UNICEF, Punjab govt sign accord
M RAFIQUE GORAYA
LAHORE: UNICEF will provide humanoid and technical assistance of $ 37 million to Punjab government for the capacity-building of administrative departments and implementation of multiple year work plan (MYWP) 2015-17.
An agreement to this effect was signed by Chairman Planning & Development Punjab Muhammad Irfan Elahi and senior representative of UNICEF in Pakistan Ms Angela Kearney here on Wednesday.
The program will focus on supporting the Punjab government in the improvement of maternal and child health, improvement in sanitation, addressing stunting and malnutrition among children, reducing child mortality, polio eradication, emergency preparedness and response with a key focus on Disaster Risk reduction and promotion of education for all; focusing on the marginalized and disadvantaged populations in the Punjab province.
Addressing the ceremony, Chairman P&D Muhammed Irfan Elahi, acknowledged UNICEF’s long partnership with the government of Punjab and thanked UNICEF for the continued technical and financial support which has produced results on ground including the improvement of sanitation in communities through the piloting and scaling up of Pakistan Approach to Total Sanitation (PATS).
He also thanked UNICEF for supporting the government of Punjab in the area of enhancing data collection and use for development planning and decision-making, generated through the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICs), the most recent being one conducted in 2014 results, which has guided the planning and budgeting for 2015-16 fiscal year. Chairman P&D pledged stronger working partnership with UNICEF in future.
In her speech, UNICEF Representative in Pakistan Angela Kearney thanked the Chairman for coordinating the development platform in the province which has catalyzed UNICEF participation in the development space in the promotion of the realization of children and women’s rights in the province.
She congratulated the government of Pakistan on the achievement of meeting some of the MDG goals and for the owning MICs, a tool for generating data to inform development planning in the province.
Angela Kearney reiterated UNICEF’s continued support to government for capacity and service delivery development and strengthening and called on provincial development partners to ensure available resources for development including UNICEF resources; are utilized and accounted for ensuring value for money with results, in pursuit of eradicating stunting amongst children, improving sanitation particularly eradication of open defecation; promoting education for all with a key focus on the marginalized and disadvantaged communities, polio eradication, ensuring all children are registered at birth and reducing child mortality.
The signed Multiyear Plan took effect from July 2015 to December 2017 and will be implemented though government structures and will contribute to improving the quality of life of women and children in Punjab.
