Iran joined the United Nations in 1945
as a founding member and since then the UN has had a continuous presence in the
country. During the past 63 years, the UN has forged strong and lasting
partnerships with the government and a wide range of others, including the
civil society and local communities to promote respect for human rights,
protect the environment, fight disease, foster sustainable development and
reduce poverty. We are also working with our counterparts to assist the world’s
largest refugee population here, improve access to health services, create
jobs, expand food production and fight drugs.
Specifically, the UN system in the
Islamic Republic of Iran is helping the country reach the “Millennium
Development Goals” set by world leaders at the September 2000 Millennium
Summit. To this end, agencies are assisting the Government to halve extreme
poverty, improve the health of mothers and children, fight diseases and improve
education and also support the national authorities to monitor the country’s
progress towards these Goals.
Just as the UN seeks to harmonize the
actions of all nations on a global level, it also aims to coordinate its own
operational activities within each country. As the designated representative of
the UN Secretary-General, the UN Resident Coordinator assumes overall
responsibility for, and coordination of, UN operational activities at the
country level. Under the aegis of the Resident Coordinator, the 17 agencies, programmes, funds and offices represented in Iran make up
the UN Country Team, working together in identifying areas for UN system
interventions, work and collaboration.
To coordinate the substantive work of
the UN agencies, a number of inter-agency thematic groups and operational teams
have been established, which are basically working groups designed to address
some important themes and agreed outcomes, and to coordinate the operational
and programmatic work of the agencies on those specific subjects. The theme
groups focus on such issues as disaster management; communications; gender;
HIV/AIDS; MDGs capacity building; good governance and human rights; improvement
of economic performance and job creation; energy efficiency; science and
technology transfer and ad-hoc themes like Afghanistan Compact.
As defined by the General Assembly, the
Common Country Assessment (CCA) is the common instrument of the United Nations
system to analyse the national development situation
and identify key development issues. Both a process and a product, the
Assessment takes into account national priorities, with a focus on the
Millennium Development Goals and other commitments, goals and targets of the
Millennium Declaration and international conferences, summits and conventions.
The UN Country Team, in collaboration
with its national and international counterparts, published the first CCA for
Iran in August 2003.
Through the CCA, the UN and its
partners identify areas requiring priority attention, based on a common
analysis of key development challenges within the country. The CCA also serves
as a stepping-stone towards the formulation of the United Nations Development
Assistance Framework (UNDAF), which articulates a common UN system response to
a selected number of challenges identified, and sets the foundation for joint
programming of UN Agencies in Iran.
This booklet aims to communicate the
purpose and aim of the UN presence in Iran, highlight the organization’s key
achievements and flagship activities in the country, and underline current
priorities towards its ultimate goal of helping the nation achieve development
and prosperity.
For more information, please contact
our office in Tehran and/or visit our website:
Knut Ostby
UN Resident Coordinator in the
Islamic Republic of Iran
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Address: No. 8, Shahrzad Blvd., Darrous,Tehran,
Islamic Republic of Iran P.O. Box 15874-4557,
Tehran, Iran Tel: (98-21) 2286
0691-4
E-mail: rc.office.iran@undp.org Facsimile: (98-21) 2286
9547
website: www.un.org.ir |