****************************************************************************** This document has been posted online by the United Nations Department for Policy Coordination and Sustainable Development (DPCSD). Reproduction and dissemination of the document - in electronic and/or printed format - is encouraged, provided acknowledgement is made of the role of the United Nations in making it available. ****************************************************************************** Distr. LIMITED E/1992/47 26 May 1992 ORIGINAL: ENGLISH Substantive session of 1992 29 June-31 July 1992 Item 3 of the provisional agenda* * E/1992/100. COORDINATION OF THE POLICIES AND ACTIVITIES OF THE SPECIALIZED AGENCIES AND OTHER BODIES OF THE UNITED NATIONS SYSTEM Policies and activities relating to assistance in the eradication of poverty and support to vulnerable groups, including assistance during the implementation of structural adjustment programmes Report of the Secretary-General SUMMARY The present report, in response to General Assembly resolution 45/264 and Economic and Social Council decision 1992/204, is to be the first of a series of analyses addressing the issues related to the coordination of the policies and activities of the specialized agencies and other bodies of the United Nations system. The report briefly reviews recent developments in the area of poverty that are relevant to the coordination issues raised here, and pays particular attention to the impact of structural adjustment programmes on poverty. Based on input provided by the organs, organizations and bodies of the United Nations system, it outlines the strategies, priorities, policy orientations and programmatic activities of the United Nations system in the area of poverty eradication, including promotion of growth with poverty alleviation, support to vulnerable groups and amelioration of the negative impacts of structural adjustment programmes. The report accords a special place to the issues of coordination. Since this report is the first to address system-wide issues of coordination under new arrangements, it presents some broad themes related to the nature and desirable scope of coordination in the system. By providing an overview of the principal mechanisms and channels of coordination, it seeks to identify a frame of reference to facilitate debate and dialogue in the Economic and Social Council on this important subject. The present report examines the present state of coordination in the United Nations system in the area of poverty alleviation and eradication and formulates specific suggestions to improve and strengthen coordinative processes and structures. The need to develop a coherent system-wide framework for action in the area of poverty eradication is identified. CONTENTS Paragraphs Page INTRODUCTION ............................................... 1 - 5 4 I. RECENT TRENDS RELATING TO POVERTY ....................6 - 24 5 A. Poverty: not a new phenomenon, but a growing international concern ............................6 - 8 5 B. Poverty in the 1980s .............................9 - 16 7 C. The effects of structural adjustment programmes on the poor .....................................17 - 24 8 II. THE STATE OF COORDINATION AND COOPERATION IN THE UNITED NATIONS SYSTEM ...............................25 - 104 10 A. Some issues of coordination .....................25 - 34 10 B. Eradication of poverty: United Nations system strategies, priorities and policy orientations ..35 - 56 13 C. Assistance for human development and safety nets 57 - 65 19 D. Assistance by the United Nations system during adjustment programmes ...........................66 - 73 20 E. Inter-agency coordination and cooperation .......74 - 104 22 III. CONCLUDING OBSERVATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ........105 - 117 31 INTRODUCTION 1. The present report of the Secretary-General is being submitted to the Economic and Social Council in response to General Assembly resolution 45/264 and Economic and Social Council decision 1992/204. By that decision, the Council decided that the coordination segment of the Economic and Social Council of 1992 should be devoted to the coordination of the policies and activities of the specialized agencies and other bodies of the United Nations system related to the theme, inter/alia, of assistance in the eradication of poverty and support to vulnerable groups, including assistance during the implementation of structural adjustment programmes. 2. The report has been prepared on the basis of information and input provided by the organs, organizations and bodies of the United Nations system. As a follow-up to the decision of the Council, the Administrative Committee on Coordination (ACC) Task Force on Long-term Development Objectives had decided to consider, inter/alia, issues related to poverty alleviation and eradication at its twenty-first session, held from 3 to 6/March/1992. The present report draws on the discussions and conclusions of the Task Force on this subject. 3. This report has made no attempt to present a detailed historical perspective on the problem of global poverty or to analyse its sources and causes, nor does it offer a detailed examination of recent developments in this area or survey the national and international policies that are being pursued or may be desirable for addressing the problem. All these aspects have been amply addressed in a number of recent reports emanating from the United Nations system, the most notable being: the report of the Secretary-General on international cooperation for the eradication of poverty in developing countries (A/46/454), the Human Development Reports published by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in 1990 and 1991,/1/ the World Development Report, 1990: Poverty/2/ and the report by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) on "The state of world rural poverty"./3/ 4. The present report has a more limited purpose, namely, to provide the Economic and Social Council with a broad picture of the state of coordination within the United Nations system in the field of poverty alleviation and eradication and to identify possible areas for improving and enhancing such coordination. While the information and contributions provided by the specialized agencies and other bodies have been used to present a synthesized and broad overview, the report does not catalogue the assistance and activities of the United Nations system relating to poverty alleviation and eradication. 5. Section I of the report provides a brief description of recent trends with regard to the incidence of poverty in developing countries and effects of structural adjustment programmes on the poor. The focus is on developments in the last decade. The purpose here once again is not to provide exhaustive information on and analysis of the issues involved, but rather to indicate the context in which the assistance activities of the United Nations system are being carried out. Section/II gives a brief overview of United Nations system activities relating to the subject. Section/II also attempts to raise some broad issues relating to coordination; reviews United Nations system strategies, priorities and policy orientations relating to poverty alleviation and eradication; and examines the present state of coordination and cooperation in this area. Finally, section III makes a few concluding observations and recommendations that are intended to provide a basis for a productive exchange of views by the Council. I. RECENT TRENDS RELATING TO POVERTY A. Poverty: not a new phenomenon, but a growing international concern 6. Over 1.1/billion people in the world are estimated to live in poverty. Of those over 1.1/billion, over 600 million are considered extremely poor./4/ (People with annual consumption levels below $370 (1985 dollars) are deemed to be living in poverty. People with consumption levels below $275 are deemed to be living in extreme poverty.)/5/ Of those over 600 million, two thirds live in Asia, where they are concentrated in rural areas with high population densities. In sub-Saharan Africa, the 120 million people who live largely in areas where soils are poor and farming techniques underdeveloped are estimated to be extremely poor. The incidence of extreme poverty is smaller in other developing regions. In Latin America, extreme poverty encompasses 50/million people and is concentrated in the Andean highlands and urban slums and among rural households. In North Africa and the Near East, the extremely poor amount to approximately 40/million people and, for the most part are dispersed in smaller pockets of poverty in rural and urban areas (see figure I). 7. A particular feature of the phenomenon of rural poverty is that female-headed households now account for 20/per/cent of all rural households in the developing world (excluding China and India). In sub-Saharan Africa about one third of rural households are headed by women. The number of rural women living in poverty rose over the last 20 years by about 50/per/cent (from an estimated 370/million to about 550/million), as against an increase of about 25/per/cent for rural men. 8. Public concern over the poor has long been a feature of all societies. Whereas until the mid-1980s the international economic environment and domestic stabilization and adjustment measures took precedence over poverty issues, in recent years there has been a renewed interest in poverty eradication. The economic and social set-backs of the 1980s make this surge of interest in poverty issues all the more timely. B. Poverty in the 1980s 9. During the 1980s, poverty's share in total population, although not the absolute numbers of the poor, fell in Asia because of both improvements in India, Pakistan, China and Indonesia and the rapid economic growth of the Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand, among others. On the other hand, the greatest set-backs were suffered by sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America, where the combination of external shocks and domestic macroeconomic and structural weaknesses was responsible for poverty rates' increasing both absolutely and in terms of share of total population. In the 1980s per capita output declined by 12/per/cent in Africa and 11/per/cent in Latin America. When changes in terms of trade and net factor payments are taken into account, the fall in income was even larger: a 22/per/cent decline in real incomes in Africa and a 16/per/cent decline in Latin America (A/46/454, table 2). 10. According to calculations of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) the incomes of the region's poor, especially the extremely poor, fell proportionately during the 1980s, even more than per/capita incomes./6/ The increases in poverty were concentrated mainly in the urban areas. The growth of poverty in Latin America during the 1980s can be attributed mainly to the spread consequences of shrinking economic activity and declines in domestic expenditures resulting from the effects of the changed international economic environment, high external indebtedness and domestic structural and macroeconomic weaknesses. A severe compression in imports to the region was caused by the obligation to service external debts in the face of depressed commodity markets and sharply reduced inflows of capital. 11. The brunt of absorbing Latin America's external shocks fell mainly on the urban labour force. During the first few years following the onset of the debt crisis in 1982, when imports by the region were reduced by 40/per/cent, firms in Latin America laid off many workers. This directly contributed to the rise in unemployment and poverty during the first years of the crisis./7/ By the end of the decade, there was little sign that firms had restored jobs to previous levels. Moreover, many jobs were lost in some countries owing to cut-backs in public and private sector investments. 