A United Vision: Working Together as One in Tanzania

Tanzania is facing a unique opportunity as one of eight pilot countries of the United Nations (UN) reform. The aim of the reform initiative is for the UN as an organisation to achieve better results with its work in Tanzania by ‘Delivering as One’. The UN must become more effective and efficient through closer collaboration and coordination both internally, among the UN agencies, and externally with government, civil society, private sector and development partners.

The ‘Delivering as One’ concept derives from the report of the same name, which was issued in November 2006 by the UN Secretary General’s High Level Panel on System-wide Coherence. The Secretary-General appointed this Panel in 2005 to look into ways in which the UN can become a better partner to governments and people around the world. Among their practical recommendations was the setting up of ‘One UN’ at country level, which is what Tanzania is piloting in 2007- 2008. With One UN leader, One UN programme, One UN budgetary framework and One office, the UN in Tanzania expects to deliver better results that make a difference in the lives of the poor and most vulnerable.

The Government requested Tanzania to become a UN reform pilot country, and in January 2007, the UN Headquarters in New York endorsed the request. Since then, the Government and the UN have been working closely together to find out how the reform initiative can best be put into practice in Tanzania.

The UN in Tanzania provides development aid and humanitarian assistance to support the country’s efforts to reduce poverty and human suffering. Ensuring respect for human rights, as outlined in the Millennium Declaration, and reaching the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) is key to the UN’s agenda in Tanzania.

The UN in Tanzania is represented by 17 agencies. Their work is guided by the Charter of the UN (1945) and its core values of peace, human rights, justice, and freedom. From these common principles, UN agencies work in different areas of responsibility, such as promoting the rights and welfare of women, children and refugees and supporting democratic governance

The UN Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF) is the UN’s ”Business Plan”, which reflects how the 17 UN agencies active in the country plan to reach their objectives. The current UNDAF for Tanzania covers the period 2007–2010 and is based on the national growth and poverty reduction strategies, known by their Swahili names: MKUKUTA for the mainland plan and MKUZA for the Zanzibar equivalent. The UN reform initiative in Tanzania is developed on the basis of the UNDAF and thus also aligned to national strategies.