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UN in Uzbekistan

Uzbekistan joined the United Nations in 1992 as a new sovereign and independent state. The United Nations Office opened in Tashkent the following year. Today, there are eight UN programmes, funds and agencies operating in Uzbekistan: United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), World Health Organization (WHO), United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), United Nations Office for Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), and the World Bank Group. The UN system in Uzbekistan works as one, collaborating to support the national reform efforts.

Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS)
UNAIDS, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, brings together the efforts and resources of ten UN system organizations to the global AIDS response. Cosponsors include UNHCR, UNICEF, WFP, UNDP, UNFPA, UNODC, ILO, UNESCO, WHO and the World Bank. Based in Geneva, the UNAIDS secretariat works on the ground in more than 75 countries world wide.

In Uzbekistan, coherent action on AIDS by the UN system is coordinated through the UN Theme Group and the Joint UN Team on AIDS. The cosponsors represented in the country are UNICEF, UNDP, UNFPA, UNODC, UNESCO, WHO and the World Bank.

UNAIDS helps mount and support an expanded response to AIDS – one that engages the efforts of many sectors and partners from government and civil society – to achieve the goal of Universal Access to HIV prevention, treatment and care by 2010.

UNAIDS has five focus areas for a more effective national response to AIDS:

  • Mobilizing leadership and advocacy for effective action on the epidemic;
  • Providing strategic information and policies;
  • Tracking, monitoring and evaluation of the epidemic;
  • Engaging civil society and developing partnerships;
  • Mobilizing financial, human and technical resources to support an effective response.

Source: United Nations Joint Programme on HIV/AIDS: About UNAIDS

United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
UNDP is the UN's global development network, an organization advocating for change and connecting countries to knowledge, experience and resources to help people build a better life. We are on the ground in 166 countries, working with them on their own solutions to global and national development challenges. As they develop local capacity, they draw on the people of UNDP and our wide range of partners. In each country office, the UNDP Resident Representative normally also serves as the Resident Coordinator of development activities for the United Nations system as a whole. Through such coordination, UNDP seeks to ensure the most effective use of UN and international aid resources.

UNDP opened its office in Uzbekistan in January 1993. During its more than decade-long experience here, UNDP has been committed to enhancing the development situation in the country and has worked intensively to support the Government, civil society and people in Uzbekistan to overcome the numerous challenges of transition. UNDP has assisted governmental and non-governmental institutions in obtaining the knowledge, experience and resources needed to successfully pursue economic and social reforms to ensure a good and promising future for the Uzbek people.

UNDP assistance in Uzbekistan, through its current country programme (2005-2009) focuses on two overall, interlinked objectives: to support the Government in advancing economic and democratic reforms, and strengthening and fostering the participation of civil society in development processes at national and local levels. UNDP’s work is concentrating on three thematic areas:

  • economic governance and poverty reduction;
  • environment and energy;
  • democratic governance

Special attention is paid to mainstreaming the use of information and communication technologies as well as gender, and to applying human-rights-based and participatory approaches throughout the programme. UNDP is a key player advocating for human development in Uzbekistan. The annual Human Development Report, commissioned by UNDP, fosters a debate on key development issues at global and national levels. It provides new measurement tools, innovative analysis and often controversial policy proposals.
Source: United Nations Development Programme: About UNDP
 

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization was founded on 16 November 1945. For this specialized United Nations agency, it is not enough to build classrooms in devastated countries or to publish scientific breakthroughs. Education, Social and Natural Science, Culture and Communication are the means to a far more ambitious goal: to build peace in the minds of men. Today, UNESCO functions as a laboratory of ideas and a standard-setter to forge universal agreements on emerging ethical issues. The Organization also serves as a clearinghouse - for the dissemination and sharing of information and knowledge - while helping Member States to build their human and institutional capacities in diverse fields.

