Migration – UNHCR and the ILO are conducting together a project on integration of forced migrants, aiming at training trainers on small entreprise development. This project is based on a methodology tested by the ILO in Kazakhstan over the past five years.

IOM and WHO implemented a joint TB Control and Prevention project (training, education and equipment) for internally displaced persons in the northern Caucasus.

IOM implements UNHCR's voluntary repatriation programme available to asylum-seekers from outside the CIS and the Baltic States.

Youth – In Saint Petersburg, the ILO, UNESCO and UNICEF are collaborating in the implementation of respective projects and programmes related to street children and child labour, to avoid contradictions and duplication of efforts, and in search for synergies.

Cooperation between ILO and UNICEF has the potential to be especially productive in such areas as training of social workers in methods of outreach work with street children (in collaboration with the St.-Petersburg State University), vocational training for women and young girls from “at risk” groups (in collaboration with the Women’s Labour Exchange), sharing of factual and statistical information on children and youth who find themselves in difficult life circumstances.

Gender – The III-rd International Women’s Forum “Women for the Survival of the Planet” was held under the support of the UNDP and UNESCO with the collaboration of American non-government organization “Harmony Project”, Canadian Embassy, American Society MiraMed, Ford Foundation, Soros Foundation, and experts form Moscow, Ukraine, Mongolia, Belarus. It also gathered representatives and experts from Russia and other CIS countries. More than 1020 participants took part in the Conference, 23 working groups were organized.

The International Forum devoted to the 20^th anniversary of the ratification of the convention on elimination of discrimination of women by the Russian Federation was held in December 2001. This International Forum was organized by the “Women of Russia” movement in cooperation with UNFPA, UNDP, UNIFEM. This conference gathered 1500 participants.

UNDP, in cooperation with the Department on Family, Women and Children Issues of the Ministry of Labor and Social Development and World Bank Institute, conducted a professional upgrading training programme “Gender Development Strategy and its Implementation in Russia”. This seminar was held at the Academy for Public services under the President of the Russian Federation.  Senior federal and regional managers participated in the seminar. That was the first training programme on gender issues.  Memorandum of Cooperation was signed with the World Bank Institute on advancement of gender education.  As the result of the seminar the book was published “Analysis of socio-economic situation in Russia form gender point of view.”

In December 2000, a seminar on gender mainstreaming in technical cooperation projects was organized by the ILO in Saint Petersburg, with the collaboration of UNDP, UNIDO, the World Bank, TACIS, US AID, the Canadian Embassy, the Embassy of Finland, Ministry of Labour and Social Development, Workers’ and Employers’ organizations. It gathered representatives from Russia, and from other CIS countries. This initiative will facilitate the development of more collaborative actions among Agencies in the future, and hopefully ensure that gender concerns be more adequately taken into account at all phases of development of technical cooperation programmes and projects. All details on this important activity may be found on the relevant web page. ^[4]

Public Relations – The overall task of the CT communication and PR activities was to increase Russian public opinion’s understanding of the UN system work and to contribute to strengthening UN ties with official circles, media, NGOs, business organizations and other segments of civil society in the host country. While the UNIC’s work programme was dominated by projects related to the Millennium communication campaign and “The UN Works” initiative, an increasing number of common actions by the UN agencies reflected a keener interest in heightening the public image of the Organization.

Thus, on the occasion of the International Day for the Elderly the UNIC jointly with the UNDP/UNFPA Office organized in October a round table “The Status of the Elderly in Russia: Autumn is the Season of Life”. On another occasion, the UNODCCP Office joined efforts with the UNIC in organizing a special commemorative event to mark the International Day Against Drug Abuse.

Other Areas for Collaborative Action –

-         Integrated implementation of follow-up to global UN Conferences: The whole CCA process permitted to ensure, through collection of indicators and contributions directly received from all of the eight theme groups and the ad hoc Inter-agency Gender task force, that the follow-up to the variety of global UN conferences be organized in an as integrated manner as possible. Specific activities were devoted by the resident Coordinator system to the follow-up to the World Social Summit (ILO/UNDP/WB), to the World Conference on Women (ILO/UNDP/WB) and to the Cultural Summit (UNESCO/UNDP).

As a follow up to the Cairo Conference, and to enhance the implementation of the ICPD Programme of Action in the Russian Federation with a special focus on Reproductive Health, Family Planning and Reproductive Rights, UNFPA Moscow office is planning to undertake frequent and regular bilateral technical and co-ordination meetings with government officials and NGOs with the aim of assisting the Government to analyze and address important population and development issues related to Reproductive Health and Reproductive Rights, including the right of young people to information on healthy lifestyles, strengthening the role of UNFPA in the promotion of international support for Reproductive Health activities in the country.

-         Capacity building and national execution – National execution represents the rule for the vast majority of UN projects implemented in the Russian Federation. Specific efforts on capacity building are made by UNDP, for which reason the Government has included this item in the CCF document to cover the next few years of programming.

-         Collaboration between the United Nations system and Bretton Woods Institutions – In addition to ad hoc collaboration and active involvement of the World Bank in activities related to HIV/AIDS, Health, Environment, the CCA exercise has permitted that this Institution become quite active in the overall functioning of the UN Resident Coordinator system. Specially worth mentioning are collaborative activities developed in the areas of poverty alleviation, gender mainstreaming, social protection, overall economic analysis. The IMF has also joined the steering committee established to monitor progress made under the ILO-initiated Social Budget project.

-         Civil society and private sector collaboration

One of the major objectives of UNDP in Russia has been the effective and streamlined use of resources, both human and financial, through the establishment of strategic partnerships. It is a privilege to have such a long list of partners, in which one can find government institutions, businesses, civil society organizations, foreign bilateral and multilateral institutions, research institutes, think tanks, international private organizations, etc. Strategically important has also been our close cooperation with the UN system agencies and Bretton Woods institutions, many of which refer to intensive collaboration with UNDP in their yearly reports. During 2000 UNDP in close collaboration with other UN agencies, including UNOPS, ILO and UNIDO developed several  public/private partnerships in the context of the UN Secretary General "Global Compact". The aim of such projects are consistent with government development priorities and the sustainable human development (SHD) mandate of UNDP. Systematization of the strategic partnerships was seriously strengthened through the elaboration of MOUs with various partners, including World Bank Institute.

In the area of public-private partnership development, the UNDP in cooperation with UNIDO developed training centers on investment promotion in the Republic of Komi aimed at improving investment climate and capacity building of national institutions dealing with foreign economic relations.

Another project to be mentioned is re-training programmes in the UNDP employment centers in Moscow region set up in cooperation with Norwegian self-employment technology SYSLAB. This project introduced an innovative know-how on increasing employment of the highly qualified specialists in science and technology complex.

In the area of environmental protection two first fully-fledged integrated projects biodiversity projects for Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula as well as the Local Agenda 21 project for the Altai Republic were developed, and the study of water quality in the area affected by the radioactive contamination of Bryansk Oblast fully completed.

Within the DGP cluster UNDP further promoted gender equality and citizens participation through the organization of two Women Resource Centers in Syktyvkar and Irkutsk  as well as Moscow Social Partnership Center, promotion of University Ombudsman Concept, support to the formulation of the first Federal Concept on Human Rights, etc.

In 2000, the UNIC Moscow was able to consolidate its relations with the Russian business community, specifically as the Centre took active part in the promotion of the “Aid and Trade 2000” – international conference and workshop organized by the UN Office for Project Services in New York. The Centre benefited from its contacts with Russian private sector in many ways, especially in fostering its support for the Global Compact concept (invigorated UN-business partnership).

In conformity with its mandate, the ILO closely associates Workers’ and Employers’ organizations to its entire relevant programme. Since this Organization took during the year under review a more active role in the functioning of the Resident Coordinator system, this resulted in the afore-mentioned organization being more closely associated to a number of UN system initiatives (notably HIV/AIDS, poverty, social budget, gender mainstreaming, entreprise restructuring).

At the present moment UNICEF is cooperating with approximately 50 Russian NGOs within the framework of bilateral project cooperation agreements. Special attention is being paid to promoting networking among these NGOs through various channels – such as national conferences for NGOs working in the same field, joint training sessions, study tours, Web-sites on themes of special importance to young people such as HIV/AIDS etc. As part of the preparation of the 2001 UN Special Session on Children, UNICEF is currently working on the preparation of a national conference which will bring together the most experienced and reputable NGOs working in the area of child protection and development. These NGOs will jointly formulate their position on the situation of Russia’s children. to be presented in the lead-up to the Special Session.