12. Despite considerable increases in aggregate agricultural production, the incomes of the rural poor declined in Latin America. This decline was particularly pronounced among the largest rural category of the extremely poor/- the landless labourers. According to estimates, between 1980 and 1987 their wages fell by 23/per/cent./8/ The reason for this fall was the rapid growth that occurred in the rural labour reserve because of the diminished prospects of emigrants finding work in urban areas, the labour-saving effects of the agricultural mechanization taking place in the production of commodities for export and the impact of lower international commodity prices in driving out less efficient producers who had traditionally hired workers to help them during periods of peak activity. 13. In Africa, as in Latin America, the external shocks from deteriorating terms of trade had a depressing impact on incomes in the urban areas. Average labour earnings in the urban public sector of Africa declined by 30/per/cent during the first half of the 1980s, and the number of workers employed by the formal private sector fell by 16/per/cent during those years./9/ On the other hand, because many countries adopted foreign exchange and producer price policies that reduced earlier distortions and generally improved the domestic terms of trade for rural areas, the burden of falling world commodity prices was felt less by rural population groups and more by urban groups. Moreover, many rural poor were able to retreat into subsistence agriculture as a buffer against the economic crisis. On the whole, therefore, rural incomes stagnated while urban incomes fell. 14. In discussing the impact of international economic shocks on the sub-Saharan poor, several observations need to be made. First, the difficulties of the 1980s aggravated, but did not create, the region's fundamental problems of economic stagnation, inability to expand food production, poverty and lack of resources. Those problems had already become apparent during the 1970s and were arguably a result as much of ineffective domestic policies as of external events. 15. Second, in the rural areas of much of the region, the problems created by economic shocks were secondary in importance to the drought of 1983-1985 and, in some countries, to prolonged armed conflicts between ethnic groups. These climatic and indigenous man-made shocks were the factors primarily responsible for rendering many rural poor destitute, converting large numbers of families into refugees and threatening much of the population with famine. 16. Third, given the traditional ties and sense of mutual obligation binding extended families together, too much of a distinction should not be made between urban and rural incomes. In view of the reduced flow of monetary remittances from urban areas and increased incidence of in-kind remittances of staple foods from rural areas, it is unlikely that purchasing power among the urban poor fell much more than in rural areas. C. The effects of structural adjustment programmes on the poor 17. During the 1980s and early 1990s many developing countries carried out structural adjustment programmes. To the extent that those programmes accelerate overall economic growth or correct the urban and capital-intensive bias of previous development strategies, they may, in the future, benefit the extremely poor. However, in the short-to-medium run those programmes imposed costs on the vulnerable groups, though in certain cases they also may have conferred some benefits on such groups. 18. Apart from the impact of economic shocks on the earnings of the poor in Africa and Latin America, the fiscal changes resorted to as part of structural adjustment programmes had a bearing on this group's consumption. Those changes included rapid increases in the price of basic goods that the poor consumed, such as food and kerosene, and in public transport fares; heavier fees and charges for education and health care; and raises in indirect taxes. Because of the heterogeneity of the poor as a group and the different mixes of fiscal changes that Governments adopted, it is difficult to generalize about the net effects of those changes on poverty. However, rapid increases occurred in the real price of wage goods, particularly basic staples, following currency devaluations, subsidy reductions and measures leading to higher producer prices for food. 19. Real food prices also climbed, in some instances in the absence of adjustment programmes, because of hoarding and speculative practices that were often triggered by the rising inflation that the financing of budget deficits by monetary expansion had helped to stimulate. In some African countries, food prices rose mainly because of scarcities due to drought and warfare; sometimes, food imports cushioned these shocks. In general, higher prices affected the caloric intake of the poor (mainly those belonging to urban households or the rural landless) who were not self-sufficient in food production. Thus not all the price increases that occurred during the adjustment period could be attributed to the adjustment programmes. 20. Changes in government expenditures followed a broadly similar pattern in sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America during the past decade. An examination of regional averages suggests that since real per capita gross domestic product (GDP) fell in both regions and the share of Government in GDP remained relatively constant during the decade, absolute declines in public expenditures occurred in all functional areas except interest payments on the public debt. As a share of total expenditure, capital investment and military expenditures declined, the latter to a lesser degree; interest payments surged, general administration remained unchanged and social services declined. 21. As for the intrasectoral allocation of social resources, primary and tertiary education were typically protected at the expense of secondary education, whereas reductions in primary health budgets were often offset by the large-scale adoption of immunization, oral rehydration and other cost-effective interventions. 22. Also, given that the fall in social expenditures paralleled that of GDP, it would seem that a general lack of resources rather than diminished governmental priority for health and education caused the decline in these areas of the social sectors. 23. Close examination of the changes that occurred in real expenditures in the social sectors between 1980 and 1987 shows that the already low levels of real expenditure per student in primary education in sub-Saharan African countries fell by 15/per/cent; health-care expenditure also fell by 15/per/cent. In Latin America, where per capita social expenditure is roughly five to seven times greater than in sub-Saharan Africa, real per capita expenditure declined by 10/per/cent in education and 16/per/cent in health (A/46/454, para./40). 24. However, social indicators during that period generally continued to show improvements in social conditions and levels of living, although the rate of progress slowed in relation to previous decades. Apart from calorie intake levels in Africa, which stagnated during the first half of the 1980s, there was no significant falling-off from trend in social indicators during the decade. Probably, the accumulated effects of past investments in human development explain the apparent resilience of those indicators. II. THE STATE OF COORDINATION AND COOPERATION IN THE UNITED NATIONS SYSTEM A. Some issues of coordination 25. Since its substantive session of 1992 will constitute the first occasion where the Economic and Social Council considers system-wide issues of coordination related to a given theme under the new arrangements defined in General Assembly resolution 45/264, it seems opportune to raise some broad issues of coordination as a way of stimulating debate in the Council. 26. In the United Nations, the term coordination has sometimes been applied in the rather narrow and negative sense of identification and elimination of overlaps and duplication among programmes and activities of the organizations of the system and reduction thereby of waste. This interpretation tends to reduce coordination's utility as an operational concept. Approached in such a limited manner, the search for improved efficiency in a system that is not organized on unitary lines but decentralized and federal in character often turns out to be chimerical. The frontiers between the fields of competence of the various member organizations are often blurred since they are all engaged in promoting closely similar goals of development from somewhat varying perspectives. Having their own mandates, priorities and constituencies, they draw up their plans and programmes in response to these imperatives, and it is only natural that some of them seem similar or overlapping. If used in its limited sense, coordination can be reduced to no more than a buzz-word. To programme managers (not without some reason) it can appear a tedious burden/- wasteful, time-consuming and costly. 27. On the other hand, coordination can be understood and applied as a qualitatively different, broader concept. Approached more positively, coordination could be understood as a means of working together to achieve common goals. Effective coordination should result in a coherent continuum of activities to achieve a common purpose rather than in dispersed and disjointed actions and efforts by various agencies that are only vaguely interrelated and therefore produce diffused and limited results. The aim should be to achieve a better and more focused use of available resources and greater coherence of action, and therefore greater and more concentrated impact. In this way, coordination, in whatever the chosen field, should enable the family of United Nations organizations to function truly as a system that is more than the sum of its parts. 28. The first step in this process is of course the sharing of information. This seems a rather simple, even simplistic, starting-point; but in reality, sharing of information is often the single most important means of achieving better coordination. The first question that needs to be asked is then how the system can ensure a smooth flow of information among its members and with the outside world that is both timely and in easily usable forms. 29. Moreover, effective collaboration can exist only when there are common purposes that in turn must be the product of consultations and agreement on major priorities and the responses to them. The system must develop its own consensus on the goals in a given field and on the means of action to achieve them. The second question that must then be raised is how the system can develop consensus on overall strategies and approaches on a given theme or goal. 30. The first step in this direction is the setting of political priorities for the system by the central organs, namely, the General Assembly and the Economic and Social Council and their subsidiary bodies. Within this overall framework, sectoral and sometimes intersectoral priorities can be derived from the work of the governing bodies of the organizations of the system in their respective fields of competence. Within so complex and wide a spectrum as is encompassed by the United Nations system, it is not unreasonable to expect situations of a certain dissonance connected with those priorities. Such situations, however, should not be of overly great concern in a system that is composed of autonomous organizations and designed to provide for flexibility of response and maximize comparative advantage from specialized skills and experience. The answer lies in using this state of affairs as a source of creative ingenuity in developing the framework for building consensus for actions, particularly at the field level. The role of the central and sector intergovernmental bodies is then to set standards, norms, policies and goals without attempting to micromanage or direct operational actions at the field level. 