Ministry Statements & Speeches:
We commend the Executive Director and UNICEF staff for their continued commitment to advancing the rights and wellbeing of children, especially in the face of overlapping global crises and persistent inequalities.
New Zealand welcomes the draft UNICEF Strategic Plan 2026–2029 and looks forward to its adoption at this Executive Board meeting. This Strategic Plan is a clear and coherent roadmap for UNICEF’s final push toward achieving the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. We welcome its sharpened focus on equality, its differentiated strategies across country contexts, and its commitment to agile, locally driven responses that leave no child behind.
New Zealand is particularly encouraged by the Plan’s emphasis on:
- Human rights and non-discrimination, with a strong focus on the most marginalized children, including children with disabilities;
- Systemic change, through evidence-based, scalable solutions and catalytic support to governments; and
- Its alignment with the Quadrennial Comprehensive Policy Review (QCPR) and broader UN reform efforts.
This Plan is both pragmatic and ambitious. It acknowledges the scale of the challenges, rising poverty, learning loss, malnutrition, and violence against children, while offering a realistic pathway to accelerate progress. We appreciate UNICEF’s use of a robust theory of change and its commitment to transparency, accountability, and results at scale.
New Zealand also welcomes the Plan’s recognition of the Pacific context. Children in our region face disproportionate risks from climate change, geographic isolation, and systemic vulnerabilities. We strongly support UNICEF’s deepening engagement with Pacific Island Countries and its focus on gender equality, disability inclusion, and data-driven decision-making.
We reiterate our call for predictable, flexible, core funding to enable UNICEF to deliver effectively and equitably. This is even more critical in this fiscally constrained environment. New Zealand was pleased to recently confirm its own multi-year core funding to UNICEF for the next three years. We also support UNICEF’s efforts to strengthen partnerships, innovate through digital transformation, and uphold humanitarian principles in all contexts.
New Zealand stands ready to work with UNICEF, Member States, and the wider UN family to realise the full promise of this Strategic Plan. We remain committed to a multilateral system that is inclusive and fit for purpose, that is an informed and effective partner for our Pacific neighbours, and – most crucially – that delivers for children, now and into the future.