Within UN System (globally and in Ukraine)
UNDP is at the centre of the
UN's efforts to reduce global poverty. At the global level, UNDP chairs the UN
Develop-ment Group, which includes the UN's key players in international
development. At the country level, the UNDP Resident Representative serves as
Resident Coordinator of all UN development activities.
The ongoing
reform of the UN System brings all UN Agencies in Ukraine, including UNDP, closer
together, in order to jointly identify priorities and undertake joint
development programmes. UNDP is charged
with the responsibility of leading the UN's work on institutional reforms and
civil society empowerment. The aim is to
deliver results as one UN system and avoid duplication and overlapping of
activities.
Working to ensure the
strategic integration of development efforts within the UN and among
governments, donors and civil society is one of UNDP's most important roles. In
a world of limited resources and capacities, UNDP helps to ensure the most
effective use of UN and international aid resources.
Around the World
UNDP has a unique voice in
international development. The annual Human Development Report,
commissioned by UNDP, focuses the global debate on key development issues,
providing new measurement tools, innovative analysis and often-controversial
policy proposals. It is guided by the belief that development is ultimately a
process of enlarging people's choices, not just raising national incomes. The
independent team of experts who write the Report draw on a worldwide network of
leaders from academia, government and civil society who contribute data, ideas,
and best practices. Developing countries and their international partners use
the Report to gauge results and shape new policies.
The global Report's analytical framework and
inclusive approach carry over into regional, national and local human
development reports. The Arab Human
Develop-ment Report, prepared by Arab scholars and intellectuals, has
provided an honest, balanced-and at times-harsh view of the obstacles to
development in the Arab world. And UNDP has also sponsored reports on the
limitations of democracy in Latin America, the plight of the Roma in Europe and the importance of promoting entrepreneur-ship
in developing countries. At the country level, more than 500 National Human Development Reports have
been published in 143 countries. These Reports are created by national experts
and intellectuals and in many cases, their research and advocacy has spurred
policy debates that have inspired leaders in countries to build their own
development solutions. UNDP also sponsors the Millennium Project which, with
contributions from more than 250 development experts, produced far-reaching
recommendations for eliminating poverty and achieving the MDGs.
For more information, please,
visit: www.undp.org
IN UKRAINE
Having celebrated the sixteenth anniversary of
independence in 2007, Ukraine
appeared as a country with a greater sense of freedom and a stronger feeling of
national identity. Among the countries of the former Soviet Union, Ukraine
firmly stands out in its commitment to European values, pluralism, freedom of
speech and vigour of various non-governmental actors. However, this progress
remains delicate and needs to be consolidated.
As a result of events that followed the
Presidential elections of 2004 and establishment of the new Government in early
2005, numerous democratic governance reforms and changes were pronounced. The
country reaffirmed its European Choice, and embarked on a course towards
further international economic integration.
The country's capacities to withstand external
and domestic challenges will depend on Ukrainian leaders' abilities to
strengthen stability and reform the justice system, as well as take steps that
will attract higher foreign direct investments, reform technologically outdated
industries, unleash robust, stable long-term growth and distribute its fruits
more equitably.
In August 1996 the Government of Ukraine and the UN Development
Programme signed a new Country Programme Action Plan for 2006-2010. According
to this Plan, UNDP
works closely with the leadership of Ukraine at the central, regional
and local level to advance democracy, promote economic growth and improve the
living standards of Ukrainians. Guided by the Millennium Declaration and human
rights-based approach to programming UNDP undertakes efforts to empower people
to address current challenges, starting with village communities, schools and
local government offices, all the way up to the central level institutions of
the state.
Since 2005 UNDP's activities in Ukraine have
grown both in the scope of activities as well as in financial terms. Several new initiatives were launched
alongside a number of ongoing projects that started before 2005. Currently,
UNDP has been implementing 27 projects in Ukraine.
From about USD 9 million portfolio in 2005 it
grew to over USD 23 million delivered in 2006 and to go about USD 25 million in
2007.
Four development focus areas defining the structure of UNDP-led actions include:
Democratic governance and access to justice: Corruption, unclear division of constitutional
powers and
responsibilities, the lack of transparency, accountability as well as poor
quality of public services - all these challenges were brought into focus
during the "Orange Revolution".
