Introduction
‘United Nations Development Program’ (UNDP), which has its nerve center in New York, is one of the principal branches of UN charged with the mandate of improving the lives of the worldwide populace.
The organization currently operates in 166 countries since its initiation in 1965, with more emphasis on ‘Least Developed Countries’ (LDCs). In a bid, to achieve MDGs, it collaborates with several governments to help nations overcome both state and global challenges. UNDP receives its funds from member states through charitable contributions.
It is imperative to assert that the institution offers capacity through instruction and funding. It tends to concentrate on the LDCs, by addressing poverty, HIV/AIDS, crisis, governance, as well as social issues (Stokke 379). It is crucial to elaborate that UNDP has devised ways of tackling poverty in various nations, as well as changing human development and inequality.
The media has played a fundamental mission in furthering the development programs of the organization. Furthermore, the organization utilizes media, especially Internet, in presenting its work results. The organization has also faced criticism from various sources about their faults. Although UNDP has managed to influence people’s lives, there are deficiencies in its activities.
How UNDP Works To Reduce Poverty
This UN body uses the existing alternatives and avenues for it to make real improvements in relation to poverty suppression. It promotes the all-encompassing development and works to advance people’s lives. It is important to emphasize that the organization uses millennium and other points of references to measure its progress. There are focus areas that UNDP aims to achieve in skirmishing poverty. The agency focuses on the attainment of MDGs in member nations.
These include all the goals, as well as targets, which include poverty, starvation, and ailment among other parameters. Each country tailors its work towards the attainment of these goals. UNDP operates at the global plane, where it consolidates forces with other UN arms to progress worldwide partnership for growth. In particular, it sensitizes nations, together with sub-national sections to espouse and acclimatize MDGs (‘Poverty Reduction’).
Creating wakefulness is crucial in the attainment the goals and targets. In its work, the organization grants leadership and synchronization to capacity build the member countries towards the realization of MDGs. In its battle against poverty, UNDP tends to attain MDGs by offering support to countries to scale up the execution of various projects aimed at conquering the goals. It supports in areas relating to workforce, as well as fiscal administration.
Realizing that women bear the greatest wrath of poverty, UNDP has amplified its work targeting this group. Women are the prime family wardens thus undertaking almost all domestic labors. Furthermore, they are restricted to monetary opportunities due to the nature of their jobs.
It is important to realize that gender impartiality and women sanctioning are crucial in attaining MDGs. In a bid to achieve this UNDP works closely with nations to aid the inclusion of women in forecasting, financial plan, as well as policy-formulation procedures. This usually enables women to be aware of the national progress. The organization further promotes female economic rights and opportunities.
This action ensures that females have access to credits and grants to further their economic progress. The agency also tackles gender concerns of HIV/AIDS since women are more unguarded to the pandemic than males are. UNDP collaborates with nations in ensuring that the crucial unrestricted services like health and education benefits all societal members on equal grounds (‘Poverty Reduction’).
It is crucial to assert that elimination of poverty requires fiscal resources to aid in the improvement of infrastructure, as well as programs that prop up economic growth. Some underdeveloped countries have scarce resources to attain the level of basic investment. UNDP identifies such countries, and consequently advocates for the benefactor community to amplify their aid and technical corporation. Other interventions include searching for excellent markets, as well as sinking competition for their export produce.
Furthermore, the organization supports the recipient administrations in augmenting aid management, state leadership, and grant harmonization. Participation at the local plane is crucial in the reeducation of poverty. This involves the inclusion of communities, townships, counties, and regions as well as their leaders in the public planning. UNDP appreciates such moves and comes into play by maintaining general governments clued-up with people’s needs and proceeding challenges (‘Poverty Reduction’).
