- Historic milestone between Eswatini and UNDP
- The launch marked the end of the official virtual mission which started on March 22
Mbabane: The United Nations Assistant Secretary-General and Director of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Regional Bureau for Africa (RBA), Ahunna Eziakonwa on Thursday, launched the 2021-2025 UNDP country Program (CPD) to the Kingdom of Eswatini.
This historic milestone between Eswatini and UNDP was jointly launched by Eswatini Minister of Economic Planning and Development Dr. Tambo Gina.
This launch marked the end of the official virtual mission by Ms Eziakonwa to Eswatini which started on March 22. The purpose of the mission was to discuss UNDP’s development offer to the Kingdom of Eswatini and identify further opportunities and partnerships that the Government could benefit from.
The five (5) year development plan marked the renewed commitment of the UNDP to accompany Eswatini in recovering from the shocks caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change and to support the course towards a better and more sustainable future, while ensuring that no one is left behind. The partnership between Eswatini and UNDP has been existing and efficient since 1977.
On this plan issues of unemployment, improving quality of the lives of Emaswati, and access to education, decreasing high poverty rates will be addressed.
Portfolios.
The renewed partnership seek to address two (2) key portfolios that will capture the priorities in the CPD and those are; Inclusive economic growth and Efficient and participatory governance.
This portfolios are projected to bare expected outcomes which is by 2025 women, men, youth and marginalized persons access decent employment, equitable social economic opportunities, sustainable enterprise opportunities, and productive resources improved.
It is also expected that by 2025, oversight bodies and government institutions at national and regional level operate in independent, participatory and accountable manner, ensuring equal access to justice and services.
Making her remarks, during the launch, Eziakonwa said the UNDP Country program outlines UNDP’s commitment to support the government and the people of Eswatini in their development aspirations over the next five (5) years. UNDP has been a solid partner helping the country and its people to adapt to climate change, recover from climate shocks, such as Cyclone Eloise, prevent and respond to disease outbreaks, and improve the well-being of millions of people in the country.
Eziakonwa said over the past five (5) years, during the previous Country Program cycle, the Kingdom of Eswatini and its people have achieved significant progress and UNDP has been honoured to play a support role in this.
UNDP has played a role in the areas of environment, governance, inclusive growth, digitization and the COVID-19 response.
Minister of Economic Planning and Development Dr.Tambo Gina acknowledged the UNDP for supporting the country spearhead the agenda for reducing and promoting inclusive growth in the country. Dr. Gina reported that poverty levels in the country have reduced from 63 percent in 2010 to 58.9 percent in 2017.
The Minister said the country has benefitted from UNDP over the years in the area of Strategic policy reform; SDG integration into national planning frameworks; the development of an M&E system to Monitor the implementation of SDGs; resilience and risk reduction; and natural resource management which focused on strengthening national protected areas system and strengthening national and trans boundary water resource management against climate change.
He said is looking forward to the implementation of this new country programme which is focused on sustaining progress on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and informing economic recovery. This CPD aims to facilitate inclusive economic growth and sustainable development and to strengthen efficient and participatory governance.
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