UNFPA Country Programme

Since 1997 UNFPA launched its activities in Ukraine providing support to the Ukrainian National Family Planning Program. From the national part, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Education, State Committee for Family and Youth, Ministry of Defense, Ministry of Internal Affairs, private and community institutions, pharmacies and mass media participate in the joint activities on establishment of the national network of reproductive health and family planning services.

UNFPA works jointly as a UN Country Team member and has joint activities with many other UN Agencies: UNDP, UNAIDS, UNICEF, WHO, ILO, UNHCR, especially on HIV/AIDS prevention and safe behavior.

From January 2006 the first UNFPA Country Programme (CP) for Ukraine is being implemented. It is an integral part of the United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF) for 2006-2010. As such, it was based on the actual and analytical findings of the Ukraine's Common Country Assessment (CCA), is in line with and contributes to the achievement of the UNDAF outcomes and goals. Through the UNDAF goals and basing on the ICPD Programme of Action, including its 5-year review, the UNFPA CP addresses the national development goals stipulated as the Ukraine's MDGs. Specifically, UNFPA will deliver assistance to Ukraine to help achieve the national development goals to (1) improve maternal health and reduce child mortality, (2) reduce and slow down the spread of HIV infection, (3) eradicate extreme poverty and hunger and (4) reach gender equality. The Programme has been harmonized with the CPs of UNDP and UNICEF.

The UNFPA CP has been elaborated with participation and in consultations of all partners active in the development area — the Government, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), resident UN agencies, international development organizations, foreign embassies, delegations and missions providing development assistance to Ukraine. This has ensured that all key players, under the leadership of the Ukrainian Government, have a common vision of the country's development perspectives and use a common approach to programming and implementation of development assistance, and, specifically, the UNFPA CP for 2006-2010.

In the process of the CP development, UNFPA used the ICPD Programme of Action and the Strategic Results Framework of the organization's Multi-Year Funding Framework (MYFF) in order to outline the anticipated Programme's outputs that will best fit the national development priorities. Thus, the CP is designed to contribute to the improvement of the quality of life of people in Ukraine. This goal will be achieved through delivering technical assistance for the following Ukraine's UNDAF outcomes: (1) By 2010, increased equitable access to quality medical assistance and health services with emphases on HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and mother & child health that ensures the right of people in Ukraine to enjoy the highest attainable standards in the area of health, (2) Poverty reduced by 50 per cent through equitable, area-based economic growth and targeted provision of inclusive social services, and (3) All individuals in Ukraine are empowered to claim and enjoy their rights consistent with international standards through the strengthening of civil society, with a focus on protection of women and other disadvantaged groups.

The comprehensive and participatory approach to the development of the CP has provided that UNFPA would fully utilize its comparative advantages when implementing the CP and that the development interventions would not be duplicated. Under its organizational mandate and using the extensive experience of providing assistance to Ukraine in several domains, UNFPA will distinctively address (1) the further development of integrated reproductive health services, with more attention paid to the district level, (2) policy support to the establishment of a national reproductive health commodity security system, (3) development and implementation of behaviour change communication programmes for young people to support and promote safe and responsible behaviour with regard to sexual and reproductive health, (4) fostering demand for better sexual and reproductive health among young people, uniformed services and vulnerable groups, (5) supporting development of a strategy to overcome the demographic crisis in Ukraine, including special component on population ageing, and (6) supporting male involvement into sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights promotion, together with providing technical assistance to and sharing experiences with women's NGOs.

The CP has three components:

1. reproductive health, including HIV/AIDS and adolescent reproductive health
2. population and development
3. gender equality

Human rights, reproductive rights, advocacy and behaviour change communication will be addressed throughout the Programme as crosscutting issues. The Programme will geographically cover all 27 administrative regions of the country.

The UNFPA CP will be implemented on the principles of national ownership of the Programme and national capacity development. This will relate to strengthening administrative, institutional, technical and human resource capacities of the national partners working in the domains of sexual and reproductive health, population and development and gender. Relevant capacity assessments will be undertaken before initiating Programme interventions. The UNFPA's core strategies (advocacy and policy dialogue; building and using a knowledge base; promoting, strengthening and coordinating partnerships; and developing systems for improving performance) will be used for implementation of specific activities under each output of the Programme, as well as for provision of UNFPA technical and operational support to implementation of the CP. The blend of these strategies will maximize the impact of the interventions and will create synergy with the UN and other development partners.