Highlights
Goal Area 4 reflects UNICEF’s commitment to ensuring that every child has access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services, and can grow in a safe, sustainable and resilient environment. Through an integrated approach that combines service delivery, systems strengthening and climate-resilient solutions, UNICEF supports governments to deliver equitable, climate resilient, and shock-responsive services at scale. In 2025, UNICEF continued to advance both the Strategic Plan Goal Area 4 and Sustainability and Climate Change Action Plan (SCAP) 2023–2030, positioning climate resilience and environmental sustainability as critical foundations for children’s rights, well-being and future opportunities.
Headline Results:
- UNICEF’s direct support enabled 17 million people to gain access to at least basic sanitation service, 34 million to access safe water, and 15 million people to access basic hygiene services. In addition, more than 5,500 schools and 2,750 health care facilities were provided with basic WASH services level.
- In humanitarian settings, UNICEF reached more than 36 million people with WASH services, supporting communities affected by conflcit, climate-related disasters and disease outbreaks, including cholera.
- UNICEF accelerated climate-resilient WASH services by supporting access to climate-resilient water services for more than 9 million people, climate-resilient sanitation services for 3.2 million people, and more than 1,700 solar-powered water systems.
- UNICEF supported 129 governments to strengthen climate‑resilient, child‑essential social services, helping integrate climate priorities into at least one critical social sector in 128 countries while advancing child-sensitive DRR measures in 110 countries.
- Through the Today and Tomorrow Initiative (TTI), UNICEF advanced innovative climate risk financing solutions that help vulnerable communities anticipate, absorb, and recover from climate shocks. In 2025, TTI delivered US$3.7 million in rapid, flexible cyclone insurance payouts, reaching 516,000 people, including 110,000 children, complemented by US$5.5 million in investments in resilience-building interventions across pilot countries in Bangladesh, Comoros, Fiji, Haiti, Madagascar, Mozambique, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu.
