No Choice But Childhood

It’s time to choose childhood.

Across the world, children are facing the greatest impact of conflict, climate change and extreme poverty. And as the UK reduces its development budget, it is children who will feel the consequences first, putting millions at risk of missing out on the essentials they need to survive and thrive.​

We’ve made progress before. Funding has already saved the lives of around 146 million children under 5 due to immunisation programmes, and dramatically increased the number of primary school aged children in education.​

But that progress is now under threat. With international development spending falling to its lowest level in years, we risk reversing gains that have saved and improved millions of children’s lives.​ 

The impact is clear:​ 

/ Millions of children still die from preventable causes​
/ Hundreds of millions are growing up in poverty​
/ Education is being disrupted for children living through crisis​
 

These are complex challenges. But the decision to act is not.​ 

If you strip everything back and ask the simplest question: does childhood matter?​ 
The answer is always yes.​ 

That’s why we are urging the UK Government to put its money where childhood is—by choosing to spend at least 25% of the UK international development budget to children’s issues around the world.​ 

That means investing in the services children urgently need—like healthcare, nutrition and education—and working with communities and local and national governments to ensure those services can withstand the growing impacts of climate change.​ 

Because when we invest in childhood, we don’t just protect lives today—we build stronger, more resilient societies for the future.​ 

What are we calling for?

UNICEF UK is calling on the UK Government to prioritise children by allocating at least 25% of the international development budget to essential services, including:​ 

🩺 Life-saving healthcare 

🥫 Nutrition 

📖 Education 

Because if caring about children is a yes in principle, it should be a yes in practice. ​ 

​No Choice but Childhood.