UNDP in the Russian Federation

General Overview

The UNDP Country Office began activities in the Russian Federation in Moscow in 1997, though UNDP has been present in Russia since 1993, when a framework Agreement was signed with the Government of the Russian Federation. UNDP implements programmes both at the federal level and in a number of regions of the Russian Federation, providing policy advice, technical assistance, and capacity development to the government and the civil society.

The number of UNDP staff in the Russian Federation for January 2010 totals 31 people. The head of the UNDP office is UNDP Resident Representative.

UNDP priorities, in Russia are defined in the Country Programme for the Russian Federation (2008-2010), which is based on extensive consultations with the Government, United Nations organizations, civil society groups and other partners. It builds on experiences gained from the implementation of the previous Country Programme (2004-2007), as well as earlier Country Cooperation Frameworks (1998-2000 and 2001-2003).

The same as earlier programmes, the plan of action is based on five Focus Areas, which UNDP addresses globally, including Democratic Governance, Poverty Reduction, Crisis Prevention and Recovery, Energy and Environment, and HIV/AIDS

The Country Programme was developed in collaboration with the Russian government and aimed at bringing about concrete positive changes for people and the improvement of living standards in the Russian Federation. The uniqueness of its approach is in putting people and their needs at the core of policy. UNDP does so by using mainly national capacity and by strictly monitoring and evaluating the impact of its work.

Despite the global economic crisis, which seriously affected the Russian economy in 2009, Russia’s growing economic strength, increasing global role as a G-8 member and re-emerging donor continues to affect the nature of its relationship with UNDP.

Currently, UNDP programme priorities include the following:

• Energy Efficiency and Environment
• Official Development Assistance
• Human Development
• Private Sector Engagement

Total funds disbursed in implementing UNDP projects from 1997 through 2009 amount to over US $149 million.
Programme Resources Delivery 2006-2009 in US$ Thousands Dollars

Programme Components	2006	2007	2008	2009
Economic Development & Poverty Reduction	10,883	3,361	655	1,460
Crisis Prevention and Recovery	2,493	2,617	2,550	720
Environment	2,792	5,944	6,430	5,815
Democratic Governance	262	130	460	596
HIV/AIDS	191	837	1,250	843
Other	-4	303	528	398
TOTAL	16,618	13,191	11,873	9,995

As result of this strong partnership approach UNDP Russia can rely on several categories of donors: bilateral and multilateral, government, corporate, the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and other trust-funds, as well UN agencies (pls.see Joint Projects Documents). This is especially important in a situation when UNDP Russia’s access to the organisation’s global funds composed of contributions of UN member-countries is limited because Russia has rich resources and potential. The country office depends on funds generated within the country, traditional donors and the Russian federal and regional governments.

Bilateral donors consist of developed countries that provide assistance to developing countries or countries in transition, multilateral donors are those comprising several governments, such as EU. Corporate donors consist of private and state-owned commercial companies. Trust funds offer a mechanism to receive contributions to receive contributions from governmental or non-governmental donors.

Donor Contributions 2006-2009 by Category in US$ Thousands Dollars

Donors	2006	2007	2008	2009
Private sector	12,003	2,637	100	0
Government	618	385	0	360
Bilateral and multilateral donors	4,458	5,784	3,229	1,488
GEF	5,988	8,523	11,000	8,870
Other trust funds	401	574	1,221	150
UN agencies	235	45	24	513
Total	23,703	17,948	15,574	11,380

UNDP Country Office serves as coordinator of all UN development activities in the country. UN work is focused on supporting countries in achieving the so called Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) – a set of concrete goals and targets in priority areas of poverty reduction, health, education, environment, human rights and partnership, adopted by the world leaders at the UN Millennium Summit in 2000. In Russia, as in some other middle-income countries, internationally accepted MDGs need to be customized to better fit the country-specific context.