31. Having developed overall strategies and approaches, the next step for the organizations of the system would be to use those strategies and approaches as a framework and operational guide in developing harmonized plans and programmes as well as joint evaluation of the results and of impact in the field. In other words, a coherent and harmonized approach to the whole programming and project cycle could be developed and applied. But is coordination on such an ambitious scale possible? Are there any guideposts that can lead the system towards such coherence of action? In short, is real, meaningful coordination possible? 32. Experience has shown that if such substantive coordination is attempted with clearly defined goals or themes (not necessarily encompassing the whole system but bringing together the organizations that, being the most interested and concerned, have worked out a consensus on those goals and the means to be applied in achieving them), the results can be quite impressive. The work done by the United Nations system in assessing the impact of structural adjustment programmes over the past few years, with a number of organizations coming together to assess that impact, and bringing it to the attention of the international community is a recent example of how the system can assist both the international community and recipient Governments to formulate, modify and evolve appropriate policy responses to pressing issues. 33. Viewed in this broad perspective, the issues of coordination among the organizations of the United Nations system in relation to the goal of poverty alleviation and eradication can be approached by raising such questions as the following: (a) Whether the United Nations system has promoted at the national and international levels broadly conceived and integrated approaches and strategies for poverty alleviation and eradication to generate autonomous impulses for rural and urban development; (b) What the essential policy linkages are between poverty eradication goals and the closely related field of human resources development; how possible conflicts arising over the matter of providing support to those who can most benefit from it and to those who are most in need can be reconciled in national development strategies; and how the United Nations system can assist in this process; (c) How the United Nations system can promote and apply the concept of coherence as the most effective means of coordination between national policies and plans, multilateral and bilateral assistance programmes and activities of other regional and non-governmental organizations working towards the common objective of reducing poverty not only as an end in itself but also as an essential ingredient of accelerated national development; (d) How the United Nations system can evolve the well-coordinated sectoral and intersectoral anti-poverty strategies that should guide its technical cooperation at the country level; what the lessons are that can be learned from the past so as to identify harmonized actions that have provided successful results; and how those results can be replicated elsewhere; (e) How the United Nations system can promote low-cost and broad-based interventions for poverty alleviation in an environment of limited resources; (f) How the United Nations system can integrate innovative anti-poverty approaches developed within or outside the system (for example, local taxation, private sector involvement, an informal sector approach and community-based development) into its policies and programmes to enhance cost-effectiveness and improve delivery and impact. 34. The following review of United Nations system strategies, priorities and policy orientations, as well as of inter-agency coordination and cooperation in poverty alleviation, is intended to indicate how the United Nations system has attempted to respond to some of these questions. B. Eradication of poverty: United Nations system strategies, priorities and policy orientations 35. The International Development Strategy for the Fourth United Nations Development Decade, which currently provides the broad framework for the policies and programmes of the United Nations system, states: "The international community, noting the severity of problems related to poverty in developing countries, agrees that the objectives of eradicating poverty is of the highest priority. It is encouraging that a broad consensus is emerging on strategies to be pursued towards the achievement of this goal"./10/ It also identifies the principal elements of the strategies that need to be pursued for poverty alleviation and eradication. 36. The International Development Strategy recommends broad-based progress in development as the best way to generate employment and incomes for most of the poor and advocates special and supplementary programmes and actions that are directly targeted to bring benefits to the poorest and most vulnerable of the poor. In the long term, it concludes, economic growth is necessary to raise living standards and eliminate poverty, but in the interim the extremes of poverty, particularly hunger and destitution, could be reduced by well-conceived social measures. 37. Within this overall framework, a broad consensus appears to have emerged among the development agencies of the United Nations system regarding the approaches to poverty alleviation and eradication. First, it is generally recognized that any approach to the problem must involve policies promoting broad-based economic growth to absorb the poor's most abundant resource/- labour. More specifically, this can be interpreted as defining growth-oriented programmes designed to maximize benefits for the poor and minimize adjustment costs. 38. The second essential element of any approach to addressing the problem involves the provision of and access to social services for development of human resources: primary education, basic health care, family planning and nutrition targeted at the poor. The aim here is the empowerment of the poor and their active participation in the development process. In addition, a comprehensive approach to poverty alleviation also requires a programme of well-targeted transfers and safety nets to sustain many of the poor who would not be able to benefit from economic growth. 39. In addition to this general understanding on approaches to poverty eradication, the urgency and high priority of the problem is clearly recognized by all concerned organizations of the United Nations system. Several agencies and programmes have identified poverty alleviation and eradication as a high-priority objective in their activities and assistance programmes. 40. In response to various mandates from the General Assembly, the United Nations has intensified research and analysis of various facets of this issue at the national and international levels and presented results and policy recommendations to intergovernmental bodies. Poverty alleviation and eradication have also become a central focus of United Nations technical cooperation activities. 41. The World Bank, following the publication of its World Development Report, 1990: Poverty, has defined poverty eradication as a principal objective of its assistance programmes. It has developed, after extensive consultations with agencies and organizations of the system, operational strategies for assistance to reduce poverty at the country level, including such measures as analysis of policies and public expenditures from a poverty-reduction perspective; financing of projects and programmes that support and enhance country efforts to reduce poverty, involve beneficiary groups in project and programme design and implementation and monitor country performance on poverty reduction; and the Bank's own contribution through dialogue and lending, coordination with other agencies to share experiences and strengthen the effectiveness of assistance for poverty reduction and helping countries to improve data gathering. Progress is being made in the implementation of this strategy. Some 20 poverty assessments have been undertaken and 64 are planned by 1995. This has helped to strengthen the policy dialogue on poverty reduction and orient the lending programmes in ways that clearly support Government's efforts to reduce poverty. One measure of the Bank's efforts to reduce poverty is the magnitude of those designed to benefit the poor directly: during 1991-1992, it is estimated that 12-15/per/cent of Bank lending is being targeted at the poor. However, such lending is only one element of the Bank's efforts to reduce poverty; a complete picture can be obtained by assessing the poverty-reduction orientation of the overall country strategy including policy framework, investment and policy lending. 42. UNDP has identified poverty eradication as one of six top priorities during its fifth programming cycle. The heart of its approach focuses on building up and strengthening national development capacities. Poverty eradication is viewed as closely linked to its human development goals, which encompass, inter/alia, income generation, creation of employment opportunities and provision of greater access for the poorest and most vulnerable groups, especially women, to health care, nutrition, education and training and shelter. UNDP will focus on poverty eradication through grass-roots participation in development during 1992-1996. New approaches will be developed, including targeting methods and the involvement of beneficiaries in the design, management and evaluation of programmes. Emphasis will be given to primary education, family planning and primary health care to make these services accessible to all. Assistance in the various regions will involve, inter/alia, raising the capacity of community-based organizations, non-governmental organizations and government institutions to respond to the needs of the poor, especially in the rural and informal sectors, through education, training and exchange of experience and the promotion of food security targeted at small-scale producers. The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) has traditionally devoted an overwhelming part of its resources to survival, protection and development of children with special emphasis on targeting the poor and the underserved. It considers empowerment of the poor through their active participation in poverty-alleviation measures as a key element of an anti-poverty strategy. It uses a triple-A approach - assessment, analysis and action - as a reinforcing cycle. 