UNCT presents at Cabinet Retreat

On 16 January 2024, the United Nations Country Team (UNCT) in Eswatini, led by the UN Resident Coordinator, Mr. George Wachira, engaged with Government at the Cabinet Retreat to discuss on-going cooperation to accelerating UN support to national priorities and the 2030 Agenda of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Mr. Wachira commended the Government on the remarkable efforts to respond to the citizens' submissions of the People’s Parliament. “The concerted efforts to address shortages of essential medicines, ensure smooth school enrolment, strong messaging on gender-based violences, response to the frequent storm disasters, among others, will go a long way in demonstrating a caring and responsible government,” he told a Cabinet Retreat attended by the Prime Minister, Cabinet, Principal Secretaries and Senior Government Officials, held at the Royal Villas in Ezulwini.

There is total of 17 resident and non-resident agencies which are supporting the Government of Eswatini through the UN-Government Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF) for the period 2021-2025, which was signed by the entire cabinet in 2020.

The UN Resident Coordinator committed to supporting Government with systems thinking as an answer to complexity in response to on-going uncertainty across the globe, including reduced funding for countries that are considered to be middle-income. “If, for example, the answer to reducing poverty is wealth creation, then the entire system must be geared towards the goal – the education system and its relation to employability, training and skills; the investment and trade policies; policies to facilitate the digital economy and the creativity of the young generation; niche location in the regional value chains; our immigration policy and how it may attract or hinder investments; our land policy; access to affordable finance by all, and so on,” he stated.

He also suggested support for greater coordination of Government departments through a Whole of Government Approach and helping with strategic foresight as an answer to uncertainty. “The idea of identifying trends that are driving or likely to drive change, how they may interact in each time horizon, their possible implications for our development and investment pathways into the future, and how these may interrogate the choices we make today. Strategic foresight can be broad, or sector-specific,” he said.

The UN presented five areas of support, including a need to create linkages between education, skills, and employability of young people through an integrated youth programme. The UN also made proposals to help the Government with making choices for just energy transitions and green financing. In health systems strengthening, the UN committed to providing quality health care through established procurement platforms in UN agencies such as WHO, UNICEF and UNFPA.

The Prime Minister, Mr. Russell Dlamini, expressed appreciation to the Resident Coordinator and UN team for preparing clear proposals for supporting the Government to implement national priorities. “We have noted your proposals on systems thinking which is also our approach for tackling challenges faced by the country,” he said. “We look forward to working with the UN in undertaking assessments and analysis of how we can speed up implementation of our existing plans.”

The UNCT was represented by heads of agencies for primarily resident agencies, including IOM, FAO, UNAIDS, UNICEF, UNESCO, UNDP, UNFPA, WFP, and WHO.