What we've achieved: Highlights from UN teams' Annual Results Reports 2021

Last year, UN teams on the ground reached thousands of people and supported governments on a myriad of objectives. They boosted countries' COVID-19 response programs, and bolstered Small Island Developing States' disaster preparedness. They also worked with stakeholders to advance gender equity and climate action, and supported displaced persons in crisis settings. Here are some excerpts from UN teams' Annual Results Reports* for 2021, in which they reflect on their accomplishments and milestones — and their shared purpose of serving local communities.  

ALBANIA

Our UN team in Albania, led by Resident Coordinator Fiona McCluney, continues supporting authorities to respond to the pandemic, ensuring the continuity of essential services, while boosting laws to protect vulnerable groups, including those with stateless status and children. On the health front, our team provided ambulances, equipment for rapid COVID-19 detection, and reached more than 100,000 children in over 300 schools with COVID-19 prevention material in 2021. More than 60,000 health staff and volunteers were trained on infection prevention, control and surveillance, while 7,000 newborns benefited from improved quality of neonatal care in the capital city alone. Our team also reached 10,000 children and parents with hygiene supplies; 9,000 women got tested for cervical cancer and over 1500 patients received radiotherapy treatment. We also supported authorities to bolster quality education, with increased technology, training and a reform of pre-school education. In view of the impact of the earthquake three years ago, 1,200 teachers were also trained to reduce the risks and impacts of future disasters. With a 2.8 million population in Albania, our UN team boosted access to online learning to 350,000 children, training 16,000 teachers to use new educational technology in 2021. The UN team’s support to governance and human rights has also resulted in a 20 per cent decrease in the rate of children in detention in the last five years. Our work to advance the Sustainable Development Goals on the ground can be tracked online via albania.un.org. Full report here.

BAHRAIN

The year 2021 in Bahrain was marked by the signing of the United Nations Strategic and Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework 2021-2022 with the Government, the first of its kind in the Gulf region. A testimony to a strong and renewed partnership, now extended to 2024, between the Government of Bahrain and the United Nations. The UN team in Bahrain, led by Resident Coordinator a.i Mohamed El Zarkani, provided specialized technical assistance and policy advice to strengthen the conservation of natural resources, climate change adaptation and mitigation capacities, and improve food security and nutrition. UN agencies, funds and programmes in Bahrain also supported the strengthening of social sector policies and systems to improve the delivery of quality health, education, and social services for Bahraini citizens, including vulnerable populations. Approximately 4,000 experts and entrepreneurs participated in over 40 virtual events to stimulate start-ups and the growth of small and medium-sized enterprises. Nearly 450 business plans were developed and supported with an estimated investment of $95 million, leading to the creation of around 800 jobs. Special attention was given to strengthening entrepreneurship among women and youth. With the United Nations’ support, the Government strengthened its position as a State party to international instruments, including through the ratification of the Minamata Convention on Mercury, the development of a National Implementation Plan for the Stockholm Convention, and the consolidation of capacity for the implementation of the Montreal Protocol. The United Nations continued to support the Government of Bahrain in meeting its international commitments for sustainable development and strengthening its role in international and regional partnerships. Full report here. 

BRAZIL

The UN team in Brazil, led by Resident Coordinator Silvia Rucks, continues supporting national authorities in responding to the COVID-19 socioeconomic effects, while supporting the country in its efforts to promote sustainable development. Over 14 million students benefitted from UN-led home-schooling initiatives. More than 3,800 health centers received support to maintain essential immunization services during the pandemic. Via the Joint SDG Fund, 1.5 million vulnerable people, especially children aged 0-6 and their family members, were reached by health, education, and social assistance services in over 3,000 municipalities. The programme, implemented by five UN entities in partnership with the federal government, also trained 20,000 professionals that provide direct assistance to participating families. A group of 13 UN entities assisted 141,800 Venezuelans with shelter, food, education, health, and integration services. To date, 13.8 million vaccines have landed through COVAX. To tackle the impacts of the pandemic on education the UN System provided technical support to federal, state and municipal governments to safely reopen schools that were closed for 52 weeks due to the pandemic, and now is working to locate and re-enroll students that have dropped-out. Full report here. 

