I’m so excited to be attending the Sound of Change Live concert tomorrow. I can’t wait to see Beyoncé perform, along with a star-studded line-up that includes Florence + the Machine, Jennifer Lopez, John Legend, Timbaland and many others. The Sound of Change concert is part of CHIME FOR CHANGE, a new global campaign founded by UNICEF partner Gucci to promote education, health and justice for girls and women everywhere. You can join in by watching, donating and spreading the word.

Many of us see Jamaica as an island paradise, the birthplace of Reggae music, and home to world class athletes. But Jamaica is not perfect: The country is home to one of the world’s greatest wealth disparities and has one of the highest homicide rates. These harsh realities create a difficult environment for children. I recently had the privilege of hearing UNICEF Jamaica Representative Robert Fuderich speak about UNICEF’s programs in Jamaica, and attending this event further deepened my appreciation for UNICEF’s work.

This month, the IKEA Foundation and UNICEF are celebrating over ten years of working together to improve the lives of more than 74 million children and their families in India. In collaboration with the government of India, the IKEA Foundation and UNICEF India have contributed to major improvements in the lives of children over the past decade.

Two decades ago at the 1992 Rio Earth Summit, 12-year-old Severn Suzuki reminded world leaders: “Do not forget why you are attending these conferences, who you are doing this for—we are your own children. You are deciding what kind of a world we will grow up in.”
The follow-up to the Earth Summit, the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) took place in Brazil on June 20-22, 2012. Children’s rights truly came of age in Rio and were featured prominently through both a dedicated session at the Corporate Sustainability Forum and the Forum’s own outcome document.

Lacey Stone traveled to the Philippines to witness the tremendous efforts that UNICEF is undertaking to eliminate maternal and neonatal tetanus (MNT) in the country of more than 7,000 islands. Through a partnership with Kiwanis International, UNICEF, along with government and health partners, is reaching the poorest, most neglected women in the Philippines with lifesaving health care.

Any mother should have the choice to immunize her child whether she lives in Manhattan or the Democratic Republic of the Congo. UNICEF is the world’s largest buyer of vaccines, distributing more than 3 billion doses annually and reaching 56 percent of the world’s children, but it’s not enough. UNICEF in partnership with the WHO, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Centers for Disease Control and others aim to make full immunization a part of every child’s life.