Addressing these issues remains among the top priorities of Ukraine's
political leadership. Responding to this challenge, UNDP supported public
administration reforms, anti-corruption and accountability initiatives; justice
and human rights protection; decentralization and development of local
governance as well as gender equality. A large part of our management resources
was devoted to implementation of EU-funded projects in the area of border
management.
Prosperity, poverty reduction and MDGs: UNDP provided Ukraine's leaders with continuous
policy support in designing and implementing
economic reforms. It offers its assistance in the area of promoting economic
growth, furthering market reforms and advancing WTO accession processes. The
UNDP country office in Ukraine
helped to build national capacities and delivered expert advice in economic and
social policy reforms. With UNDP leading global MDG advocacy efforts, the UNDP
country office in Ukraine actively works to help Ukrainian partners anchor
their national development strategies in MDGs and to strengthen capacity to
ensure their policies and budgets match the demands of achieving the goals. Moreover,
UNDP experts apply area-based development approaches and strengthen HIV/AIDS
prevention efforts.
Local development and human security: With strong support from the donor community,
UNDP
managed to significantly expand the activities of the existing area-based
development programmes, namely Chornobyl Recovery and Development Programme,
Crimea Integration and Development Programme and Municipal Governance and
Sustainable Development Programme. While each of the programmes addresses the
specific needs within a certain area, all the programmes rely on community
mobilization as a primary method to promote local development. This approach puts
a strong emphasis on: community empowerment and regeneration, building the
spirit of activism and social inclusion. As a result, it contributes to the
improvement of self-governance by encouraging a dialogue between local
authorities and communities, thus enabling joint prioritization and response to
common development needs. The ABD methodology proved to be equally effective in
both urban and rural areas for mobilizing the communities to improve local
infrastructure, generating self-employment and promoting entrepreneurship, and
developing social services (particularly educational and medical).
In total, over 2005-2006 alone 538 communities were assisted, 419 community-based projects were implemented, and 11 municipalities joined partnership with UNDP.
Energy and environment: UNDP cooperates with the national and local levels of government,
private
sector and civil society to promote sustainable development policies and ensure
their practical application. Moreover, UNDP supports the Government of Ukraine
in meeting its international environmental commitments, particularly on
fighting climate change and preserving biodiversity across Ukraine. We
promote participatory approaches in environmental governance at the municipal
level and assist the Government in addressing one of its key challenges -
energy efficiency.
In each of these thematic areas, UNDP tries to ensure balance between policy and advocacy
work, capacity building activities and pilot projects.
UNDP's flagship
initiatives and achievements in the last two years include the creation of the
Blue Ribbon Commission for Ukraine which has to date released three reports
with policy recommendations; our Gender Programme; assistance to
Chornobyl-affected regions and significant expansion of our programme in
Crimea; and the very successful Municipal Governance Project the results of
which, and the interest of local partners, have exceeded our expectations.
At present,
UNDP-led local development programmes are implemented in 11 regions (oblasts), 39
districts (rayons), including all 14 districts of the Autonomous Republic of
Crimea and 17 districts in Chornobyl affected areas, as well as 20
municipalities across Ukraine.
A major expansion of community-based assistance is planned for the beginning of
2008 with the financial assistance from the EU.
Moreover, UNDP in Ukraine
conducts activities on youth, drug policy and HIV/AIDS, coordinates the Millennium
Development Goals team within the Ministry of Economy of Ukraine,
supports donor coordination, and offers grants to human rights organizations.
Last but not least, we are very pleased to have contributed to establishing many
partnerships in the sphere of energy efficiency, with the Esco-Rivne project
being a well known success story and a model for replication in other
municipalities.
The success of UNDP programmes is a result of the
commitment and excellent cooperation of Ukrainian counterparts and
beneficiaries of UNDP-led projects. In
delivering development assistance in Ukraine, we draw on the global
experience and knowledge of our global network of experts and country offices.
We also rely on partnerships with bilateral and multilateral donors to
implement UNDP projects.
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