Dear future delegates:

Welcome to the 25th annual Queen’s Model United Nations (QMUN). We are so excited for the conference and included in this package is background information on all the topics to be covered by the United Nations Development Programme.

My name is Emily Steer and I am a second year Political Studies major and English minor at Queen’s. I participated in Model United Nations conferences throughout high school, and this is my first year participating in QMUN. I have always been interested in international political affairs and love the experience of being a part of Model UNs and learning about other countries and important international interests alongside peers with similar interests. I wanted to get involved with the QMUN committee this year because I wanted to take advantage of a chance to be a part of organizing a Model United Nations, and having a completely new learning experience.

My name is Becky Tessier and I am a third year Math major and Economics minor at Queen’s University. This is my second year being involved with QMUN as well as participating in Model United Nations in high school. I have a keen interest in politics and global issues especially in the areas of economic policy and crisis relief dealt with by the United Nations.  As well, I also have spent time working with the Provincial government for last two summers with the Ministry of Health.

The topics being covered by the UNDP at the conference will include:
·         Gender equity in education systems,
·         Implementing eco-friendly industry in developing countries
·         HIV/AIDS education focusing on Mother to Child Transmission prevention programs and access to treatment.
In the following pages is a further description of these topics as well as several resources in order to conduct research based on individual countries. We look forward to having you at the conference and if you have any questions feel free to contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Sincerely,
Your UNDP Co-chairs
Emily Steer & Becky Tessier

History of the United Nations Development Programme

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) was developed on 1965 and is an executive board within the United Nations General Assembly. The UNDP focuses on the connection of countries through the desires of positive development and the sharing of knowledge to stimulate growth. The UNDP is involved in over 166 countries working to facilitate the resolution of development challenges and provide aid to countries in need. The UNDP deals in five main areas of development including:

·         Democratic Governance

·         Poverty Reduction

·         Crisis Prevention and Recovery

·         Energy and Environment

·         HIV/AIDS

As well, the UNDP has agreed to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to cut poverty in half by 2015 and will work to support and monitor the progress of these goals as countries progress towards completion of the MDGs. The components of the MDGs include:

1. Eradicate Extreme Poverty and Hunger
2. Achieve Universal Primary Education
3. Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women
4. Reduce Child Mortality
5. Improve Maternal Health
6. Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases
7. Ensure environmental sustainability
8. Develop a global partnership for development

The UNDP also each year produces a Human Development Report which discusses the state of human rights and civil liberties in countries.  As well, the UNDP also aids in crisis relief and prevention including refugee relief and relocation and the provision of emergency supplies.

Preventing Mother to Child Transmission of HIV/AIDS

An issue of overwhelming importance in the developing world is the prominence of HIV/AIDS. One of the Millennium Development Goals of the United Nations is to combat HIV/AIDS; this is also a main priority of the United Nations Development Programme. The role of the UNDP is to help developing countries find solutions to their local issues and use aid effectively, so its role in the eradication of HIV/AIDS is mostly one of education and providing aid to developing countries.

One of the most staggering effects of HIV and AIDS is the fact that the infection is beginning to reverse the progress of child survival rates in recent years, and for this reason, a main focus of the UNDP should be on educating and preventing the transmission of HIV to children. Mother-to-child transmission of HIV is preventable in many cases, and with access to proper medicine and medical care, the rate of HIV transmission to children could be significantly reduced in developing countries.

In the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV, antiretroviral therapy is arguably the most important factor. However, the economic crisis that has had a major impact on many sectors of the developed world has also begun to hit the developing world, and has, in turn, had an impact on the availability of antiretroviral medication in developing countries. As developed countries are reducing aid to other countries and increasing costs of medicine to accommodate for smaller health budgets, developing countries with high rates of HIV infection have not been able to afford enough antiretroviral medication to treat those infected. The rising costs of medicine in developed countries are limiting the access of people in the developing world infected with HIV to antiretroviral therapy. Often countries with high numbers of people infected with HIV also have economic problems as a result of the demand on the health care system. With antiretroviral therapy becoming less available during the economic crisis, many people may face worse medical problems with which the health care systems are further unequipped to deal, and without antiretroviral medication, mother-to-child transmission is much less preventable.

