ABSTRACT
The United Nations Children’s Fund is the UN agency most prominent in the popular imagination. There is irony in UNICEF’s story, in that in 1946 the temporary nature of its mandate imposed characteristics that ensured its eventual survival and growth. These characteristics – UNICEF’s highly practical operations, its strong in-country presence, and its reliance on voluntary contributions (both governmental and private) – remain to this day as hallmarks of the fund.
