The UN Funds and Programmes together with the Specialised Agencies are charged with leading the UN’s operational response to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Four Funds and Programmes have their headquarters in New York. These are the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United Nations Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA) and the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM).  Each of these funds or programmes has a network of country offices that work with national governments to address countries development needs. 

UNDP, UNFPA, UNIFEM and UNICEF are governed by UN member states through two separate Executive Boards.  For 2009, the UK is a member of the UNDP/UNFPA Executive Board and an observer of the UNICEF Board. The UK Mission to the UN works closely with all four organisations and other UN member states to promote effective, efficient, and coherent development assistance and humanitarian aid.

The UK’s Official Development Assistance (ODA) spending for 2008 was £6.3bn, or 0.43 per cent of Gross National Income (GNI); an increase on 2007’s £4.9bn, or 0.36 per cent. The increase reflects both a steady rise in DFID spending alongside a significant rise in other official development expenditure. The figures show that the UK remains on course to spend 0.7% of national income on development by 2013, two years ahead of the EU target. The UK is also on target to meet its share of the commitments made by the G8 at Gleneagles in 2005 to spend an additional $50 billion in developing countries by 2010, half of it in Africa.

Commenting on today’s ODA figures, International Development Secretary Douglas Alexander said: "We are unfaltering in our commitment to help people living in the poorest countries. For some of those who were already living in extreme poverty, the current economic crisis has had a devastating impact."  

Six ways DFID's aid is working to fight global poverty

UK aid is making a real difference on-the-ground by:

• Improving maternal and child health: by providing nearly £100m to support Pakistan’s maternal, newborn and child health work from 2008/13
• Increasing access to education: by paying the wages of 100,000 teachers in Afghanistan so that today six million children can go to school, including two million girls
• Supporting countries in the fight against HIV/AIDS: by helping prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS in Nigeria with a £62m programme between 2002/08
• Improving access to clean, fresh water: by investing £75m in Ethiopia over the next five years to increase people’s access to fresh water and improved sanitation facilities
• Providing a safety net for some of the poorest in the world: DFID’s 10-year Social Protection Programme, is helping some of the poorest people in Kenya, including 30,000 orphans, with funding of more than £120m.