CONGO 

The UN team in the [Republic] of the Congo, led by Resident Coordinator Chris Mburu, is reporting that 80 per cent of health districts across the country now have the capacity to implement emergency response plans for COVID-19 or other health crises. Through our UN team’s support to authorities, the country has boosted lab capacity to sequence the COVID-19 virus to detect mutations, also training teams on early detection of COVID cases. We have also worked with health authorities to renovate and construct quarantine centres, as well as to establish a nationwide digital campaign to prevent the disease and bolster vaccination. The country has received over 1.8 million doses of vaccines through COVAX, and 800,000 doses have been administered so far. To tackle the socioeconomic impact of the pandemic, and to protect the most vulnerable people - children living with disabilities, teachers, and community leaders were sensitized on preventive and psychosocial support. Over 135 schools hosting nearly 10,000 children received handwashing materials to prevent the spread of COVID – and other diseases. Our team has also provided over 140,000 primary school students with food in schools, with over 22,000 additional children receiving school kits. Finally, to promote a greener recovery, more than 9,000 young people have been trained in the design and maintenance of solar energy devices. Full report here.

ERITREA

The UN team in Eritrea, led by Resident Coordinator Amakobe Sande, is reporting a wide range of results and partnerships with national authorities and development partners. For example, the UN’s investment in clean energy benefitted 7,000 households in 33 villages, contributing to quality social services and livelihoods diversification for 45,300 inhabitants. We also contributed to enhancing livelihoods security for 8,908 vulnerable families, including 17,106 children – of which 4,550 live with disabilities – through cash transfer programmes. The UN’s support to strengthen health systems brought 1.7 million women and children from hard-to-reach communities access to health and nutrition services, and 85 percent of the children were vaccinated. Our team supported the government to mobilize US$8.7 million from the Global Fund for its COVID-19 response. During the one-year lockdown between April 2020 and May 2021, we worked closely with authorities to ensure business continuity in the government by providing secure video conferencing and IT infrastructure. We also provided capacity-building support not only to the Ministry of Agriculture and 5,000 smallholder farmers, which led to enhanced food security and improved post-grain handling, but also to the staff from the Ministries of Justice, Information and Foreign Affairs in support of the implementation of an e-justice system. Full report here.

ESWATINI

In Eswatini, our team continues to support authorities in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, the civil unrest and other challenges. To date, 339,080 people have been fully vaccinated, representing 29.2% of the population. In 2021, we trained 500 healthcare workers on the use of clinical guidelines to manage COVID-19 during pregnancy. We also supported 119 health facilities for compliance with Infection Prevention and Control. We helped develop the COVID-19 Recovery Needs Assessment that assisted authorities in better understanding the social and economic impacts of the pandemic. At the end of 2021, the UN contributed a total of US$14,5 million to the pandemic. 188,121 vulnerable people received cash and food assistance worth US$3.4 million. We distributed 480,000 seedlings to farmers to cultivate 205 hectares of maize and beans for winter production. We helped the government engage with the UN’s human rights mechanisms, including the Universal Periodic Review. 26,673 women, men and children were reached with messages on sexual offenses and domestic violence. We supported the provision of quality water to 76,779 vulnerable people in the drought-stricken Lubombo and Shiselweni regions. The UN team supported the installation of a 1 Mega Watt Photo Voltaic Solar system in a hospital to decarbonize energy. Full report here. 

INDONESIA

An update from The UN team in Indonesia, led by Resident Coordinator Valerie Julliand, as they continue supporting authorities to tackle and recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. To date, UNICEF has facilitated the arrival of nearly 104 million COVID-19 vaccine doses through the COVAX Facility, with the UN team supporting the national vaccination efforts. So far, nearly 166 million people are fully vaccinated – that’s 80 per cent of the population aged 12 and above. Our team has provided COVID-19 training to over 180,000 Indonesian health workers so far, also supplying emergency food and nutrition to 25,000 vulnerable people, assisting 42,000 students with access to distance learning. Our UNICEF and WHO colleagues and partners are also boosting the Government’s preparations for a large-scale catch-up campaign for regular, non-COVID-19, immunization programmes, expected to kick start in the coming days. Nearly 6 million people benefited from the UN-backed support to strengthen maternal health services to date. And our team also tells us that for a greener recovery from the pandemic, nearly 45,000 hectares of land are now under UN-supported non-forest area protection governance, which mitigates over 16 million tons of CO2 emissions. Full report here. 

