Capabilities of Intergovernmental

Organizations

SPC Knopsnyder

Task, Condition, and Standard

Task: Learn and understand the capabilities of different
Intergovernmental Organizations (IOs) and how they
pertain to Civil Affairs Operations
Condition: Given a classroom environment and a one
hour block of instruction
Standard: Be able to list three different IOs, various
capabilities, and why it matters to Civil Affairs

What are Intergovernmental

Organizations?
Intergovernmental Organizations (IOs or
international governmental organization; IGO)
are organizations composed primarily of
sovereign states (referred to as member
states), or of other intergovernmental
organizations.

Types of Intergovernmental
Organizations
According to the Yearbook of International Organizations,
there are approximately 5,000 IOs/IGOs such as:

United Nations is itself an IO and is an umbrella organization for

other IOs

Also includes several specialized agencies such as the United Nations

Children's Fund (UNICEF), Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO),
World Health Organization (WHO), and the World Food Programme
(WFP)

There are also IOs with focuses on the environment, fisheries,

migration, maritime, arms control and nuclear power,
financial/trade/customs, law enforcement, educational, cultural,
ideological, and political groupings

World Food Programme

Fighting Hunger Worldwide

World Food Programme

Who We Are, What We Do, Why We Do It

World Food Programme's Mission

The mission of the World Food Programme is to eradicate

hunger and malnutrition, with the ultimate goal of eliminating the
need for food aid itself.
The objectives the WFP hope to achieve to accomplish their
mission are
1. Save lives and protect livelihoods in emergencies
2. Support food security and nutrition and (re)build
livelihoods in fragile settings and following emergencies
3. Reduce risk and enable people, communities, and
countries to meet their own food and nutrition needs
4. Reduce undernutrition and break the intergenerational
cycle of hunger

World Food Programme's Activities

In 2011, the WFP reached 99.1 million people in 75 countries

and provided 3.6 million tonnes of food, including nutritionally
improved products.
The number of malnourished children who received special
nutritional support in 2011 was over 11 million, up from 8.5
million in 2010. Some 23 million children received school meals
or take-home rations.
In 2011, the WFP bought over 2.4 million metric tons of food,
worth more than US $1.2 billion, in 87 countries. Of the 2.4
million metric tons of food, 71% was purchased in developing
countries, representing approximately US $870 million and
more than 1.7 million metric tons.

World Food Programme's Activities

(Cont'd)

Among its other activities, the WFP is coordinating the five-year

Purchase for Progress (P4P) pilot project.
Launched in September 2008, P4P assists smallholder farmers
by offering them opportunities to access agricultural markets
and to become competitive players in the market place.
The project is underway in 20 of the 21 planned countries and,
since the launch, more than 116,000 farmers, warehouse
operators and small & medium traders have received training
from the WFP and partners in improved agricultural production,
post-harvest handling, quality assurance, group marketing,
agricultural finance and contracting with the WFP.
More than 207,000 metric tons of food valued at US$75.6
million have been contracted.

World Food Programme's Activities

(Cont'd)

The WFP focuses its food assistance on those who are most
vulnerable to hunger, which most frequently means women,
children, the sick and the elderly.
In fact, part of the response to the 2010 Haiti earthquake
consisted of distributing food aid only to women as experience
built up over almost 5 decades of working in emergency
situations has demonstrated that giving food only to women
helps to ensure that it is spread evenly among all household
members.
School-feeding and/or take-home ration programmes in 71
countries help students focus on their studies and encourage
parents to send their children, especially girls, to school.

World Food Programme's Activities

(Cont'd)

The WFP focuses its food assistance on those who are most
vulnerable to hunger, which most frequently means women,
children, the sick and the elderly.
In fact, part of the response to the 2010 Haiti earthquake
consisted of distributing food aid only to women as experience
built up over almost 5 decades of working in emergency
situations has demonstrated that giving food only to women
helps to ensure that it is spread evenly among all household
members.
School-feeding and/or take-home ration programmes in 71
countries help students focus on their studies and encourage
parents to send their children, especially girls, to school.

World Food Programme

World Health Organization

World Health Organization

World Health Organization's History

Successor of the Health Organization founded by the League of

Nations.
Established on April 7th, 1948 as a specialized agency under the
United Nations
Its first priorities were to control the spread of malaria,
tuberculosis and sexually transmitted infections, and to improve
maternal and child health, nutrition and environmental hygiene.
Its first legislative act was concerning the compilation of
accurate statistics on the spread and morbidity of disease.
The logo of the World Health Organization features the Rod of
Asclepius as a symbol for healing

World Health Organization's Mission

The WHO's Constitution states that its objective "is the

attainment by all people of the highest possible level of health"
It aims to fulfill its objective through its core functions:

providing leadership on matters critical to health and engaging in

partnerships where joint action is needed

shaping the research agenda and stimulating the generation,

translation and dissemination of valuable knowledge

setting norms and standards and promoting and monitoring their

implementation

articulating ethical and evidence-based policy options

providing technical support, catalysing change, and building

sustainable institutional capacity

monitoring the health situation and assessing health trends.