43. The principal goal of the World Food Programme (WFP) is to use food aid to alleviate hunger and poverty and thereby assist the poor in leading more productive lives. Its aim is to use work-for-food projects to generate more lasting benefits such as the construction of infrastructure, skill training, primary health care, education, environment protection and income-earning opportunities for the poor. The ultimate aim of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) is to promote sustainable and replicable rural development at the grass-roots level. It devotes most of its resources to the alleviation of rural poverty through its programmes of assistance to smallholders and the landless. Its operational strategies are designed to ensure the participation of beneficiaries and innovative means of reaching the poor, particularly women, the landless and the near-landless. IFAD supports the wider participation of women in development. This support includes enhancement of women's role in land allocation, extension services and support for women's access to productive resources. In order to contribute to the alleviation of poverty through effective population policies and programmes, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) has revised its criteria and threshold levels (based on which countries are accorded priority status for UNFPA assistance in terms of per capita income, annual increments to the total population, levels of infant mortality, levels of female literacy, agricultural population density and gross reproduction rates). UNFPA has also shifted its funding to poorer countries to the extent that over 70/per/cent of all UNFPA assistance went to priority countries in the 1980s. (This figure should be reaching 80/per/cent in the 1990s). 44. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) considers sustained, high-quality growth in the context of a stable and favourable macroeconomic policy framework an essential basis for any meaningful programme for the alleviation and eradication of poverty. While the main emphasis of Fund programmes is on macroeconomic policies, it is recognized that certain measures under the programmes could, in the short run, have adverse effects requiring mitigating measures. Accordingly, the Fund has been paying increasing attention to specific measures that would protect the poor and vulnerable sections of the population. Concern for social issues has led to the paying of closer attention to the mix, and pace of implementation, of adjustment policies and the incorporation of social measures. The Fund, through its programmes, provides both technical and financial assistance, the latter especially by means of its concessionary facilities, namely, the Structural Adjustment Facility (SAF) and the Enhanced Structural Adjustment Facility (ESAF). 45. The International Labour Organisation (ILO) has identified fighting poverty as one of the three broad priority themes for its future work. It considers policies for higher growth, job creation, infrastructure development and access to health care, education and training, and balanced programmes for the development of rural and informal sectors, essential for reducing poverty. It is working closely with the IMF and the World Bank to mitigate the negative effects of structural adjustment programmes by improving their social content. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has been traditionally concerned with fighting rural poverty. FAO has monitored trends in rural poverty and adopted programmes for its alleviation particularly in the context of the Programme of Action of the World Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development held in Rome in July/1979. FAO monitors continuously the food supply situation in the developing countries by means of its Global Information and Early Warning System (on Food and Agriculture) (GIEWS). FAO's work reflects the combining of several complementary spheres of action: promotion of production and growth in the agricultural sector, especially among small-scale farmers, fisherfolk, foresters and agricultural labourers, as well as rural artisans, entrepreneurs and cooperatives; advocacy and technical assistance for improving the access of the poor to productive resources; human resources development of the poor through the implementation of national food policies and nutrition interventions; promotion of food security initiatives, especially with respect to actions that improve access by the poor; and measures to mitigate the impact of structural adjustment on vulnerable population groups. The World Health Organization (WHO) is committed to health for all by the year 2000 and to enhancing the access of the poorest and most vulnerable groups to primary health care. It views health expenditures as an investment to improve human capital through well-designed policies and programmes. The United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), in its efforts to promote industrial development, pays particular attention to the promotion of small- and medium-sized enterprises that contribute significantly to enhancing the income-generating capacity of the poor. UNIDO is institutionalizing the ability to address women's issues as a means of alleviating poverty by including gender-specific indicators in the design and implementation of its projects. 46. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is concerned with the effects of refugee flows and displaced persons on poverty. Poverty is a cause as well as a consequence of refugee flows and involuntary population displacement. Political instability often results from situations of abject poverty and could give rise to refugee flows. Mass concentration of displaced populations could in turn result in degradation of already-fragile socio-economic infrastructures of given communities. There is therefore a need to disaggregate the effect of poverty on given refugee/displaced person categories so that specific measures can be directed at the most vulnerable, especially the elderly, the handicapped, women and children. 47. The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is acutely aware that environmental degradation can be a major cause of poverty. The relationship of earth sustainability and development to enabling people everywhere to enjoy long, healthy and fulfilling lives is recognized by UNEP's strategy entitled "Caring for the Earth"./11/ The strategy highlights the importance of the appropriate use of natural resources and a more equitable alliance between rich and poor. It takes into account the relationship between poverty and the environment, stressing the need for lower-income countries to develop industry and agriculture to escape from acute poverty within a process that considers the environment and social costs incurred by both developed and developing countries. 48. Following the mandate arising from its eighth session and in recognition that sustainable development and the environment and poverty alleviation, among other issues, are mutually linked, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) will be exploring, for example, the areas of interaction between trade and environmental policies, the promotion of ecologically sustainable development, the links between commodity policies and use and management of natural resources. Attention to poverty mitigation will be included in efforts related to the development, modernization and expansion of the economic base of developing countries, the development of human capacities and resources and the question of the link between poverty and environmental degradation. 49. The United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (Habitat) has supported the UNDP regional programme on critical poverty, covering its human settlements component. 50. The backlog in delivery of housing, basic infrastructure, services and social facilities coupled with budgetary restrictions due to structural adjustment programmes prompted the development of a strategy for productive urban communities where capital investment was directed towards the strengthening of the informal economy and income generation among the poor to allow in turn for settlement improvement operation. With the regional project concluded, the strategy is now being applied at the national level for the benefit of selected communities and, further, for regional and global dissemination. The United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (Habitat) and the Ford Foundation are collaborating in funding a research competition on urban poverty in eastern and southern Africa. 51. The objective of the United Nations International Drug Control Programme (UNDCP) has been to combine the eradication of illicit crops with redevelopment of the areas, so that farmers may earn their living by legitimate means and contribute to the reduction of rural poverty. UNDCP programmes and projects follow this approach in the provision of assistance to large-scale integrated rural development. 52. The integrated rural development programmes of the Department of Economic and Social Development of the United Nations Secretariat emphasize the participation by poor rural communities and vulnerable groups in the improvement of their productive capacity in agriculture, marketing, small and cottage industries, construction of feeder roads, water-supplies and credit facilities. The Department of Economic and Social Development is promoting the development of small-scale labour-intensive mining to foster employment for rural labour with low-level skills. 53. Recognizing that a major objective of social development is the eradication of poverty, the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) examines the social dimensions of rural development with the purpose of developing appropriate policies and programmes. Strategies and measures adopted at the national level in respect of the less advantaged groups, particularly the very poor, in both rural and urban areas, are also monitored. Within the context of the survey of social trends and social indicators for the region, indicators on poverty will be developed. 54. With regard to the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), the eradication of absolute poverty is a basic objective of the regional social development strategy towards the year 2000 and beyond. Related work will include the analysis of the interrelationship of poverty and economic and social issues, and the development of growth strategies for poverty alleviation. The work of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) includes the design of policies and programmes to eradicate extreme poverty and innovative approaches to measuring and evaluating poverty and to improving opportunities for the poor. 55. Other organizations' regular activities, while not addressing explicitly the problem of poverty, indirectly contribute towards its alleviation and eradication. For example, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) accords higher priority to rural telecommunications services that are of particular value to developing countries and rural areas of developing countries in matters related to critical information on drought, desertification and natural disaster situations. The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) is providing climatic forecasts that benefit agriculture and the protection of the environment. The International Maritime Organization (IMO), within its scope of competence in the maritime sector, contributes to the alleviation of poverty by providing support and technical cooperation for improvement of the maritime infrastructure and development of a modern and efficient merchant marine. 