The organization aids to enlarge the capability of local administrations to devise, sketch, watch, and execute participatory local progress projects. Furthermore, it works mutually with activist groups and other confined organizations. UNDP also props up attempts to incorporate minor clusters and communities whose views rarely reach national level. The organization collaborates with governments to organize steadfast statistics on regional poverty. This aids in the allotment of reserves with emphasis on the underprivileged areas.
Some areas are secluded following topography, social barring, or disasters. The UNDP operates directly in such regions since public, monetary and societal policies cannot further growth. This prompts the institute to collaborate straight with the local managements to sustain plans, which aim at providing locals with business and farming dexterities. Creation of a device to appraise and scrutinize poverty is crucial in designing effectual regulations for scarcity diminution.
Furthermore, such undertakings enable various governments in keeping track of the poverty suppression progress. Nonetheless, underdeveloped countries lack consistent, as well as reliable data to track their progress. It is the responsibility of the UNDP to fill the gap by devising effective poverty screening schemes (‘Poverty Reduction’). Furthermore, it enlightens national governments about data utilization in skirmishing poverty.
The recognition of the private sector as the backbone of the public economy has prompted UNDP to consider it as a means of eradicating poverty. The UNDP works en route for ensuring a fair environment for the private sector to exterminate scarcity. It ensures liberal trade to enable imminent companies flourish in the aggressive world.
Lack of all-encompassing development triggers poverty in many countries. This can be attained by including all groups to contribute avenues and distribute the gains of development. Moreover, there is a call to incorporate the principles and creeds of human privileges, as well as rights. UNDP uses its resources to preserve and restore inclusive development in the developing countries. In particular, the organization advices on job establishment, service stratagems and other economic policies.
Additionally, UNDP vouches for a lignified state responsibility, superior national venture, and fiscal management thus ensuring equal access to critical public resources (‘Poverty Reduction’). Globalization has not led to fiscal heighten in many broke countries like the sub Saharan African. This is due to the fusion of both interior, as well as peripheral constrains. UNDP advocates for common partnership for progress to ensure enabling trading avenues. It also guarantees intellectual assets rights, as well as expertise transfer.
The organization capacitates poverty-stricken nations to integrate fully into the global economy by prioritizing human development. UNDP teams up with extra intercontinental institutions like IMF to provide technical and trade backing to help nations fortify their supply side capability. In addition, the organization helps in discovering panacea allied to trade and intellectual possessions among LDCs.
UNDP’s View of Human Development and Inequality
Having realized that people form every story behind the genuine affluence of a country, UNDP has been working to realize the intent of human development. “The aim of human development is to create an enabling environment for people to enjoy long, healthy and creative lives” (Indart 63).
Mahbub ul Haq aided in the discovery of this wider vision of human development. It is, in deed, exact that the organization has made a substantial stride en route for accomplishing this. UNDP postulates that development is fundamentally about people. The organization has thwarted the then explanation of human development, which was just about enlarging people’s choice.
This definition encompasses sovereignty to health, education, as well as first-rate living. UNDP expands its dimension about human development to include political liberty, human rights, as well as liberty of expression. Currently, most people are healthier, live longer, more educated than 20 years back (HDR IV). Moreover, there is an amplified access to services in the civic domain, and this is factual even in countries that experience undesirable economic situations.
Not only does HDR concentrate on access to healthcare and edification, but it has also elaborated on the expansion of people’s authority to pick leaders, as well as manipulating public decisions. The organization notes that citizens are the recipients, as well as the force behind human development. The UNDP has a different view of human development that encompasses every parameter to give a conclusive report.
UNDP does not confine its view of human development within the precincts of habitual economic pointers and advancement. It devised a tool to analyze resource information in a society that constitutes substantive liberty and enjoyment. The organization uses its yearly human development report, which gives myriads of information on various human aspects. In a bid to replace GNP, which was measuring only obvious parameters, the UNDP devised another tool called the Human Development Index (HDI).