UNICEF is actively exploring ways to promote socially  responsible action by Russia’s businesses by seeking to involve Russian companies and banks in programmes supporting children and youth at the  level of municipalities and communities. UNICEF’s main partners in this activity have been so far been one of the largest commercial banks in Russia, “Rosbank”, and CAF (Charities Aid Foundation), but there is strong interest in this kind of collaboration from approximately 20 other companies. The modalities of a larger cooperation framework are now under consideration.

The major part of UNHCR assistance is indeed channeled through non-governmental organizations. Such NGOs can be divided into three major groups: those which have substantial knowledge of and expertise in migration related issues (e.g. Memorial, Civic Assistance, Forum of Migrant Organizations), those whose mandate is not related to migration but which are interested in assisting migrants (e.g. the Guild of Russian Film-makers, Children’s Funds) and migrant associations that developed following the CIS Conference. Public information and awareness activities target the media and the public at large; other constituency-building efforts include parliamentarians and research and advocacy groups.

IOM works closely with migrant associations (NGOs) in creating jobs for migrants and in improving access to basic health care services to the most vulnerable migrants.   IOM also cooperates with NGOs providing re-integration assistance to victims (women) of traffickers.

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THEME GROUPS COMPOSITION – AGENCY MEMBERSHIP

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1.5  Results of action taken at the country level towards the implementation of the Secretary-General’s Programme for reform (A/51/950)

Strengthening Inter-Agency cooperation through coordination, joint activities and collaborative programming has been the almost exclusive preoccupation of the Resident Coordinator a.i. in this capacity and during the period under review.

It is worth noting that the launching of the CCA exercise acted as a strong catalyst for the further development of a number of joint initiatives. The CCA preparation process as such was a good example of common activity, since representatives from all agencies could discuss together and agree upon a number of related decisions, which would shape their common immediate future. This exercise was conducted with very strong support of the UN DGO, and of the UN Staff College.

Examples of effective joint programming have been amply described in the preceding section of this chapter.

Collaboration of course expanded beyond the area of programming. The UN Country Team never failed to respond collectively over the year to requests emanating from UN Common system preoccupations. It has improved its joint public relations activities, including through the periodical, bilingual bulletin UN in Russia, co-sponsored by all Agencies and by the resident Coordinator, under leadership of UNDP. It has opened its website at the address http://www.UNRussia.ru, where news from the Resident Coordinator’s system are to be found, and which provides a gateway to sites maintained by individual Agencies in Russia (ILO, UNDCP, UNDP, UNESCO, UNIC, World Bank) or from Headquarters.

Negotiations with Russian Government on the new UN House started in April 2000. A building at Eropkinski lane, 5 was offered free of charge to the Heads of UNDP/UNFPA, UNICEF, ODCCP and WHO. Later in its Note Verbale of 21 April 2000, UpDK officially offered the premises to the UN agencies under conditions envisaged by the Agreement relating to the Establishment in the Russian Federation of a United Nations Office dated 1993. It is supplemented by the Strategic Basic Assistance Agreement (SBAA) between UNDP and the Russian Federation signed in 1993 and ratified by the Russian Parliament in April 2000 and signed by Mr. Putin, the Acting President of Russia then.

The premises have been renovated by the Government in 1999-2000. It consists of two connected buildings, a garage, a compound and a guard’s office near the gate, 2724 sq.m total space. The building underwent external and internal fit-out repairs with major supplying systems being completely upgraded. All works were made at the expense of UpDK.  Upon joint decision of the UN agencies, an engineer was hired to overlook and regularly report to the UN agencies concerned progress of reconstruction and other technical aspects of the renovation.

For the moment discussions are under way with the Government, UNDP and UN agencies regarding the conditions for the move and additional works to be carried out in the building to bring it to the UN standards. UNDG mission will also come from New York IN April 2001 to provide its assessment of the situation and give its contribution to the ongoing discussion.

Common Services:

Common services include financial, IT and administrative support. Most financial disbursements on behalf of more than 30 UN agencies are managed by UNDP.

UNDP provide IT and administrative services for the UN agencies and their projects in the building at Ostozhenka, 28. UNHCR provide the same services in the building at Obukha, 6.

UN/UNDP North West Development Center in St Petersburg

In Saint Petersburg, UNDP, UNESCO, UNODCCP, UNIC and ILO are actively part to the Regional UN Office for North West Russia, which is placed under the Resident Coordinator system, and mainly financed by UNDP. The UN Country Team decided in 2000 to strengthen this Office, through providing shared access to Internet for interested Agencies. While installation costs have been covered by the Resident Coordinator system, recurring costs will be shared among the said system and participating Agencies.

UNDP provided financial and managerial support to the functioning of the St. Petersburg Cnter in terms of furniture and equipment for the office, recruitment of a LAN manager, preparation of documents for a leasing agreement for the office space, repair of the premises. Together with other agencies (ILO, UNESCO, ODCCP, UNIC, UNFPA), UNDP procured materials and documentation for the Office. UNDP led the process of preparation and organization of heads of agencies meetings to discuss the issue of an integrated office in St.-Petersburg, regular consultations with the Administration of St.-Petersburg, including regular quarterly session of the Coordinating Council under the Governor of St.-Petersburg on cooperation with the UN agencies. Particular emphasis was placed on the participation of the UN delegation in the Third International Economic Forum in June 2000, organization of high level visits of UN delegations and expert missions to St. Petersburg, preparation of work shops and round tables.

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1.6  Impact

The period elapsed since April 2000 was unprecedented for the UN Country Team in the Russian Federation, in terms of functioning of the Resident Coordinator system for development. It is of course impossible to estimate any type of lasting impact over such a short period of time.

This absence of precedent resulted first in a certain degree of skepticism from the Government on the one hand, and among UN Agencies on the other.

For the latter, however, the awareness of the potential offered by conducting joint activities and consulting more with each other developed very rapidly in view of at least three important factors:

-         the impact of joint appeals and the obvious interest for individual (relatively small) Agencies to gain from associated synergies;

-         the efforts made by UNDP to fully associate all Agencies and Government partners throughout its own CCF programming exercise, and the continuous and strong commitment of this Agency to such collaboration through notably the Human Development report;

-         the catalytic impact of the CCA process, and the very strong support received from UN DGO and UNSC, which acted as an “eye-opener” for several heads of Agencies and programming staff.

As for the Government, it is to be hoped that the new cohesion of the UN Country Team, including the Bretton Woods institutions, coupled with the requirements of the National Plan of Action on Social Policy and Economy Modernization will facilitate a better understanding of the potential offered via full collaboration with the UN Country Team to promote, design, implement and monitor the desired changes and reforms.

Signals pointing to this direction are visible, since several joint UN initiatives already manage to bring together various sectors of the Government and of the civil society, notably concerning the situation in the North Caucasus, the HIV/AIDS pandemic, the Poverty Eradication strategy and the Social budget exercise.

One may therefore now be reasonably optimistic concerning the attitude of the Government towards the finalized CCA report, and forthcoming proposals concerning an UNDAF exercise. This in fact would correspond to the necessities of policy integration at the country level, until now relatively misunderstood because of the absence of a coherent plan of action, previously correlated to governmental instability.

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PART TWO

2.1 Self-assessment of the United Nations country team

based on the 2000 Work Plan of the resident Coordinator system

The 2000 work plan was initially prepared in January of the same year. It was substantially revised in April 2000, after the appointment of a new Resident Coordinator a.i. The revised draft work plan was amended and endorsed by the UN Country Team in May, and supported by UN DGO up to the required amounts.

This quite ambitious work plan could henceforth be accomplished in all its aspects (support to resident coordinator; support to collaborative and more integrated UN programming; follow up to global UN Conferences; UN house and common premises; UN public information and advocacy). However, the importance of the efforts to be devoted to the CCA exercise had been under-estimated, which required some adjustments notably in allotment breakdown as time passed.

The self-assessment exercise conducted by the UN Country Team was the first of its kind in the Russian Federation. The results shown in Annex 2 therefore need to be taken with caution.

Nine Agency representatives out of sixteen accepted to fill in, at least partially, the questionnaire presented to them [5] . As was to be in a sense expected, ratings were quite variable depending on the level of implication of the respondents in each of the areas listed for collaboration.

For example, when dealing with the issue of common services, it is quite significant that those Agencies currently sharing the same premises rate efforts made (under the leadership of UNDP) than those established in a different location. The average mark of 3 for this cluster therefore has relatively little meaning, being an average between to completely different types of realities.

Similarly, questions related to UNDAF preparation, cycle harmonization, joint programming … have been seen as in a sense irrelevant by a few Agencies in view of the very early stage of collaborative process in which the Country was engaged during the year 2000 (indeed, during the last 8 months of the exercise only).

It is by contrast noteworthy, that in the two areas where particularly important efforts were made to bring the Agencies really together, relatively high marks be registered.

