Current Programme
Vitamin A supplement, National Health Day,
North Hwanghae, May 2002.
The current three-year country programme of co-operation began in 2001 and will come to an end on 31 December 2003. The goals to which the programme contributes are that by 2003:
1. Infant, under-five and maternal mortality rates are reduced by 15 to 20per cent of their 2000 levels.
2. Severe acute malnutrition is reduced by 60 per cent and stunting is reduced by 20 per cent from 2000 levels in children under seven years of age.
3. The well-being of children in need of special protection is improved.
Co-operation extends to four programme areas: health and nutrition; water and environmental sanitation; education; and planning, information, monitoring and evaluation. Key strategies and results to be achieved in each programme area are outlined in the Government-UNICEF Master Plan of Operations 2001-2003 and the Country Programme Recommendation 2001-2003.
The main programme stakeholders are around 15 million children and women, including 2 million children under five and around 450,000 pregnant and 450,000 lactating women. The programme acts nationwide, reaching children and women in every province. It gives priority to the most disadvantaged - that is those living in the more vulnerable northeast provinces of Ryanggang, North Hamgyong and South Hamgyong, as well as to children living without parents in baby homes, orphanages and boarding schools countrywide.
Funding for the programme is from three sources: UNICEF regular resources; other resources solicited from donors; and participation in the annual consolidated interagency appeal (also raised from donors). The country programme budget for 2001-2003, excluding the annual appeal is shown below.
| Programme |
US Dollars (thousands) |
||
|
Regular Resources |
Other Resources |
TOTAL | |
| Health and Nutrition |
1171 |
6900 |
8071 |
| Water and Environmental Sanitation |
450 |
1350 |
1800 |
| Education |
420 |
750 |
1170 |
| Planning, Information, Monitoring and Evaluation |
570 |
- |
570 |
| Cross-Sectoral Costs |
150 |
- |
150 |
| TOTAL |
2791 |
9000 |
11761 |
The inter-agency consolidated appeal amount has been determined each year, based on need and taking into account previous and current donor interest. The annual appeal amounts over the period 2001-2003 are shown below.
| ProJECT |
US Dollars |
||
|
Emergency (CAP) Resources |
|||
|
2001 |
2002 |
2003 |
|
| Essential Drugs |
2,625,000 |
3,790,500 |
4,646,250 |
| Immunisations (EPI) |
1,677,690 |
2,220,750 |
1,480,500 |
| Emergency Nutrition Rehabilitation, Prevention of Malnutrition |
3,223,500 |
1,564,500 |
2,016,000 |
| Maternal and Child Health Including Safe-Motherhood |
735,000 |
1,092,000 |
598,500 |
| Water and Environmental Sanitation |
1,743,000 |
1,176,000 |
2,509,500 |
| Basic Education Priorities |
498,750 |
530,250 |
845,250 |
| TOTAL |
10,502,940 |
10,374,000 |
12,096,000 |
In view of the ongoing emergency, co-operation is understandably largely humanitarian in nature. The overall focus of UNICEF’s programme is to meet the immediate humanitarian needs of the most vulnerable of the population.
Overall priorities are to:
- support the delivery of basic life sustaining services in health and nutrition, including hospital based rehabilitation of severely malnourished children;
- support critical prevention programmes such as growth monitoring and promotion, immunization, water and environmental sanitation and basic education;
- support the development of national capacity of service providers, caregivers and families through training, technical assistance, planning and monitoring;
- respond to natural disasters;
- develop model approaches for greater sustainability using effective, low cost strategies that can later be replicated when additional funding becomes available.
Annual Programme Plans of Action (PPAs) combine both regular and emergency components. Considering the limited availability of resources, annual plans focus on the highest priority actions. Plans are output focused and the logical framework approach is used in planning.
Overall programme progress has been very good, although under funding has constrained achievements. Key results to which UNICEF co-operation has contributed include:
Health
- 300,000 infants and 250,000 pregnant women have been fully immunized each year - a doubling of 1998 levels - and the vaccine cold chain has been considerably strengthened (in cooperation with WHO).
- Over 95 per cent of children have received supplementary polio vaccine twice each year so that polio is now effectively eradicated.
- Almost two million (or 98 per cent) of children receive vitamin A supplements, which boost the immune system and prevent night blindness - and deworming twice each year through national child health days.
- The regular availability of very vital medicines for treatment of the most common but life threatening childhood illnesses has been assured at over 3,000 health facilities in eight provinces and cities (the other four being covered by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies).
- Revised health policies have been successful advocated, including the introduction of vitamin A supplements for women immediately after delivery and extension of recommended duration of exclusive breast-feeding from four months to six months.
Nutrition
- Over 15,000 severely malnourished children have been rehabilitated.
- Essential vitamins and minerals have been provided for children and pregnant women through fortification of locally produced foods (in cooperation with WFP).
- Monthly child growth monitoring has been expanded to an additional 5,000 nurseries.
Water and environmental sanitation
- Safe drinking water has been provided to over 4 million people, mainly in high density urban populations, by support to water treatment stations, piped system rehabilitation and bore-well drilling.
Education
- Availability of textbooks and basic materials (pencils, rulers, erasers) has been significantly increased for kindergarten and primary students, especially in the more vulnerable northeastern provinces.
- There has been some selective progress in education quality improvement.
Planning, Information, Monitoring and Evaluation
- ChildInfo software has been adopted by the Central Bureau of Statistics for collating and displaying critical information on children and women and provincial and county introduction underway.
- The 2002 Nutrition Assessment in ten provinces and cities provided updated information on the nutritional situation of children and, for the first time, provincial level data, and information on the nutritional status of women.
Cross-cutting
- A much more systematic approach to capacity building has been introduced through training, provision of technical guidelines and public information materials.
A mid-term review of the country programme was carried out in 2002. The review assessed key results of co-operation and highlighted a number of key lessons learned, used to make adjustments to the last year of the programme and in planning the new country programme 2004-2006.
The most important of these were:
- the need to maintain clear strategic focus, targeting limited resources on the greatest humanitarian needs (e.g. reducing the range of essential medicines provided to address the biggest child survival issues - diarrhoeas and acute respiratory infections - and ensure continuity of supply);
- the need to seek opportunities within humanitarian programmes to achieve more sustainable progress (e.g. full water supply coverage of whole communities, rather than partial solutions over wider areas).