Older techniques were concentrating on what lingered undone, but the HDI incorporates the immense realizations within the populace. The organization further makes use of graphs and indices to harmonize HDI, thus heartening its assessment. It is vital to state that human development is all about allowing every citizen to partake and gain at all ranks of society. In this view, the UNDP believes universal participation in societal activities constitutes human growth.
The organization further outlines that discussion concerning growth is always open to deliberation. This implies that human development applies to all nations and individuals. Following the organization’s perception on human development, the world is a better place than it was in 21 years (Meadows, Randers, & Meadows 290).
UNDP does not only consider economic achievements; however, it looks into other parameters in determining human development. This is factual following that top 10 nations in the HDI are not the usual peak performers. It lists Indonesia, Nepal, as well as Ethiopia from Sub-Saharan Africa as the states with superior human progress (HDR 4). UNDP’s view in human development diverges from other perspectives.
This is because it perceives an improvement in health and edification as the backbone of human development. It further states that a country’s policies, institutions, and geography also constitute human development. It is imperative to declare that human development traverses healthiness and education to include inequality and sustainability. It outlines that the supreme challenge to human development is the powerlessness to uphold creation and utilization patterns.
The UNDP views inequality in different perspectives. It declares that human development and inequality posses a negative correlation. Furthermore, the organization has novel guides that depict significant parameters of inequality.
There is Inequality adjusted HDI, which gauges human progress level in a community (HDR 10). UNDP affirms that equality prevails when the HDI is comparable with IHDI. Disparity in the allotment of unrestricted services like edification causes a decrease in individual HDI. A wide range amid IHDI, as well as HDI signifies soaring inequality.
The organization uses similar rule of IHDI and HDI to explain gender unfairness. UNDP views gander disparity to be varying transversely among nations. Furthermore, nations with uneven sharing of human growth experience elevated gender disparity. Such scenarios are prevalent in Mozambique and Haiti among other nations.
Media Coverage in Relation to UNDP’s Goodwill Ambassadors
Goodwill ambassadors are some outstanding personalities who devote their time to volunteer to help in furthering UNDP policies. This is due to their prominence that helps in the spread of pressing and worldwide information relating to human development and international alarm (UN 21).
It is imperative to assert that media has been at the forefront in advancing UNDP programs. In a bid to reach the mass with burning information, they use the goodwill ambassadors like Ronaldo and Misako among others. There is all-embracing media reporting on the programs like poverty diminution, economic expansion, as well as equality within the people.
Prime TV stations air these people as they pass important information, which aims at achieving UNDP objectives. Media houses always host such individuals during interview schedules. This attracts many people due to their prominence. For instance, Drogba who is a football superstar features in campaigns calling for autonomous elections in some poor countries, since this is away of eradicating poverty.
The media are enthusiastic in showing some of the games organized by the goodwill ambassadors. For instance, the teams captained by both Ronaldo and Zidane play annually to raise money used to fund UNDP programs (UNDP). In doing so, the message reaches many people, since a big mass usually watches such matches. There has been use of social sites like twitter, facebook, among others in advancing UNDP programs.
There is always a link to UNDP websites where one can chat with some of their ambassadors. Such undertakings by the media are crucial in notifying the world on the UNDP projects. It is also imperative to emphasize that the UNDP uses net, which is a form of media to increase its programs’ coverage. One will always encounter one or the goodwill ambassadors passing important information about the organization’s progress and wishes.
The media have been following the work plan of the ambassadors to air their activities as they give key messages. It is crucial to note that the media usually capture the lectures the goodwill ambassadors deliver at various institutions. Several ambassadors usually educate the populace on human development issues, as well as interpretation of the annual reports (UNDP).
Written broadcasts similar to monthlies and papers normally include the goodwill ambassadors passing some crucial information to the people. The presence of such personalities in such media attracts the attention of the readers thus aiding in the conveyance of information. It is normal to find a goodwill ambassador giving welcoming words in more than a few seminars.
