A Global Charity Organization, Speech Example

Introduction

UNICEF is a global charity organization, committed to promoting child health, survival, education, as well as prompt and effective intervention in case of humanitarian disasters. While it is a part of the UN, it is an independent international charity that works in more than 190 countries around the world, it relies on public support.

Attention getter:

In a recent interview with Anthony Lake, executive director of UNICEF, confessed: this type of works requires commitment but rewards participants with great inspiration. He said:

“I’ve met children in horrible circumstances: in drought-ravaged areas in Africa … in    monsoon-flooded parts of Pakistan … in earthquake-flattened communities in Haiti or Japan. In places where there is almost nothing, children always find a way to laugh and play … with balls and dolls they make from rags and bits of things they find, wherever they are. They are incredibly resourceful. And the more I meet these children and their families, the more I understand that they are not simply victims in need of our pity. They are courageous, hard-working survivors, in need of—and deserving of—our support. An inspiration.”

Why should the audience listen:

All these children need is a chance, and through supporting UNICEF, you can give it to them.

Establishing credibility:  What UNICEF Does?

The charity supports vaccination against childhood illnesses; for example, in 2013, they targeted low immunization rate in Chad, Africa through an extensive campaign. They used local volunteers to promote the campaign and developed a long-term plan to prevent Polio in Africa in collaboration with the World Health Organization.

In other parts of the world, the charity focuses on disaster prevention. Supported by UNICEF, teenagers use the charity’s own digital mapping system to reduce risks of disasters in the favelas. This way, the adolescents have the ability to warn about risks, mobilize people living in the area and notify authorities.

Introduce the topic:

It is evident that UNICEF is making a difference in people’s lives worldwide. As a non-profit organization, it relies solely on donations to support the ongoing projects and back up new initiatives.

Central idea with preview of main points:

Supporting the organization can better the lives of millions of children worldwide.

Transition:

UNICEF’s work is important for all who embrace the idea of equality and providing opportunities for future generations.

Body

Main point #1:  Immunization.

UNICEF does not only deliver vaccination to places where children have no access to public health care, but they also put preventive measures in place to provide supplements, such as Vitamin A and equipments like mosquito nets to prevent the spread of viruses, such as Malaria.

Development of main point #1: UNICEF today supplies vaccines worldwide, serving more than 35 percent of the children on Earth; working closely with manufacturers to obtain vaccines at a reasonable price, according to Anthony Lake, chief executive who talked to us about the current vaccination project of UNICEF.

Supporting material: According to a Sheldon Yett, who gave a statement to us recently, vaccination is the most effective prevention methos.. He said that “approximately 29% of deaths in children under five are vaccine preventable”. He also concluded that “nearly 20% of children – does not receive 3 life-saving doses of the diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis vaccineiii.

Supporting material: Vaccination, on the other hand, also makes economic sense, even though developing countries’ health departments do not have the resources and infrastructure to deliver the service. While a combined vaccination that prevents diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis at the same time only costs 20 dollar cents, delivering the immunization into the poorest countries can potentially save billions of dollars in treatment costs.

Supporting material: To show the effectiveness of vaccination, Yett told us that “In 2011, 123 countries immunized over 90%v of infants against measles. Between 2000 and 2011, vaccination resulted in a 71% drop in measles deaths worldwide”.

Transition: Nevertheless, UNICEF still incurs logistics, training and supplement costs that need to be met by the charity. While UNICEF also works with governments to develop health policies that can ensure safe delivery of immunization vaccines, the organization recognizes that the problem needs immediate attention.

Main point #2: Supporting Disadvantaged Children

Development of main point #2: Further, UNICEF also has several initiatives that support children to become responsible, knowledgeable and independent adults, no matter what their family background is. Their adolescence program targets three main groups: aged 10-13, 14-16 and 17-19. They help disadvantaged children struck by poverty or those living in rural areas to obtain education and support.

Supporting material: Nine out of ten of the teenagers the organization supports live in rural areas of developing countries; we are currently active in the Syrian Arab republic, where we teach teenagers important life skills, provide safe locations for socialization, teach them English and how to use the computer in Homs City, according to Anthony Lake, who talked to us about their recent projects.

Supporting material: UNICEF works hard to prevent discrimination based on disabilities, race and economic background to try and provide equal chances for all children in life around the world, – said  Hector Calderon talking to us about the organization’s mission.

Supporting material: According to one of our interviews with Hector Calderon, Chief of Communication, “focuses on the critical impact social and economic policy issues have on children”.

Transition: UNICEF is also trying to get the “Convention on the Rights of a Child” and the “Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women” recognized by all countries, in order to provide compensation for child poverty, health and education disparities, as well as to enforce social protection

Main point #3:Education Programs

Apart from giving disadvantaged children a hope for the future, UNICEF also focuses on basic level education. The current education priorities of the organization are based on the principles of early childhood development and school readiness initiatives.

Development of main point #3: UNICEF supports equal access to education and the enhancement of primary school curriculum/teaching. Further, the charity also sets up education centers in post-crisis countries where schools were destroyed due to a military conflict, in order to help children get back to school, so their future will be less affected by the violence that took place in their homeland.

Supporting material: The Envisioning Education in the Post-2015 Development Agenda (2013) calls for an expansion of education equality provisions on all levels of schools; from early development to universities. The charity estimates that today over 101 million school-aged children do not receive education, of which more than half are girls. This greatly limits their future economic and social outlook, as well as the next generation’s.

Supporting material: the organization calls for a greater gender equality, working with governments to implement policy changes that provide equal chances for learning across various groups.

Supporting material: Siddhartha Shrestha, coordinator of the South Sudan highlighted in her recent interview that “The adult literacy rate stands at 27 per cent, and 70 per cent of children aged 6–17 years have never set foot in a classroom. The completion rate in primary schools is less than 10 per cent, one of the lowest in the world”. The Global Education First Initiative aims to put all children into school around the world, by providing funds for community projects, improving infrastructure and advocating higher quality of learning for all.

Transition: The mission statement of UNICEF states that the organization is devoted to “the protection of children’s rights, to help meet their basic needs and to expand their opportunities to reach their full potential.

Conclusion

Throughout its decades of work, the organization has proven to be able to make a change in children’s health, opportunities, safety and education. However, there is still a lot to do. The above described programs need to continue, not only to help children in developing countries, but to create a better world and empower the next generation. UNICEF needs to receive public funding and donations to continue its work; change and save lives. A small donation of a dollar made in the United States can save the lives of five children in Chad through vaccination. Investing into the future generation is the most effective way of promoting a more equal society and enabling those who lack support from governments and local charities.

References

“Interview with Anthony Lake, Executive Director, UNICEF” Frontlines Magazine. 2012. Web.

UNICEF Report on Immunization. “Immunization” UNICEF Press Centre. 2013. Web. “UNICEF Social Inclusion, Policy and Budgeting”. 2012. Web.