56. It may be noted from the above that the policies and programmes of the United Nations system of organizations that have implications for the eradication of poverty are in general oriented towards long-term development. Many organizations have therefore been giving continuous attention to the problem of poverty for a long time. However, the development-related set-backs of the 1980s and a growing concern over the inadequacies and shortcomings of the development models pursued have given rise to considerable rethinking within the United Nations system on the subject of the sources of growth, and such rethinking has led to the emergence of a new style and paradigm of development. Thus, there has been a major shift towards human-centred, participatory development with poverty eradication as one of its principal goals. Since women constitute a disproportionately large part of the poor, improving their economic status and protecting vulnerable groups are a key element of this new style of development. The World Bank, IFAD, UNDP, UNICEF, UNFPA, WFP, ILO, FAO, WHO, UNIDO, UNHCR, the Department of Economic and Social Development of the United Nations Secretariat, ESCWA, ESCAP, the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and ECLAC, among others, have developed well-conceived policies and assistance programmes designed to address the problems of poverty alleviation and eradication as a priority objective. C. Assistance for human development and safety nets 57. Growth-oriented anti-poverty strategies cannot be successful without complementary measures to enhance human capabilities of the poor and to provide safety nets for the vulnerable groups. 58. In the social sphere, the World Bank's assistance is focused on the protection of the most vulnerable groups through programmes in such areas as immunization, feeding and basic health care. Where administrative capacity is developed, the Bank will assist in the provision of safety nets. Evaluation of the appropriateness of public policy, especially the adequacy of basic social services, will guide both the Bank's policy recommendations and its programme of assistance. 59. The need for a better integration of the social dimension into adjustment programmes has led to the IMF's incorporation into those programmes of social measures encompassing, inter/alia, direct consumer subsidies, income transfers, public works programmes and protection of social expenditures in the public sector. Longer-term structural policy measures, on the other hand, include the promotion of small-scale enterprises, food security, population planning and protection of the environment. Besides financial assistance, technical assistance of the International Monetary Fund promotes the improvement of databases and the strengthening of national capabilities to carry out adjustment policies. 60. The approach to human development espoused by UNDP involves the revitalization of public sector services accessible to all, such as primary education, literacy, family planning and primary health care. Advocacy of the restructuring of public expenditure away from military purposes towards human development goals was a key feature of Human Development Report, 1991. In a complementary fashion, UNFPA has suggested a long-term strategy involving both Governments and international agencies to restructure spending in favour of the social sectors, with emphasis on primary health care including family planning. UNFPA-supported activities have been primarily oriented towards less developed countries and low-income groups, with special emphasis on women of reproductive age. 61. In the social sphere, the WFP strategy for the alleviation of poverty involves the provision of emergency food, support to basic social services such as health and education and the recent modality linking provision of food with opportunities for appropriate training. To target benefits at the most vulnerable groups, including women, WFP carries out several assistance programmes addressing their needs, including one providing food supplements to poor women combined with training programmes and access to credit. 62. Meanwhile, ILO will be assisting member States in the development of safety nets within the context of providing security for marginalized groups. FAO is carrying out work on nutrition, which will be strengthened by the forthcoming International Conference on Nutrition to be held in 1992. The World Food Council advocates development and aid policies that include access to social services by the poor and safety nets for this group of the population. Together, FAO, WHO and the Council are collaborating on the execution of a programme to set targets for hunger alleviation at the country level. The Council will focus on the elaboration of policies and programmes for reaching the targets. 63. UNHCR is aware that in any consideration of the root causes of population displacements, poverty is often a factor along with others that are more pressing, such as human rights abuse and civil disorder. Also, the durability of solutions to refugee situations, especially voluntary repatriation, is influenced by the socio-economic situation of the country to which the refugees are returning. Related efforts of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), directed to the provision of assistance to refugees in the Middle East in the fields of education, health, and relief and social services, have been extended to include assistance in the protection of vulnerable groups within the refugee population. The relief and social services programme provides support (including emergency medical assistance, welfare services and additional food) to the neediest among the refugees in special hardship cases. In the area of human development, the integrated development projects of the Department of Economic and Social Development of the United Nations Secretariat advise on and facilitate basic health care, education and training. 64. The Cartagena Commitment of UNCTAD at its eighth session stresses development of human resources, especially as they concern women; provision of basic public goods and social services; and provision of economic and social safety nets and of assistance to disadvantaged groups to ease their access to market opportunities. 65. Provision of social services and social safety nets is a basic objective of ESCAP's regional social development strategy towards the year 2000 and beyond. In the social area, ESCWA plans an assessment of the impact of the Persian Gulf conflict on returnees and their families to determine the magnitude of the social, educational, health, and employment problems facing the displaced populations. The l992-l993 work programme envisages activities directed at drug addiction (as one of the social ailments associated with poverty) in the ESCWA region. D. Assistance by the United Nations system during adjustment programmes 66. As a large number of developing countries are engaged in structural adjustment and economic reform programmes, one of the most pressing demands facing the development agencies is to design programmes to mitigate the costs of adjustment for the vulnerable groups and to identify an optimum mix of adjustment policies that would minimize the negative impact on poverty and maximize benefits for the poor. Many organs and agencies of the United Nations system are, consistent with their mandates, closely involved in this type of work. 67. For instance, the World Bank will continue to conduct systematic efforts to analyse poverty, and those efforts will help in the modification of the lending strategy to protect vulnerable groups. The IMF has been paying increasing attention to measures that would protect the poor. Adjustment programmes have included efforts in the areas of promotion of small-scale enterprises, redeployment and retraining of retrenched public-service employees, food security, population planning and protection of the environment. 68. Initiatives in support of multisectoral programmes that combine developmental objectives and efforts to minimize the impact of structural adjustment programmes are exemplified by the multisectoral Social Dimensions of Adjustment (SDA) programme in Africa, launched in 1987 as a joint undertaking of the World Bank, UNDP and the African Development Bank. UNFPA and the United Nations are also collaborating in this programme. UNDP focuses on the strengthening of national capacities for policy formulation and analysis and on long-term strategic planning, and UNFPA input is designed to integrate population growth and distribution factors, while the United Nations has recently developed computerized programs to help in the monitoring of the social impacts of adjustment at national levels. 69. The assistance programmes and activities of UNDP, IFAD, UNFPA, UNICEF, FAO, WHO, ILO, UNCTAD, the United Nations, UNEP, ECLAC, ESCAP and ECA reflect increased awareness of the short-term impacts of adjustment programmes, particularly on the weaker and most vulnerable sectors of the population. Broad programmes directed towards assessing the impact of these adjustment programmes on the rural and urban poor; improvement of design; and implementation of programmes to minimize adverse effects of adjustment on employment and poverty, involving the assessment of its impact on low-income and vulnerable groups and on the restructuring of agricultural institutions, are but a few of the related activities of these organizations. 70. The Joint Consultative Group on Policy (JCGP), established by UNDP, IFAD, WFP, UNFPA and UNICEF has created a Subgroup on structural adjustment, which is developing a collaborative JCGP mechanism for assessing the impact of adjustment measures and establishing country-level bases for JCGP contributions to policy dialogue on adjustment programmes and their modification. Thus, the Group envisions closer collaborative negotiations with the IMF in order to ensure that the design and implementation of adjustment programmes take into account the social dimension. Support is being provided by UNDP to national capacity-building for developing macroeconomic strategies, with special attention to equity, focusing on the poorest groups of society, particularly women and migrant workers. UNICEF, following its alert on the possible effects of adjustment programmes in the short to medium term, addresses the related problems of the poor within the framework of its mandates, focusing on the well-being of children and women. 71. ILO stresses the fact that adjustment and deregulation may introduce new forms of social insecurity and an initial aggravation of poverty. Its efforts will include policy-oriented research and a measure of experimentation to identify optimum economic and social regulation and elements of social protection compatible with the demands of efficiency and a lower level of state intervention. FAO continues work on matters related to the alleviation of the impact of structural adjustment on the agricultural sector and in particular on rural development, including research and studies to analyse the impact of adjustment programmes on communal property and farmers' access to natural resources. 72. Salient activity of ECA is represented by its commitment, early in 1989, to the development of an alternative to the framework of structural adjustment programmes to address both adjustment and structural transformation problems of the African economies. With the financial support of UNDP, this activity has included discussions at the intergovernmental level and that of the Bretton Woods institutions and has made it possible for ECA to prepare the African Alternative Framework to Structural Adjustment Programmes for Socio-economic Recovery and Transformation (AAF-SAP). ESCAP under the Project on the Social Costs of Economic Restructuring deals, among other things, with the impact of austerity programmes, balance-of-payment adjustments and privatization schemes on income levels and quality of life. ESCWA will also focus on issues related to adjustment policies and reforms with a view to assessing their impact, including reduction of subsidies and other public expenditures, on economic growth and development, regional and subregional cooperation and vulnerable groups. 