The Global Programme Division (GPD) plays a central role in driving programme excellence across UNICEF. It provides global strategic leadership and policy direction, develops and monitors frameworks and standards, and ensures coherence and alignment across sectors, regions, and partners. GPD generates high-impact, evidence-based solutions and serves as a hub of specialised expertise, offering technical guidance on policy reform and scalable programming. GPD leads UNICEF’s policies, standards, and negotiations for programmes, ensuring that the organisation’s assets and priorities align with, and contribute to, child development goals. In addition, GPD strengthens country-level implementation through integrated technical support, linking global policy with on-the-ground action to deliver results for children at scale. As part of this structure, UNICEF has established Centres of Excellence (CoEs) to provide highquality, demanddriven technical assistance to Country and Regional Offices, and their governments and partners. Located strategically in Nairobi, Panama, Amman, and Bangkok, the CoEs bring together crosscutting expertise across time zones. Global Programme Practices in CoEs function as a single point of support entry, delivering tailored assistance in priority areas such as policy reform in matters that advance the well-being of children, at-scale programme design, public finance, workforce development, and institutional strengthening, and timely humanitarian response while promoting resilient development. In doing so, the CoEs also contribute to global policy standards, ensuring that UNICEF’s support is grounded in practical knowledge.
