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UNDP Resident Representative and Resident
Coordinator
The Office of the
Resident Coordinator
The United Nations
Country Team (UNCT)
The United Nations Development Assistance
Framework (UNDAF)
Priorities and Achievements
Development Partners Consultative Forum (DPCF)
UN Volunteers
Operations
UN Agencies with representation in Lesotho
UNDP
Resident Representative and Resident Coordinator
As the designated representative of
the Secretary-General and team leader of United Nations System
Agencies, the Resident Coordinator assumes the overall
responsibility for, and the coordination of, the operational
activities for the development of the UN System at the country
level. In Lesotho, as in the majority of the developing countries,
the Resident Representative of UNDP is the designated Resident
Coordinator of the UN System.
The Office of the
Resident Coordinator
The Office of the Resident Coordinator
provides support to the Resident Coordinator and the UN Country
Team. It facilitates day-to-day collaboration, joint initiatives,
and implementation of the UN Programme for Reform. The Office of the
Resident Coordinator organizes monthly coordination meetings,
ensures that pertinent UN information flows to all UN agencies
operating in Lesotho, monitors the efficient functioning of the
joint UN interagency teams and, as a priority task, supports the CCA/UNDAF
preparation and follow-up processes as key instruments of the
Secretary-General's program of Reform. The
Office of the Resident Coordinator
is housed at UNDP.
The United Nations
Country Team (UNCT)
The UNCT is a team of the United Nations Representatives and the
World Bank Senior Country Officer. The Team is expanded to include
selected non-resident UN agencies. The main purpose of
the Team is to promote the notion of a strong, unified United
Nations System; one that works together and in partnership with
other development partners to achieve the greatest impact possible,
to support the Government to implement the national priority
programmes and tackle major development challenges.
The United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF)
The UNDAF is the strategic programme framework for the UNCT. It
describes the collective response of the UNCT to the priorities in
the national development framework - priorities that may have been
influenced by the UNCT’s analytical contribution. Its high level
expected results are called UNDAF outcomes. These show where the
UNCT can bring its unique comparative advantages to bear in
advocacy, capacity development, policy advise and programming for
the achievement of MD/MDG related national priorities.
With the UNDAF (2002-2007) expiring in
December 2007, the Country Team initiated the Common Country
Programming Process (CCPP). The Government, development partners and
Non-Resident UN Agencies were engaged in strategic discussions to
plan and prioritize UN Lesotho’s support to the national development
goals within the next five-year programme cycle. UNDP has worked
with the UN Country Team to develop the upcoming UNDAF (available
soon) in line with national priorities.
Priorities and Achievements of the UN
System in Lesotho
In keeping with the reform agenda, and to ensure coordination and
collaboration in system-wide planning and programming, the Office of
the Resident Coordinator has played a key oversight role to
facilitate synergy and cooperation among the Agencies. An important
step taken has been to revitalise the “Expanded Theme Group on HIV
and AIDS” and the “Gender and Reproductive Health Theme Group”.
Through these Theme Groups, the UN continued to engage with the
Government and civil society to scale-up the national response to
HIV and AIDS, and advocate for gender equality and empowerment of
women.
The Resident Coordinator system has
promoted the notion of “One UN” and made every effort to discourage
individual and disjointed agency-based programme operations. Several
joint programmes and projects were developed between and among the
various UN agencies during 2006. These include:
• A joint FAO-UNICEF-WFP Programme on Orphans and other Vulnerable
Children;
• A joint UNDP-ILO Programme on Youth Employment;
• A joint FAO-WFP Programme to Implement the Food Security Policy
and Action Plan;
• A joint UN Programme on Greater Involvement and empowerment of
People Living with AIDS; and,
• A joint UNDP-GEF-World Bank-Government of Lesotho Renewable Energy
Programme;
Through the Resident Coordinator system, the Country Team forged
strategic partnerships with non-resident UN Agencies (NRAs),
including: IFAD, ILO, OCHA, UNAIDS, UNESCO and UNODC. The purpose of
this collaboration was to identify strategic areas for joint
programming and project support, and explore further opportunities
for resource mobilisation.