This applies namely to the CCA exercise, to the preparation of the work plan and to that of the present report, for which collaboration was considered almost unanimously as being extensive.

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2.2 Assessment of Headquarters’ support received in 2000

The financial, moral and technical support received from UN DGO was a determinant factor in the positive aspects of the functioning of the Resident Coordinator system during the period under review.

Direct access to RC Net, reception of first hand information via e-mail, permanent contact with and support from the DGO and the UN Staff College are all equally to be praised and acknowledged.

Two relatively minor points have to be mentioned, however, to temper what otherwise would really be too idyllic a picture:

-         It seems that UN DGO could insist more upon some organs of the Common system, notably ICSC, to the effect that they update their mailing list and address requests to the current Resident Coordinator, not to the Headquarters of the former one;

-          Given the workload on all Agencies towards the end of any year, it is surprising that Guidelines for completion of RC report are not issued sufficiently in advance to allow for early completion of most of the process, i.e. before usual Xmas bottlenecks and holidays.

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2.3 Report on the utilization of funds allocated to support coordination functions in 2000

As shown in Annex 6, the use of Resident Coordinator funds in the year 2000 ($ 40,000 further increased up to $ 90,000, account not being taken of a Swedish grant worth $ 50,000 to be used until July 2001) was divided, as provided for in the (revised) work plan, into five categories of intervention, namely support to collaborative and more integrated UN Programming (49%), follow up to global UN Conferences (15%), support to Resident Coordinator system, UN House and common premises (11%), UN Public information and advocacy (9%), and CCA training cum team building exercise (16%).

As shown in the following graph, this repartition widely differs from the one initially foreseen in the 2000 work plan as endorsed by the UN country team and approved by UN DGO – for which anyway the breakdown was also different. This divergence simply reflects the lack of experience of the UN Country Team in Russia in joint and collaborative activities, and an underestimation of the efforts required for launching and implementing the CCA exercise.

It is important to note that various UN Agencies significantly contributed with their own budgets towards implementing activities pertaining to the work plan of the resident Coordinator system. It also has to be recognized that the active participation of Agencies in the CCA drafting process, while impossible to quantify, is no doubt by far greater in terms of staff time dollars equivalent than the amounts allocated by the RCS for the same purpose. This indeed shows the overall commitment of the UN Country team towards working together in the Russian Federation.

The Support to collaborative and more integrated UN Programming, for which a total amount of some $ 47,190 was spent, represents of course the core of the activities of the Resident Coordinator system during the period under review. Most of the funds were devoted to ensuring a proper organization for the creation and smooth functioning of eight Theme groups (see list, composition, terms of reference in Annex 4) and to allowing for full coordination of Groups and Agencies efforts in collecting data and preparing draft papers for the CCA report. This procedure was indeed adopted as a direct result of the CCA/UNDAF cum team building training held by the UN Staff College and the UN DGO for the UN Country Team in the vicinity of Moscow in September 2,000. This CCA Training represented expenditure up to $ 14,800 covered by the Resident Coordinator system, and some 6,000 $ for the participating Agencies, which had agreed to cover board and lodging costs for their representatives. Some 40 participants from 14 UN Agencies took part in this three days residential event. The list of participants is hereafter reproduced.

The Follow-up to UN Conferences ensured via the UN Resident Coordinator System was this year limited to the Beijing, Copenhagen and Stockholm events, for which expenditure totaling $ 13,200 was made. The follow-up activities thus recorded consisted mainly in supporting seminars and advocacy publications, and contributed, for the World Social Summit, to the effective launching of a Poverty Eradication project to be financed out of a Swedish grant made available for improving UN coordination (this activity, as already mentioned, will group technical support and contributions from ILO, UNDP, WHO, IOM, UNHCR, World Bank, TACIS, US AID and British Know How Fund).

It is worth noting that not all activities related to the follow-up to UN global Conferences are listed among Resident Coordinator initiatives.

In 2000 UNICEF provided technical and financial assistance to the Russian Government in the preparation of a national report assessing progress towards achieving the goals of the 1990 World Summit for Children. This report, submitted to the UN in January 2001, will also guide the preparation of the next National Plan of Action for Russia’s children covering the period of 2001-2005, which is currently being drafted. UNICEF took part in the working group that prepared Russia's report for the Dakar Education for All conference (follow-up to the Jomtien conference of 1989).

In this context, it is also useful to know that substantial activities were conducted pursuing to the Rio Conference Agenda 21 item , Chapter 17 "Protection of the oceans, all kinds of seas..." on Caspian environment, Chapter 9 "Protection of the atmosphere" on climate change problems related to Kyoto Protocol, and on RIO+10 process, and to the Cairo summit on Reproductive Health, while the ILO contributed substantially to the preparation of the National report presented at the Copenhagen plus Five meeting held in Geneva in the year 2000. The UNIC held two well-attended round tables on the outcome of the General Assembly special sessions “Beijing+5” and “Copenhagen+5” (in both cases members of the Russian official delegations to the world meetings took part) which helped to highlight priority issues of concert to the international community. Further, it has to be mentioned here that the national Human Development Report, to which preparation or regional presentation UNDP, UNESCO, UNIC, UNODCCP, IOM and ILO contributed during the period under review, should also be considered, by its structure and documentary content, as one of the initiatives supported, albeit not financially, by the Resident Coordinator system as part to the integrated follow-up process to global UN Conferences.

As for the UN System Public Information and Advocacy, interventions by the RCS represented a total amount of some $ 7,890 over the year 2,000. Those consisted mainly in supporting events organized on the occasion of specific UN celebrations, for which UNIC usually took the lead. The active involvement of the UN Country Team in such celebrations is particularly well received by the donors’ community, and appreciated by the Government and the civil society. Special events marked in particular the celebration of the Poverty Eradication day, of the day of the Elderly, and, of course, of the UN Day. For this last occasion, the contribution of the Resident Coordinator system was indeed minimal, since most of the costs (more than 70%) were covered by UN Agencies and by generous contributions from individual staff members (both national and international).

 Obligations pertaining to other sectors of intervention limited RCS support to the publication UN in Russia to an almost symbolic level, corresponding to 2 pages in each of the last two issues of this regular publication (6 issues a year), widely read by the donors’ community and by the civil society. UN in Russia therefore continued to be predominantly supported by Agencies advertising their activities, but most of its financial burden remained with UNDP. The quality of the publication could be increased thanks to the resident Coordinator’s additional contribution (share of the other contributors was NOT reduced), and the publication may now be considered as a professional, bilingual periodical, the circulation of which is of 15,000 copies throughout the Russian Federation and abroad. The Newsletter is published electronically on the UNDP and UN.Russia websites. It is alos sent out to partners via e-mail as an Internet attachment.

The website http://www.unrussia.ru/ could be launched in the year 2000 thanks to the dedicated efforts of the ILO Webmaster. This site will represent a gateway to the UN system for all interested users, and will of course be accessible to both English and Russian speaking audience.

Support provided by UNIC for developing public relations and information dissemination activities in St Petersburg for the benefit of all interested UN Agencies are not accounted for in the use of RCS allotment for the year 2000. This support amounted to $ 800 in the year 2000.

Activities related to UN House and Common services represented disbursements totaling slightly more than $ 10,000 during the period under review. In addition to minimal daily expenditure for the proper functioning of the system (corresponding mainly to translation costs, support to visiting UN delegations, direct administrative support to the resident Coordinator’s Office, with a more than matching direct contribution by the ILO Moscow Office), the main intervention of the RCS was to facilitate access to Internet via the UN Regional center for North West Russia for all UN Agencies present on a permanent basis and/or conducting specific programmes in St Petersburg and Leningradsky Oblast.

The ILO conducted at own costs the studies allowing for this connection. While the Resident Coordinator System will cover investment costs, it was agreed by the UN Country Team that recurring costs (amounting to some $ 350 for accessing Internet plus local communications) would be shared among participating Agencies (UNDP, ILO, UNIC, UNESCO, WHO) and the RCS according to actual utilization of the 4 dedicated phone lines.

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2.4 Work Plan of the Resident Coordinator system for the year 2001

As shown in Annex 7, the implementation of the work plan for the Resident Coordinator System in the Russian Federation for the year 2,001 would require a total allotment of US $ 70,000, not including of course amounts available from Swedish Grant 2000-2001. This level of requested allotment is lower than the one obtained for 2000, which the UN Country Team understood was exceptional, in view of the requirements attached to the effective start up of a fully fledged inter-agency process of cooperation for development.

The table hereafter reproduced compares use of RCS allotment for 2000 to proposed allocations for 2001 using comparable categories. There are noticeable differences between the two years, which reflects the importance to be attached by the UNCT to Public information activities, and the more prominent role of direct support to the functioning of the System in view of decreased amount of resources likely to be allocated. This latter change in emphasis of course also corresponds to the fact that, in the year 2,000, most of the activities accounted for under “Support to collaborative and more integrated UN Programming” indeed corresponded to the CCA process, which in turn represented by far the major part of RCS activities during the period under review.