In 2007, approximately 420 000 children were newly infected with HIV, of these cases most were infected through mother-to-child transmission, and 90% occurred in Africa. Mother-to-child transmission of HIV can occur during pregnancy, labour and delivery or through breast-feeding, but many of these transmissions are preventable. Mother-to-child transmission has been almost entirely eliminated in the developed world, and the lives of thousands of children could be saved in developing countries with wider access to antiretroviral medicine, safe delivery methods and breast milk substitutes.

Antiretroviral therapy is a key component to reducing transmission of HIV between mothers and children, and without access to this treatment, many children could be infected in cases that could otherwise be preventable. Through education, counseling and simple preventative measures, many cases of mother-to-child transmission in the developing world could be prevented. The transmission of HIV from mother to child has been almost completely eliminated in the developed world due to access to readily available medication and treatment, and those in the developing world should be granted access to the same treatment. In order to prevent transmission, the UNDP needs to help increase access to these medical treatments and educate women in developing countries about mother-to-child transmission.

In resolutions discussing this topic, methods of implementing preventative measures of mother-to-child transmission should be discussed. How should the UNDP make antiretroviral medication more accessible in developing countries? Should the UNDP help set up a system in developing countries to educate women on preventing mother-to-child transmission? Should the UNDP provide aid for creating HIV centres in developing countries to educate and counsel expectant mothers and provide preventative treatment? The resolutions should address accessibility to antiretroviral medication and the ways that these preventative measures could be implemented in developing countries.

Gender Equity in the Education System

“The education and empowerment of women throughout the world cannot fail to result in a more caring, tolerant, just and peaceful life for all.” by Aung San Suu Kyi, Daw Burmese-Myanmarese dissident and politician; Leader of National League for Democracy, Nobel Peace Prize laureate
Gender Equity is the standardization of opportunities and the utilization of opportunities for both males and females. Gender Equity in the education system is a key issue with the UNDP and is one of the main goals to be achieved in the Millennium Development Goals working towards gender equality and the empowerment of women as well as universal primary education. A focus of these goals is to increase the literacy rate in women aged 15 – 24, to increase the proportion of students who finish a full primary education and to equalize the ratio of males and females who attend schools.

Each year the UNDP produces a series of Human Development Reports, which report the progress of countries worldwide in areas of human rights and civil liberties. The numbers of women who are living in poverty as well as the number of women who are not completing either primary or secondary education in developing countries are significantly lower than that of the rest of the world. Currently of the 1.3 billion people living in poverty 70% of them are women. As well 75% of the 876 million illiterate adults are also women as most women who receive their basic education are not able to pursue it to its completion. There is a significant tie between socioeconomic status of an individual and the amount of education they have received so improving education efforts for women may help to alleviate some of the poverty strains that women are facing in developing countries.

Gender inequality in education, which is still a prominent issue worldwide, lowers the productivity of labour and the efficiency of labour allocation in households and the economy, and only furthers the unequal distribution of resources experienced in several developing countries. As well, the lack of gender equity in the education system contributes to the lack of security, opportunities in the work force and government for women and the lack of empowerment of women. In most developing countries, women bear the biggest burden but the costs can be felt throughout the entire society and ultimately hinder a countries ability to reduce poverty and make further developments toward a successful state.

A current example of work being done by the UNDP in the area of Gender Equity in the education system is going on in China and involves the improvement of education for women living in rural areas of China. Beginning in 2005, the UNDP worked with 20,000 teachers in rural areas, many of them women, in order to improve education standards as well as strategies for the further education of women in these areas. Other work that the UNDP is currently doing includes the use of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) to facilitate funding and the setting up of schools that are made more safe for females to attend and that have teaching staff to cater to the needs of female students who are attending these schools.

Another important program that has recently been developed by the UNDP is the Japan Women in Development Fund. The Japan Women in Development Fund was established in 1995 between the Government of Japan and UNDP in efforts to help implement the Beijing Platform for Action. It supports national capacities in promoting gender equality and the empowerment of women through innovative projects that broaden and sustain women's opportunities in the country.

