Each of the 21 United Nations Agencies working in China has its own areas of expertise, and is supporting China in these areas. Details of what individual Agencies are doing can be found on their own websites, which you can find here.

However, many of the most important challenges facing China require a response that brings together experts from several fields. For example, helping China find ways to improve the lives of its large migrant worker population is best done by combining the efforts of experts in employment, heath, education, gender and governance.

Recognizing this, the Agencies of the United Nations in China are now working together on an increasing number of Joint Programmes. These involve all relevant United Nations and their national partners coming together to jointly identify the key challenges in an area, and the comparative advantage of the United Nations in responding. The Agencies and their partners then design one integrated programme, collectively bid for resources to support it, and work closely together to deliver it.

In working together in this way, the United Nations in China is at the forefront of global efforts to encourage the whole United Nations development system to work together, or ‘Deliver as One’. More information on this global UN reform initiative can be found here. As well as better addressing key development challenges, Joint Programmes help to avoid duplication and overlap in the UN’s work, increase the UN’s efficiency, and reduce the transaction costs of working with the UN for our national counterparts. Joint Programmes also present a focused, coherent framework through which other international partners can channel their own support to China’s development.

The quality of the Joint Programmes designed by the United Nations in China has been recognized by donors, who are providing them with substantial support. The United Nations in China has been particularly successful in its bids for Joint Programme funding from the UN-Spain Millennium Development Goals Achievement Fund, which was specifically established in 2007 to support the development of Joint Programmes. To date, the Fund has approved around USD25m for China’s programmes. More information on the Fund can be found here.

The United Nations in China currently has the following Joint Programmes either under implementation, approved in principle, or in the design and bidding stage. For more information on UN China’s Joint Programmes in general, please contact Steven Sabey in the UN Resident Coordinator’s Office (switchboard: + 86 10 8532 0800).