The work plan as finally endorsed by the Team covers all of the areas of intervention proposed in the relevant guidelines established by UN DGO. These proposals of course draw upon lessons learned during the implementation of 2,000-work plan, including concerning the utility of relying on effective coordination mechanism among Agencies, and contributions to be expected from other UN Agencies.

Main components of the proposed work plan are hereafter summarily described.

Support to the Resident Coordinator

It is estimated that a national professional should service the Resident Coordinator system, and thus allow for the proper functioning of the whole mechanism including completion of CCA, initiating UNDAF, reporting, coordination among Theme groups, public relations, awareness campaigns, strengthening overall donors’ coordination, etc. This position should become a permanent feature of the System in the Russian federation, as is already the case in several other countries. Allotment proposed is based on NO B/NO C grade level half time including secretarial support. Recruitment should intervene immediately upon releasing the first instalment of allotment for 2001. It is hoped that the highly qualified candidate identified by the UN Country team for fulfilling this task will be released accordingly for the period under consideration, which implies that the position will formally continue to be attached to UNDP.

Allotment requested for this heading: US $ 30,000

Support to Collaborative and More Integrated UN Programming

While most of the activities pertaining to the CCA will have been completed thanks to utilisation of the year 2,000 allotment, limited funds will still be needed for the completion of the process, and of course for works to be undertaken on the UN Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF). Resources will need to be earmarked for continuing to strengthen 8 already established Theme groups ($ 5,000 in total), and to renew the very successful 2,000 staff training experience with the UN Staff college to review experience gained and proceed further on practical implementation of UN reforms.  This activity will be conducted on a cost-sharing basis with all UN Agencies, as was the year 2000 exercise.

Allotment requested for this heading: US $ 15,000

Follow-up to global UN Conferences

Actions will be conducted to continue supporting, when necessary, Agency initiatives linked to the follow-up on global conferences in the Russian Federation, and to further promote an integrated approach to this process. This will take the form of organisation of at least three round tables over the year ($ 1,000 each, matching up to 50 % funds made available by lead or responsible Agency) that may correspond to Habitat II, to the World Conference against Racism, and to the 10^th Anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The data-base established for the CCA process will continue to be monitored and updated periodically, which will require the design and implementation of an ad hoc mechanism in collaboration with the Institute for Economic Forecasting and the Moscow State University Master Course on Human Development. Corresponding contracts are estimated at a level of $ 6,000 for the biennium. UNDP will share-in the costs of this activity, which has very close relations with its on-going Human Development programme.

Allotment requested for this heading: US $ 9,000

UN House and Common Premises

The resident Coordinator system should continue to support the development of the UN Center in St Petersburg, including cost of accessing modern communication facilities (shared with other beneficiary Agencies, notably UNDP, ILO, UNIC, UNESCO, UNICEF, WHO). While total cost of access is estimated at $ 4,200 plus local communications, the share of Rescoor system should not exceed $ 3,000 INCLUDING local communication cost. Contribution expected from other participating agencies has been estimated at 6,000 in total, which will also cover access to other documentation facilities. The maintenance, updating and upgrading of the Internet gateway for the UN Agencies active in Russia (http://www.UNRussia.ru) will also have some limited cost implications estimated at US $ 2,000.

Allotment requested for this heading: US $ 5,000

UN Public information and Advocacy

The Resident Coordinator will continue its contribution towards covering part of the cost of the periodical bulletin UN in Russia along with contributions received from other Agencies, commensurate to the number of pages earmarked for specific news concerning their activities. On the basis of 6 issues per year, 2 pages per issue, the contribution from the Resident Coordinator system is expected to amount to $ 5, 000 in 2,001. The share of Agencies would remain of some $ 70,000 (30 pages per issue), with more than half of it being covered by UNDP.

The UN community in Russia will continue to take at regular intervals the initiative of organising charity and other events which are quite successful in fund raising, and useful in promoting a positive image of the United Nations in the general public, as well as among the rest of the international community. The RC system will hopefully continue to contribute towards the organisation of such events, for which an amount of $ 5,000 would be required. Based on the experience gained over the year 2,000, cost sharing up to $ 8,000 is expected from the other Agencies, and $ 1,000 from Staff for UN Day. Events earmarked for celebration purposes are tentatively International Women’s Day, Poverty Eradication Day, Day of the Elderly and UN Day. UNIC and UNDP are expected to take the lead in the organization of related events, as has become customary for the UN Country Team.

It is also proposed that a briefing seminar be organized for the press in St Petersburg, to help the mass media awareness of UN action in the North-West reach levels commensurate to the progress achieved by the UN community in this region. An amount of $ 1,000 has been earmarked for this event, while an additional contribution of $ 2000 is expected from other Agencies. UNDP and UNIC are expected to take the lead for this proposal.

Allotment requested for this heading: $ 11,000

Participation of UN Country Team at the 2001 UN General Assembly – Depending on progress made in completion of CCA-UNDAF process in the Russian Federation, UN DGO may consider to request the UN Country Team to present its experience to the General Assembly, as was the case in recent years for other teams. If this materializes, and while Agencies will cover the costs related to the presence of their members in the delegation, it is hoped that UN DGO will earmark funds from other sources to cover the costs attached to the invitation of Government and civil society representatives.

CCA status at time of writing report:    ON GOING

UNDAF status at time of writing report:         PLANNED

CCA/UNDAF cum Team Building Training,
Russian Federation

Bor, 12-14 September 2000

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List of participants

* Attendance of Resident Coordinator a.i. and assistant to be covered by ILO Moscow Office

The UN Country Team in the Russian federation decided in April 2000 to initiate a CCA process, to be followed immediately by an UNDAF exercise. Theme groups were almost immediately established which, in addition to already existing ones, would facilitate the completion of the CCA report (see Annex 4 for Theme Groups composition). The terms of reference for the Groups were established with a broader perspective than their contribution towards the CCA process (those TOR are also reproduced in Annex 4).

CCA training cum team building exercise had been planned for the beginning of September 2000. The summer period was therefore devoted to preparing for this exercise, thanks to the efforts of a CCA Senior Consultant seconded to Rescoor by UNDP who organized with conveners inaugural meetings of all theme groups, and started gathering relevant data according to CCA guidelines, on the basis also of experience gained via the Human Development Report programme in the Russian Federation.

The CCA training was a major event for the UN Country Team in the Russian Federation, and can be considered as the real starting point of the process. Since the Team had no solid previous experience of working together, it had been decided that this first exercise would be limited to UN and Bretton Woods Agencies, to allow for more free discussion among all those present.

The training permitted that the CCA process become henceforth well structured, the UN Country Team acting as steering Committee, and all Agencies delegating one staff member to be part of an ad hoc Secretariat. A CCA facilitator was recruited to help in the process (also identified thanks to UNDP).

A first draft of the CCA was completed by the end of January 2001 (required statistical data, “project briefs”, inputs by theme group being requested for the end of November), after which a process of full consultation with national partners and the donors started.

Meanwhile, contact was established with all non-resident UN (and beyond) Organizations, which it was felt might have an interest in the CCA process. Responses were received from FAO, UNIDO, UN ECE, OECD, and dialogue will of course continue with these organizations.

This was the situation in the Russian Federation at the time of writing this report.

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Annex 2: Self-Assessment by the Country Team

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Annex 3 - Composition of the United Nations System Country Team

(Based in the country)

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*   Resident Coordinator a.i. from April 2000 until March 2001

** Also Humanitarian Coordinator

*** Replaced by Mr. Lyons from March 2001

**** Replaced by Mr. Schweitzer from early 2001

Annex 4 – Membership on Theme Groups

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Overall Theme Group Coordination:

Jean-Victor Gruat, UN Resident Coordinator a.i., gruatjv@ilo.org

Olga Bogdanova, Senior CCA consultant, olga.bogdanova@undp.org

Madeline Rey, CCA Facilitator, madeline.rey@undp.ru

LIST OF THEME GROUPS (CONVENERS)  

HEALTH (WHO)

HIV/AIDS (UNDP)

FROM HUMANITARIAN RELIEF TO DEVELOPMENT (UNHCR)

DEMOCRACY AND GOVERNANCE (UNESCO, UNDP)

POVERTY (ILO)

ENVIRONMENT (UNDP)

YOUTH (UNICEF)

MIGRATION (IOM)

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THEME GROUP ON HEALTH

WHO monthly Health Sector Interagency Meetings have taken place regularly since 1999 and in 2000 their scope was explicitly broadened to respond the need of providing assistance to the Common Country Assessment (CCA). The theme group had 10 meetings in the year 2000. In addition to providing timely information of the ongoing UN and other health sector activities, the meetings also provided a forum for small theme discussions on topics like health promotion, primary health care, child health care, health care reform and financing, etc. In October it established a smaller working committee specifically for providing insight on the health situation of the population and assessment of the health sector challenges in Russia. There were also major donor agencies and NGOs participating in this work. The committee had 3 meetings and a consultant from WHO/EURO working for the CCA for approximately 3 weeks.

