The World’s Biggest Humanitarian Warehouse

Just outside of Copenhagen, UNICEF staff are hard at work inside the world’s largest humanitarian warehouse.

When an emergency strikes, UNICEF will send specialist staff to the disaster zone within hours. They will make a rapid assessment of the most urgent needs faced by children and their families.

As soon as the supplies division receives the call, staff jump into action; moving the most essential of over 2,000 items to where they are needed the most.

We ship vaccines to prevent deadly disease outbreaks.

We deliver tents to set up emergency learning spaces and school supplies to keep children learning.

We send thousands of water purification tablets to provide one of the most basic human rights - clean drinking water.

Within 72 hours, UNICEF is able to get essential supplies and specialist staff anywhere in the world.
 

How Supplies Make it from the Warehouse to the Field

On all other days, it starts with a catalogue.

For many of these supplies, UNICEF is the world’s largest - and sometimes only - procurer. We purchase large numbers of products which drives down prices. In 2017, we saved the world’s aid organisations almost $400 million dollars by buying and transporting these life-saving supplies in bulk.

We also take orders from governments, NGOs, and other UN agencies to help them run their programs efficiently.

We also innovate. 

For us no child is too far. We find new ways to reach children living in even the most remote areas. In Vanuatu, health staff used to trek over mountainous terrain for several hours to vaccinate a child. Now, children can be reached safely by drones in less than 25 minutes.

Our school-in-a-box is supplied in a locked aluminum box - the lid of which can double as a blackboard when coated with the special paint included in the kit.

We have tiny water purification tablets - which cost only one cent each - that can turn 40-50 litres of water into a clean and safe drink.

The supplies centre is at the heart of UNICEF’s work and keeps many other organisations and governments working to reduce the worst effects of poverty, conflict, and disaster.

When you buy an Inspired Gift for a loved one, make a donation, or join our Global Parent family, you are helping to keep the supply centre stocked and making UNICEF’s life-saving work and emergency response possible.

Once bought, you will be sending supplies to one of two different kinds of programs:

• Rapid response to emergencies and disasters as they happen.
• Ongoing work to help us strengthen and improve the lives of children in remote regions or vulnerable communities.

Making a Difference in Crises

In 40 per cent of cases, supplies will be sent as emergency aid.

When a disaster hits, UNICEF staff are immediately on the ground assessing the situation. Our supplies can reach anywhere in the world within 72 hours.

When 650,000 Rohingya refugees flooded into refugee camps in Bangladesh, a deadly outbreak of disease loomed over their already dire situation. This potentially devastating outbreak was brought about by conditions common to many crises; close living quarters, poor sanitation systems, and a limited supply of clean water.

UNICEF acted quickly, immediately launching a widespread vaccination campaign to help keep children and their families protected. Vaccines were able to be immediately shipped from the supply centre to the Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh.
 

Ongoing Programs

The remaining 60 per cent of supplies are sent to ongoing programs.

UNICEF Supply Division is at the centre of our ongoing work; keeping children warm in bitterly cold refugee camps, protecting entire communities against disease, or setting up quality education programs for children living in some of the most remote regions on Earth. 

An Inspired Gift

We are always innovating and working to reach even more children around the world.

We are finding simple ways of reaching children in remote areas.

We are helping governments improve their own vaccination campaigns and making sure that every child has access to vaccines.

An Inspired Gift lets you choose a gift that gives back, to share with the loved ones who have given so much to you. It really means so much to our work. Thank you.
 

You can shop for an Inspired Gift for anyone, at any time, from anywhere in the world.