The United Nations Sustainable Development Partnership (UNSDP) 2018-2022, between Ghana and the UN has been launched in Accra.
The five-year partnership framework outlines the UN’s support to national development efforts and sets out the collective support of the 24 UN Agencies working in Ghana.
The UNSDP with Ghana was launched on Monday in Accra by Professor George Gyan-Baffour, the Planning Minister.
It would be recalled that the UNDP agreement was signed in June this year jointly by Prof Gyan-Baffour and Mr Ken Ofori-Atta, Finance Minister on behalf of Ghana, and by Dr Christine Evans-Klock, UN Resident Coordinator, and representatives of the 24 resident and non-resident UN Agencies comprising the UN Country Team in Ghana.
The UNSDP, which comprised four sections, reflects the conviction that UN work should support Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) attainment and expresses the nature of work with the UN as a partnership rather than a source of assistance.
The first section provides the rationale for UN work in terms of the response to national development aspirations and strategies, which also localises the SDGs.
The second section articulates the intended results of UN Partnership in Ghana, whereas the third section discusses implementation, addressing how this partnership was to be carried through.
The final section however, outlines how the delivery of programmes would be monitored, how it could be evaluated, and how implementation and result would be communicated.
The UNSDP targets support towards the implementation of national development strategies and the achievement of global development, human rights and environment commitments.
It aligns with the national Coordinated Programme of Economic and Social Development Policies, (CPESDP) 2017-2024.
Prof Gyan-Baffour said the UN programme for the next five years, the UN Sustainable Development Partnership, was designed from the beginning to align with the CPESDP, which was submitted to Parliament by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo–Addo in November 2017.
He said the CPESDP sets out a set of goals aimed at transforming agriculture and industry, revamping economic and social infrastructure, enhanced social development, reformed and improve delivery by institutions of government, youth employment and articulates a self-reliant pathway to economic transformation and inclusive growth.
He noted that this vision for national development incorporated Ghana’s global development commitments, the African union’s 2030 Agenda 2063 and the Paris Agreement on Climate Change.
He said consultations between the UN Country Team and the Government, led by the Ministry of Planning and the Ministry of Finance, led to the early decision to anchor the UN’s programme for the next five years within this national vision for development.
“We also welcome the commitment of the UN country team to frame this five year agreement explicitly on the SDGs which has integrated into the vision for national development. This ensures that the work of the entire UN country team support national development strategies, which in turn have internalised the SDGs,” he said.
Dr Evans-Klock said the four real courses of development challenges in Ghana were persistent of inequality, low productivity, demographic dividends and environmental problems.
She explained that the demographic dividends, which was a growth in the work force age population, would be a potential to asset to Ghana for economic development, but if it was coupled with persistent regional disparities or poor education attainment, it could drive internal or external migration, rapid and unplanned urbanisation and a growth in demand for decent work by young people.
She said environmental degradation and poor sanitation threatened public health, undermined future growth in forestry, mining, fisheries and agriculture.
Dr Evans-Klock noted that the UNSDP was an opportunity for partnership with sustained result for the next five years.
Mr Albert F. Yankey, Chief Director, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, said the SDGs express Ghanaians aspirations and hope for building a viable and sustainable economy that could transform the structure of their society and improve the lives of their people.
“It is in this regard that the Government has taken up the bold steps to fully embrace it and integrate it into the development plans of the country,” he said.
Source: GNA