IRAQ

The UN Country Team in Iraq, led by Resident Coordinator Irena Vojáčková-Sollorano, continued supporting Iraq and its people to respond to COVID-19 pandemic and other development priorities set for 2021. These included but are not limited to the implementation of 629 functional infrastructure projects (including building and rehabilitation of 84 health care centers and 193 schools) which reached more than 4.2 million beneficiaries to increase access to services in priority sectors as well as the rehabilitation of thousands of houses.  382 interventions, 84 initiatives and 1,209 basic service infrastructures (built, reconstructed, re-habilitated or improved) were implemented for displacement affected populations, in areas of settlement, through improved and increased access to social and protection services. As a result, 51% of returnees’ households are now living in locations with an adequate access to services and infrastructures. Moreover, around 152,500 refugees, IDPs, returnees and other vulnerable groups received multipurpose cash assistance in 2021. Over 40,200 youth received technical and vocational training while thousands of Iraqi workers benefited from decent job opportunities. In addition, the UN Iraq also facilitated 416 partnerships engaging in sustainable development, conflict prevention and mitigation processes which reached 2.5 million people from vulnerable groups (women, girls, children IDPs, refugees) in fragile setting including in 9 refugee and 26 IPD camps. 8 Area Based Coordination mechanisms (ABC) have been put in place in complex areas of return. These ABC Groups have developed Plans of Action (PoA) that ensure coherence, find durable solutions for the displaced and facilitate joint programming. Also, more than 5,122,881 m2 of contaminated land was cleared of explosive ordnance in the main cities of Mosul, Fallujah, and Ramadi. Full report here.

JORDAN

Full report here.
 

KAZAKHSTAN

Our UN team in Kazakhstan, led by Michaela Friberg-Storey, the Resident Coordinator, continues supporting the country to address gaps in ensuring human rights and freedoms, while responding to the pandemic. To address the impacts of COVID-19 on education, our team has provided  20,000 children in rural schools with broadband internet access; ensured that  4,000 vulnerable youth got access to tailored service in specialized centres;   targeted over 3 million people through campaigns to prevent violence against children and opened several centres for women's entrepreneurship – with more on the way. Our team also distributed nearly 3 million personal protective equipment items and 21,000 pieces of equipment to fight COVID-19. We also set up a national website on vaccine information. For a greener recovery, we also enabled funding schemes for solar power stations with a potential reduction of 70,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions, as well as the first green bonds in Kazakhstan (including half a million dollars for clean energy schemes), while more than 150 entrepreneurs received microcredits to start their own businesses. Full report here.

LEBANON

The UN Country Team in Lebanon, led by the Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator Najat Rochdi, continues to support the national COVID-19 vaccination through the provision of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE- to date, a total of 41,805,949 PPE items were distributed.), cold chain and vaccine commodities, boosting hospitals and health centers capacity, providing trainings for health care workers, and disseminating life-saving information through communication campaigns. The UN has supported the Government in planning and organizing several vaccines’ marathons for young and old people, which reached 56,914 people, including 4,079 people with disabilities, refugees, and migrants of different nationalities. As part of the UN’s support to critical wash supplies and services, the UN provided so far around 69,150 Infection Prevention and control kits and 61,974 disinfection kits to vulnerable families. The UN provided a total of 121 ICU beds across Lebanon, and 319 regular hospital beds. Also, up till end of Dec. 2021, around 183,900 vulnerable people were reached with critical WASH supplies.  Around 4 million people, through both digital and traditional media, were reached via awareness campaigns aimed at building trust with the vaccine. Full report here. 