The focus of discussions for the United Nations Development Programme will be to develop and instate programs which promote the education of women in developing countries, as well as facilitate the ability of women to see their education through to completion. Committee members should think about how their country feels about supporting women in the education system and how willing they are to facilitate the implementation of these systems in developing countries. As well delegates should look at current actions taken by the UNDP and their country and determine what is the most effective way to implement these strategies so that they will continue to be effective as time goes on. Delegates should also take into account where financing and supplies for these projects will come from and how the recent economic crisis will make an effect on the further support of education in developing countries.

Implementing Eco-friendly Industry in Developing Countries

Developing industry is a main factor to increasing economic growth in developing countries; therefore one of the main areas on which the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) must focus is initiatives supporting industrial development. UNDP support in creating industry in developing countries can stimulate the local economy of the country and create jobs in areas where unemployment is common for the majority of the population. With aid, these countries can become self-reliant and run their own industries in order to become economically independent.

In helping to implement these industries, however, the UNDP also has an obligation to the international community, and must therefore address these concerns through their efforts. A main concern of the international community is the effect that industry has on the environment, and as one of the Millennium Development Goals is to ensure environmental sustainability; this concern must be addressed through making the industries the UNDP implements as sustainable and eco-friendly as possible.

Since the importance of having eco-friendly technologies has come to light, countries have been making attempts to use more green technology, but developed countries have faced difficulties in trying to convert infrastructure that is already in place into greener technology. However, developing countries have a unique opportunity to implement eco-friendly and green technologies because there are less developed industries in place, and therefore less obstacles to implementing renewable-energy technologies in industry. The UNDP can play a role in helping to implement these industries, which will increase economic growth in these countries and also aid in the international efforts toward reducing the effect of industries on the environment.

In looking for ways to implement this kind of system, we can look to similar programs currently being implemented and programs that have been successfully implemented in different countries. The United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP)  has been looking at ways to prevent pollution and environmental problems before they occur through the strategy of Cleaner Production. UNEP has been encouraging the production of eco and green product designs, and many of these designs have been used in developed countries in attempts to cut pollution levels, but these are harder to implement and standardize in developing nations. Currently the main focus of the UNEP is implementing eco-friendly production methods in Asia, as a continent with rapidly developing industry, with their focus on preventing pollution. The UNEP and UNDP have worked together on supporter green technologies in developing countries because these Programmes are both aware of the opportunity they have to help improve the local economies in developing nations while also addressing the international importance of preventing pollution. 

The UNDP has helped in the National Action Program to Combat Rural Poverty, Land Desertification and Drought, a program in Morocco that has created a rural development program that focuses on environmental protection. Most recently, the UNDP has been helping with the post-Tsunami recovery in Koh Lanta, Thailand, through a project that will aim to provide support and mobilize community leaders to plan ways to recover the country and re-develop the industries in the affected area through environmentally-friendly, sustainable methods. The UNDP, alongside the UNEP, plays a main role in initiating policies and providing funding for many countries to implement renewable energy programs.

The resolutions relating to this topic should address the means of implementing eco-friendly, sustainable industry in developing countries. Will the UNDP attempt to convert industries already in place? Will it simply focus on creating new industries with eco-friendly resources and technologies? The resolutions should address the role that the UNDP will play in supporting these industries and how the UNDP will implement environmental standards for these industries, if they decide to do so. 

Suggested Research Guides

UNAIDS: The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS
http://www.unaids.org/en/default.asp

UNDP: HIV/AIDS
http://www.undp.org/hiv/

WHO: Mother-to-Child Transmission
http://www.who.int/hiv/topics/mtct/en/

UNICEF: Children and HIV and AIDS
http://www.unicef.org/aids/index_preventionMTCT.html

United Nations Development Programme Millennium Development Goals
http://www.undp.org/mdg/goal3.shtml

End Poverty Gender Equity Goals 2015
http://www.endpoverty2015.org/goals/gender-equity

UNDP Empowerment of Women
http://www.undp.org/women/

UNDP Human Development Report
http://www.undp.org/hdr2009.shtml

UNDP: Environment and Energy
http://www.undp.org/energy/

United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs
http://www.un.org/esa/desa/climatechange/renewableenergy.html

UNEP Finance Initiative
http://www.unepfi.org/