World Health Organization's Actions

HIV

WHO works within the UNAIDS network and considers it

important that it works in alignment with UNAIDS objectives and
strategies. It also strives to involve sections of society other
than health to help deal with the economic and social effects of
the disease.
In line with UNAIDS, WHO has set itself the interim task
between 2009 and 2015 of reducing the number of those aged
1524 years who are infected by 50%; reducing new HIV
infections in children by 90%; and reducing HIV-related deaths
by 25%

World Health Organization's Actions

Malaria Treatment and Prevention

Although WHO dropped its commitment to a global malaria

eradication campaign in the 1970s as too ambitious, it retains a
strong commitment to malaria control.
WHO's Global Malaria Programme works to keep track of
malaria cases, and future problems in malaria control schemes.
WHO is to report, likely in 2015, as to whether RTS,S/AS01,
currently in research, is a viable malaria vaccine.
For the time being, insecticide-treated mosquito nets and
insecticide sprays are used to prevent the spread of malaria, as
are antimalarial drugs particularly to vulnerable people such
as pregnant women and young children

World Health Organization's Actions

Tuberculosis

WHO's help has contributed to a 40% fall in the number of

deaths from tuberculosis between 1990 and 2010, and since
2005, it claims that over 46 million people have been treated
and an estimated 7 million lives saved through practices
advocated by WHO.
These include engaging national governments and their
financing, early diagnosis, standardising treatment, monitoring
of the spread and impact of tuberculosis and stabilising the drug
supply.
It has also recognised the vulnerability of victims of HIV/AIDS to
tuberculosis

World Health Organization's Actions

Polio

WHO aims to eradicate polio. It has also been successful in

helping to reduce cases by 99% since the Global Polio
Eradication Initiative was launched in 1988, which partnered
WHO with Rotary International, the US Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention (CDC) and the United Nations
Children's Fund (UNICEF), as well as smaller organizations.
It works to immunize young children and prevent the reemergence of cases in countries declared "polio-free"

World Health Organization's Actions

Ebola

Currently working in West Africa to treat the most recent

outbreak of ebola, a disease with a 90% fatility rate.

World Health Organization's Funding

WHOs approved Programme Budget for 20102011 was US$

4.5 billion.
That money comes from two separate sources of funding:
assessed contributions from WHOs 194 member states
(means tested) and voluntary contributions from member states
and non-government funders such as foundations, investment
banks, multi-national corporations, and non-government
organisations.

Food and Agriculture Organization

Let there be bread

Food and Agriculture Organization Mission

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

(FAO) is an agency of the United Nations that leads
international efforts to defeat hunger.
Serving both developed and developing countries, FAO acts as
a neutral forum where all nations meet as equals to negotiate
agreements and debate policy.
FAO is also a source of knowledge and information, and helps
developing countries and countries in transition modernize and
improve agriculture, forestry and fisheries practices, ensuring
good nutrition and food security for all.
As of 8 August 2013, FAO has 194 member states, along with
the European Union (a "member organization"), and the Faroe
Islands and Tokelau, which are associate members

Food and Agriculture Organization Mission

(Cont'd)

Achieving food security for all is at the heart of FAO's efforts

to make sure people have regular access to enough highquality food to lead active, healthy lives.
Their three main goals are:

the eradication of hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition

the elimination of poverty and the driving forward of

economic and social progress for all

the sustainable management and utilization of natural

resources, including land, water, air, climate and genetic
resources for the benefit of present and future generations.

Food and Agriculture Organization History

The idea of an international organization for food and

agriculture emerged in the late 19th and early 20th century
culminating in an international conference held in Rome which
led to the creation of the International Institute of Agriculture.
In 1943, the United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt
called a United Nations Conference on Food and Agriculture.
Representatives from forty four governments gathered at The
Homestead Resort in Hot Springs, Virginia from 18 May to 3
June. They committed themselves to founding a permanent
organization for food and agriculture, which happened in
Quebec City, Canada on 16 October 1945
The Second World War effectively ended the International
Agricultural Institute, though it was only officially dissolved by
resolution of its Permanent Committee on 27 February 1948. Its
functions were then transferred to the recently established FAO

Food and Agriculture Organization

Achievements

FAO and the World Health Organization created the Codex

Alimentarius Commission in 1963 to develop food standards,
guidelines and texts such as codes of practice under the Joint
FAO/ WHO Food Standards Programme
In December 2007, FAO launched its Initiative on Soaring Food
Prices to help small producers raise their output and earn more.
FAO has carried out projects in over 25 countries and interagency missions in nearly 60. One example of its work is a US
$10.2 million scheme to distribute and multiply quality seeds in
Haiti, which has significantly increased food production, thereby
providing cheaper food and boosting farmers' incomes.

Food and Agriculture Organization

Achievements (Cont'd)

FAO created the International Plant Protection Convention or

IPPC in 1952. This international treaty organization works to
prevent the international spread of pests and plant diseases.
Among its functions are the maintenance of lists of plant pests,
tracking of pest outbreaks, and coordination of technical
assistance between member nations. As of May 2012, 177
governments had adopted the treaty.
FAO is both a global clearinghouse for information on forests
and forest resources and a facilitator that helps build countries
local capacity to provide their own national forest data. In
collaboration with member countries, FAO carries out periodic
global assessments of forest resources, which are made
available through reports, publications and the FAO's Web site

Food and Agriculture Organization Funding

Like other UN specialized agencies, the FAO is funded by

assessed (obligatory) and voluntary contributions by member
states. Member states assessed contributions are established
at the biennial FAO conference.
The regular budget for 2014-2015 is USD 1 billion, and
voluntary contributions, which support technical and emergency
assistance to governments, are expected to approach USD 1.4
billion.

Questions