United Nations Pakistan commits to joint development interventions in five key areas
The United Nations Pakistan’s One Programme Documents was signed at the Prime Minister House recently at Islamabad. Farrukh Qayum, Federal Secretary Economic Affairs Division (EAD) and Fikret Akcura, United Nations Resident Coordinator signed the document on behalf of the Government of Pakistan and the United Nations in Pakistan, respectively. The signing ceremony was overseen by the Honorable Prime Minister of Pakistan, Yousaf Raza Gillani, His Excellency the Secretary-General for United Nations, Mr. Ban Ki Moon and Minister of State for EAD/Special Advisor to the PM Ms. Hina Rabbani Khar.
The One Program is the central pillar in piloting UN Reform in Pakistan, with “Delivering as One” being the motto and ultimate objective of the Pilot. The pilot experiment is a reflection of the Government of Pakistan’s effort at the highest level towards reforming for improved coherent development delivery. The “One Program” is the framework that encompasses major strategies, initiatives, approaches, and tools through which 60-80% of the UN’s resources in Pakistan will be channeled through the period of 2008-2010 with the possibility of going beyond 2010.
Stemming from, and responding to established national priorities, the One Program identifies five Joint Programs, reflecting the major areas of UN support to the developmental processes in Pakistan. These Joint Programs include: agriculture rural development and poverty reduction; education; health and population; environment; and disaster risk management. Four cross cutting issues are addressed in all of the five Joint Programs: civil society engagement, human rights, gender equality and refugees. These represent the anchors of the One Program and the detailed formulation of all Joint Programs and their Components has been in accordance with those.
While commenting on the Delivering as One pilot initiative Ban Ki Moon said that “by realigning the UN to combine the strengths of the individual strengths of the UN agencies, I am confident that the UN will be able to better serve the Government, the Donors and most importantly the people.” He said that he was “happy to see that despite the very challenging situations the commitment of the Government and the Country Office has remained at the highest level towards the reform process.”
Yousaf Raza Gillani, Prime Minister of Pakistan expressed his support to the Delivering as One pilot. He said that especially “in light of the very difficult times that the country and its people have been through and are still going through, a more unified and effective response by the development sector and in particular the United Nations, will greatly benefit the people. I hope that the UN will continue to work closely with the Government of Pakistan to ensure that the progress towards development moves without any hurdles.”
The Government of Pakistan has been leading the UN Reform process ensuring the planning and development of the Joint initiatives under the One Programme were in line with the national priorities encompassing the prioritized needs of the people throughout the country with special attention to the marginalized groups.
Ms. Hina Rabbani, Minister of State for EAD said that she was confident that the “UN will make tremendous headway in the progress towards development through the initiatives outlined in the One Programme.” She encouraged donors to contribute towards the One Programme to ensure that the reform could be effectively piloted.
Fikret Akcura, Resident Coordinator UN Pakistan stated that the UN system in Pakistan was “strongly committed to piloting the UN reform to ensure an improved response to the development needs of the people of Pakistan. The exemplary support of the Government, donors and other development partners has allowed Pakistan to be the highest endowed pilot with a most thorough planning pilot amongst all eight pilots.”
“Delivering as One” is the central pillar for piloting UN Reform in Pakistan through maximizing its normative and analytical expertise, its operational and coordination capabilities and its advocacy role in a coherent, effective and efficient manner. The UN entities will come together as One Leader, One Program, One Office and One Budget, with the One Program being the central pillar of the Reform. The other three “Ones” will support the formulation and implementation of the One Program.