By Elijah Ugani: Health Correspondents
Stakeholders in the Health Sector have committed to strengthening collaboration to ensure the smooth implementation of the new United Nations Sustainable Development Partnership Framework (UNSDPF) for Nigeria.
UNSDPF is to replace the United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF III) and comes on the heels of the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the African Union’s (AU) 2063 agenda which calls for enhanced coordination of UN activities under the Delivering as One modality, which was developed by the United Nations to improve coordination of the system’s operations and to better align them with national government priorities and development plans.
This was contained in a release from the United Nations made available to CrossRiverWatch following a meeting held last week in Calabar, the Cross River State capital.
And, during the review of the of the 2017 Annual Work Plan of UNDAF III which is the plan for the United Nations Country Team’s (UNCT) contribution towards national development priorities from 2014 to 2017, Mr. Keneth Ehuzuo who is the head of the state’s UNFPA sub office which leads the Delivering as One in the State, called for more partnership.
He sued for: “enhanced cooperation and coordination between the State Government, stakeholders and the UN, and a more robust Delivering as One, in order to boost development results and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals in Cross River State by 2030.”
The UNDAF III had four focal areas which are Good Governance; Social Capital Development; Equitable and Sustainable Economic Development; and Human Security and Risk Management. And, Mr. Ehuozuo thanked all the stakeholders for committing to working together to improve the lives of the people of Cross River.
He added that the meeting was “a great success and gave participants a chance to assess the implementation of UNDAF III and discuss the upcoming United Nations Sustainable Development Partnership Framework (UNSDPF) for Nigeria.”
Cross River State, which has several UN agencies including UNFPA, UNICEF, WHO, UNAIDS, UNHCR, UNODC, UNESCO, UNOWAS and FAO/UN-REDD operating, as a self-starter, was one of the first 13 Nigerian states selected by the UNCT to benefit from the Delivering as One (DaO) modality of development assistance in 2013, aims to harness the combined resources, capacities and expertise of the different UN organizations in order to achieve improved results and enhance the UN’s contribution to the State’s development goals.
The meeting was presided over by the Commissioner for International Development Cooperation, Mr. Francis Ettah, who commended the UN and the other partners for their support and contribution to the State’s development.