UNICEF Country Program Support DRC 2022-2025

1. Every child, including adolescents, survives and thrives with access to nutritious diets, quality primary health care, nurturing practices and essential supplies According to the last national immunization survey, only 45 per cent of children are fully vaccinated and 36 per cent partially vaccinated (12 to 24 months age group). Zero-dose children have never received any vaccine and are the most at risk. In 2023, UNICEF, in close collaboration with the Ministry of Health at national and provincial level, has proactively identified and vaccinated 203,185 zero dose children (out of the 734,000 identified in 2022) during Polio and measles campaigns last year. In addition, 3,258,121 children (90 per cent of the target) were protected against serious infectious diseases as Diphtheria, Pertussis and Tetanus through the 3rd dose of the DPT vaccine. This represents an 8 per cent increase over the number of children reached in 2022. According to administrative data, following several measles outbreaks, 18,5 million children were also vaccinated during catchup campaigns carried out in 22 out of the 26 provinces. To maximize chances for children to get their birth certificate, UNICEF led efforts to integrate birth registration and sanitation with routine immunization, facilitating access to birth certificates for newborns and improving the quality of health care services through sanitation and environmental cleaning kits provided to more than 3,500 vaccination sites. In 2023, over 2,5 million children were screened for malnutrition and 320,000 severely malnourished children were provided treatment out of which 81 per cent were discharged and 95 per cent (of the discharged) healed. In terms of prevention interventions, UNICEF maintained over 90 per cent national coverage of vitamin A supplementation, reaching almost 19 million children aged 659 months, and supported deworming for nearly 14 million children aged 1259 months. In addition, nearly 1,8 million mothers/caregivers of children under the age of two received orientation on optimal nutrition practices through preschool consultation in more than 8,000 health facilities. 2. Every child, including adolescents, learns and acquire skills for the future At an institutional level, UNICEF worked with partners to support the government in finalizing national strategies on vocational training and inclusive education. The aim was to boost employment opportunities for young people via engaging the private and public sectors, with a special focus on inclusion. Nearly 5,000 adolescents (2,854 girls) were trained with relevant skills for entering the job market. Joint efforts with the Ministry of Education to improve access and retention in schools for adolescent girls and transformed schools into gender sensitive platforms for integrated WASH and Protection services. Construction and equipment of 431 classrooms with separate latrines for girls reaching 21,550 children (10,344 girls) were further complemented by teacher training in the prevention of gender-based violence and gender-sensitive pedagogy. Additionally, nearly 200,000 girls received dignity kits and were informed on menstrual hygiene management. 3. Every child, including adolescents, is protected from violence, exploitation, abuse, neglect and other harmful practices Significant expansion of the reach of UNICEF supported interventions to protect children, with close to 500,000 children directly receiving child protection services (approximately 35 per cent more children than 2022). Part of this achievement can be attributed to the scaling up in large urban areas of a community-based approach combining the deployment of trained para-social workers and subsidized referrals to Health, Education and Social Protection services in collaboration with the Ministry of Social Affairs, aligned with the recommendations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC). Registration of 2,062,244 children at birth under the civil registration system, marking a substantial 45 per cent increase compared to 2022. This can be attributed to the improved strategic integration and interoperability between civil registration and health sectors. A pivotal moment in the journey towards improved administrative efficiency occurred in March 2023 with the official promulgation of the Digital Code, an initiative which UNICEF actively supported during 2022. Seizing this opportunity, UNICEF piloted the digital vaccination register which incorporate a birth registration module. While the national average for birth registration of children under 5 is 40 per cent (MICS 2018), the provinces that took part in the electronic registration trial have made significant progress. Kinshasa achieved a registration rate of 95 per cent (compared to 78 per cent in 2022), Haut Katanga 84 per cent (up from 61 per cent in 2022) and Kasaï Central 69 per cent (versus 43 per cent in 2022). 4. Every child, including adolescents, has access to safe and equitable water, sanitation and?hygiene services, and lives in a safe and sustainable climate and environment In 2023 UNICEF DRC focused on enhanced climate- resilient water systems supporting nearly 460,000 people with access to safe drinking water, of which 31 per cent had access to water systems supported by renewable energy such as solar powered water pumps. In DRC, about 12 million people are still defecating in the open and UNICEFs direct contribution allowed 2,3 million people to stop open defecation since 2021, with more than 1 million reached in 2023 alone. Interventions in the Greater Kasai provinces, South Kivu and Kinshasa show that 89 per cent of people are still free of open defecation one year after, suggesting that results are sustainable. In addition, 2,5 million people gained access to basic hygiene and sanitation services. 5. Every child has an equitable chance in life In 2023 UNICEF continued its evidence-based advocacy efforts to strengthen the financing of basic social services for children. In partnership with the Ministry of Budget, UNICEF held a political dialogue with more than 80 Members of Parliament and Senators on the financing of social services, after which UNICEF and the Ministry of Budget identified the main bottlenecks contributing to low budget utilization in line ministries and developed concrete actions to address these constraints. 