73. This brief review of the activities of the United Nations system has not been exhaustive, but is intended to highlight the evolution of the broad priorities, strategies and policy orientations as well as the changing directions of the system's assistance programmes in the area of poverty eradication. The following section examines the state of cooperation and coordination within the United Nations system in this field. E. Inter-agency coordination and cooperation 74. The progress made over the past few years in achieving a broad consensus on approaches to and strategies for poverty alleviation and eradication is reflected by the considerable improvement that has occurred in inter-agency coordination and cooperation in this area. 75. A variety of mechanisms and channels, both formal and informal, are employed for inter-agency coordination and cooperation in the area of poverty (see figure II). The ACC Task Force on Rural Development, which has a membership of 31 agencies and organizations, is directly concerned with rural poverty alleviation. The Task Force provides a forum for exchange of information on agency activities in rural poverty alleviation/rural development, discussion of key emerging issues in this area and promotion of coordination and collaboration between agency programmes, besides being involved in the joint undertaking of specific activities. For example, the Task Force is currently undertaking joint studies related to poverty alleviation in three areas. The work entails respectively (a) a study on the role of small-scale rural industries in rural poverty alleviation, (b) a paper on an enabling approach to shelter improvement in rural areas as a contribution to sustainable rural development and poverty alleviation and (c)/paper(s) on environmental issues in monitoring and evaluation of rural development. Figure II. Alleviation and eradication of poverty: United Nations system coordination 76. The ACC Consultative Committee on Substantive Questions (Operational) (CCSQ (OPS)) is another important instrument for inter-agency coordination and cooperation focused on technical cooperation activities of the United Nations system, particularly at the country level. The Committee not only serves as a forum for exchange of information on policies and programmes, but also promotes harmonization of programme and project cycles and activities at the field level. Recently, the Committee has been paying particular attention to the follow up of the International Development Strategy for the Fourth United Nations Development Decade. It has prepared and issued information and an initial guidance note on the operational implications of the strategy in the field. CCSQ (OPS) has also invited its members to consider the need for inter-Secretariat action at the Headquarters level to develop common strategies around the priority themes of the strategy including poverty eradication. Organizations are being invited to take the lead in appropriate sectors/themes to develop the elements of such strategies as a basis for consultations and elaboration by other interested organizations. CCSQ/(OPS) is expected to consider this issue further at its session in 1992. 77. A third important mechanism for coordination is the Joint Consultative Group on Policy (JCGP), which comprises the five operational funds and programmes of the United Nations: UNDP, UNFPA, UNICEF, WFP and IFAD. It was set up in 1981, initially as a forum for the exchange of information, so as to strengthen programme coherence and coordination. Its role has evolved over time and JCGP increasingly focuses its attention on identifying areas of common interest and collaboration. The executive heads of the JCGP agencies who meet every year issue joint directives to their field representatives stressing the need to strengthen coordination in identified substantive areas. Regular meetings are held at the field level among JCGP agencies to exchange information on current and planned operational activities. 78. In 1988, a JCGP high-level meeting was devoted to the theme of "Achieving Better Adjustment Process: the Inter-Agency Role". The meeting stressed the need to ensure an appropriate policy environment so as to mitigate the negative impact of adjustment on the poor and other vulnerable groups. This meeting had a significant impact on the way adjustment issues have since been treated by the financial institutions concerned. It has increased sensitivity to the possible negative consequences of adjustment programmes for vulnerable groups. The JCGP has also set up subgroups on adjustment and on Africa and has entered into discussions with the IMF. 79. In 1990, JCGP held a high-level meeting on "Poverty Alleviation: a Global Challenge". The meeting agreed that JCGP could adopt poverty alleviation and human development as a focus for the collaborative efforts of its five constituents. It was also agreed that among the poor, women are doubly disadvantaged, being victims of poverty and sex discrimination. Their multiple roles in the formal and informal labour force must be facilitated if poverty is to be reduced. It was agreed that the five JCGP agencies would initiate a process of operational collaboration to combat poverty in five selected developing countries - Bolivia, Malawi, Namibia, the Philippines and Yemen. (Bangladesh has been added subsequently to this list.) Since then considerable progress has been made in this regard. In Malawi, for example, a joint situation analysis of poverty carried out by JCGP and the World Bank under the leadership of the Government has been used as a basis for joint programming exercises and harmonized five-year programmes that respond to the same set of issues and problems. Similar work is under way in Namibia. Another important area identified for cooperation was that of promoting the generation of better country-level data on poverty. 80. Apart from these established mechanisms for coordination and cooperation, several agencies and organizations of the system have taken important initiatives to strengthen inter-agency collaboration for poverty alleviation in their respective fields and in the design and implementation of structural adjustment programmes. Thus the IMF, for example, cooperates actively with the World Bank in helping member countries to devise their medium-term adjustment programmes. This cooperation also extends to implementation and subsequent review of those programmes. Many of the structural adjustment policies and objectives inscribed in the Policy Framework Papers (PFPs), or in other Fund-supported programmes, fall more directly within the mandate of other international agencies, and the Fund has taken steps to enhance cooperation with these organizations in addition to the World Bank. 81. With this in view, the Fund convened a joint seminar with relevant agencies of the United Nations system in October 1990 to delineate possible areas and modalities of cooperation, relating to social and sectoral aspects of adjustment. The principal conclusion of that seminar was that the Fund/World Bank-supported macroeconomic policy framework for individual countries could provide a useful framework for inter-agency cooperation and that a greater exchange of documents and information between the agencies could enhance inter-agency cooperation. Furthermore, the seminar concluded that such cooperation was best implemented at the country level. Some progress has been made in follow-up of these recommendations, and the agencies are being consulted increasingly in the process of preparing the Policy Framework Paper and are becoming involved in the implementation stage. 82. The World Bank has held extensive consultations with the agencies and organizations of the United Nations system, among others, in developing its assistance strategies to reduce poverty. The Bank has expanded this collaboration in the preparation of its operational guidelines in a Poverty Reduction Handbook 12/ that surveys Bank experience and provides guidance to Bank staff on "best practice" approaches, illustrating relevant lessons derived from research and operations. A seminar was held for agencies of the United Nations system in November 1991. The United Nations organizations present made many helpful comments and their suggestions are being incorporated in the Handbook. There was broad agreement on the proposed overall approach to poverty reduction. There was also consensus on the specific ways of operationalizing this approach, for example, through country-specific poverty assessments and assistance strategies and a recognition of the need for development assistance agencies to coordinate their efforts, possible through cooperation in selected countries. Furthermore, there was consensus on the importance of addressing data problems jointly. There was also recognition of the need both for continuing research and analysis to improve the design of policies and programmes, and for documenting alternative approaches to the design of poverty reduction programmes. At the country level, the Bank is actively considering proposals to coordinate work with UNDP, UNICEF and IFAD in specific countries on preparation for or follow-up to both poverty and human development assessments. There is also scope for identifying more clearly how each agency's programme fits into the country-level poverty reduction strategy to avoid duplication and minimize the risk of working at cross purposes. The sharing of results would also help coordinate and stimulate both donor and country efforts to reduce poverty. At the country level, this would include consultative group meetings and other aid-coordination mechanisms. 83. World Bank/United Nations system coordination at the project level has been extensive and actively continues. Traditional areas of project-level coordination in poverty reduction projects include the conducting of pre-investment studies and studies to identify follow-up investments, the cofinancing of specific components of investment and the cofinancing of prototypes or more innovative schemes. Recently, there has been coordination with the United Nations system in the design of social funds and social action programmes that complement structural adjustment loans. Coordination enables countries to benefit from each agency's comparative advantage. For example, the Bank's coordination with UNICEF has allowed more in-depth involvement in grass-roots issues. In addition, because UNICEF operations are more decentralized than the Bank's, coordination with UNICEF has facilitated the addressing of problems in the field as they emerge. 84. To strengthen its knowledge and information base on poverty reduction, the Bank coordinates policy analysis work with other agencies of the United Nations system. For example, UNDP and the World Bank are collaborating on the Water and Sanitation Programme, which aims at developing strategies for reaching the poor through community-based institutional models and low-cost technologies. UNDP and the Bank are also cooperating on social science research; for example, UNDP is financing a Bank study on urban poverty and social policy in the context of adjustment. The Bank serves as executive secretariat for the Safe Motherhood Inter-Agency Group (WHO, UNFPA, UNDP, UNICEF, the Population Council and the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF), which supports analytical work on the subject of safe motherhood. Another example of cooperative work is the Bank-UNDP Energy Sector Management Assistance Programme (ESMAP), which includes a household energy component for the poor. The Bank's two major initiatives in establishing country capacities in gathering data on poverty through household surveys are the Living Standards Measurement Study (LSMS) and the Social Dimensions of Adjustment (SDA). The United Nations system has been involved in the design and formulation of the analytical framework of SDA through the SDA Statistical Subcommittee. Coordination of country-level operations has been attempted through joint missions, particularly countries where both the National Household Survey Capability Programme (NHSCP) of the Statistical Office of the United Nations Secretariat and the Bank's LSMS/SDA programmes are in place. 