The United Nations will provide $17 million (€15.7 million) to Cape Verde for actions to be carried out this year in the country, according to the annual work plan signed Wednesday.
The Annual Work Plan (AWP) for 2023 was signed in Praia by the interim resident coordinator of the United Nations system in Cabo Verde, Ana Touza, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Cooperation and Regional Integration, Rui Figueiredo Soares, and is the first of the Cooperation Framework between the parties, signed in October 2022, and for the next five years (2023-2027), worth US$115 million.
Speaking to the press, the interim resident coordinator of the United Nations System in Cape Verde said that the amount will serve to strengthen human capital capacities, with measures in health and education, but also to improve the capacity for economic inclusion and increase the country’s resilience to climate change.
“What is also very important for us is to strengthen the governance capacities of all areas of the SDGs [Sustainable Development Goals],” indicated Ana Touza, in the context of a high-level meeting, attended by representatives of various Cape Verdean institutions, the diplomatic corps, and representatives and managers of the programs and projects of the United Nations Agencies in the African archipelago.
“Another area of immense importance to Cape Verde is economic and inclusive development and one of the government’s goals to achieve SDG 1, to eliminate extreme poverty, and we are all engaged in this goal,” added the same official.
The preparation of the annual work plan counted with the participation and involvement of all national partners, who defined the main lines of action, and is aligned with the new Strategic Plan for Sustainable Development (PEDS II) 2022-2026 and with Cape Verde’s Ambition 20-30, with the SDGs and the United Nations Agenda 20-30.
The Annual Work Plan is a document and instrument for the operationalization of the new United Nations Cooperation Framework in Cape Verde for the next five years.
For the Cape Verdean Minister of Foreign Affairs, Cooperation and Regional Integration, the signing of the document is the “evident proof” of the country’s political will to further strengthen and deepen cooperation relations with the United Nations System.