Today, the "acronym of the day" is UNICEF. If you ask anyone here at UNICEF you will quickly find out that it no longer stands for United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund, the original full name of the organization when it was formed in 1946.
When UNICEF became a permanent part of the United Nations system in 1953, its name was shortened to the United Nations Children's Fund, reflecting its broader mission of addressing the long-term needs of children and women in developing countries everywhere. However, UNICEF retained its original acronym.
If you asked me what more does UNICEF stand for, or what it means to me, I would say, look at the 2006-2007 Futbol Club Barcelona (FCB) soccer jersey.
Before my first day of work here, I spotted a busboy with a red and blue FCB jersey with UNICEF written across the front. The jersey immediately conjured up re-runs of the team’s superstars in my head, like Ronaldinho faking defenders out of their shoes to score a scissor-kick goal. But then, I wondered, why a soccer team? What does that have to do with the world's leading humanitarian organization for children?
I realized you can think of soccer and children’s aid as inextricably linked because they are each a kind of life support for millions across the globe. Soccer is a global movement, a way of bridging gaps across social classes, language, cultures, etc. It breathes life and dreams into children, just as a vaccine allows a child to think about a future, not a fate.
Fortunate nations, organizations and people share the duty of helping the less fortunate. When I saw UNICEF front and center on FCB’s jersey, it made me understand that this soccer team is a sports organization which stands up to its motto: More than a club. UNICEF, likewise, is more than a charity. FCB and UNICEF keep children in the poorest regions of the world alive and instill confidence in a better future.
They each understand that helping others is more than just injecting money into poor communities. What soccer and aid organizations both do is restore hope where it has been attacked, whether by man or natural catastrophe. Hope for a fruitful future will take a child farther than money can. The FCB-UNICEF soccer jersey reminds us that everyone is capable of carrying out such acts of humanity, even if we don’t have millions of dollars.
