank, World Health Organization, the UN Population Fund, and the UN Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), as well as with NGOs, to help shape national policies and establish priorities. UNICEF's three priority outcomes for children for this decade are as follows:

* Infants will start life healthy and young children will be nurtured in a caring environment that enables them to be physically healthy, mentally alert, emotionally secure, socially competent, and intellectually able to learn

* All children, including the poorest and most disadvantaged, will have access to and can complete a basic education of good quality

* Adolescents will have opportunities to fully develop their individual capacities in safe and enabling environments and will be helped to participate in and contribute to their societies.

UNICEF has undertaken new initiatives to convince governments worldwide to place greater emphasis on human development' starting by meeting the basic needs of the poorest, protecting the rights of women and children, and putting the protection, survival, and development of children at the center of all development programs, ACEI will be there to help UNICEF meet these goals for children.

--Jerry Odland, Executive Director