In February 2015 to mark his tenth year, UNICEF and David launched 7: The David Beckham UNICEF Fund.  In its first three years the 7 Fund has helped to change the lives of vulnerable children.

The 7 Fund is a unique partnership with the goal of helping children around the world – especially girls – break down barriers that too often steal dreams away:

bullying, violence, child marriage and missed education. In 2018, David travelled to Indonesia to meet children

who have experienced classroom violence and bullying, and to see how the 7 Fund supports anti-bullying programmes in schools.

Protecting childhood

In 2019, as we mark 30 years since the signing of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, David looks back on his own childhood

and reminds world leaders to keep their promise so children can have a brighter future.

Supporting our #EndViolence campaign

David’s support for our End Violence campaign included the release of a powerful film, to shine a light on the issue of violence against children, highlighting how physical and psychological abuse marks children forever.

David’s own tattoos were marks chosen to represent happy or important memories, but millions of children worldwide bear marks of violence that they have not chosen.

David calls to end violence against children for good

United Nations General Assembly

On 24 September 2015, as the UN prepared to adopt the Sustainable Development Goals, David joined United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake, and two young people from UNICEF Voices of Youth initiative to unveil a unique digital installation that brought the voices of children and young people to the heart of the of the United Nations General Assembly.

David urged world leaders to listen to these messages – and to take action – to transform the lives of millions of children by putting the most disadvantaged children and young people at the centre of all decisions and investments in the new 15-year development agenda. On a visit to Cambodia in June that year, he met with victims of child violence and abuse, and learnt about how UNICEF and its partners are helping to protect Cambodian children.

David visits a non formal education centre in Cambodia where vulnerable children who have never been to school before have catch up lessons

Unicef/Irby

David’s journey with UNICEF

Since 2005, David has travelled extensively to see UNICEF’s work and championed our global campaigns. He has raised awareness and vital funds for urgent – and often hidden – issues affecting children, including malnutrition, emergencies, violence against children and AIDS.

His visit to Swaziland in 2016 brought global attention to the East and Southern Africa drought that was wreaking havoc on the lives of children and families already made vulnerable by HIV.

In Sierra Leone, he helped to focus global attention on child survival – raising awareness of the high death rate of under-fives and how these deaths could be prevented. He travelled to South Africa to see UNICEF’s work with children and families living with HIV and AIDS and on a visit to the Philippines, he met children affected by Typhoon Haiyan. There he saw how UNICEF continued to support them with health care, counselling and safe spaces to play and learn.