Both Israel and Canada are actively involved in partnership agreements with the United Nations Development Program.
In December 2008 Israel signed on to help the organization support developing countries including Senegal and Benin by providing knowledge and technological abilities in agriculture, water, food, health and education. In those two countries, watering technologies developed by Israeli companies will be implemented to fight hunger. Israel will also be sending experts to African and other developing countries and hold training courses in Israel. ”Israel views sharing the expertise and knowledge we have accumulated with countries in need of the highest moral and diplomatic importance,” said Gabriela Shalev, Israeli ambassador to the UN.
Israel’s first agreement with the UNDP was signed in June 2008, specifically between the UNDP Bureau for Africa and the MASHAV Center for International Cooperation. “It’s a three-year agreement with a $500,000 contribution from Israel to focus on capacity building for agriculture and food security in Africa,” says Ilan Fluss, councilor at the Permanent Mission of Israel to the UN in New York. A joint delegation of Israelis and UNDP members just returned from Africa where it reviewed ongoing projects and discussed on-the-ground implementation of this agreement.Canada has promised to double its 2001 international assistance by 2010 to more than $5 billion per year. Canada’s involvement in partnerships with the UNDP focuses on the sectors of democratic governance, crisis prevention and recovery, energy and the environment, and HIV/AIDS.
“The agreement we signed this month is more general, and part of Israel’s intention to increase our involvement with the UN system as a whole, and specifically, with development,” Fluss explains. The December agreement comes with the announcement of a financial contribution to the UNDP by Israel of $100,000 per year.
Canada is helping to enhance governance in crisis areas such as Sudan, Afghanistan and Timor-Leste. Elections Canada is also involved as one of seven partners in the Administrative Cost of Elections Electoral Knowledge Network, a portal that provides information on elections, promotes networking among election-related professionals and offers capacity development services.
In terms of crisis prevention and recovery, Canada has been a contributor to mine clearance activities in countries like Somalia, Afghanistan and Cambodia. Canada also contributes to the International Reconstruction Fund Facility for Iraq which is the first multi-donor reconstruction trust fund administered by the United Nations in partnership with the World Bank. Since February 2005 Canada has also been chairing IRFFI’s Donor Committee. areas, as well as in Pakistan, where the relief effort has paved the way for reconstruction.
Canada was the first country in the world to implement the August 30, 2003 decision of the World Trade Organization to make less expensive versions of patented medicines available to developing countries facing public health problems.
The Canadian International Development Agency works in coordination and partnership with the UNDP, other UN agencies, donors and civil society on preventing HIV/AIDS through education, caring, treating and supporting those living with and affected by HIV/AIDS, strengthening health systems and building human resource capacity in developing countries to fight HIV/AIDS.