|
United Nations in Mali |
|
|
about THE united nations |
||
|
Index I RC Message I U.N I Partnerships I Doc Centers I Publications I Events I Contacts I Mali I News |
||
|
|
United Nations in Mali |
|
|
about THE united nations |
||
|
Index I RC Message I U.N I Partnerships I Doc Centers I Publications I Events I Contacts I Mali I News |
||
BRIEF HISTORY OF THE UNITED NATIONS (UN) The United Nations Organization was founded after the end of the second world war, with the goal of helping to stabilize internal relations and to establish peace on stronger foundations through international cooperation and collective security. The term “ United Nations” which was coined by the President of the United States, Franklin D Roosevelt, was first used in the United Nations Declaration on January 1st, 1942 . Under this Declaration, representatives from 26 countries committed themselves to the collective pursuit of the balance of power between North, South, East and West. The United Nations charter was developed by the representatives of 50 countries at the United Nations conference which met at San Francisco from April 25 to June 26, 1945. This international treaty sets out the basic principles governing relations between countries, as well as the goals, the structure and the functioning of the world organization. The charter was signed on June 26, 1945 by representatives of 50 countries. Poland which had not been represented at the conference, signed it later and is still part of the original member states. The United Nations Organization officially came into being on October 24, 1945. Since then, the United Nations Day has been celebrated on October 24 of each year. Today, the United Nations is made up of 191 member countries, representing almost the entirety of the world’s nations. For more information on the UN, please visit our web site: http://www.un.org HISTORY OF THE UNITED NATIONS IN MALI Nine Agencies and Institutions of the United Nations System are established in Mali:
The decision to establish the International Monetary Fund (IMF) was made at a United Nations conference held in Bretton Woods (New Hampshire, USA) from July 1st to 22, 1944. The IMF came into official existance December 27, 1945. It commenced financial operations on March 1, 1947. The IMF was conceived at the Bretton Woods conference when representatives from 45 governments agreed on a framework for economic cooperation designed to avoid a repetition of the disastrous economic policies that had contributed to the Great Depression of the 1930s. Article I of its Articles of Agreement states that the purposes of the IMF are as follows: the IMF is responsible for promoting international monetary cooperation; facilitating the expansion and balanced growth of international trade; promoting exchange rate stability; assisting in the establishment of a multilateral system of payments; and making its resources available (under adequate safeguards) to members experiencing balance of payments difficulties, thereby contributing in shortening the length and reducing the scope of the imbalances in the member countries’ balances of payments. More generally, and in accordance with its other purposes, the IMF is responsible for ensuring the stability of the international financial system. The current membership of the IMF is 184 countries. Mali joined the IMF on September 27, 1963. Mali’s quota in the IMF amounts SDR 93.3 million (approximately 123 million US dollars) or 0.04% of the total quota of the IMF. Mali’s voting power in the IMF is 1,183 votes or 0.06% of total. Since 1964, Mali has used IMF resources on 13 occasions in support of the Government’s economic programs; Mali has also benefited on several occasions from the IMF’s Compensatory Financing Facility to cope with shortfalls in its export revenues. Total Fund credit and loans outstanding at end-June 2002 amounted to SDR 126.0 million. In September 1998, Mali received commitments of assistance to be granted total (nominal) debt relief of $250 million under the IMF and World Bank Initiative for Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC). The IMF approved on August 6, 1999, the third three year agreement under the Enhanced Structural Adjustment Facility (ESAF) for an initial amount equivalent to SDR 46.65 million, subsequently increased to SDR 51.32 million (or about 43 billion CFAF), which supports Mali’s economic program. (On November 22, 1999, the ESAF was renamed the Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility – PRGF, and its objectives were changed to support programs to strengthen substantially and in a sustainable manner balance of payments positions, and to foster durable growth, leading to higher living standards and a reduction in poverty.) Accordingly, the objectives of Mali’s PRGF-supported program fall within the framework of a mid term strategy aiming at consolidating macroeconomic stability and establishing a sustainable economic growth which would reduce poverty and raise the standard of living of the population. The IMF’s Resident Representative in Mali is Mr. Abdelali Tazi Mokha. For more information on the IMF, please visit : www.imf.org
At the end of the second world war, famine and disease threatened Europe’s children. In December 1946, the United Nation created UNICEF to provide them with emergency assistance. Since 1950, UNICEF extends its role by working in favor of children and families of developing countries. Since that period, UNICEF advocates and works for the protection of children’s rights in order to help the young people meet their basic needs and to develop their possibilities of expressing themselves fully. Today, UNICEF is present in 162 countries, zones and territories. The organisation, guided by the Norms and principals stated in the convention related to children’s rights, is trying to Create the necessary conditions so that the children could be happy, healthy and proud. The Mali-UNICEF co-operation, established after the independence of the country, has lasted 42 years. From a small outreach office depending on the Dakar office, about thirty years ago, UNICEF was introduced in Mali through immunisation, education activities, and later through health activities. From the emergency phase, UNICEF has progressively moved to intervention for a sustainable development. The vitality of this co-operation rests on the common will of the government of Mali and UNICEF to protect the mother and child again disease, ignorance and malnutrition. This task, known by all as a permanent mission, is carried out in the framework of a frank collaboration. The following testifies to that:
The representative of UNICEF in Mali is Ms Frances Turner For more information on the UNICEF, please visit : www.unicef.org
