Executive Summary: "In 2015, Myanmar wrote new important chapters in its history: the Government and eight ethnic armed groups signed a Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA), and successfully held elections that saw a landslide victory for the National League for Democracy. Despite progress, children in Myanmar continue to suffer from higher levels of mortality and malnutrition, lower enrolment and completion of primary education; and higher risks to trafficking, labour, violence and recruitment and use by armed forces, than children in the region. In this year?s context, cooperation between Myanmar and UNICEF has been driven by three main considerations: turning policies and plans into changes in children?s lives, as longer-term reforms proceed; responding to humanitarian needs arising from both protracted situations and massive floods and landslides, while further mainstreaming risk reduction into development plans; and placing children at the centre of determining factors for Myanmar?s sustainable development ? peace, social cohesion and human rights. The programme delivered direct results. More than 95 per cent of children 9 months to 15 years old were protected from measles and rubella through vaccination campaigns. In targeted townships, the proportion of children 3?5 years old accessing early childhood facilities doubled between 2014 and 2015, and hundreds of thousands of children benefited from child-centred teaching methodologies applied for the first time by more than 14,000 primary school teachers. Approximately 280,000 children in 27 townships benefited from the first-ever deployment of social case management workers. The proportion of children under 5 registered continued to increase, to reach 79 per cent this year. Releases of children and young people from the armed forces have continued, with an additional 146 released, falling one child short of the 700 mark since the signing of the Joint Action Plan in 2012. Under its four-theme advocacy strategy (children affected by armed conflict; children in Rakhine; public finance for children; and the first 1,000 days), UNICEF contributed to building an environment more supportive of child rights. Parties to NCA committed to protect children in armed conflicts, and negotiations are well advanced towards the signing of an Action Plan with two listed major ethnic armed groups; joint interventions in Kachin and the South-East allowed actors across ethnic lines to deliver better health care and nutrition to children; in the election campaign, the Union Electoral Commission, UNICEF and a coalition of Child Rights organizations convinced political parties to prioritize children. Those who did gained most of the votes, making children a clear winner of these elections. Amid inter-communal and religious tensions, the religious leaders of the four main faiths issued joint calls to respect religious diversity. In Rakhine, UNICEF?s pioneering approach to reach all children through combined humanitarian assistance, development work, promotion of social cohesion, and advocacy against targeted discrimination is now making consensus among international development partners..."