THEME GROUP ON HIV/AIDS

The meetings of the HIV/AIDS Theme Group were convened regularly on weekly basis for the co-ordination of activities of the UN agencies, national and international NGOs and national partners. This Group played a key role in the preparation of the International Donors’ Meeting on the Joint Response to the HIV/AIDS Epidemic in the Russian Federation for the years 2001-2003 took place in Moscow on November 16, 2000 ( setting up of the Steering Committee, provision of consultancy services, . The Meeting was aimed at fostering high-level political support for a multi-sectoral response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the Russian Federation, identifying strategic priorities through the National Strategic Planning Committee, strengthening partnership mechanism proposed in the Joint UN Initiative by mobilizing human and financial resources for it.

THEME GROUP FROM HUMANITARIAN RELIEF TO DEVELOPMENT

The task force met once in 2000 to establish broad priorities and prepared a first draft in December. Combined thinking on how to effect a transition from humanitarian relief to development in the North Caucasus is contributing to the final draft. The aim is that, by the end of 2001, assistance provided in the region should be based predominantly upon longer-term development objectives.

THEME GROUP ON DEMOCRACY AND GOVERNANCE

At its regular monthly meetings, the Theme Group on Democracy, Governance and Participation focused on the gathering and analyzing major recent developments pertained as to democratic processes and governance. Particular attention was given to such themes as democracy and participation, rule of law, human rights. Within these three major groups of issues the Theme Group provided quantitative and qualitative analysis of such topics as evolution of political and electoral system, reform of Legislative and Executive Power, Civil Society Organizations, Ombudsman Institution Development, Accountability, transparency and anti-corruption, internal and international framework for human rights.

THEME GROUP ON POVERTY

The Poverty Theme Group met 4 times in 2,000. Its membership includes a number of UN Agencies, and most interested bilateral donors. In addition to its requested contribution to CCA process, the Theme Group organized two seminars on poverty related issues, one corresponding to the development of a poverty eradication strategy for the Russian Federation (project placed under ILO-ResCoor responsibility), and the other to the kick-off meeting of a social budget exercise involving a number of Ministries, the Russian social partners, research institutions and, as international co-sponsors, ILO, UNDP, World Bank, IMF, US Aid.

THEME GROUP ON ENVIRONMENT

The Theme Group for Environment met 5 times to debate, discuss, and plan the report for the CCA.  Despite the daunting task of prioritizing such issues in a country that covers an eighth of the world’s territory, the Group prepared a draft report that addresses the main issues in a balanced manner.  Members of the Group include all UN Agencies involved in environmental issues and the World Bank.  A consultant with direct links to the key Russian Ministries was hired to assist with the work.  Comments from the public, private, and NGO sectors were sought in the preparation of the report.  The Group finalized the draft in January 2001 following additional consultations and editing with the CCA Secretariat.

THEME GROUP ON YOUTH

The Youth Theme Group, established in May, met five times during the year. While its work was mainly concentrated on drafting the chapter on Youth in the CCA, members also collected and collated information on youth-related projects currently being carried out in Russia by UN agencies and other development partners. Members of the Theme Group participated in the launch in Moscow of the UNICEF-MONEE report on the situation of young people in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, the Commonwealth of Independent States and the Baltic States.

THEME GROUP ON MIGRATION

The Migration Theme Group met five times in 2000.  The outputs of the MTG include comprehensive and detailed Terms of Reference (agreed to by all participants), consolidated briefs on all project activities and a set of quantitative indicators.  These indicators were produced by two migration research experts (with financial support from the UN Resident Coordinator) and augmented with additional and up-dated information provided by members of the MTG.  They formed the basis of the Migration Chapter in the CCA.   These outputs laid the groundwork for the proposed UNDAF exercise in 2001 and the continuation of the work of the MTG.

TERMS OF REFERENCE FOR THEME GROUPS

FROM HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE TO DEVELOPMENT

DEMOCRACY, GOVERNANCE AND PARTICIPATION

HEALTH

MIGRATION

POVERTY

ENVIRONMENT

HIV/AIDS

YOUTH AND YOUNG PEOPLE

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TERMS OF REFERENCE

FOR A UNITED NATIONS THEME GROUP

"FROM HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE TO DEVELOPMENT"

Justification - For over a decade there has been an emerging consensus on the need to address the transition issues between short-term humanitarian assistance and longer-term sustainable development interventions. If humanitarian agencies are to effectively carry out their mission to create durable solutions for the issues they have been mandated to address they have to ensure the early involvement of key actors, in particular the development partners, in the post-conflict reintegration and recovery process.

Over the years, several initiatives have taken place to increase synergies among all interested partners. For example, the micro credit summit council of UN agencies, in order to foster the use micro finance as a tool to reduce poverty world-wide, agreed to have ILO and UNHCR take the lead in discussing me role of micro finance in conflict and post-conflict situations.

In 1999, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the World Bank co-sponsored at the Brookings Institution (USA) a roundtable on how to bridge the gap between Humanitarian Assistance and long-term Development in post-conflict situations. The conference, which was also attended by UNDP, UNICEF and WFP, resulted in a voluntary loose-knit coalition for conflict stability between humanitarian agencies, development partners, donor/recipient countries, and non­governmental partners having the objective to overcome both institutional and funding gaps in situations emerging from conflict. One of the agreed outcome of the initial meetings was that me general approach to address this issue was to build on existing co-ordination structures for assessment and planning such as the Resident Coordinator System.

In the Russian Federation, following the initial outbreak of fighting in Daghestan in August 1999 and the resumption of full-scale military activities in Chechnya several UN inter-agency appeals were launched to cover humanitarian assistance. Participating in this inter-agency efforts were the following agencies: UNHCR, WFP, WHO, UNICEF, UNDP and UNFPA. OCHA and UNSECOORD.

-          Substantial areas - In view of the above, the Russian Federation UN Country Team Theme Group on the transition from humanitarian assistance to development will primarily focus its attention en the following main areas of intervention:

-          to design, develop and maintain a database on related international technical and humanitarian assistance programmes and projects

-          to take part in the needs assessment of affected areas

-           to develop global recommendations on the setup of humanitarian assistance projects aimed at facilitating its integration or hand-over to longer-term projects

-          to ensure synergies among concerned international rehabilitation projects and programmes in the field of social rehabilitation, infrastructure rehabilitation, employment and self-employment, including skills training and micro credit

-          Membership - The UNHCR Regional Office in Moscow will act as a convener for the group. Membership will normally be on the basis of agencies. Among UN agencies represented in the Russian Federation, it is expected that each of the agencies above-mentioned will appoint their representatives to the Group. Membership will also include the World Bank and the EU (ECHO-DOS) in view of their past, current and prospective active involvement in the field of humanitarian assistance as well as development in the Russian Federation.

-          Working Methods - The group is not to interfere in the programming mechanisms of its members. However, it will act as a think-tank and catalyst for the development of collaborative efforts among UN agencies, Bretton Woods institutions, European Union representation, bilateral donors and NGOs.

While the group will decide on its own agenda and procedures, it is expected that it will at least during the inception period strive to provide a contribution to the forthcoming CCA in the Russian Federation. It is also expected that the group will use its overall knowledge of the situation in the area of post-conflict rehabilitation to help in the formulation arid promotion of relevant interagency programming and project sponsoring. The Group will benefit from the support of the UN humanitarian coordinator and the UN resident coordinator systems in the Russian Federation, to which it is expected to report as and when appropriate. The UNHCR regional office in Moscow will ensure the group’s secretariat and liaise with the resident coordinator system for all related common administrative and financial procedures.