Created in 1985, UNDP is a world development network at the disposal of the UN System. It calls for change and provides countries with the knowledge, experiences and resources which their population need to improve their lives. The UNDP is present on the ground in 166 countries, helping then to identify their own solutions to the UNDP staff and its many partners. The world's leaders have committed themselves to reaching the development objectives for the millennium whose primary objective is to reduce poverty by half by the year 2015. The UNDP network links and reinforces the co-ordination of efforts done at the world and national levels in order to achieve these objectives. It is committed to helping countries develop and share solutions to problems. It is centred around six main themes :
UNDP helps developing countries mobilise and use the international assistance effectively. In all the activities, UNDP encourages the protection of human rights and favors the active participation of women and the equity between genders. In each country office, the representative of UNDP assumes also the functions of Resident-Coordinator of the operational activities of the UN System. The UNDP aims at, through this co-ordination, maximising the impact of the use of resources coming from or entrusted to the UN agencies for management with regard to international assistance. UNDP also commits itself to extending advocacy activities concerning poverty issues. Its World Report on Human Development, widely cited, classifies every year the countries according to criteria such as the respect of women’s rights. The objective is to place the human being at the center of the development process. These reports also help the donor governments measure the impact of their financial assistance and contribute to let people know how the assistance has a positive impact on direct beneficiaries and on the donors’ representatives. In Mali, the development efforts of the government have been supported by UNDP-Mali since the 1960’s. Through its corporation framework, the UNDP defines its intervention axes on the basis of the national priorities. Following the analysis of the first corporation framework (1998-2002) in December 2001, the UNDP has developed society, the Bretton woods Institutions and the donor communities, the guidelines of the new corporation framework for the period 2003-2007. This programme outline developed from SFPR (Strategic Framework for Poverty Reduction) and UNDAF (United Nations Development and Assistance Framework), includes two major programmes: Governance at Environmental Action / Sustainable living conditions. The Governance programme is composed of three sub-programmes which are: economic governance, democratic governance and local governance. The environmental action and sustainable living conditions programme will mainly aim at supporting the reinforcement of planning capacities and monitoring of the international conventions related to environment, restructuration of the development / energy sector and alternative energies and the development / the implementation of the decentralised strategies for the prevention and communication constitute integrated themes in the entire programme in a crosscutting manner. In Mali, UNDP also animates the global debate on development. It brings in its contribution by the annual publication of the national report on human development (published every year since 1997). Furthermore, it assists the government in the organisation of round tables and for this reason, it mobilises interests and creates partnerships around the national development priorities. Ms Jocelline Bazile Finley is the representative of UNDP and Resident Co-ordinator of the UN System in Mali . For more information on the UNDP, please visit :
United Nations specialized organization for education, science and culture, UNESCO was established after the second world war with the mission of contributing to establish durable peace in the world as stipulated in the preamble of its constitutive statutes: “ As wars originate in the spirits of men , therefore it is in the spirits of men that peace should be built”. Therefore the mission assigned to UNESCO is to contribute to the maintenance of peace and security by strengthening cooperation ties with nations through education, science, and culture so as to ensure the respect for universal justice, law, human rights and basic liberties for all irrespective of race, sex and religion. Since then, thanks to the development requirements, UNESCO gradually transformed itself into an active partner in the fight for socio-economic and cultural development of populations in support of the current 189 member countries namely those of the third world. In this perspective and in order to better meet the expectations of member states, UNESCO has developed its intervention strategy which focuses on the following four major programmes or areas:
These major programmes are supplemented by projects and multidisciplinary activities such as the programme on the culture of peace, the fight against AIDS and poverty, the use of the ICTs for development. The mandate assigned to UNESCO in the United Nations System and the place it occupies in the international cooperation system makes it a key institution for the future. Assigned half a century ago in the wake of a tragic war, the mission of this institution remains valid and a topical issue, however due to the ever changing world we live in, these missions need to be constantly adjusted. UNESCO which is neither a funding nor a mere research institution, has always had the task of developing the human potential in collaboration with member states and its multiple partners and interlocutors on the international scene. The intellectual cooperation that it stimulates is both an element of rapprochement and mutual understanding between peoples and individuals and an essential instrument for action. More than ever, the transfer and sharing of knowledge, the comparing of ideas, high level consultations, the setting up of innovation networks, the dissemination of information and successful experiences, evaluation and research work that is promoted in these areas of competence appear to be essential activities for the building of a more peaceful world showing more solidarity. The UNESCO’s Representative in Mali is Mr. Edouard F. Matoko For more information, please visit the site of UNESCO: www.unesco.org
