If you live in a connected place, you have access to technologies that help you survive and thrive. But for many of the world’s most disconnected people, advances in technology are threatening to leave them behind.

For UNICEF, new technologies, such as augmented reality and virtual reality (AR/VR), have the potential to vastly enhance the organization’s ability to reach and assist children in its programme countries in key areas such as health, education and training. The challenge is to ensure that this potential is harnessed and scaled to benefit millions of children.

UNICEF is investing in augmented reality/virtual reality prototypes to identify scalable solutions that can solve real problems, strengthen its interventions and provide the same technological advances to children from programme countries as to their peers in other parts of the world.

Augmented reality and virtual reality are technological innovations that are poised to develop into the next computing platform – the way Internet and mobile devices did in the past – and influence the lives of millions of people.

UNICEF is supporting solutions that:

• Impact specific areas of UNICEF’s programmatic work (e.g. health, education)
• Teach the language of AR/VR (e.g. content creating platforms)
• Reduce friction and increase AR/VR accessibility, in particular through WebVRbased solutions)