One UN to support Rwanda’s Development Agenda

{{The Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning (MINECOFIN) hosted a meeting with five United Nations (UN) agencies (UNDP, UNFPA, UNICEF, UN Women, and WFP) to discuss the Common Country Program Document (CCPD).}}

CCPD is a five year planning document which is a component of the United Nations Development Assistance Plan (UNDAP).

The meeting brought together different stakeholders mainly Government institutions that benefit the funding from the five agencies, and representatives of the respective five agencies.

Rwanda is one of the eight pilot countries that started Delivering as One initiative that aimed at improving coherence, harmonization, efficiency alignment and efficiency of the UN operations

During the implementation of the first Economic Development and Poverty Reduction Strategy (EDPRS 1), the One UN mainly focused its interventions to strategic upstream support to policy advice and development, capacity building, evidence generation, innovations and modelling.

However, to reinforce the Delivering as One process, the Government of Rwanda and the UN agreed to develop a unified UN Development Assistance Plan that would be fully aligned to the Government’s second Economic Development and Poverty reduction strategy (EDPRS2) as well as its fiscal year.

UNDAP is comprised of only three focus areas through which the UN will contribute to the National Development Agenda. They include: Inclusive Economic Transformation, Accountable Governance and Human Development.

These areas respond directly to the key priorities articulated in EDPRS 2 which are Rapid Economic Growth, Youth Productivity and Employment Rural Development Accountable Governance and Foundational Issues.

The director general of National Planning and Research at MINECOFIN Leonard Rugwabiza acknowledged UN for its continued support to Rwanda’s Development Agenda.

“Your contribution to our development agenda especially realigning the One UN assistance to EDPRS 2 is important. We look forward to sustaining this partnership for the benefit of Rwandans,” Mr. Rugwabiza said.

The UN resident coordinator Lamin Momodou Manneh co-chair of the meeting noted that the partnership between UN and government had led to tangible results.

“We will continue to support the EDPRS 2,” Lamin Momodou Manneh said. He added that the UN would work to reduce fragmentation by focusing on the one UN comparative advantage.

MINECOFIN