LESOTHO

In 2021, UN team in Lesotho facilitated for the arrival of the first batch of COVID-19 vaccines supported government in rolling out the national vaccination campaign resulting in 857 925 doses administered by December 2021 covering 45% of the eligible population. We ensured that all 206 health facilities in Lesotho received vaccine administration training, provided 930 700 masks to schools, and 745 schools equipped with hand washing stations. To support return to school, we provided bursaries for 3483 most disadvantaged children. We supported accelerated learning to support learning loss with 10,000 children benefiting from the community- based program and 30,040 children in schools. The online learning platform, the Learning Passport was developed audio and video lessons covering Grades 1 to 11. UN assisted 57,545 households (who lost their livelihoods due to adverse impacts of COVID-19 pandemic with a combination of food and cash vouchers. Additionally, over 50,000 households received drought emergency assistance with each household receiving USD $54.75 per month. On natural resource management, 25,209 forest and 18,000 fruit trees were planted, provided maize and bean seeds to 15,000 vulnerable farming households and Village Energy Centres were established in 5 districts, selling renewable energy technologies. Full report here.
 

SENEGAL

The UN team in Senegal, led by Resident Coordinator Siaka Coulibaly, continues supporting the authorities’ response to the COVID-19 pandemic. To date, the country has received more than 4 million doses of vaccines via COVAX, with over 1.5 million people having received at least one dose. Despite the pandemic disrupting education, our team has supported the continuity of learning through the development of a digital platform for 3,000 teachers and 654,910 students, which included those in remote rural communities. In 2021, our support enabled 92,740 people to benefit from food assistance, resulting in a decrease in the number of people living in food insecurity from 565,838 to 304,107 between 2020 and 2021. Furthermore, 2,100 women in the agricultural sector have benefited from capacity-building programs in production techniques, agri-food processing, and financial management training. As for economic empowerment, 5,550 green jobs were created and more than 2,600 women’s skills were strengthened in agricultural value chains. 235,544 vulnerable students have benefited from school feeding programs and social protection measures with the UN’s support. Full report here.
 

SIERRA LEONE

An update from our team in Sierra Leone, led by Resident Coordinator Babatunde Ahonsi, which continues supporting authorities to respond to COVID-19. To date, the country has received nearly 3 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines via COVAX alone, with over 1.7 million people having received at least one dose. To tackle the wider pandemic impacts and fast-track recovery, our team has supported a new scheme to boost food production in schools, now piloted in 17 schools. Also, over 14,000 children can now access water and sanitation facilities in schools, and an additional 100,000 people have access to basic water supply. Despite the pandemic’s education setbacks, with the UN team’s support there was a 36 per cent increase in children enrolled in basic and secondary education from 2020 to 2021, with specialized training material for 23,300 pre-primary school children and 2 million children receiving their regular vaccines. For a greener recovery and to address the pandemic’s socioeconomic impacts, our team on the ground also contributed to improved access to renewable energy, building over 80 mini-grids in rural areas benefitting nearly 300,000 people.  Moreover, 123,000 crisis-affected persons benefitted from food and cash transfers, while 2,000 women who survived violence received quality attention and care and 16,000 girls received access to health and protection services. Full report here.

SYRIAN ARAB REPUBLIC  

In 2021, the UN Country Team in Syria led by the Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator Imran Riza, continued its collective efforts to respond to a further 21% increase in people in need compared to 2020 for a total of 13.4 million people (of which indicatively 70% within the UNCT areas of reach), as a result of the worsening socio-economic situation. The UN, with its partners, continued delivering humanitarian aid to an average of 4.6 million of people monthly, including 810 thousand vulnerable households who received direct assistance through cash-based interventions and in kind distributions.  Helping Syrians cope with the impact of COVID-19 pandemic remained one of the main priorities of the UN Country Team, in particular accelerating the implementation of the UN socio-economic response plan (SERP) supporting social protection measure and direct assistance, while sustaining the health response (prevention, testing and treatment). Dedicated effort went into advocating for vaccine donations to ensure an effective roll-out to the general public, based on the UN-supported COVID-19 Strategic Preparedness and Response Plan and the National Deployment Vaccination Plan. By the end of 2021, 2,120,261 doses of COVID-19 vaccines were administered nationwide under the health response, with the logistics and cold chain support from the UNCT – however Syria had among the lowest rates worldwide, due to limited supplies and vaccines hesitancy to which the UN responded by strengthening its global advocacy to COVAX and other partners and expand its risk communications and community engagement efforts. In addition, more than 5.9 million people benefited from different types of more sustainable interventions promoted to a scale up to UNCT early recovery activities, in particular: about 3.9 million benefited from the rehabilitation of essential civilian infrastructures, including 207 Schools with improved WASH facilities and 44 health facilities; 2 million people could access social inclusion services; 856 thousand people accessed waste management and water services through public utilities; more than 800 thousand women received reproductive health services; more than 600 thousand children could avail alternative education programmes; and 300 thousand people, including about 500 PWDs, accessed livelihoods opportunities directly brokered through UN programmes. The UNCT also supported the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) for Syria, to help define a common agenda to promote human rights. Full report here.

UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

Expo2020 was the centre piece of 2021 for the UN in the UAE. Led by the UN Resident Coordinator Dina Assaf, 45 UN entities participated in the first World Expo in the Middle East and North Africa region, with the SDGs underpinning the overall theme of “Connecting Minds, Creating the Future”. It was also the first Expo to have a dedicated and multifunctional UN Hub, managed by the UAE RCO. In the UN Hub, the UN curated 19 exhibits, hosted 69 events, and featured more than 180 films and campaigns connected to sustainable development. The UN Hub was the most visited United Nations location in 2021, with over 100,000 visitors.  The UN’s operational capacity to support global humanitarian operations from the UAE witnessed a significant expansion in 2021. Through the International Humanitarian City (IHC), the UN in the UAE fulfilled 545 emergency requests supporting 117 countries with over 1,000 shipments, ranging from Venezuela to the Philippines. In 2021, the UAE was listed as the third largest supplier to the United Nations System worldwide, following the United States and India. Cumulative procurement contracts from UAE-based suppliers exceeded US$6 billion between 2013 and 2021. Full report here.

VENEZUELA

An update from our UN team in Venezuela, led by the Resident Coordinator Gianluca Rampolla del Tindaro, which continues supporting the country to address the needs of the most vulnerable populations. In 2021, we supported 4.5 million Venezuelans with boosted access to healthcare, clean water and basic sanitation services, as well as their food security. Over 16.7 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines landed through COVAX alone, and over 14 million people are fully vaccinated. Also, 1,4 million people received regular immunization against polio, tetanus, diphtheria, tuberculosis, yellow fever amongst others, while 3,5 million children, pregnant and breastfeeding women benefited from a deworming programme. Our team supported food security and improved livelihoods for 600,000 people, with 1,500 women head of household trained to become entrepreneurs. To mitigate the impact of COVID on education, half a million children and teenagers received extra support during the period of home-schooling and as they returned to classes, with 160,000 benefiting from school meals. Protection services were provided to 7,000 people, including legal assistance for fundamental rights, in addition to birth registration, assistance to at-risk children and response to gender-based violence. Moreover, 670 hectares of forests were restored to absorb nearly 240,000 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent. Since the onset of the pandemic we have bolstered technical support on the ground, going from less than 200 professionals to almost 800, working with more than 200 counterparts and implementing partners. Full report here.

YEMEN

In Yemen, the UN Country Team led by the Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator David Gressly is committed to continue to work with all stakeholders to ensure a principled and accountable humanitarian and development response. Yemen remains one of the world's worst humanitarian crises, with 20.7 million people in need of humanitarian assistance or protection. COVID-19, and the continued deterioration of the economy has only exacerbated the situation. The economic deterioration has significantly impacted food availability, access, and affordability. Food prices more than doubled across much of the country in 2021, making basic food unaffordable for most people. This has forced many households to undertake negative coping strategies and has resulted in extremely high levels of food insecurity throughout much of Yemen. Moreover, Yemen faces the threat of an oil spill from the aging FSO Safer tanker off the Red Sea coast of Yemen, which would result in a massive environmental, socioeconomic, and humanitarian catastrophe. In September, the RC/HC for Yemen was requested to lead UN system-wide efforts to address the threat. Full report here.

* This piece was compiled by the UN Development Coordination Office (DCO) and is updated periodically.