6. Example of result with a Humanitarian Development Peace Nexus peace Approach In Nyunzu in the Tanganyika province, in response to enduring inter-ethnical conflict, a nexus approach was used to help resolve the crisis with the UNICEF team in Tanganyika working closely with the provincial Ministry of Planning to bring together partners along the humanitarian, development and peacebuilding spectrum. The nexus approach was used as an opportunity in the context of MONUSCOs transition from the province in 2022, supporting contextualized programming based on evidence and stronger alignment with national priorities (provincial and local development plans) and existing planning tools (UNSDCF, HRP, MONUSCO transition plan, etc.). This alignment made it possible to better prioritize and define the areas of intervention around common objectives. UNICEF supported mediation between leaders at both political and community level helped address the root causes of the conflict. Actors also worked together to identify shared priorities for programmes that would meet both, immediate and longer term needs including the provision of basic services, including health and education services. Reconciliation and peacebuilding efforts conducted by UNICEF and ILC, in conjunction with multisectoral programming created the conditions for and resulted in the return of 130,000 people who felt safe and secure enough in 2022 and 2023 to come back home.

The objectives of this intervention are to support the UNICEF 2020-2024 Country Program Document (CPD) and ultimately the delivery of the UNICEF Strategic Plan 2022-2025. The goal of the CPD is for children in the Democratic Republic of Congo, especially in the most deprived provinces and humanitarian settings, to have equitable, quality and sustainable access to basic social services. The Unicef Strategic Plan 2022-2025 highlights 5 result areas of which the CPD aligns to: - Every child, including adolescents, survives and thrives, with access to nutritious diets, quality primary health care, nurturing practices and essential supplies - Every child, including adolescents, learns and acquires skills for the future - Every child, including adolescents, is protected from violence, exploitation, abuse, neglect and harmful practices - Every child, including adolescents, has access to safe and equitable water, sanitation and hygiene services, and lives in a safe and sustainable climate and environment - Every child has an equitable chance in life At the end of the Country Programme, Unicef is expected to have contributed to addressing some of the system-wide bottlenecks to social services in the DRC by investing in the following areas: Health The overall objective is to support government on health system strengthening in areas of maternal, adolescent and child health. This includes working on routine immunization, RMNCAH (including HIV prevention and treatment), integrated management of childhood illnesses, epidemic surveillance, preparedness and response, as well as to support positive health policy development centrally and provincial level. Child Protection This intervention will contribute to promote governance for child protection and strengthening protective environment from all forms of violence in the country. The child protection work is based on promoting access to basic social services but with fair judicial protection from birth. Unicef has since 2013 worked on the reintegration of children associated with armed forces and groups, but also on the issue of civil/birth registration of children. Other areas include advocating and working towards scaling up childrens courts and alternatives to detention, working on SGBV and child marriage. Nutrition UNICEF nutrition program supports the new national nutrition program and focuses on capacity building of community and health systems to scale up multisectoral nutrition interventions such as SAM treatment, community surveillance for early detection of SAM cases, working on social norms on food and feeding practices, provide joint WASH and nutrition interventions, among others. WASH UNICEF has a well established WASH programme that works with government to improve water safety and sanitation in rural and urban areas. The program aims to increase knowledge, increase uptake of WASH services, build on their preparedness and capacity to respond to waterborne diseases, provide WASH in health facilities, while continuing to advocate for political commitment and multi-sectoral coordination of WASH. Lastly the Program will undertake an energy and climate analysis, with pilot interventions selected areas affected by climate change. Education UNICEF education program is building institutional capacity to improve the Education Management Information System. At policy level they are supporting Government on the implementation of the pre-primary education policy and advocating for school fee abolishment. Several social issues are also included in their education program such as interventions focusing on early child marriage (linked to their child protection work), reaching out of school children with education, addressing GBV and promote good hygiene practices. Social inclusion and Resilience This intervention primarily focuses on enabling access to child-sensitive and shock responsive social protection for the most deprived children and adolescents. The social inclusion and resilience program works in collaboration with several actors such as UNDP, WFP and IOM to address socio-economic vulnerabilities. The program is also well aligned with the Humanitarian Response Plan. Besides the result areas of WASH and Education, the CPD is very much in line with the priorities outlined in the Swedish Development Cooperation Strategy for DRC 2021-2025, particularly related to result areas 2 - Health equity and 3 Peaceful and inclusive societies.