Elizabeth Kiem is the online producer of unicefusa.org.

It’s census time. Every ten years, the government wants a head count and they’re relying on us to make it accurate. And while some of us look at the trifold form with a certain curiosity (they want my phone number so that they can call if they don’t understand one of my answers? really?); there are plenty of Americans who bristle at the notion of the government taking notes on their age, sex, race, or habit of “sometimes staying at a second residence.”

Now, while the government’s respect for individual privacy is not something to mock, the importance of universal documentation as a tool for social protection is also no laughing matter.

So today’s video pokes some fun at the census bashers, turning the complaint that the count has racist or Anti-American motivations on its head. The fact that Stephen Colbert manages to get the U.S. Fund in on the joke makes the clip all the more relevent.

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United States Census 2010
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For sixty years, UNICEF has been advancing the condition of children all over the world, independent of race, family status or citizenship. Indeed, ensuring that a child is COUNTED from his first day in the world is a prerequisite for guaranteeing a child’s many other rights: to medical care, to an education and to legal protection.

Still, one in three developing countries fail to register at least half of their newborns. Some 50 million births go unregistered every year. That’s 50 million marginalized children.

They lack the documentation that could protect them from child labor, early marriage, underage conscription or human trafficking. From Paraguay to Gambia to Bangladesh, UNICEF is working hard to make governments more accountable to their youngest constituents.

And we’re proud of that.

So when you see the bold letters on your census envelope declaring that YOUR RESPONSE IS REQUIRED BY LAW, please think of your children and understand – that’s how it should be.

Although Washington seems preoccupied with the health care debate, the annual appropriations process also is underway. The Budget Committees soon will set the guidelines for overall Federal spending and then the Appropriations Committees will determine their allocations for international foreign assistance. Later in the Spring, the House and Senate Appropriations Subcommittees on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs will craft the funding bills that include the U.S. Government’s annual contribution to UNICEF.

For the current Fiscal Year 2010, the Congress provided the highest contribution the United States ever has given to UNICEF: $132.25 million. For Fiscal Year 2011 (which begins on October 1st), we want to boost that funding to $140 million. Increases in the “core funding” UNICEF gets from the United States Government help to save more children’s lives and get us closer to “Zero!”

But that will only happen if concerned citizens across the country contact the decision-makers. It only takes a minute or two to send e-mail messages to your two U.S. Senators and to your U.S. Representative.

Please join in this effort, and please encourage everyone you know to do the same!

It’s an easy way to act on your dedication to saving more vulnerable children and to improving the quality of their lives.

Read more TAGS: advocacy, appropriations, Barack Obama, child survival, Congress, President of the United States Comment (0) Tweet Dec08 Becca at the Children’s Climate Forum Posted by FieldNotes Administrator Becca Arbacher is one of the four delegates chosen to represent the United States at the Children’s Climate Forum (CCF) taking place in Copenhagen. The U.S. Delegates will be sharing their experiences at the CCF on Fieldnotes. We easily settled in to work at the UNICEF Children’s Climate Forum. On the first day I chose a workshop on Climate Justice. Read more TAGS: advocacy, climate change, youth, youth action, youth leadership Comment (0) Tweet Dec02 Arriving at the Children’s Climate Forum Posted by FieldNotes Administrator Olivia Zhu is one of the four delegates chosen to represent the United States at the Children’s Climate Forum (CCF) taking place in Copenhagen. The U.S. Delegates will be sharing their experiences at the CCF on Fieldnotes The first morning we had a great time playing what I’m going to call “World-Ball.” We arrived in the main exhibition hall to find a circle of delegates from Italy, Malawi, Indonesia, and elsewhere tossing/kicking/volleying around a humongous inflatable globe. Read more TAGS: advocacy, climate change, youth, youth action, youth leadership Comment (0) Tweet Nov03 Uniting on Capitol Hill to save children Posted by Martin Rendón, UNICEF USA Is there an issue that transcends partisan divisions on Capitol Hill? We who “Believe in Zero” think there is: saving children and mothers from dying from preventable causes. Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT), Senator Bob Corker (R-TN), and Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) have united to introduce S. 1966, the Global Child Survival Act of 2009. The bill directs the U.S. Government to develop a comprehensive, integrated strategy to reduce infant and child mortality rates and authorizes funding to reach more children and mothers who are at risk. Read more TAGS: advocacy Comment (0) Tweet Page 8 of 15FirstPrevious...678910...NextLast Facebook Twitter YouTube Flickr © 2013 United States Fund for UNICEF. All rights reserved. 1.800.FOR.KIDS 125 Maiden Lane, New York, NY 10038 Privacy Policy FAQ Jobs Site Map