China EXIM and UNICEF agree to support vulnerable children in Nigeria with life-saving services

BEIJING, 11 February 2025 – The Export and Import Bank of China (China EXIM) and UNICEF today signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to collaborate on essential services for the wellbeing of children in Nigeria. This is the first such partnership agreement between UNICEF and a China-based financial institution.

The new partnership will help UNICEF deliver integrated healthcare, water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services for vulnerable children and families in up to 12 healthcare facilities, 21 schools, 17 markets and 450 communities in Nigeria's Federal Capital Territory, with support from China EXIM and the Government of Nigeria.

"UNICEF is grateful to China EXIM for this groundbreaking partnership, and we look forward to working together to reduce the risk of waterborne diseases and improve critical services that ensure the wellbeing of children. UNICEF also hopes that this will be the first of more partnerships to come, to help accelerate child health and development goals for children around the world" UNICEF Representative to China Amakobe Sande said.

Ensuring access to water, sanitation and hygiene services for all by 2030 is one of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals. In Nigeria, inadequate access to WASH services are a major driver of child deaths, increasing vulnerability to water-borne diseases such as diarrhoea, which leads to over 70,000 deaths of children under five annually. However, only around 10 per cent of Nigeria's 110 million children are estimated to have access to basic WASH services.

"We appreciate the UNICEF's active contribution to the global cause for children," said Yang Dongning, Vice President of China EXIM. "This Nigeria programme marks a new beginning in our cooperation, and its practical results will serve as a positive example for future collaborations."

In Nigeria, UNICEF aims to ensure that more children and their families have equitable access to climate-resilient and safely managed water and sanitation facilities and practise safe hygiene behaviours. The programme will include the scale-up of quality and comprehensive primary healthcare services, including maternal and newborn care and immunization services, in facilities and communities. It will also expand access to services through community engagement, social mobilization and behaviour change, along with strengthening of WASH-related systems, capacity and institutions.

"Waterborne diseases pose a serious and ongoing risk to the lives and well-being of children in Nigeria," UNICEF Nigeria Country Representative, Cristian Munduate said. "This programme will help realise the rights of many thousands of children, by improving healthcare services in the Federal Capital Territory."

The MOU was officially signed at China EXIM's office in Beijing, following a meeting attended by China EXIM Vice President Yang Dongning, UNICEF Representative to China Amakobe Sande and witnessed by Mr Jimmy Patrick Ebi, the acting Charge d'Affairs of the Embassy of Nigeria to China.

Together, UNICEF and China Exim will: mobilize financial resources to support children; provide technical expertise in programming implementation, and financing; explore innovative financing; and promote local procurement, capacity building and knowledge sharing.

The MoU also highlights UNICEF's role as a trusted partner for multilateral development banks and other financial institutions, supporting them to have a greater social impact for children. Globally, UNICEF is mobilizing financial resources and exploring innovative financing solutions to support children in humanitarian emergencies and in some of the least developed countries around the world.

About China EXIM

The Export-Import Bank of China is a state-funded and state-owned policy bank with the status of an independent legal entity. It is a bank directly under the leadership of the State Council and dedicated to supporting China's foreign trade, investment and international economic cooperation.