85. In the case of IFAD, the agreement establishing the Fund calls for a significant involvement by other agencies of the United Nations system in the preparation of projects that are in most instances directly related to poverty alleviation. The World Bank and the regional development banks along with the United Nations Development Programme have appraised a number of projects on behalf of IFAD. The Investment Centre of FAO has mounted 42/per/cent of IFAD's project identification missions and 55/per/cent of its project preparation missions. Collaboration between IFAD and United Nations system agencies has been equally high in project cofinancing. United Nations system agencies have contributed US$ 2,038,500,000 to IFAD-financed projects, representing 52/per/cent of all external cofinancing. In terms of the number of projects cofinanced, IFAD's major United Nations system partners are the World Bank, UNDP and the World Food Programme (WFP). Sixty-six/per/cent of IFAD projects are supervised by cooperating institutions within the United Nations system. UNDP/Office for Project Services (OPS) supervises 73/projects and the World Bank (the International Development Association (IDA) and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD)) supervises 134. 86. United Nations system agencies have participated regularly and directly in IFAD's country programming exercises, and IFAD has organized a joint JCGP poverty analysis and strategy mission in Namibia. IFAD currently chairs the JCGP Subgroup on Structural Adjustment, which is in the process of developing a collaborative JCGP mechanism for assessing the impact of structural adjustment measures upon the poor and socially vulnerable, as well as establishing a country-level basis for JCGP contributions to policy dialogue on structural adjustment policies and their modification. 87. Recent initiatives taken by IFAD to strengthen its cooperation with agencies of the United Nations system included discussions with WFP on ways and means of integrating food aid into development projects to improve the spread of resources and a cooperation agreement concluded with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) for collaborative programming in a number of priority countries. IFAD has assisted the World Bank in developing methodologies for assessing the impact of structural adjustment upon the rural poor and has drawn heavily upon United Nations system expertise and experience in developing its own major study on world rural poverty. 88. JCGP, as well as bilateral cooperation with selected agencies such as IFAD, is the principal means for World Food Programme (WFP) inter-agency cooperation. From the perspective of WFP, food aid must be integrated as a development resource that can be used to overcome poverty in a sustainable and lasting way. JCGP at its high-level meeting on poverty therefore agreed that the challenge of poverty alleviation through food aid was not that of targeting per se but of providing a firm basis for lasting development. To this end, improved country-level coordination is vital and in this regard the resident coordinator can play an important role. 89. UNDP's involvement in JCGP, and in particular the activities of the JCGP Subgroup on Structural Adjustment, provides a major vehicle for joint activities with the funding agencies of the United Nations system. 90. The UNDP intercountry programme for the African region has supported the Social Dimensions of Adjustment Project during the fourth cycle. The project involved inter-agency collaboration aimed at integrating poverty concerns into the formulation and implementation of adjustment programmes. 91. Apart from participation in JCGP, UNFPA has undertaken joint activities with other agencies with regard to poverty alleviation: the Social Dimensions of Adjustment project is being carried out at the global level and the JCGP programmes and projects have been implemented in selected countries at the country level. Those programmes and projects, which draw upon the experience and technical support services of the World Bank, are implemented by the ministries of planning of the participating country Governments and executed by UNFPA in collaboration with the World Bank. 92. In its efforts for greater inter-agency cooperation on refugee/returnee assistance, UNHCR has concentrated on the following practical and operational objectives: (a) Establishment of contacts and appointment of inter-agency focal points in cooperating agencies; (b) Inclusion of refugee/returnee issues in the work programmes of individual organizations; (c) Identification of areas of cooperation at sectoral and geographical levels; (d) Establishment of joint refugee/returnee/displaced persons programme design and implementation arrangements; (e) Inter-agency planning and programme support arrangements such as training, standardized programme classification and database systems. 93. In addition, the work on the guidelines on refugee assistance and development aid being promoted by UNHCR in CCSQ (OPS) has reached an advanced stage and will be finalized at its next session. It is expected that the guidelines will facilitate the planning and implementation of inter-agency developmental programmes to deal, for example, with issues such as income generation, education, training, land tenure, rural development, women, children and environment in favour of refugees, returnees, displaced persons and host communities. 94. ILO collaborates with JCGP and takes part in its meetings and in selected country studies (for example, on the Gambia in 1991). It also participates in the inter-agency work on the design and preparation of social safety nets and World Bank-sponsored social funds meant to alleviate the social cost of structural adjustment, for example, through the promotion of labour-intensive development strategies. ILO is a convener of the Panel on People's Participation of the ACC Task Force on Rural Development. In this context, it organized the inter-agency publication of a collection of studies evaluating experiences of development programmes./13/ It also collaborated as co-author on another ACC Task Force on Rural Development study on adjustment and development/14/ and joined with UNDP in preparing a study on the impact of macroeconomic policies on the rural poor./15/ ILO has also been active in inter-agency work on poverty indicators. It prepared a paper for the ACC Subcommittee on Nutrition on indicators related to poverty, food and employment and has assisted the World Bank in the preparation of a handbook on the design of poverty-oriented projects. 95. FAO holds informal annual meetings with the IMF and with the World Bank to exchange information in the field of agricultural policy and to promote collaboration and coordination of assistance to countries undergoing structural adjustment programmes, with particular attention to the impact on the rural poor. FAO's country agricultural sector reviews also benefit from consultation with and technical documentation provided by the World Bank and the IMF. An internal mechanism for the promotion and coordination of Sector and Structural Adjustment Policy (SSAP) seeks, inter alia, to promote coordination within FAO and between FAO and other organizations of the United Nations system. In the context of structural adjustment programmes, FAO is providing countries with assistance in restructuring agricultural institutions in collaboration with the World Bank. 96. In its food security assistance activities FAO cooperates closely with the World Bank, both at the field level and in the methodological approach to be followed in the design of national food security policies and programmes. 97. FAO's Global Information and Early Warning System on Food and Agriculture maintains a channel of continuous information flow and cooperation with several related agencies in the United Nations system, including the Office of the United Nations Disaster Relief Coordinator (UNDRO), UNHCR, WMO, WHO and WFP. The system makes use of the data and information on country food situations provided regularly by WFP field staff, especially in countries without an FAO representative. The two organizations also jointly field the FAO/WFP Crop and Food Supply Assessment Missions, which are sent to countries facing difficulties to assess the magnitude of the problem and the most appropriate response. 98. The main inter-agency coordinating mechanisms in the nutrition field in which FAO plays an active role are (a)/the ACC Subcommittee on Nutrition (whose membership includes FAO, IBRD, ILO, the United Nations, UNDP, UNHCR, UNICEF, the United Nations University (UNU), WFC, WFP and WHO), which is assisted by the Advisory Group on Nutrition (AGN); (b)/the International Conference on Nutrition, which is being organized by FAO and WHO in cooperation with other members of the Subcommittee and will be held in Rome in December 1992; and (c)/the inter-agency Food and Nutrition Surveillance Programme (IFNS) in which FAO, WHO and UNICEF collaborate in providing support for national programmes for nutrition surveillance. 99. Coordination and cooperation between the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and FAO (agricultural meteorology); WMO and UNEP (meteorological-climatological environmental matters); WMO, UNDRO and the International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction (IDNDR) (mitigation of the adverse effects of severe weather); and WMO and the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) (aviation safety and the economical use of commercial aircraft) are but a few examples of close work between other specialized agencies of the United Nations system. 100. ITU's biggest project on rural development is the Regional African Satellite Communications System (RASCOM) for the development of Africa. The project enjoys the cooperation of four United Nations bodies (ECA, UNESCO, UNDP and ITU) as well as that of six African intergovernmental organizations. The project targets the rural and isolated areas of Africa (and consequently the poor). 101. The Department of Economic and Social Development of the United Nations Secretariat expects to play a greater inter-agency role in the UNDP/World Bank/African Development Bank Social Dimensions of Adjustment (SDA) programme through the cooperating agency medium with Governments. (It has recently concluded one such agreement with the Government of Tanzania for the government-executed SDA project.) 102. ECLAC has carried out its work related to poverty alleviation often together, and/or in close coordination, with other organizations of the United Nations, such as UNESCO, the World Bank, the United Nations Sudano-Sahelian Office (UNSO), the Centre for Social Development and Humanitarian Affairs (CSDHA), UNICEF, UNDP and UNFPA, as well as other specialized agencies. 103. In recent years, ECLAC has executed substantive parts of UNDP's regional project on eradication of extreme poverty in Latin America and the Caribbean and worked together with UNICEF in monitoring the goals of the World Summit for Children, with UNFPA on poverty-related questions of demography and the census (for example, household surveys) and with other organizations on the situation of women, youth and other vulnerable groups on which Governments wish to put special emphasis, as well as in related subject areas such as education, job training, health, poverty-related social policies and land programmes, which have included those related to the social effects of structural adjustment programmes. The two conferences on poverty for Latin America and the Caribbean have been substantively supported by ECLAC. 