United Nations in India
The
United Nations in India is led by the UN Resident Coordinator, Mr.
Patrice Coeur-Bizot, who is the designated representative of the UN
Secretary General and leader of the UN Country Team. The UN Country
Team, which consists of Heads of UN Agencies, steers the work of the UN
within India. The Resident Coordinator mechanism focuses on Joint
Programmes, Teams (security, disaster, operations, AHI), Advocacy with
national and provincial elected representatives, UNDAF common
programming, planning and monitoring, resource mobilization, HACT and
popularizing and localizing MDGs.
The
UN in India has harmonized the UNDAF with national goals as articulated
in the 11th Five-year Plan of the Government of India to facilitate
‘inclusive growth’. Accordingly, the UNDAF India 2008-2012 focuses on
delivering results to the excluded groups, especially women and girls,
and was approved by the Planning Commission, Government of India in
February 2007.
The following is a brief note on individual UN entity’s priority areas in India.
APCTT: The
APCTT works on technology transfer services, technology
capacity-building, promotion and management of innovation as well as
sub-regional and regional networking.
ESCAP : The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific
(ESCAP)
is the regional arm of the United Nations, playing a unique role as the
only intergovernmental forum for all countries and territories of the
Asian and Pacific region. Established in 1947, ESCAP today has 53
members and 9 associate members covering over 60 per cent of the world's
population, or 4.1 billion people.
From its headquarters in Bangkok,
ESCAP provides a forum for its member States that promotes regional
cooperation and collective action, assisting countries in building and
sustaining shared economic growth and social equity. ESCAP gives
stronger participation to the smaller and often left out voices in the
region, the least developed countries, the small island States and the
landlocked States.
FAO:
FAO focuses on technical assistance in facilitating multi-lateral
cooperatio0n to reduce the risk to food security and economic growth,
offering support to the national government in strengthening the
implementation of national missions and programmes aimed at reducing
poverty and piloting innovative approaches and piloting innovative
approaches with governments, NGOs and private sector in agricultural and
rural development.
IFAD:
IFAD’s focus is on providing access to improved livelihood
opportunities for tribal communities in semi-arid areas, microfinance
services, and use of new technologies for agriculture to help reduce
poverty.
IFC:
IFC has doubled its budget in the area of its main focus-
infrastructure- to $600 million. Areas of work are natural gas, wind
power, port services, and developing PPP in infrastructure sector.
ILO:
The overarching goal of ILO work is Decent Work (DW), i.e., promoting
opportunities for all women and men to obtain decent and productive work
in conditions of freedom, equity, security and dignity. ILO’s Programme
has been finalized jointly with its partners – Government, employers
and workers.
IMF:
The focus of IMF's work is to facilitate the flow of information
between the Government of India, the Reserve Bank of India and the IMF
and train officials from RBI, national and state governments.
UNAIDS:
The UNAIDS in India coordinates technical support with all development
partners for implementation of the third five-year phase of the
National AIDS Control Programme. It also generates strategic information
to track and monitor the epidemic.
UNODC:
UNODC activities in India focus on drug abuse awareness, preventing
transmission of HIV, precursor chemical control, human trafficking and
in new areas such as prison reforms, migrants and anti corruption.
UNDP:
UNDP works to support Government at all levels and communities in
villages and towns on inclusive governance, livelihoods promotion,
stemming the spread of HIV/AIDS. In areas prone to natural disasters,
UNDP helps further efforts aimed at building the resilience of
communities at risk. UNDP is committed to help India achieve MDGs as
well as the national objectives articulated in consecutive Five-Year
Plans.
UNESCO:
UNESCO’s work in India focuses on capacity building in the areas of
education, natural, social and human sciences, heritage sites, culture
and strengthening communication and information capacities
UNIC:
The UNIC was the first United Nations office to be established in India
and also covers Bhutan. UNIC's work includes informing media,
governments, NGOs, academia and general public about the work of the
United Nations.
UNFPA:
UNFPA works within the SWAP on the Reproductive and Child Health
programme (RCH II) within the rubric of the National Rural Health
Mission (NRHM) till 2010. UNFPA, in addition, provides support for
addressing pre-natal sex selection and gender based violence, improving
adolescent sexual and reproductive health, promoting safe sexual
behaviour, mainstreaming RH and gender in disaster response, and
promoting population and development strategies.
UNHCR:
The UNHCR protects and assists some 11,500 refugees in India. While
India is not a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention or its Protocol
of 1967, it has been a member of UNHCR’s Executive Committee in Geneva
since 1996.
UNICEF:
The India Country Programme is UNICEF’s largest country programme of
cooperation. The overall goal of the Country Programme is to advance the
fulfillment of the rights of all women and children in India to
survival, development, participation and protection by reducing social
inequalities based on gender, caste, ethnicity or region.
UNIDO:
The UNIDO’s Regional Office for South Asia acts to mobilize knowledge,
information, skills and technology to promote competitive industry,
productive employment and sound environment.
UN Women:
Advancement of women’s rights being the centre of all its efforts, UN
Women focuses its activities on three strategic areas: i) Enhancing
women’s economic security and rights; ii) Reducing prevalence of
violence against women and HIV/AIDS iii) Advancing gender justice in
democratic governance and iv) capacity building of women elected
representatives.
UNMOGIP:
The UNMOGIP observes developments pertaining to the adherence of the
cease-fire of December 1971 and report these to the Secretary-General.
Based in both India and Pakistan, UNMOGIP has field stations , Liaison
Office in New Delhi (India) administrative and Logistics HQ in
Rawalpindi (Pakistan), and Operational HQ (alternates six-Monthly
between Rawalpindi (Pakistan) and Srinagar (Jammu and Kashmir).
UNOPS:
UNOPS’ India Procurement Office (IPO) has been operating from New Delhi
since September 2007. It operates, currently, as a procurement agent
for Government of India, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
WB:
The World Bank’s Country Strategy for 2009-2012 focuses on helping the
country to fast-track the development of much needed infrastructure and
to support the seven poorest states achieve higher standards of living.
WFP:
The World Food Programme’s Country Programme (2008-12) has three major
components I) capacity development to improve the performance of food
based schemes ii) Improving nutritional status of women and children
through fortification initiatives and support to the ICDS and iii)
)Improving food security by creating assets and reducing vulnerability
through food for work projects.
WHO:
In India, WHO provides technical assistance and collaborates with the
Government of India and major stakeholders in health development
efforts. It assists notably in Policy Development; Capacity Building and
Advocacy. The four main strategic objectives of WHO in India are: (i)
reduce the burden of communicable and emerging diseases; (ii) promote
maternal and child health; (iii) scale up prevention and control of
non-communicable diseases (NCDs) ; and (iv) strengthen health systems
development within the national and global environment, with a focus on
human resources.
UNCTAD:
UNCTAD assists Indian policy makers (the Ministry of Commerce, area
focus ministries like textiles, small scale industry, women and child
development and local governments) and other stakeholders (industry,
civil society) in understanding the developmental dimension of key trade
issues, as they relate to negotiations in the WTO and other trading
arrangements.
UN HABITAT:
The Programme focuses on: i) Pro-poor Urban Water Governance, ii) Urban
Water Demand Management, iii) Integrated Urban Environmental
Sanitation, and iv) Creation of income generation opportunities for the
urban poor by involving them in the management and delivery of
community-based water and sanitation services.
UN Millennium Campaign:
The UNMC works in close collaboration with the UNRC mechanism for
promoting MDGs, especially focusing on civil society initiatives.
ITC, Geneva: International Trade Centre, Geneva has operations in India and works as a Non Resident Agency.
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