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 UN Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO)
UNIDO (PDF File)
The United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO), was established in 1966 and became a specialised agency in 1985. As a specialised agency, UNIDO has a governing body (now composed of 171 member states), a constitution and a budget of its own (2004-2005 some 353 million Euro), separate from those of the UN Organisation and other specialised agencies.
Headquartered in Vienna, Austria, with 29 country and regional offices, UNIDO has just concluded an agreement with the UN Development Programme (UNDP) giving UNIDO the opportunity to increase this representation to 80 countries. With additional offices dealing with investment and technology promotion (18), Cleaner Production (30) and 10 International Technology Centres, UNIDO maintains an active presence in the field.
UNIDO’s Regional Office in Bangkok covers Cambodia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, and Thailand. From 1968 through 2003, the office has supported 522 projects totaling more than USD 100 million.
UNIDO’s Corporate Strategy Productivity Enhancement for Social Advance is achieved through two complementary and mutually supportive core functions: global forum activities and technical cooperation.
As a global forum, UNIDO disseminates knowledge on industry and provides a platform for the various actors in the public and private sectors, civil society and the policy-making community in general to enhance cooperation, establish dialoque and develop partnership.
As a technical cooperation agency, UNIDO designs and implements programmes through: (a) Integrated Programmes (IPs) or Country Service Frameworks (CSFs), based on combinations of its eight service modules or in (b) Stand-alone Projects involving only one or two service modules. To further refine the focus of its technical cooperation, UNIDO has developed a set of thematic initiatives: Trade Capacity Building; Human Security in Post Crisis Situations; Poverty Reduction through Productive Activities; and Energy and Environment.
UNIDO’s eight Service Modules are:
1. Industrial Governance and Statistics;
2. Investment and Technology Promotion;
3. Industrial Competitiveness and Trade;
4. Private Sector Development;
5. Agro-Industry;
6. Sustainable Energy and Climate Change;
7. Montreal Protocol;
8. Environmental Management
UNIDO’s broad programmatic objectives and priorities are set out in the Business Plan on the Future Role and Functions of UNIDO grouped in two areas of concentration: Strengthening Industrial Capacities Cleaner, including programmes in support of the global forum function and policy advice; and Cleaner and Sustainable Industrial Development. In addition, while maintaining the universal character and vocation of UNIDO, the Business Plan provides for the Organisation’s activities to be focused geographically on least developed countries, in particular in Africa; sectorally on agro-based industries; and thematically on small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
A highlight of 2003 Global Forum activities was the Industrial Development Forum on The Role of UNIDO in Achieving The Millennium Development Goals that incorporated round tables devoted to: the environment; post-crisis industrial rehabilitation; trade; investment; transition in Eastern Europe; and poverty in Latin America. In July, 2004, UNIDO released the Industrial Development Report 2004 on Industrialisation, Environment and the Millennium Development Goals in Sub-Saharan Africa. (see www.unido.org/idr)
Technical cooperation (TC): By 2003 UNIDO TC services to low-income countries accounted for about 70 percent of the portfolio, compared with 48 percent in 1996. In 2003 UNIDO implemented the highest total of TC programmes in the past four years, amounting to USD 94.6 million. This represented an increase of 16 percent over the corresponding figure for the previous year.
By the end of 2003, UNIDO had developed over 900 Montreal Protocol projects in 68 countries, with a total budget of over USD 355 million. Of these more than 620 projects were completed, phasing out substances with an ozone-depleting potential (ODP) of some 31,000 tonnes. In 2003 alone, the phase-out amounted to a record 7,000 ODP tonnes.
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