Subprogrammes
(UNESCAP Programme of Work, 2006-2007)

Subprogramme 1 - Poverty and development

Objective of the Organization: To achieve internationally agreed goals and targets relating to poverty reduction and social and economic development.

Expected accomplishments of the Secretariat

1. National policy makers and planners have increased capacity to design and implement poverty reduction policies that are effective, sustainable and gender-responsive
2. Increased capacity of Governments, civil society and the private sector in Asia and the Pacific, and particularly the least developed countries, to formulate and implement poverty reduction programmes that are effective, sustainable and gender-responsive and that focus on economically vulnerable groups
3. Increased involvement of civil society organizations in the work of ESCAP

Strategy

The substantive responsibility for this subprogramme lies with the Poverty and Development Division.

The subprogramme’s strategic direction derives from the internationally agreed development goals, including those on poverty reduction contained in the United Nations Millennium Declaration and in the outcomes of the major United Nations conferences and international agreements since 1992, in line with the overall mandate of ESCAP and major global mandates such as the Monterrey Consensus.

The subprogramme will achieve its objective through a combination of analytical and normative activities and capacity development involving the public and private sectors, at the request of members and associate members. Those activities include ongoing research on, and monitoring of, regional development trends, identifying and promoting good practices to reduce poverty and deprivation, promoting good governance and the involvement of civil society, providing policy-oriented publications, undertaking pilot projects and establishing regional resource facilities to disseminate lessons learned, and organizing regional and subregional forums.

The activities of the Regional Coordination Centre for Research and Development of Coarse Grains, Pulses, Roots and Tuber Crops in the Humid Tropics of Asia and the Pacific will be supportive of the subprogramme activities.