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TERMS OF REFERENCE

UNITED NATIONS THEME GROUP ON GOVERNANCE

1. Justification.  Good governance is the critical prerequisite and indispensable factor of successful functioning of socio-economic system and the human development. In accordance with the Declaration of the World Social, “democracy and transparent and accountable governance and administration in all sectors of society are indispensable foundations for the realization of social and people centered. It is a sector pertained to programs and projects of the UN agencies and the organizations of its system, including International Financial Institutions.
2. Since 1991 the Russian Federation has been undertaking the substantial task of building up the infrastructure required for the transition to a democratic society and a vibrant market economy. It has been undergoing a fundamental reform process involving all essential areas of political, public, economic and social life. In the areas of democracy, governance and peoples' participation in society there remain enormous challenges in order to achieve reinforcement of a civil society, a true interaction between individuals, NGOs and different levels of administration in promoting peoples’ participation in decision-making. On one hand people do not have the proper channels and mechanisms to influence the government decisions, and on the other hand, they do not utilize to the maximum the opportunities they have. Urgent needs exist in the citizen’s social and economic rights, their right of access to information, in fighting the danger of growing nationalist extremism, and safeguarding the rights of the most vulnerable groups of citizens.
3. UN agencies in Russia gained valuable experience in providing policy advice, technical expertise and otherwise assistance aimed at capacity building in the area of good governance. The UNDP  within its Democracy, Governance and Participation program in 1997-2000 carried out in accordance with Memorandum of Understanding with Administration of the President of the Russian Federation Governance focused on such issues as:
   
   - strengthening democratic institutions and processes and facilitating institutional reforms, promotion of democratic culture through the establishment of ombudsman-type institutions,
   
   - promoting democratic governance at local and regional levels in the process of decentralization,
   
   - increasing citizen participation and supporting the development of civil society
   
   - promoting interaction between administration and NGOs and community-based organizations, especially women organizations.
   
   Within the scope of its mandates Governance has become one of the priority focus program activities developed by UNICEF, UNHCR, ILO, UNDP, UNFPA, UNAIDS, WFP, WHO, UNESCO, UNODCCP, OCHA. It is the key issue of the new UNDP Country Cooperation Framework for 2000-2003.
4. In view of the above, the Russian Federation UN Country team Theme Group on Governance will focus on the following main areas of concentration:
   
   - to identify priority governance issues to be addressed
   
   - to review the ongoing and future program in the governance area carried out by the UN agencies and other international organizations and bilateral partners,
   
   - to prepare a series of background papers on priority governance issues, including public administration reform, decentralization, judicial reform, civil society, gender in development,  public-private partnership and social partnership, mass-media, etc.
   
   - to conduct consultations with relevant governmental institutions, civil society organizations, corporate sector  and Academia
   
   -  to elaborate a set of policy recommendations.
5. The UNDP Office in Moscow will act as focal point for the Group.  Among UN Agencies represented in the Russian Federation, it is expected that each of the Agencies mentioned in §3 above will appoint their representatives to the Group. Membership will also include the World Bank and TACIS in view of their past, current and prospective active involvement in the field of governance in the Russian Federation. Other interested international or bilateral partners may be invited to attend Group meetings. When necessary representatives of the Government, of the legislative organs, of the civil society and/or with qualified individuals and specialists in this field could be invited.
6. The Group will serve as a focal point and facilitator in the process of elaboration of the Assessment document to pull together lessons of experience and knowledge of the UN Agencies, IFIs, European Union representation, bilateral donors community and NGOs.
7. The Group will provide a substantial contribution to the forthcoming CCA and ensuing UNDAF processes in the Russian Federation by  promotion interagency collaboration and cooperation in the area of governance. The UNDP Office in Moscow will ensure the Group's  functioning in close cooperation with the Resident Coordinator System for all related common administrative and financial purposes.

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Terms of Reference

Interagency Theme Group[1] (IATG-Health/Russia)
on Health Sector Co-ordination in Russia

1.    Background

Since spring 1999, the health sector agencies (United Nations and donor-driven), projects, non-governmental-organizations (NGOs), and interested embassy-representatives have every month met and discussed their ongoing activities in the health sector. They have shared information on timely topics of Russian health and health care, which they together with their national counterparts want to make better for the people who are living in this country. This forum has brought together by WHO acting as secretariat and meeting in the premises of the Delegation of the European Commission aims to make the work of participating agencies, organizations and individuals more effective and better coordinated.

The UN Resident Coordinator ad interim, Mr. Jean-Victor Gruat (ILO) has vigorously started to revitalize the collaboration between Moscow based UN and other agencies. It was suggested that in addition to the already existing HIV/AIDS (Chair UNAIDS), Environment (Chair UNDP) and Health (Interagency Health Coordination Meetings managed by WHO) theme groups, the following new UN theme groups would be established:

        Youth (UNICEF)

·        From Humanitarian Relief to Development (UNHCR)

·        Poverty (ILO)

·        Democracy and Governance / incl. Human rights (UNESCO)

·        Migration  (IOM)/ possibly including population (UNFPA)

The purpose of these Terms of Reference is to consolidate the role and activities of the Interagency Health Coordination Meetings. Their framework was agreed upon in the first meeting on 25 March 1999, and this paper aims to consolidate and further clarify these principles.

3.    Overall aim:

The IATG-Health/Russia aims to improve the health status and well being of the Russian people. In our work special emphasis will be on vulnerable groups, equity, and fairness.

4.   Tasks:

·        To share information  about on-going health and social sector projects (lessons learned);

·        To increase the relative share of health sector involvement in Russia;

·        To act as a forum among health sector agencies and organizations to have a better understanding about the key problems and, if needed, to have a common voice;

·        To avoid duplication of work;

·        To develop a database on health sector projects on-going in Russia;

5.    Meetings

The meetings are held by monthly basis (unless otherwise agreed and WHO acts as the meeting secretariat. Minutes are kept of the meetings and they are sent to all persons/organizations listed in the list of invitees.

6.   Additional remarks:

An IATG-Health/Russia Advisory Group will be established to provide additional guidance to the secretariat on the tasks and directions that the IARG-Health/Russia should take. It will bridge the gap between the broader and less formal group of the IATG-Health/Russia proper. The advisory group will act as a “think-tank” for the IATG-Health/Russia and prepares a general annual work plan for the IATG-Health/Russia to agree upon.

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[1] This group also has a function to act as United Nations Theme Group on Health starting from 1 July 2000, as requested in May 2000 by the UN Resident Coordinator in Russia.

TERMS OF REFERENCE

FOR A

UNITED NATIONS

THEME GROUP ON MIGRATION

1.      Justification – Migration is an essential element of globalization. The broad values of human dignity -- enshrined in numerous UN Charters, Declarations and Conventions – are, or should be, enjoyed by all categories of migrants. UN bodies with a particular purpose are becoming more and more aware that the “migration variable” needs to be factored into their programmatic equations, as are other international and national counterpart Agencies. This is because the migration theme is common to many programme sectors.

2.      The 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) calls on States’ “to address the root causes of migration, especially those related to poverty”.  It recognizes the importance of migration diplomacy by encouraging “more cooperation and dialogue between countries of origin and countries of destination in order to maximize the benefits of migration to those concerned and increase the likelihood that migration has positive consequences for the development of both sending and receiving countries”. The ICPD also identifies the need “to facilitate the reintegration process of returning migrants”. 

3.      In a decade of great political, economic and social transition, the Russian Federation became a sending, receiving and transit country. Three major, if somewhat overlapping, categories of migrants include: documented migrants, undocumented migrants and refugees, asylum seekers and internally displaced persons. The migration programme of the Russian Federation, in spite of concerted efforts in a resource poor environment, has been unable to adequately promote the human dignity and well being (e.g., right to citizenship, freedom of movement,  enjoyment of international protection, rights to education, health care, employment) of all three categories of migrants in line with the objectives and actions for each category as specified in the ICPD PoA.  Although national migration policy initiatives were taken in 1999 and continued 2000, the Russian Federation still has no comprehensive and detailed national migration policy.  Consequently, it will be important to focus on migration in the  forthcoming CCA/UNDAF exercises.

4.      UNHCR is directly concerned, in co-operation with the GoRF, with activities on behalf of refugees, asylum seekers and internally displaced persons (IDPs), as well as involuntarily relocating persons (IRPs) or the ‘forced migrants’. Labor migration is an element in the (tripartite) Programme of Cooperation between the ILO and the Russian Federation for the years 2000-2001. The UNFPA has begun to concern itself with the reproductive health of migrants such as IDPs in the northern Caucasus. The UNDP CCF for the Russian Federation to cover the period 2001-2003 will include the migration variable, and it will be included in the Human Development Report for 2000. Migration is present in the programmes being developed or under consideration in this country by UNICEF, WFP, and WHO. IOM has provided direct assistance to all three major categories of migrants in the Russian Federation for the past decade, as well as technical co-operation with the GoRF. The Bretton Woods institutions, and in particular the World Bank, have taken initiatives concerning various aspects of migrations such as the movement of people from north to south.  Migration also represents a target area for interventions by TACIS and OSCE-ODIHR, as well as a plethora of national and international NGOs.