FAO was created on 16 October 1945 to fight against famine and poverty, by developing agriculture, nutritional and food security, to ensure access for all, all the time, to the food necessary for an active and healthy life. Today, FAO, spearheading the field of agriculture, forests, fishery and rural development, is the greatest specialised institution of the UN system. As Intergovernmental organisation, FAO comprises 183 member countries, plus the European Community. Thanks to its developed information networks and the competence of its specialists, FAO is capable of providing independent opinions on the way to orient national policies and strategies on agricultural development in general, and the fight against poverty in the rural sector. FAO collects and analyses data on food, agriculture, forests and fisheries. This information must enable the users to make relevant decisions in the field of planning, investment, marketing, research or training. At the global level, FAO examines prospects for agriculture and food to detect forthcoming food shortages and to determine possible emergency food needs. In the domain of food and agriculture, it approves the standards and contributes to developing international conventions and agreements. FAO has launched a co-ordinated campaign of activities and programmes aimed at mobilising governments, international organisations and all the sectors of civil society in order to charge into reality the slogan : “ Food For All ”. Among these activities and programmes can be cited the world food summits of November 1996 and June 2002, the special programme for food security (PSSA) , the telefood campaign, the FAO partnership programmes, the emergencies prevention programme for destroyers and transborder diseases of animals and plants (EMPRES), the special FAO action plan on integration of women in the development process. FAO provides concrete assistance to third world countries through many technical assistance projects and through an integrated approach including ecological, social and economical considerations in the formulation of development projects. In this light, it emphasises the promotion of sustainable rural development and agriculture, a strategy that helps to better manage and protect the natural resources and the environment. FAO has operated in Mali since independence. The office was installed in 1979 following the signature of the agreement between the government and FAO. FAO provides multiform assistance to the development of Mali in the framework of its field programme. This is done by funding projects either through budgetary resources resulting from contributions of the member countries decided by the FAO conference (Resources of the FAO Technical Cooperation Programme), or through the extra – budgetary resources provided by UNDP, other UN – agencies or government trust funds. The FAO representative in Mali is Ms Mariam Mahamat Nour. For more information on the FAO, please visit our web site : www.fao.org
UNFPA started operating as a UN agency in 1969. Since that time, its mission has been to let people better know about the demographic issues within countries, both developed and developing ones, as well as the strategies likely to solve them. With this mandate, UNFPA has become, within a short period of time, the main bilateral and multilateral partner in the field of assistance on population issues. Since the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) held in Cairo in 1994, UNFPA assistance has been redefined and, thus, three major areas have been retained :
UNFPA assistance in Mali started in 1976 with support for the organisation of the 1976 general census of the population, which enabled Government to determine the annual average growth rate of the population, between 1961 and 1976, at 2,82%. This occasional assistance to programmes in the field of maternal and child health / family planning (MCH/FP) had the following objectives:
The representative of UNFPA in Mali is Mr. Younes Zoughlami. For more information on the UNFPA, please visit : www.unfpa.org 44 countries met at Bretton Woods (New Hampshire, USA) in July 1944 to establish the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development in order to reconstruct the economies devastated by the Second World War. In 1947, the United Nations General Assembly approved the establishment of official links with the Bank and today, the Bank has a membership of 183 countries. The World Bank Group consists of five closely associated institutions, all owned by member countries that carry the ultimate decision-making power :
These institutions are specialized in various development aspects to achieve a common goal-poverty reduction an improve living standards for people in the developing world. The term "world bank" refers specially to two of the five, IBRD and IDA. Mali became a member of the World Bank Group on September 27, 1963. Three years later, the board of the Bank approved the first credit of $9.1 million to support Mali’s railway company and in 1976, established a Resident Mission (now Country Office) in Bamako. Through its 1999-2001 Country Assistance Strategy (CAS), the World Bank supports Malian Government development objectives through the funding of various projects and programs to improve macroeconomic management, income generation, and employment creation. which will in turn significantly improve access of the poor to basic health care, education, and clean water services. Furthermore, private business support and improvement and decentralization of the financial sector will help create an environment conducive to private investment. The Country Manager is Ms. Judith Press. For more information on the WB, please visit :
The representative of WFP in Mali is Mr. Pablo Recalde For more information on the WFP, please visit : www.wfp.org
It was in 1946 that a provisional commission from the international Conference meeting in New York approved the creation of the World Health Organization, a specialized institution of the United Nations System, due to take effect on April 7, 1948. The purpose of the WHO is to bring all peoples to the highest possible level of health. Its responsibilities include :
Made up of 191 member states, the WHO plays an advisory role for states, with the task of essentially directing and coordinating the area of international health, activities, providing a sound technical and productive cooperation and encouraging research. Mali joined the WHO on October 17, 1960 just a few weeks after it gained independence. Since then technical cooperation between Mali and WHO has continued to grow from assistance to a truly dynamic partnership for the promotion of health. During the past years, WHO has been intervening in Mali in the following four areas :
The WHO Representative in Mali is Mr. Lamine Cissé Sarr. For more information on WHO, visit : www.oms.org |
World Bank
(WB)
World Food Programme (WFP)