The main mission of the UNESCO Tashkent Office is to represent the Secretariat in the country, to ensure that education, science, culture and communications are taken into account within the planning and implementing activities of the full UN system based in Uzbekistan, to raise funds to promote and implement UNESCO’s programme activities, in close cooperation with the National Commission for UNESCO in Uzbekistan and local and international partners.

UNESCO office in Tashkent is working to assist the Government to improve quality and access to education in Uzbekistan through technical advice, standard setting, innovative projects and networking. The organization is also dedicated to protecting and promoting the country’s tangible and intangible cultural heritage so that such wealth may be received by future generation in the context of sustainable development. Moreover, UNESCO regards cultural diversity and intercultural dialogue as the most effective way of achieving development and peace.

UNESCO also considers that the scientific and technological process must be placed in the context of ethical reflection rooted in the cultural, legal, philosophical and religious heritage of the various human communities. It encourages the equitable access to information and knowledge and support the development of the communication field in Uzbekistan.
Source: United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization: About UNESCO

United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)
UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, is an international development agency that promotes the right of every woman, man and child to enjoy a life of health and equal opportunity. UNFPA supports countries in using population data for policies and programmes to reduce poverty and to ensure that every pregnancy is wanted, every birth is safe, every young person is free of HIV/AIDS, and every girl and woman is treated with dignity and respect.

In Uzbekistan, UNFPA work in the following areas:

Assisting in strengthening technical, managerial and research capacity of the Ministry of Health and major medical institutions to provide high quality reproductive health services through providing necessary reproductive health (RH) commodities and equipment, training programmes, public events, production of necessary information and education materials, and working with mass media;
 

  • Increasing awareness and access to information on sexual and reproductive health among men, women and young people, especially on HIV/AIDS, sexually-transmitted infections (STI), unwanted pregnancies and gender-based violence through training programmes (including peer education activities for youth), public events, research, production of information materials and working with media;
     
  • Increasing knowledge of policy makers, religious leaders and community leaders on the principles of the International Conference on Population and development (ICPD) Programme of Action and the Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) through conducting public events and training programmes in cooperation with Women’s Committee of Uzbekistan and other relevant partners, conducting research, production of information materials and working with media;
     
  • Building national capacity in demography and population statistics through conducting various training activities and public events in cooperation with the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection and the State Statistics Committee of Uzbekistan and other relevant institutions, conducting research, production of information materials and working with media; and
     
  • Increasing awareness on population and development among policy makers through conducting training programmes for deputy khokims and other Government representatives nation-wide in cooperation with the Centre for Socio-Economic Research and Women’s Committee of Uzbekistan and production of necessary information and training materials.

Source: United Nations Population Fund: About UNFPA

United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF)
UNICEF is the driving force that helps build a world where the rights of every child are realized. We have the global authority to influence decision-makers, and the variety of partners at grassroots level to turn the most innovative ideas into reality.  That makes us unique among world organizations, and unique among those working with the young. We believe that nurturing and caring for children are the cornerstones of human progress.  UNICEF was created with this purpose in mind - to work with others to overcome the obstacles that poverty, violence, disease and discrimination place in a child's path.  We believe that we can, together, advance the cause of humanity.  We work in 191 countries through country programmes and National Committees.

UNICEF is the largest global organization working especially for children.

In cooperation with the Government and development partners, UNICEF strives to make sure children receive healthcare and education and are protected from exploitation, neglect and abuse. UNICEF also aids in emergencies such as war and natural disasters like earthquakes and storms.

UNICEF is guided by the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), which Uzbekistan ratified in 1992. In Uzbekistan UNICEF remain engaged with the Government in implementing the recommendations of the UN committee on the rights of children and the National Plan of Action on Children’s wellbeing.

Support within these frameworks includes:

  • Improving data for planning;
  • Improving the quality of education and increasing access to pre-school education;
  • Improving healthcare services; and,
  • Eliminating the worst form of child labour from all sectors including agriculture.

