Joint Programmes and Initiatives

 

Convergence

 

This is a programme by Government of India and the UN to enable 35 low HDI districts (across 7 states – Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, MP, Orissa, Rajasthan and UP) to get on track to achieve MDGs. This is to be done by developing capacity at district, state and national levels for improved planning, budgeting, implementation and monitoring.

 

Planning Commission, Government of India and Planning Departments/ Boards of the State Governments are the Implementation partners for the Convergence Programme. UNDP, UNFPA and UNICEF are providing funding support with ad hoc technical advice from FAO, ILO, UNAIDS, UNESCO, UN-Habitat, UNIFEM, WFP and WHO.

 

Support to Population Census 2011

 

This is a joint initiative to strengthen the implementation of India’s decennial population Census – the largest head count exercise in the world. This is to be done by building capacity of the Census authorities to focus on gender issues, improving training for census enumerators, digitization of maps of enumeration blocks for cities, development and rollout of publicity material and data dissemination.

 

The Office of the Registrar General of India & Census Commissioner is the implementation partner for this initiative, which is being supported by UNFPA, UNICEF, UNDP and UNIFEM.

 

Joint UN Plan for HIV and AIDS

 

This is a joint programme of technical assistance by 10 UN Agencies to strengthen the National AIDS Control Programme Phase III (NACP-III). This is being done by technical support in three key areas – strategic planning, governance and financial management; scaling up interventions; and monitoring & evaluation, strategic information, knowledge sharing and accountability. The National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO), government of India is the main implementation partner for this programme.

 

Support to Below Poverty Line (BPL) Census

 

This is a technical advisory initiative to improve pro-poor targeting of national programmes by strengthening the design and roll-out of India’s BPL Census. This will be done through improved guidelines, survey instruments, training modules – to focus on inclusion of the poorest and marginalized social groups and communities, especially women, SC/ ST and minorities.

 

The Ministry of Rural Development is the implementation partner, with advisory services from UNFPA, UNICEF, UNDP, WFP, ILO, UNAIDS, UNESCO and UNIFEM.