104. Within the recently concluded UNDP-funded project, Improving the Role of African Women in the Informal Sector: Production and Management, the United Nations International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women (INSTRAW) and the Statistical Office of the United Nations Secretariat carried out a methodological study on defining the informal sector and a step-by-step procedure of compiling statistics and indicators that would lead to estimates of women's contribution and participation in the informal sector. III. CONCLUDING OBSERVATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 105. As the brief review contained in section II above suggests, there seems to be a large and growing agreement among the organizations of the United Nations system on the broad approaches and strategies to be pursued for the alleviation and eradication of poverty and in the design and implementation of structural adjustment programmes. Moreover, a clear recognition exists of the necessity of enhancing the effectiveness and efficiency of delivery of assistance to developing countries. To this end, the need for collaborative and joint efforts in the design and implementation of programmes is widely recognized. There is also a generally shared concern about strengthening coordinated efforts for data collection and situation analysis and, to this end, for the development of country-specific indicators for the measurement of poverty trends. Finally, practically all the organizations of the system emphasize the critical importance of enhanced coordination at the country level under the leadership and with the full involvement of the Government concerned. 106. An analysis of the responses of various organizations of the system suggests that considerable efforts have been made in recent years to meet these needs. Consultations and cooperation between the financial institutions and other organizations of the system have intensified in the context of the formulation and implementation of anti-poverty strategies such as that of the World Bank as well as of adjustment programmes in the context of the Policy Framework Papers of the IMF. Nevertheless, there is clearly room for further strengthening of these processes of consultation in the follow-up of agreed approaches and strategies, especially at the country level. 107. The ACC Task Force on Rural Development provides a system-wide forum and instrument for cooperation and coordination in addressing the problem of rural poverty. JCGP has served as a valuable instrument in bringing together the principal United Nations funding agencies for policy dialogue and for the development of joint and harmonized programming in specific substantive areas such as poverty alleviation and structural adjustment. It has also facilitated consultation and dialogue between the JCGP agencies and other concerned organizations, including the World Bank and the IMF. 108. Apart from such formal mechanisms as the ACC Task Force on Rural Development, JCGP, inter-agency seminars and regional conferences on specific poverty-related issues, the agencies report extensive informal consultations, both at high levels and among substantive staff and experts, in developing their policies and programmes. This results in clusters of cooperation among concerned agencies on poverty alleviation projects in specific sectors or subject areas such as food and agriculture, rural development, human resources development, infrastructure, drug control and refugees and displaced persons. 109. Despite all these efforts, however, considerable problems and gaps still remain. While there is broad agreement on the principal elements of strategies and approaches to poverty alleviation and eradication, there is no overall system-wide anti-poverty strategy or plan such as exists in the areas of women, drugs and environment. While the difficulties of developing a system-wide plan on such a diffused theme as poverty are recognized, there is nevertheless a need to develop in some form a coherent system-wide framework for action in the area of poverty eradication. Secondly, while the Task Force on Rural Development has been paying continuous attention to the problem of rural poverty, there is no direct mechanism for addressing the broad subject of poverty on a system-wide basis. Apart from reaffirming the lead role of the ACC Task Force on Rural Development, there is also a need for strengthening the mechanisms for inter-agency coordination and cooperation that already exist in this area, for strengthening their mandates as necessary and for ensuring their coverage of the whole range of issues related to poverty. 110. Given that present and prospective resources devoted to poverty alleviation and eradication programmes at the national and international levels are clearly inadequate, the efficiency of programme delivery will be critical to success. Furthermore, there is considerable scope for a better allocation of available resources/- national and bilateral as well as multilateral. The United Nations system can promote this objective through its own example as well as through its advocacy role. 111. A key element in improving the effectiveness of external assistance is reaching consensus on the approach to poverty reduction at the country level. Cooperative work, for example, on poverty assessments and human development assessments, and the background data collection and analysis, will enhance the quality of development assistance agencies' advice in developing country strategies. Most importantly, such cooperation should ensure that external assistance supports countries in more effective policies for poverty reduction and that the volume and composition of assistance are also consistent with this goal. It should also lead to collaborative country assistance strategies in which each development agency's programme is rationalized as part of a broader and consistent package of assistance and policy advice. 112. The encouraging results achieved by the JCGP and the World Bank in joint situation analysis with a focus on poverty in individual countries provides the basis for joint and harmonized programming and aid coordination. This could be extended as more experience is gained to cover a wider group of countries. 113. In this connection, the collection of accurate and up-to-date data and development of poverty indicators is of vital importance. Despite significant progress made and initiatives taken by several organizations in recent years important gaps remain and there is need for well-coordinated approaches. In this regard, consideration should be given to the suggestion for a high-level inter-agency meeting to devise common understandings and approaches towards a set of social indicators that could be used for data collection by the system as a whole and that all agencies would have access to. 114. Consultative groups or aid consortia can provide an opportunity for a full discussion of government strategy and development agency responses for poverty reduction, ideally based on reports (such as poverty assessments) jointly prepared by the Government concerned and the Bank and other agencies within the United Nations system. Coordination could be facilitated by the appointment of poverty coordinators in each agency of the United Nations system to serve as a contact on poverty issues. 115. The need at the country level is to optimize the use of the limited resources made available by the United Nations system. Problems arise owing not only to the different mandates of various agencies, but also to the different time-frame of governmental and agency programming cycles. Inter-agency coordination should address at the country level the issue of critical poverty, involving the conduct of specific studies and the formulation, in close cooperation with the Government concerned, of coordinated programmes of action aimed at providing the required United Nations system response to country-specific needs. 116. In this regard, positive gains can be made by strengthening the role of the resident coordinator and by adopting a multilateral team approach led by the Resident Coordinator with the participation of all interested agencies. A better harmonization of programmes and projects of the United Nations system with recipient government plans and programmes could enhance significantly the efficiency of delivery. The provision for poverty alleviation in the country programmes should specify its operational linkages with sectoral development programmes and projects. 117. Coordination and cooperation among agencies of the United Nations system at the field level can be greatly facilitated if their counterparts in Government have a clear and coordinated approach to poverty eradication and the role of relevant ministries/departments is clearly defined in promoting urban and rural programmes for poverty eradication. This situation does not exist, however, in many instances; thus, the task of coordination is complicated. Where national capabilities and institutions are relatively advanced, interministerial mechanisms can be helpful in harmonizing governmental policies, programmes and projects, but in other cases the need for external support and assistance for building institutional capacity across a broad spectrum, at the national, regional and local level, becomes evident. This calls for coordinated technical assistance by the United Nations system to enhance the planning and coordinating capacity of the host Government. Notes 1/ United Nations Development Programme, Human Development Report, 1990 and Human Development Report, 1991 (New York, Oxford University Press, 1990 and 1991). 2/ World Bank, World Development Report, 1990: Poverty (New York, Oxford University Press, 1990). 3/ International Fund for Agricultural Development, "The state of world rural poverty: an inquiry into the causes and consequences", a foreward by Idriss Jazairy, president of IFAD. 4/ World Bank, World Development Report, 1990: Poverty (New York, Oxford University Press, 1990), table 2.1, p. 29. 5/ Ibid., p. 28. 6/ ECLAC, Magnitud de la pobreza en Amœrica Latina en los aáos ochenta (LC/L.533, Santiago, May 1990), p. 67. 7/ International Labour Organisation, World Labour Report, 1989, vol./4 (Geneva, 1989), table. 1.9. 8/ Programa Regional del Empleo para Amœrica Latina y el Caribe (PREALC), "Evolution of the labour force market during 1980-1987", Santiago,/1988. 9/ International Labour Organisation, African Employment Report, 1988, Addis Ababa, 1989. 10/ General Assembly resolution 45/199 of 21 December 1990, annex, para./79. 11/ World Conservation Union (IUCN), United Nations Environment Programme and World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), Caring for the Earth: A Strategy for Sustainable Living (Gland, Switzerland, October 1991). 12/ World Bank, Poverty Reduction Handbook: an Operational Directive, Washington, D.C., 1992. 13/ International Labour Organisation, Projects with People, Geneva, 1991. 14/ United Nations Development Programme, Development and Adjustment, Stabilization, Structural Adjustment and UNDP Policy 1989, United Nations publication (Sales No. E.89.III.B.4). 15/ Jean-Paul Azam and others, "The impact of macroeconomic policies on the rural poor", United Nations Development Programme policy discussion paper (United Nations publication, Sales No. E.89.III.B.5). ----- .