Zimbabwe. Remarks by the Deputy Chief Secretary to the President and

Transcription

1 Zimbabwe Remarks by the Deputy Chief Secretary to the President and Cabinet, Dr R.C Ndhlukula: 67 th Anniversary of the United Nations: Breakfast Meeting 24 October 2012 Meikles Hotel: Harare: Zimbabwe

2 Salutations! The Director of Ceremonies, UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator, Mr. Alain Noudehou; Permanent Secretary in the Office of the President and Cabinet, Dr Gumbo and other Senior Government officials; Heads of UN Agencies; Members of the Media Fraternity Ladies and Gentlemen: It gives me great pleasure, honour and priviledge to be here at the Meikles Hotel where we are celebrating the 67 th Anniversary of the United Nations, which was formed after the Second World War in 1945 and tasked with the mandate of forging a new world order of peace and tranquility. A new world order of peace and tranquility implies that the UN was tasked with ensuring that 2 Page

3 various countries of the World come together to prevent and confront crises such as wars and natural disasters, and pursue development programmes for the betterment and sustainable livelihoods of the people. Since 1945, we have witnessed the growth of the UN, with more countries such as Zimbabwe joining the ubiquitous organization after Independence in From the time of its formation in 1945, the UN has made a lot of achievements to the world socially, politically and economically. As we are gathered here to celebrate the 67 th birth day of the UN, it is imperative upon us to cherish sustained roles and contributions that the UN has positively made to the World and our country in particular. Ladies and Gentlemen: It is without doubt that the UN through their United Nations Country Team in Zimbabwe has made a positive impact to the development discourse of the country. The UN in Zimbabwe operates under the framework called the Zimbabwe United Nations Development Assistance Framework (ZUNDAF). The ZUNDAF is the strategic development framework under which the UN system provides technical and financial assistance to the Government of Zimbabwe to support 3 Page

4 national priority areas identified in the Medium Term Plan (MTP) and realize the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by Currently, the Government and UN Country Team are implementing the ZUNDAF: To ensure that the ZUNDAF programming is well coordinated, various Thematic Groups were formed as follows: Governance and Human Rights Thematic Group; Gender Thematic Group; Population and Basic Social Services Thematic Group: HIV and Aids Thematic Group; Poverty, Employment and Economy Thematic Group; Lands, Environment and Agriculture Thematic Group The Thematic Groups are supported by Data For Development Working Group whose main purpose is to provide Thematic Groups with data for metric purposes (Indicators, baselines, and targets) and to conduct monitoring and evaluation. It is important to note that in the ZUNDAF programming processes, Government of Zimbabwe takes the leadership role and the United Nations Country Team is there to provide technical and financial assistance, based on their comparative advantage to prioritized programmes. 4 Page

5 As reiterated, the spirit of partnership, collaboration and joint programming between the UN and the Government of Zimbabwe has been strong over the years. The UN has supported Zimbabwe in various sectors of our society and this was achieved through one of the UN s comparative advantages of being neutral and being a trusted partner. They remained supporting Zimbabwe even during the times of economic challenges when other partners had pulled out and for that, they need to be given the due respect and credit they deserve. Based on the foregoing, these are some of the highlights of their achievements in supporting the Government of Zimbabwe: 1) HIV and AIDS The UN has supported the Government of Zimbabwe in combating the spread of HIV and AIDs nationally. The support includes the National Male Circumcision programme, Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission and provision of Anti- Retroviral therapy. For instance, in 2011 the UN provided support to about 400,000 adults and children with Anti-Retro Viral therapy to further mitigate the impact of HIV and AIDS. As a result of the assistance received from UN and greatly 5 Page

6 through its own means, Government has managed to achieve the decrease of HIV prevalence rate in the adult population (15+ years) from 24% to 13.7% in ) Poverty, Employment and Economy In this thematic area, the UN has supported Government in the formulation and implementation of economic and social policies and programmes. This includes the capacitation of ZIMSTAT to conduct national surveys, support to the development and implementation of national blue prints such as the Medium Term Plan. The just ended 2012 Population Census also benefited from the United Nations Country Team s intervention. The UN also contributed towards enhancing livelihoods through its support to the Youth and Women Employment Support and Development Programmes which have the potential to create jobs and access to markets of these categories of our citizens. 3) Governance and Human Rights Besides giving support to the Justice, Legislative, and Electoral processes, the UN has provided support to the Constitution Making Process. 6 Page

7 In addition, with UN support, the Universal Periodic Review process was completed and submitted to the Human Rights Council where a total of 177 recommendations were made and are being followed up on by the Government of Zimbabwe. 4) Gender The UN has strongly supported the advocacy, formulation and implementation of the Gender Policy in Zimbabwe. The support includes training of women Members of Parliament on issues related to elections and the constitution; mainstreaming of gender into Government policies (Gender Budgeting) as well as the enactment of the Domestic Violence Act, and the establishment of Gender Based Violence Centres. 5) Population and Basic Social Services The UN has supported Zimbabwe in terms of strengthening health and education, which are the biggest public sector areas of focus. For instance some of the support received focused on Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH), Nutrition, capacity building of the health sector and resuscitation and sustained provision of basic social services (refurbishment of water treatment and sewerage reticulation system) during the outbreak 7 Page

8 of epidemics such as cholera and typhoid. In the Education Sector, 15 million textbooks were provided to primary schools; teachers were trained for improved teaching skills and support also ensured gender parity in primary and lower secondary school enrolment. 6) Agriculture, Land and Environment The UN has supported Zimbabwe in its endeavour to attain food security and sustainably manage the environment including climatic change. For instance the UN assisted Government in developing a national climate change strategy. At the community level, the UN continues to support communal farmers to increase agricultural productivity and improve their livelihoods. 7) Consolidated Appeals Process (CAP) The Consolidated Appeals Process is a mechanism by which Government and UN come up with a programme to mobilize resources for Humanitarian Assistance. This assistance normally focuses on Food Deficits, Epidemics, Immigration, Disaster Mitigation and the poor and vulnerable people. I am happy to note that Government has and continues to receive assistance from the UN for activities to combat and prevent epidemics. For instance during the outbreak of cholera in 2008/2009 UN 8 Page

9 Agencies came together and assisted Government with drugs, chemicals to treat water and other logistical requirements. In times of droughts and seasons of food deficits, the UN mobilizes resources to procure and distribute food to areas of need. Since Zimbabwe is not a basket case, there is however, a thrust by Government and UN Country Team to shift from relief to recovery so that resources obtained can be invested for developmental programmes. Ladies and Gentlemen: On behalf of the Government and my own self, Let me take this opportunity to profoundly express my gratitude to the United Nations Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator and His Country Team for the continued assistance that Zimbabwe has received from the UN. As highlighted earlier on, this assistance has contributed significantly to betterment of the livelihoods of the people of Zimbabwe. Please accept my high assurances that as government we are determined to deepen the spirit of partnership and collaboration with the UN Country Team by way of strengthening the coordination mechanisms of the ZUNDAF: and ensure the resources mobilized are managed and utilized in a transparent and accountable manner for 9 Page

10 the benefit of the citizens of Zimbabwe. Your comparative advantage as an International Partner, of being neutral will certainly give us the utmost leverage to strongly collaborate and partner with you to catapult Zimbabwe s development processes and systems to higher levels of service delivery for the benefit of my fellow country- men, for Mahatma Gandhi said Man becomes great exactly in the degree in which he works for the welfare of his fellow-men With these few remarks, I say to you, let us celebrate this day with great joy and forward looking. I thank you. 10 Page