The UN system has played a fundamental role in the development
national strategic policy frameworks, which are fundamental in
guiding progress towards the attainment of the MDGs. At the request
of Government, the system facilitated the crucial consultative
processes and mobilised technical and financial support to the
formulation of the National AIDS Policy, the National AIDS Strategic
Plan, and the Know Your Status Campaign and Action Plan. Technical
and financial assistance was provided to the preparation of the Food
Security Policy and Action Plan; in the formulation of the Legal
Capacity of Married Persons Act; the Child Protection and Welfare
Bill; the Orphaned and Vulnerable Children Policy, as well as the
development of the Basic Education and Health Policies.
The system also played a role in the finalisation and implementation
of a comprehensive national health policy and strategic plans to
achieve the national agenda in the context of Lesotho Vision 2020.
This included advocacy for resource mobilisation for the national
health strategic plan on behalf of the Government and key health
stakeholders.
Technical assistance was mobilised to assist the Government develop
comprehensive policies, standard guidelines and strategic plans in
the areas of reproductive health, child and adolescent health. Your
Excellency, the UN system, Agencies championed the development of
the IMCI strategy and Road Map for Reduction of Maternal Mortality
and PMTCT scaling-up plan as instruments for accelerated actions to
the reduction of Maternal and Child mortality. Advocacy towards
mobilisation of resources is in progress.
Over and above this, the UN, in the past two and a half years,
supported formulation and implementation of the National Action Plan
on Women, Girls and HIV/AIDS. The system contributed significantly
to the preparation of the first national “Roadmap to Reduce Maternal
and Neo-Natal Morbidity and Mortality” launched in November 2006; to
the establishment of the Guidelines on HIV Testing and Counselling,
as well as to the “Guidelines on Prevention of Mother to Child
Transmission”.
We participated actively in the preparation and review of the
Poverty Reduction Strategy (PRS); and in the activities leading to
the April 2006 Population and Household Census. Through a capacity
building project, the UN provided support to aid coordination and
management, as well as to the organisation of the November 2006
Round Table Conference, in line with the principles of the Paris
Declaration on Aid Effectiveness.
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Development
Partners Consultative Forum (DPCF)
Consistent with
the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness and the 2004 Triennial
Comprehensive Policy Review (TCPR 2004), the Office of the Resident
Coordinator spearheaded the Country Team’s efforts to engage with
Lesotho’s other Development Partners in strategic dialogue to
strengthen the Government’s institutional capacity for aid
coordination, resource mobilisation and harmonisation of development
assistance. In collaboration with the other development partners,
the Resident Coordinator spearheaded the establishment of a DPCF in
2005. The Forum has helped increase transparency between the
Government and development partners, and among the development
partners themselves. It also acted as the hub for information
sharing and exchange among the development partners. It has
facilitated strategic dialogue to strengthen the Government’s
institutional capacity for aid coordination, resource mobilisation
and harmonisation of development assistance. It has also
strengthened the Government’s leadership capacities in respect of
its own development programmes articulated in the Poverty Reduction
Strategy and the Public Sector Improvement and Reform Programme.
UN Volunteers
UNDP administers the UNV programme in
Lesotho, as is the case globally, and the UNV Programme Officer and
Assistant are housed in the UNDP office. For more information on the
UNV programme in Lesotho, please visit the
UNV Lesotho pages.
Operations
The UN System has,
over the years, implemented the Common Service/Common Premise
function under the leadership of the interagency Operations
Management Team (OMT). At present, the UN House accommodates seven
out of eight resident UN agencies, namely: UNDP, UNICEF, WHO, FAO,
UNFPA, UNAIDS and the World Bank. WFP is housed in a precinct
adjoining the UN House. However, discussions are underway to
accommodate WFP in the UN House.
All the Agencies except FAO and WFP contribute to the Common
Service/Common Premise Budget, including the UN Dispensary and the
V-Sat Connectivity Budgets. Other shared services include cleaning,
electricity, security, electrical and plumbing services, lifts and
the back-up generator.
UN Agencies with representation in
Lesotho:
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