UNDAF 2018-2022: Wrapping Up a Five-Year Cycle

The UNDAF cycle for 2018-2022 concluded in 2022. Having been signed by 15 agencies accredited in Cabo Verde, the UNDAF was the result of an exhaustive joint analysis and a consultative process led by the Government of Cabo Verde and actively involving civil society organizations, the private sector, and international development partners represented in Cabo Verde. It was structured around the Five Ps of the 2030 Agenda (People, Planet,  Prosperity, Peace and Partnership), representing five strategic priorities for cooperation: Sustainable development of human capital; Sustainable management of natural resources and biodiversity; Economic transformation, and sustainable and inclusive growth; Governance, public policy, and justice; and Mobilization, coordination, and efficiency of development resources.

Despite the challenges of COVID-19 pandemic and Ukraine war and the closure of UNV and UN Women (in 2019 and 2020, respectively), the UNDAF  was successfully operationalized through Annual Joint Work Plans, mobilizing and implementing USD 97,7 million, which exceeded the initial goal of  USD 96 million signed in 2017.

The UNDAF monitoring was performed through the UN INFO platform (1), which allowed the Government and national and development partners to track in real-time the progress made and understand the resources available at the national level in each municipality.

The Framework was adjusted to operate in emergency development mode to support the country to deal with COVID-19 and the war in Ukraine impacts, with focus on the Cabo Verdean people and to continue projecting Cabo Verde as a world reference with best practices in south-south cooperation, gender equality, social protection, good governance, and rule of law committed to Leave No One Behind (LNOB) putting the Agenda 2030  and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at centre stage of their development path.

The period between 2020 and 2022 saw an increase in funds mobilized (+USD 13 million) compared to planned (2020: +31%; 2021: +18%; 2022:  +13%).

The UNDAF included a total of 249 indicators, measuring the performance of 6 outcomes and 27 outputs, reported in the UN INFO platform. The final independent evaluation of the UNDAF concluded that the framework achieved a satisfactory performance rating, and it made significant progress towards the realization of its outcomes, despite implementation challenges, responding effectively to changes in national priorities, including COVID-19.

The UN’s comparative advantages were highly relevant and essential to the country’s development, which included UN consistency and reliability,  partnership and resource mobilization ability, function as a knowledge hub, and mainstreaming of gender and LNOB.

Over the course of five years, the UNDAF has positively influenced Cabo Verde’s sustainable development across numerous essential domains:

• Improved access to essential public services in health, education, food security, and nutrition, as well as social and child protection services.
• Enhanced national capacity for natural resource and biodiversity management, climate change adaptation and mitigation, and disaster risk reduction.
• Promoted decent work creation through a focus on employability and entrepreneurship, improvements in the tourism sector, blue economy,  and agricultural income.
• Made effective implementation of Results-Based Management in public administration, bolstering Government accountability and transparency, parliamentary capacities and public access to national budget execution and legislative processes. Facilitating participation of Civil Society Organizations throughout the governance cycle, participatory management approaches in the public sector, and moderate improvement in access to justice. Enhancing capacity building of the criminal Justice System to counter drug trafficking and organized crime.
• Built capacities for mobilizing and managing partnerships and financing for the implementation of the SDGs and National Development Plan  (PEDS I) 2017-2021 at both national and local levels, as well as planning and implementation of municipal plans aligned with the SDGs.
• Resulted in more targeted support to vulnerable groups through enhanced social protection coverage; improved care for the elderly through the National Care Plan; increased social awareness and legal protection of children through the Child Protection Act and the Plan to Prevent and Combat Sexual Violence; and contributed to the eradication of malaria.
• Made consistent promotion of gender and human rights across the board.
• Had effective response to changing national priorities, such as addressing the COVID-19 pandemic.

In conclusion, the UNDAF 2018-2022 was instrumental in advancing Cabo Verde’s sustainable development across various sectors. These achievements will serve as a solid foundation for future progress under the new UNCF 2023-2027.

CLOSURE OF THE UNDAF CYCLE 2018-2022

 

 

 

 

(1) United Nations’ online planning, monitoring and reporting platform that digitizes the UN Country Teams’ results frameworks