5.      The UNHCR, IOM and OSCE, among other organizations, will continue activities  under the  1996 CISCONF, particularly its’ Programme of Action and Institutional Chapter. This will take the form of the “Follow-up to the 1996 Geneva Conference on the Problems of Refugees, Displaced Persons, Migration and Asylum Issues” from 2000 to 2004.  All concerned parties in Geneva agreed this continuing initiative at the meeting of the CISCONF Steering Group on 13 – 14 July 2000.  The CISCONF was originally organized at the request of the Russian Federation.

6.      That migration continues to be a major issue, global in scope and size, was re-confirmed by the ICPD+5 in the summer of 1999 and the Bejing+5 in June 2000. In addition to endorsing their original PoAs, these review meetings issued outcome documents, which set forth new migration priorities.  They include the protection of migrants rights, the prevention of trafficking, especially women and children, and information campaigns to ameliorate racist and xenophobic attitudes and to inform migrants.  They also called for better information on new migration realities. It is clear that a range of UN system Agencies, Governments and NGOs are increasingly  concerned with various forms of migration, especially the UNFPA under their ICPD lead role, the ILO and UNIFEM.  More generally, the “feminization of migration” is attracting greater and greater attention, as is labor migration in the EU demographic context.  Still, the reduction of poverty is arguably the main challenge in diminishing the uncontrolled movement of people across national boundaries thereby allowing for greater consideration in establishing a more orderly and humane migration regimes worldwide and in the Russian Federation.

7.      Substantial areas - In view of the above, the Russian Federation UN Country Team Theme Group on Migration (UN RusMig) will primarily focus its attention on the following main areas of intervention with special reference to the Government Migration Programme Strategy:

-          to include the relevant categories of migrants in all aspects of the UN and Governments alleviation of poverty efforts;

-          to provide advisory and consultative services to the GoRF to assist in its’ efforts to develop a comprehensive and detailed migration policy, including a normative framework for managing migration movements;  

-          to assist the Government to manage migration through migration tools and to manage asylum through asylum tools with necessary attention to zones of overlap between new migration realities and established asylum procedures (e.g., trafficking in human beings);

-          to encourage the Government to adhere to the 1951 Convention and its 1967 Protocols governing refugee status determination procedures and international refugee protection writ large;

-          to assist the GoRF to engage in migration diplomacy by creating opportunities for regional and sub-regional consultations (e.g., the recent International Migration Policy workshops sponsored by UNITAR, ILO, UNFPA, IOM and UNHCR) for minimizing the negative effects of migration and maximizing the positive ones in a more orderly fashion;

-          to  provide advisory services and technical assistance to strengthen the capacities of relevant Government agencies to better manage flows of documented and undocumented migrants into and out of the RF through enhanced border management, national framework measures (e.g., legislation) and training migration officials, as well as voluntary return programmes, with due attention to asylum and international refugee protection issues;

-          to develop information rich anti-trafficking strategies, particularly for women and children, through legislative measures, preventive information campaigns, exchange of information between involved States, and assistance/protection and re-integration of victims and prosecution of traffickers;

-          to encourage the Government to promote the human rights of all categories of migrants and their families, particularly those of women and children;

-          to assist RF migration authorities in developing funding for programmes aimed at the re-integration of migrants such as income generation activities, social and health care services and skill training;

-          to design, develop and maintain a data base for the purpose of identifying  migration trends, analyzing the forces driving the trends, making projections of migration flows, and generating policy recommendations useful to the Government in light of its stated migration goals and objectives;

-          to encourage and sponsor in-depth research on particular aspects of migration such as follow-up research on the UN Population’s Division report on “Replacement Migration” in the Russian Federation, trafficking in migrants, re-integration policies and practices; and

-          to ensure compatibility and synergies among concerned international technical cooperation projects and programmes.

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TERMS OF REFERENCE

FOR A

UNITED NATIONS

THEME GROUP ON POVERTY

1.      Justification - Poverty is typically a cross-sectoral concern in human societies, be it only by the compendium of detrimental effects its incidence and spreading has on the various facets of individual and human development. It is of relevance to programmes developed by practically all UN Agencies, and a number of other international and national cooperation and development Agencies.

2.      The 1995 Social Summit’s Programme of Action calls for “National poverty eradication plans” to address “the structural causes of poverty”. These Plans are to push for local, national and international actions to eradicate extreme poverty and substantially reduce overall poverty.

3.      In the Russian Federation, poverty levels have reached worrying levels, despite Government commitment and measures planned or undertaken to reduce the poverty level. Unlike several other countries of the region, the Russian Federation still has no national anti-poverty plan as such. It is therefore to be expected that this cross-sectoral issue will be prominent in the forthcoming CCA/UNDAF exercises.

4.      Poverty is one of the pivotal elements in UNDP CCF for the Russian Federation to cover the period 2001-2003. It appears as a major element in the (tripartite) Programme of Cooperation between the ILO and the Russian Federation for the years 2,000-2001, and is strongly present in the programmes being developed or under consideration in this country by UNHCR, UNESCO, UNICEF, UNFPA, UNAIDS, WFP, WHO. The Bretton Woods institutions, and in particular the World Bank, have taken initiatives concerning various aspects of poverty monitoring and poverty alleviation in the Russian Federation. Poverty alleviation also represents a target area for TACIS interventions.

5.      The Human Development Report is very much concentrated on areas related to poverty, as is the Human Development Index. Bilateral donors have expressed strong interest in activities focusing on fight against the multiple facets of  poverty in the Russian Federation, at the federal, regional and local levels.

6.      Poverty is a key issue in the follow-up process to the World Summit on Social Development (Copenhagen, 1995). The First United Nations decade for the eradication of poverty started in 1997, and the UN Development Group Executive Committee has recently (April 2000, Rome meeting) reiterated its view that poverty reduction has to be seen as a joint challenge for the UN system, for actors and partners in development and for Governments.

7.      Substantial areas - In view of the above, the Russian Federation UN Country Team Theme Group on Poverty (UN RusPov) will primarily focus its attention on the following main areas of intervention with special reference to the Government Poverty Eradication Strategy:

-     to define poverty in its multidimensional aspects;

-          to design, develop and maintain a database on related international technical cooperation  programmes and projects;

-          to contribute to proper measuring and monitoring of poverty;

-          to take part in the assessment and combating of gender components in poverty;

-          to encourage and sponsor research on particular aspects of poverty;

-          to review means for improving the income-earning capacity of the working poor;

-          to help in the design of appropriate safety net mechanisms;

-          to consider how to address the specific needs of the most vulnerable groups;

-          to develop related policy recommendations;

and

-          to ensure compatibility and synergies among concerned international technical cooperation projects and programmes.

8.      Membership -  The ILO Office in Moscow will act as convener for the Group. Membership will normally be on the basis of Agencies, not intuitu personae. Among UN Agencies represented in the Russian Federation, it is expected that each of the Agencies mentioned in § 3 above will appoint their representatives to the Group. Membership will also include the World Bank and TACIS in view of their past, current and prospective active involvement in the field of poverty alleviation in the Russian Federation. Other interested international or bilateral cooperation Agencies and donor countries may be invited to attend Group meetings upon expression of their interest. Joint sessions will be organized as and when necessary with representatives of the Government, of the legislative organs, of the civil society and/or with qualified individuals and specialists in this field.

9.      Working Methods - The Group is not to interfere in the programming mechanisms of its members. However, it will act as a think-tank and catalyst for the development of collaborative efforts among UN Agencies, Bretton Woods institutions, European Union representation, bilateral donors and NGOs.

10.  While the Group will decide on its own Agenda and procedures, it is expected that it will at least during the inception period strive for providing a substantial contribution to the forthcoming CCA and ensuing UNDAF processes in the Russian Federation. It is also expected that the Group will use its overall knowledge of the situation in the area of poverty monitoring and alleviation, towards helping in the formulation and promotion of   relevant interagency programming and project sponsoring. The Group will benefit from the support of the Resident Coordinator System in the Russian Federation, to which it is expected to report as and when appropriate. The ILO Office in Moscow will ensure the Group's secretariat and liaise with the Resident Coordinator System for all related common administrative and financial purposes.

(endorsed y the UN Country team for the Russian Federation on 19 June 2000)

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TERMS OF REFERENCE

FOR A UNITED NATIONS THEME GROUP ON ENVIRONMENT

1.                   Justification – Environmental protection is considered as an integral part of sustainable socio-economic human development. After the adoption of Agenda 21 at the UN Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, the programmes on sustainable development were developed and successfully implemented by UNDP, UNEP, World Bank, and bilateral  agencies.

2.                   The Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) was created in December 1992 to ensure effective follow-up of UNCED, to monitor and report on implementation of the agreements at the local, national, regional and international levels. The first five-year review of Earth Summit progress was conducted in 1997 at the United Nations General Assembly meeting. The Resolution adopted by the General Assembly expressed its special concern that the overall trends with respect to sustainable development deteriorated from 1992 to 1997.  It was emphasized that the implementation of Agenda 21 in a comprehensive manner remains vitally important and is more urgent now than ever.

