UNICEF Innovation

55 million people reached. 258 initiatives. 118 countries. Behind every number is a shared effort to help children and young people navigate a rapidly changing world. Impact Brief 2026 highlights how UNICEF is working with young people, governments, innovators, startups, and like-minded partners to discover, adapt, and scale solutions that strengthen outcomes for children. From AI literacy to climate innovation, this is innovation designed to move beyond pilots and into systems. Read Impact Brief 2026 🔗 https://lnkd.in/eE96vqfC

A simple but effective logic: prevention costs less than response. That’s one key takeaway from this new Fast Company article by UNICEF Innovation Global Director Thomas Davin. He highlights how frontier tech startups in emerging economies are addressing the challenges of extreme weather where they are needed most. From Libya to Laos, a new generation of climate innovators are introducing resilience where risk is greatest and opportunity is real, protecting the lives of children and their communities. That's what UNICEF #ClimateVentures was built to address, and why Thomas argues the need for capital to join in. Read the article here 🔎 https://lnkd.in/gDkA2-Wr

#AfricaDay brought a powerful question to Norrsken House Stockholm: what does it take to build health systems rooted in African priorities, African knowledge, and African agency? At The ONE Campaign and UNICEF Sweden Nordics’ Global Health Evening, UNICEF Innovation’s Munya Chivasa joined an exceptional panel, “Common Challenges, Common Solutions”, alongside Ambassador Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga (Zimbabwe), malala ophelia haanyama (Posithiva Gruppen), Anna Mia Ekström (Karolinska Institutet Institute), and Ali Ditenga to explore exactly that. Munya brought the innovation perspective that solving Africa’s health challenges isn’t about importing solutions, it’s about backing the innovators, systems, and leadership already on the continent. From #SRHR to inclusive health infrastructure, the panel made clear that the path forward runs through collaboration, not charity. That conviction carried through the whole evening. UNICEF Sweden’s display of health kits, from first aid to vaccine cold chains, put real tools in the room, a tangible reminder of what reaches communities when the right investments are made. And it was Myden Michaella Tanriver, a Swedish young parliamentarian’s account of how innovative health products are improving maternal health outcomes in Africa that brought it home highlighting the innovation impact already taking place. The youth politicians made bold and exciting calls including for the restoration of 1% ODA and making the case that investing in innovation is not peripheral to poverty reduction in emerging economies. It is central to it. The room, politicians, diaspora, academics, civil society, reflected the kind of cross-sector dialogue this moment demands. 🌍 #GlobalHealth #UNICEFInnovation #Africa #HealthForAll #ONECampaign #ODA

Teachers are critical to securing positive learning outcomes for children. The Superstar Teacher Toolbox is UNICEF's set of practical tips for educators to use pedagogically sound instructional practices to effectively use technology — whatever their classroom context. Now, the Digital Pedagogy and Mobile Messaging for Learning tools are accessible to teachers worldwide as an online course on the Learning Passport Digital Library platform. When teachers thrive, learners thrive. ✅ Learn more 🔗 https://lnkd.in/enYz2DRW Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland, FinCEED - the Finnish Centre of Expertise in Education and Development, UNICEF Digital Impact

🎧 Listen to Episode 5 of the Humanitarian Frontiers podcast, where Shane O'Connor from UNICEF's Office of Innovation, Fran B. from Arm and Hovig Etyemezian from UNHCR Innovation explore what makes long-standing partnerships truly impactful: shared vision, ambition, trust, and a willingness to keep learning together.   For more than a decade, we have worked side by side with Arm to explore how emerging technologies can create meaningful outcomes for children and young people worldwide. The latest example is #AIinPlay, which backs diverse builders, develops AI literacy, and builds responsible technology solutions designed for this and coming generations of children and young people. ➡️ https://lnkd.in/d-SVK9Bt

UNICEF Innovation's Impact Brief 2026 reflects what's possible through a shared commitment to deliver innovation impact for and with children and young people. Together as a global movement of innovators, collaborators, partners and changemakers, we’ve reached 55 million people directly through 258 initiatives across 118 countries to date. This was made possible by co-creating, embedding and scaling innovative approaches even in difficult and challenging circumstances. From delivering AI in remote classrooms, to developing climate-resilient solutions in hard hit areas, to building digital public infrastructure and supporting ecosystems of frontier tech innovators in emerging markets — our partners chose to stay the course to help co-build and strengthen the systems and services children and their communities depend on. “Innovation is how we build the capacity to meet this moment. Partnership is how we sustain it”, Thomas Davin, Global Director UNICEF Office of Innovation. Huge thanks to all our partners for staying the course to build lasting change #ForEveryChild. Read Impact Brief 2026 🔗 https://lnkd.in/e3j5uzkw

