WINDHOEK – The National Planning Commission (NPC) yesterday signed a new US$80 million (approximately N$800 million) partnership agreement with the United Nations (UN), which is known as a United Nations Partnership Framework, covering the period 2014 to 2018.
Through this new partnership the UN will provide technical support and policy advisory services, as well as limited financial resources to supplement funds provided by government and other stakeholders. The new agreement, which was signed by the Director General of the NPC, Tom Alweendo, and UN Resident Coordinator, Musinga Bandora, takes place against the backdrop of a shared realization between the two parties that the role of the UN in Namibia has evolved from one of providing developmental assistance to one of partnership. “There are countries still depending on developmental assistance but in many cases it seems this assistance is not helping these countries. It is therefore in the interest of both parties to ensure that developmental assistance works,” noted Alweendo. He added that “certain principles” need to be in place to ensure that development assistance works. One of these principles, he said, is that the country receiving the assistance must be in a position to determine where exactly this assistance is channeled.
Said Alweendo: “Another principle that needs to be in place is that assistance received must make use of existing systems that are already in place, such as implementation structures. This will avoid the duplication of efforts.” According to Alweendo the new agreement conforms to these and other principles.
The partnership agreement with the UN will work in four specific areas, namely education and skills development, health (including health systems strengthening and promotion of multi-sectoral mechanisms for reducing the burden of priority diseases); poverty reduction (including examining the root causes of poverty); promotion of food security and income generation, as well as strengthening of national capacities for environmental management and institutional environment (including improving governance, monitoring and evaluation).
According to the UN’s Bandora, these areas were identified through a consultative process with all stakeholders. “These four pillars mirror those of NDP4 and are calibrated to support the achievement of the inter-related goals of growth, jobs and greater income equality. In their implementation we will use national systems of coordination, monitoring and evaluation as well as reporting,” remarked Bandora. “What I want to underline is that these resources are insignificant when looked at against the development needs of the country or indeed against the amount of resources that the government of Namibia can muster,” he added.
Alweendo said Namibians must address developmental challenges as a matter of urgency. “We only have about 17 years left to achieve Vision 2030. We cannot afford to say we have enough time, because time is not on our side,” Alweendo further said.
By Edgar Brandt