Hi Gonneke,
It's the same here in Australia but each country UNICEF office can and 
should be saying something to the public about this years WBW.
Karleen Gribble
Australia
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "gonneke van veldhuizen" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Monday, July 27, 2009 4:32 PM
Subject: Re: WBW and UNICEF


In my country UNICEF has delegated any breastfeeding related stuff. BFHI 
certification is in the hands of a rather independent not for profit 
organization with a tiny government support, main income is fees for 
assessments and selling of materials.
WBW is run mainly by the Association of Breastfeeding Organizations, 
consisting of LLL, VBN national breastfeeding organization, Code watcher 
organization, LC professional organisation. As many European countries we 
celebrate WBW in week 40. Each country translates the WBW year theme, Dutch 
also adapt it. This year it is not translated or even adapted, but another 
one is chosen to be of more apeal to the Dutch public.

When BFHI was launched decades ago, the Dutch UNICEF rep thought we didn't 
need that because all Dutch moms were breastfeeding already ;-/

In Belgium I think BFHI and WBW are carried out by two different agencies as 
well.

Warmly,

Gonneke, IBCLC, retired LLLL, MOM in southern Netherlands

--- On Sun, 7/26/09, Evi Adams <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

From: Evi Adams <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: [LACTNET] WBW and UNICEF
To: [log in to unmask]
Date: Sunday, July 26, 2009, 7:35 PM

Karleen

The UNICEF offices in developed countries are basically NGOs of the host 
country and the main mandate is fundraising for UNICEF.

UNICEF in and of itself is a fund tied to the UN and not actually a part of 
the structure such as the WHO, etc. It is considered an equal partner in 
many things today but this is not how it is structurally.

It is a business . The mother ship is the one that puts out the policies and 
programs for the parts of the world that receive help. The National 
Committes (Nat Comm) raise one third of the total budget the rest comes from 
contributions from governments, etc.

These National Committees can retain a portion of their earning and thus pay 
staff, have local projects and also contribute to other projects of interest 
in the world. They also receive info and publications from UNICEF which can 
be distributed and used as seen fit.

Some National Committees are very involved in breastfeeding promotion and 
some are not.

I was involved with our Israeli Committee for almost 20 years as the 
breastfeeding person.

We were mainly involved in advocacy and most efforts for projects were 
almost all self funded. Our committee did not earn very much and as a 
result, after 40 years in existence, we were told to dissolve. The group is 
being recreated as basically a non profit organization with a business bent. 
Advocacy may be there but fundraising is its main purpose.

There is a lot of competition for the same private donor money, e.g. Save 
the Children, GOBI (immunizations)

I am writing all of this to let people know why their individual UNICEFs, if 
served by a committee (about 34 countries), are doing what they do. Do not 
expect each country to have obligations and results.

A lot of politics are involved, as in most parts of our lives.

If you are lucky your country will put out WBW supporting info. This is not 
part of their mandate.
There are materials put out by various organizations which collaborate with 
UNICEF.

The actual UNICEF, in the last few years, has had a lot of turmoil in the 
breastfeeding area. It had huge importance in the time of Jim Grant.

After his death it started to go down the tubes- slowly. Breastfeeding 
projects are now part of other programs and do not stand alone. There are no 
full time expert consultants on the payroll .

The good news is that there have been a lot of new appointments in the last 
few years to the main organization and there is hope for the future.

Bottom line, it is your local UNICEF NatComm's job if they want it to be its 
job.

I hope my above post is not too turgid and oblique, I am being diplomatic.
And the info is to the best of my knowledge and my personal interpretation.

We have to also remember the great amount of work that has been done by all 
of us which began with the seven mothers in a Chicago suburb a little over 
50 years ago. World Breastfeeding week is a small part of the big wave we 
have created.

Evi Adams
Israel

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