On Tuesday, January 29, with the help and support of New York University student groups and the NYU UNICEF Club, I hosted a screening of the documentary film Not My Life at NYU’s historic Tishman Auditorium. The goal of the event was to raise awareness about human trafficking, offer opportunities for attendees to take meaningful action to fight the issue, and to promote the U.S. Fund for UNICEF’s End Trafficking project. The screening was followed by a lively panel discussion, featuring prominent leaders of the anti-trafficking movement.

In 1960 Walt Disney had a visionary idea: to create a tribute to the children of the world. That idea came to fruition in 1964 at the World’s Fair as the “It’s a Small World” ride. Proceeds from the ride helped UNICEF save and improve children’s lives. Building upon this legacy, today UNICEF and Disney are bringing the power of play to the world’s most vulnerable children.

We all have moments in our careers that are turning points, and it can be a challenge to try and describe them. However, if we fail to do so, they may lose their value. So brace yourself—I’m about to share with you some incredible moments that I have experienced as a U.S. Fund for UNICEF Global Citizenship Fellow in Washington D.C. Warning: You may experience a sense of hope and inspiration when reading this.

Three years ago, while visiting Malawi, MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell noticed that children were lacking one of the fundamentals of the schoolhouse experience: chairs and desks. So he partnered with UNICEF to start K.I.N.D.: Kids in Need of Desks. The program has raised more than $5 million to build desks and chairs for rural schools in Malawi. Watch a video to hear Lawrence O’Donnell speak about K.I.N.D. and announce an exciting new phase of the program.

Jane MacPhail is a UNICEF Child Protection Specialist. She makes the 1 1/2 hour journey to Za’atari every day. Jane works with children to draw and imagine a world without war. “Syrian children have been through too much,” she says. “Over the course of the past 22 months, children witnessed war, shelling, injuries and torture. They have had to leave their homes and country with the little they could carry. They’ve lost a sense of identity and hope.”

Mark Choonoo, UNICEF Emergency Specialist, was in Homs recently and shares his first-hand account on the situation there and the impact the destruction wrought by the conflict has on children and families.
It’s bitterly cold, with overnight temperatures dropping to below freezing. Many children I saw were wearing only light clothes and sandals, or only socks without shoes. All the children I talked to complained about the cold. Many expressed sadness about friends who had gone away and not returned, but despite all of this, they seemed happy to be home.

Across the United States, children, women and men are victims of human trafficking. Human trafficking is lucrative and has been likened to modern-day slavery, subjecting its victims to forced labor, prostitution, migrant farming, and more. Last week, President Obama proclaimed January to be National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month. And today, January 11, is the day to raise awareness.

Last fall, as the Boston Global Citizenship Fellow, I had the privilege of being part of the U.S. Fund for UNICEF’s Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF campaign. The campaign was everywhere in Boston: in schools, in shops, at community events, farmers markets, and at private fundraisers. The amount of energy that people put into raising awareness and funds for UNICEF was incredible. Here are some of my favorite Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF moments.

The world has seen “stunning” gains in child survival and health, according to The New York Times’ Tina Rosenberg in a recent column citing UNICEF’s work. Her article shares heartening results from a new study called the Global Burden of Disease report. Among them: over the past 20 years, the mortality rate for children under five has dropped worldwide, in some countries by as much as 70 percent.

December 4, 2012, was a day that changed the lives of more than 250,000 Filipino children living in the worst affected areas of the southern Philippines. Super Typhoon Bhopa made landfall in the early hours of the morning, in a region that is rarely visited by typhoons. Here is the story of one young girl who lived through the storm.