definite articles - Is it appropriate to use "the" before an abbreviation?

For example, which one of these is more appropriate:

I am talking about what the UNICEF has done for India.

or

I am talking about what UNICEF has done for India.

Answer

It depends on how you pronounce the abbreviation (in this case, UNICEF) in whichever part of the world you are in. If you treat it as an acronym and pronounce it as one word (~younisef), then you won't need the article. However, if, you treat it as an initialism and spell out each letter when you pronounce it, then you will need the the.

Illustrating with examples:

I am talking about what UNICEF has done for India.

I am talking about what the UN has done for India.

I believe that this is more of a general rule of thumb than anything else.