The media are devoted to such moves since they also aim at attracting their viewers and readers. It is certain that such moves aim at furthering the UNDP programs. Although, the media has advanced the works of UNDP through goodwill ambassadors, other avenues need exploitation.
UNDP Communication with the Media and Critiques
The UNDP has amplified its communication with the media in the recent past with the aim of reaching the mass with adequate and timely information. The organization avails information to the media as soon as it is ready. Furthermore, the agency collaborates with various media houses to further its activities (McPhail 50).
As the principal of governance, UNDP has managed to train journalists as well as establishing several media outlets, especially for the minority. Some of which include Media center and Minority medial project amid others. The organization is prompt in releasing some of its outcomes. A key example is the annual HDR, which is already for downloads and reading. It, therefore, takes the shortest period to analyze its activities and present, as well as disseminate information.
UNDP exhausts all media resources like radio, television, prints, Internet, and many other sources. This enables the media to receive reports and disseminate further. The organization avails everything on its website so that everyone can access and read, as well as giving feedback. It is crucial to note that the organization utilizes the Internet to present its activities and achievements.
The Internet presentations are excellent since their site has a good view. Furthermore, UNDP’s website has links to vital information like the countries’ profiles. This is significant in information sharing. UNDP has created links to other communal sites like twitter, facebook, among others where one can chat with some of their officials and learn more on their programs (UNDP).
Even though, their Internet presentation gives necessary information, there are some shortcomings. The organization normally utilizes English to propagate information on the Internet. Additionally it uses French, and Spanish as alternatives. Although these are some of the leading and working languages, they are limited to only those who understand them.
It is remarkable that the organization sometimes offers links, which one may not comprehend. Such links require one to insert key words, which maybe some people do not understand. As a branch of UN, several people have criticized its works since it has not been proficient to solve some communal tribulations. Furthermore, the issues of administration worry the global community, and this has prompted some people to talk of its death (Bertrand 349).
Conclusion
There is a conviction in the advancement made by the UNDP en route for the realization of the MDGs. The organization strengthens its operations in poverty eradication by focusing on some major areas. Such focal points include MDGs stratagems, gender and poverty as well as expansion cooperation and participatory local regime.
Other poverty lessening points include inclusive development and trade. Additionally, the organization ensures appropriate monitoring of the paucity reduction programs to keep track of the interventions. UNDP has widened the scope of view of human development and inequality. It views human advancement beyond the precincts of fiscal pointers to include other parameters. It asserts that inequality and human development have a negative correlation. The media coverage of the UNDP’s programmes is positive.
This is by the incorporation of goodwill ambassadors in the media. This enables them to pass over some pressing, but universal information. The organization has made evolution towards enhancing communication with the media. Furthermore, it aptly presents its programmes on the Internet. It is factual that UNDP has faced myriads of criticism in its functionalities. It is; therefore, vital to affirm that UNDP is a key player in the attainment of MDGs despite the shortfalls.
Works Cited
Bertrand, Maurice. “The UN as an Organization. A Critique of its Functioning”. European Journal of International Law. Vol. 6. Issue. 3. 1995. 349– 59.
Human Development Reports (HDR). Human Development Report 2010 – 20th Anniversary.UNDP. 2010.Web.
Indart, Gustavo. Economic reforms, growth, and inequality in Latin America: essays in honor of Albert Berry. Hants: Ashgate Publishing, Ltd, 2004.Print.
McPhail, Thomas. Development Communication: Reframing the Role of the Media. West Sussex: John Wiley and Sons, 2009. Print.
Meadows, Donella. Randers, Jorgen. & Meadows, Dennis. Limits to growth: the 30-year update.London: Earthscan, 2005. Print.
Poverty Reduction. UNDP. N.D. Web.
Stokke, Olav. The UN and development: from aid to cooperation. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2009. Print.
UNDP. United Development Programme. UNDP. N.D. Web.
United Nations (UN). United Nations today. New York, NY: United Nations Publications. 2008. Print.