United Nations Specialised Agencies Politics of Development in Africa

The United Nations An international organisation 192 member countries Aims –Development –Human rights –Peace UN is made up of different agencies – each one does a particular job

United Nations Children’s Fund Helps to meet health and education needs Provides: textbooks, blackboards, pencils, temporary classrooms Provides: safe water, immunisation, mosquito nets, medication E.g. School in a Box – meeting educational needs: kits containing educational materials eg. In 1997 UNICEF sent school supplies to 60,000 children in Zambia after floods destroyed hundreds of schoolseducational materials E.g. Feeding Centres – meeting health needs: they provide food for underweight babies and children helps reduce infant mortality. Feeding Centre in Sierra LeoneSchool-in-a-box

WHO World Health Organisation Helps meet health needs Provides: health information and education, immunisation, treatment of diseases, equipment (medicine, mosquito nets…) E.g. Anaemia Action – lack of iron can cause high infant mortality. WHO provides iron supplements to pregnant women E.g. WHO HIV/AIDS Programme: preventing new cases through education, training health workers, supplying medication

FAO Food and Agricultural Organisation of the UN Helps meet food needs: aims to prevent famine by improving food production Provides: does research into farming methods, sends experts to train African farmers E.g. More Crop per Drop – trains African farmers to get the most out of limited water using low tech water pumps, eg. in Burkina Faso

WFP Deals with food aid - aims to get rid of hunger and malnutrition –emergency food aid to disaster zones –improving nutrition especially for women and children E.g. School Feeding Programmes – providing pupils with a daily meal –Helps pupils concentrate as they are not hungry –Encourages parents to send children to school –E.g. WFP provided food for over 250,000 pupils in Burundi in 2007/2008 – school attendance went up as a result E.g. Emergency food aid – WFP has already distributed 20 tons of food aid to refugees in DR Congo, affected by civil war Literacy levels go up

What’s in a School-in-a-box? 5 flip chart pads 5 permanent markers 15 ballpoint pens 25 packets of crayons 5 boxes of pencil erasers 150 exercise books 25 pencil sharpeners 25 pencils 25 plastic rulers 2 school registers 20 boxes of white chalk 20 boxes of coloured chalk 5 chalkboards dusters 1 chalkboard ruler 5 pieces of plywood for use as a chalkboard 4 litres of black paint 1 paint brush.