"UNDP works in Myanmar under a mandate from its governing body which focuses UNDP activities at programmes with grassroots level impact in the areas of basic health, training and education, HIV/AIDS, the environment and food security. In response to this mandate, which was first laid down in a Governing Council decision in June 1993 and reaffirmed by subsequent Executive Board decisions [LINKS], UNDP is delivering its assistance through a programme known as the Human Development Initiative, or HDI. The HDI is a set of projects which is currently providing assistance to poor rural communities in 23 townships in 6 different regions of the country in the thematic sectors outlined int the Governing Council/ Executive Board decisions. The HDI focuses on helping poor communities to meet their basic social and food security needs, on promoting participation by all segments of the community in collective decision-making, and on building community capacities to plan and implement their own self-help activities. Through its activities and processes, HDI activities focus on the following four UNDP Practice Areas (UNDP focuses globally on 6 Practice Areas, the other two being Crisis Prevention and Recovery, and Information and Communications Technology). Poverty reduction Governance at the local level The environment HIV/AIDS In addtion to the HDI's grassroots community-based activities, the UNDP Executive Board also gave its approval, in September 2002, for UNDP to undertake an agricultural sector review and an integrated assessment of household living conditions. Both these new initiatives are based upon a recognition of the need to obtain more comprehensive information on the various factors influencing the livelihoods and well being of people and communities, particularly the rural poor, in order to identify causal factors and options for measures to address them."