In all these challenging areas, UNICEF also continuously pursues strategic partnership with other UN agencies, International financial institutions and international development partners.
Source: United Nations Children's Fund: About UNICEF

United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC)
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) is a global leader in the fight against illicit drugs and international crime. Established in 1997, its headquarters are in Vienna and it has 21 field offices as well as a liaison offices in New York. UNODC relies on voluntary contributions, mainly from governments, for 90 per cent of its budget. UNODC is mandated to assist Member States in their struggle against illicit drugs, crime and terrorism. In the Millennium Declaration, Member States also resolved to intensify efforts to fight transnational crime in all its dimensions, to redouble the efforts to implement the commitment to counter the world drug problem and to take concerted action against international terrorism.

The three pillars of UNODC’s work programme are:

  • Normative work to assist States in the ratification and implementation of the international treaties, the development of domestic legislation on drugs, crime and terrorism, and the provision of secretariat and substantive services to the treaty-based and governing bodies;
  • Field-based technical cooperation projects to enhance the capacity of Member States to counteract illicit drugs, crime and terrorism;
  • Research and analytical work to increase knowledge and understanding of drugs and crime issues and expand the evidence-base for policy and operational decisions.

The UNODC Regional Office for Central Asia (ROCA) is based in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, with project offices in Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan. Its activities address the impact that drugs and crime have on the overall development situation in the region.

UNODC has been providing assistance in the Central Asian region mostly in the following areas: institutional building for strengthened national capacities in countering drugs; creation of law enforcement communications systems; improving border control; supporting national efforts in creating and strengthening dedicated drug control agencies; raising of public awareness on drug related issues; improving drug and HIV prevention, treatment and rehabilitation, including a number of projects that provide specialized training for mass media and NGO representatives in drug and HIV awareness and prevention. The work on combating money laundering, corruption and human trafficking is increasing rapidly as well.
Source: United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime: About us

World Health Organization (WHO)
The World Health Organization is the United Nations specialized agency for health. It was established on 7 April 1948. WHO's objective, as set out in its Constitution, is the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of health. Health is defined in WHO's Constitution as a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. WHO is governed by 193 Member States through the World Health Assembly. The Health Assembly is composed of representatives from WHO's Member States. The main tasks of the World Health Assembly are to approve the WHO programme and the budget for the following biennium and to decide major policy questions.

WHO’s scope of action in Uzbekistan includes a number of strategic areas of collaboration regularly identified jointly with the Ministry of Health and articulated in a Biennium Collaborative Agreement (BCA). For the biennium 2007-2008, these areas are:

  • Strengthening the performance of the national health system in addressing priority health Issues of the population;
  • Improving control and management of communicable diseases;
  • Improving mother and child heath;
  • Prevention and management of non-communicable diseases;
  • Fostering environmental safety;

The WHO Country Office is led by the International WHO Representative and supported by the National Liaison Officer. There are five Technical Programmes, each addressing specific areas: HIV/AIDS/STIs, Tuberculosis, Mental Health, Vaccine and Preventable Infections, Family and Child Hearth, Food Safety and Nutrition, Communicable Diseases Surveillance and Avian Influenza.
Source: World Health Organization: About WHO

World Bank
The World Bank is a vital source of financial and technical assistance to developing countries around the world. We are not a bank in the common sense. We are made up of two unique development institutions owned by 184 member countries-the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and the International Development Association (IDA). Each institution plays a different but supportive role in our mission of global poverty reduction and the improvement of living standards. The IBRD focuses on middle income and creditworthy poor countries, while IDA focuses on the poorest countries in the world. Together we provide low-interest loans, interest-free credit and grants to developing countries for education, health, infrastructure, communications and many other purposes.

The World Bank’s mission in Uzbekistan is to help improve people’s living standards. It provides advice and financing to enhance social services and modernize the country’s infrastructure. The World Bank works with the government and the people of Uzbekistan, sharing knowledge and development experiences from around the world.

The Bank’s active portfolio includes four main sectors: Water supply and sanitation; Irrigation and drainage; Human development (health and education); Agriculture.
Source: World Bank: About us