What Are the Agencies Inside the United Nations?
The U.N. has a number of specialized agencies that are actually autonomous organizations working inside the United Nations. Some pre-date World War I, while others were associated with the League of Nations or arose when the U.N. was created or even later. Some of the best known of these agencies, which are headquartered all over the world, include the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), which fights hunger; the World Health Organization (WHO), which is the authority on international health at the U.N.; the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which helps foster economic growth; the International Labor Organization (ILO), which sets international labor standards; the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), which helps protect important cultural and historic sites across the globe; and the World Bank, which aims to reduce poverty and raise living standards around the world.