3.                   The Russian Federation adopted the Concept on Sustainable Development in 1996. The Concept, combined with the National Environmental Action Plan for 1999-2001 and several federal and regional target programs in the sphere of nature protection and environmental management, reflect the national concern and commitment concerning environmental issues. The CCF for Russian Federation to cover the period 2001 – 2003 identifies environmental management projects among the most crucial initiatives to be implemented in Russia.  The main mandate outlined for UNDP includes capacity building for strengthening biodiversity conservation and climate change initiatives, UNDP, together with UNEP and the World Bank, is involved in Global Environment Facility (GEF) programming activities in the Russia. UNDP cooperates with other UN Agencies (co-implementation and execution), international organizations, and bilateral donors regarding the implementation of environmental projects.

4.                   Substantial areas – In view of the above, the Russian Federation UN Country Team Theme Group on Environment will specifically focus its efforts in the following main areas of intervention with special reference to the National Environmental Action Plan for 1999-2001 adopted by the Russian Federation:

-  to define the most crucial environmental problems of global, national and local significance to be addressed;

-  to support the development and implementation of legal and regulatory frameworks and policies that link environmental protection and management of natural resources to critical areas of development;

-  to develop and implement national and local programmes that promote sustainable management of energy, land, water, forest and other biological resources;

-  to assist in promotion and installation of sustainable environmental practices and technologies;

-  to strengthen capacity of state environmental authorities and NGOs to conduct effective sustainable development policy;

-  to increase public awareness of environmental values;

-  to improve the instruments to involve non-budgetary financial resources for environmental protection activities;

-  to promote the introduction of environmentally friendly and energy-efficient technologies in Russia’s fuel and energy sector and other energy intensive industries.

5.                   Membership – it is expected that all UN Agencies, especially UNDP and UNEP, will participate in this group.  Membership will also include the World Bank and other Bretton Woods institutions.   Joint sessions will be organized as and when necessary with representatives of the Ministry for Natural Resources and other governmental institutions in charge of environmental policy, legislative authorities, civil society and/or national experts in this field. 

6.                   Working methods – the group is not to interfere in the programming mechanisms of its members. However, it will act as a think-tank and catalyst for the development of collaborative efforts among UN Agencies and Bretton Woods institutions.

8.                  Resident Coordinator system – The Group will benefit from the support of the Russian Coordinator System in the Russian Federation, to which it is expected to report as and when appropriate.

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United Nations Theme Group on HIV/AIDS

The main objective of the UN Theme Group on HIV /AIDS is to co-ordinate and jointly plan the UN system and other parties’ support for the national response to HIV/AIDS in the Russian Federation.

Terms of Reference

UN

-           Serve as a permanent forum in which representatives of participating UN agencies and co-opted partners can jointly exchange information and consult proposed activities related to HIV/AIDS

-           Seek to ensure the appropriate use of policies and programme guidance received from the UN AIDS HQ and the Steering Committee of Co-sponsors

-           Advocate for greater political commitment to promote the public health rationale for HIV prevention, multisectoral involvement and appropriate policies within the context of the national strategic plan

-           Jointly review HIV/AIDS activities implemented or supported by UN agencies in recent years (inventory); jointly monitor, evaluate and report on UN activities related to HIV/AIDS underway in a current year

-           Develop and implement a joint and coordinated TG work plan of UN operations, especially those assisting government, non-governmental organizations and community activists in accelerating their own efforts to respond to the starting HIV epidemic

NAP

-           Enhance the government capacity to plan, implement, monitor and evaluate the overall response to HIV epidemic by ensuring coordinated, effective support by the UN Resident Representative system to the National AIDS Programme

-           Support the National AIDS Programme directly by providing advice on technical and policy issues and through advocacy and fund-raising

-           Strengthen the national capacity to support its efforts to co-ordinate activities of many national, international partners and external support agencies

-           Cooperate on resource mobilization efforts to enhance the level and diversity of financial and technical contributions to the country response to HIV/AIDS

-           Liaise between national partners and the UN agencies based in the Russian Federation and between national partners and UN headquarters at regional and global levels

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Terms Of Reference

 UN Theme Group on Youth and Young People.

Background.

Young people in the Russian Federation, like young people everywhere, face many challenges. In Russia, the difficulties of the individual transition from childhood to adulthood are aggravated by continuing and far-reaching change in the social, political, cultural  and economic environment. Many aspects of the country’s process of transition have an impact on the lives and prospects of young people:

declining real incomes and the descent into actual poverty of many families, especially those with children: changing patterns of employment, with traditional occupations contracting and new opportunities slow to emerge: shifts in expectations and values, hard to quantify but perceptible at the individual and the collective level.

Several current social trends illustrate the stresses to which young people are now  exposed. Large numbers of young people now spend much of their time on the streets of Russia’s major cities. While these young people may in fact have homes and families, many of them take to the streets because of family breakdown (the divorce rate in Russia has increased by 50% in the last ten years) or violence in the home, often linked to alcohol abuse. Poverty itself may mean that young people are encouraged to leave home by parents unable or unwilling to provide for them.

Rapid increases in the numbers of young people being sentenced for criminal offences are another indicator of social change, as are the increases in the rates of consumption of alcohol, tobacco and intravenous drugs among young people. According to a recent survey, Russia has the second highest rate of smoking among young people in the region: more than twice as many young people smoke now as did five years ago. Drug addiction, almost unknown a few years ago, now affects between 1.5 and 3 million people, the majority of whom are under 25. Greater sexual freedom, and the continuing inadequacies of sex education at home and at school, have inevitably brought negative consequences: a huge increase in the rate of syphilis and other sexually-transmitted diseases, and a 50% increase over 10 years in the share of births to mothers under 20, at a time when overall birth rates continue to decline.

Several of these trends have fatal consequences. Intravenous drug use has so far been the main entry point for the HIV virus, with the 20-40 age group the most affected at this point in the epidemic. There is growing evidence that the HIV virus is beginning to spread into the general population through heterosexual transmission, putting at greatest risk those young people who are sexually most active and least informed about how to protect themselves from infection. Another sad indication of the conditions of young people, and their own perception of their situation, is the marked increase in suicides. Russia has the highest rate for suicide among young men and the second highest for girls and young women in the region. Young people are too often viewed as a problem in themselves, rather than as the victims of complex and perilous circumstances often beyond their control.

The UN response.

While there is universal recognition among UN agencies active in the Russian Federation of the crisis affecting Russia’s youth, and of the long-term consequences of that crisis for the country’s economic and social development, so far co-ordination among the different agencies has been limited. The purpose of the Theme Group is to try to address this by ensuring that information and resources are shared to produce effective responses to well-analyzed problems, and to increase public awareness and concern about young people’s issues. The Group will also try to increase the potential for the participation of young people in addressing their own problems. As well as UN agencies with an interest in youth issues, membership of the Theme Group will also be open to other organizations and agencies (bilaterals, NGOs, research institutes, individual specialists etc.) working with young people.

The main tasks of the Theme Group will be:

1.to share information about current or planned projects and programmes intended to address the problems of young people in Russia

2. to collect, analyze, and disseminate data (disaggregated to the extent possible on regional, rural/urban and gender lines) on the situation of young people in Russia

3. to identify prominent individuals (politicians, artists, religious leaders) in public life, share with them information about youth issues and seek their active involvement in raising public awareness on these issues

4. to promote alliances among agencies and organizations providing funding and/or technical expertise to improve the situation of young people, leading to joint programmes and activities and the optimum use of resources

5. to identify ways of maximizing the participation of young people in the planning,  implementation and evaluation of projects and activities

6. to ensure that issues affecting young people are fully taken into account in UN inter-agency undertakings such as the Common Country Assessment, the UN Development Assistance Framework, and in the regular or occasional publications of the UN system

7. to identify opportunities for advocacy on behalf of young people by the UN system and to plan for UN system participation in events and activities with special relevance to young people, for example the International Year of Volunteers to be celebrated in 2001.     

UNICEF Moscow, July 2000.

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Annex 5 – Development Assistance

GRAND TOTAL

1998: 1078.74

1999: 1837.59

2000 (UN FAMILY ONLY): 139.9

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Annex 6 – Report on the utilization of funds allocated to support coordination functions in the Russian federation for the year 2000 (Resident Coordinator)

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Total allotment           90,000

Swedish grant 50,000                                                                                           

Annex 7 - 2001 Work Plan of the Resident Coordinator System in the Russian Federation

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Total request for allotment                $ 70,000

A project of the United Nations Country Team in the Russian Federation

with support from the UN Development Group Office and the Swedish Government