UNICEF’s Kits that Fit has been selected for the fourth cohort of the United Nations Global Pulse Accelerator Programme. This initiative reimagines how humanitarian kits are designed and delivered: tailored to people’s needs in emergencies, sourced as locally as possible, and continuously refined through community feedback to remain fit for purpose. Already reaching more than 1.5 million people with customised kits across different contexts, the initiative is ready to enter a new phase. Through the Accelerator Programme and in partnership with UNICEF Egypt, Kits that Fit will explore how adaptive humanitarian kits can be embedded into UN systems to scale faster, smarter, and more responsive emergency support. Learn more ➡️ https://lnkd.in/d7pSpNfW Innovation Norway, Humanitarian Innovation Programme

At #SMAUStockholm this week, we met with 30 Italian startups, key investors and industry leaders in the Swedish ecosystem to explore opportunities to connect ideas, expertise and markets to build solutions that are resilient, adaptive and built for impact for children. Representing the UNICEF Venture Fund, Sanna Bedi shared insights and lessons learned from UNICEF's decade-long journey investing in early-stage frontier tech startups in emerging markets with solutions that improve the lives of children, youth and their communities. Find out more about the latest ventures supported by UNICEF ➡️ https://lnkd.in/gnknJFUj

Today at the Philanthropy Asia Summit in Singapore, UNICEF and Temasek Foundation convened diverse social impact leaders for a conversation about what it takes to back locally led femtech innovation in Asia — and what catalytic partnership looks like when it is designed to last. UNICEF’s Lindsey, Julianna set the frame precisely: Femtech is not a niche. It is one of the most significant investment opportunities in global health and gender equity. And Saet Nyoon Woon, Deputy CEO of Temasek Foundation, spoke to the vision and conviction driving Temasek Foundation's commitment with UNICEF to design the 5 year Femtech Ventures Initiative to back the founders, and an agile learning and doing community across public and private partners. H.E. Veronica Tan, Deputy Minister of Women Empowerment and Child Protection of Indonesia, brought the weight and opportunity of her experience to the room. "In Indonesia, femtech must go beyond addressing the health and wellness needs of women and girls. The greater opportunity lies in empowering women economically, whether in the care economy, community-based agriculture, or other sectors where women are already the backbone of the workforce. The real question is how technology can be designed to strengthen their roles, expand their economic agency, and ensure they are not left behind in the digital transition. Femtech founders from Asia are already building solutions to bridge these equity and access gaps, and that is precisely the kind of innovation that governments and philanthropy need to get behind, together." UNICEF’s Patty Alleman gave the stage to 3 stars of our inaugural femtech investment cohort. Dr. Shantanu Pathak of CareMother by Doto Health spoke to what AI-powered maternal monitoring can do for overstretched health systems in India. Marisa Paramita of Ibu Punya Mimpi spoke to what economic inclusion looks like when mothers in Indonesia become the architects of a more equitable AI. Gaurav Godhwani of CivicDataLab brought a sharp perspective on what gender-responsive data infrastructure makes possible when governments and civil society have the tools to act on it. Victoria Leong shared scientific evidence and experiences on women and children's need for localised, culturally appropriate care — anchoring use case possibilities for children and caregivers’ mental well-being and diagnosis when diverse data sets are available to power AI-driven solutions. Different roles, different markets, different challenges — the same conviction that locally grounded solutions designed together and built as public goods are the ones that scale. That conviction is what the UNICEF Femtech Ventures Initiative was built to back. We are in year one of a five-year journey, and we invite other allies to join us. 🔗 https://lnkd.in/dP-_JUbD Tiffany Ang, Usha Viswanathen, UNICEF East Asia and Pacific #FemtechVentures #PAS2026 #PhilanthropyAsiaSummit #WomensHealth #UNICEFInnovation #Femtech

Nobody is better placed to solve a problem than the person living with it. That's the founding belief behind Femtech Ventures, a five-year catalytic investment platform, launched by @UNICEF Office of Innovation and co-designed with @Temasek Foundation and @SIDA as founding partners. The platform identifies and backs founders in emerging economies building health and economic solutions for girls, women and children. Femtech as a sector is projected to hit US$97 billion by 2030 but most of that value is concentrated in the US and Europe, even though the greatest unmet needs are in Asia, Africa, and Latin America.  We think that's a market failure worth fixing. At the Philanthropy Asia Summit 2026, we're opening up the conversation on what it really takes to turn a Femtech innovation into a systems change. @Temasek Foundation Deputy Director @Saet Woon and founders from our inaugural cohort @Marisa and @Shantanu will be joining me to share how they build Femtech from the ground up in Asia. See you at Femtech Ventures: Investing in the Innovation Edge for Girls’ & Women’s Health session. 📅 May 20, 2-3pm 📍 Sands Expo and Convention Centre, Marina Bay Sands, Singapore Learn more: https://p-aa.org/PAS2026  #PAS2026 #PhilanthropyAsiaSummit Ann Putnam Marks, Juan Ignacio Calvo Temasek, Sanna Bedi, Hanna Burkhardt, Patty Alleman, Yemi L., Sida Philanthropy Asia Alliance UNICEF East Asia and Pacific