UNDP Response to the Asian Crisis.

• Position: United Nations Development Programme - Brief Article

In Thailand, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) provided immediate support to Thailand's Social Policy Committee (SPC) to oversee the national social recovery programmes under way. It proposed an action plan that covers the following areas: strengthening the SPC community empowerment network; applying a structural approach to study social problems, using narcotics as a pilot study; building the capacity of public officials in participatory and holistic development (i.e., development that integrates institutional, social, human and economic components); and introducing a holistic budget system. UNDP provided direct assistance to the management of the Social Investment Project, a $430 million loan fund from the World Bank, and assisted with fund management, coordination of technical assistance, monitoring and evaluation.

UNDP undertook an assessment survey of training needs in three Northeast provinces, where there are a significant number of returned workers laid off from the construction industry to help devise courses to facilitate re-absorption of these workers into the labour force. It convened national consultations with the Ministry of Education, the National Education Commission, the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank to explore means to alleviate the current problem of secondary school drop-outs as a result of the economic crisis. Its ongoing $2 million decentralization project helped support community-owned education centres that are responding to this problem. This project has benefited from the assessment of the impact of the crisis on the education sector undertaken by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF).

In Indonesia, UNDP initiated a Community Recovery Programme to strengthen the capacities of local community groups and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to deliver urgently needed relief in the poorest provinces, with contributions from bilateral donors. Under UNDP leadership, a UN Support Facility for Indonesian Recovery has been established to monitor the social and human impact of the economic and environmental crises affecting the country, analyse the integration of social and economic recovery policies, and provide support to the coordination of emergency assistance. UNDP also provided support to the drafting of a new electoral process for transparent and fair elections.

In the Republic of Korea...