Welcoming Remarks from the UN Resident Coordinator in The Gambi

Welcoming Remarks from the UN Resident Coordinator in The Gambia on the
Occasion of the UNDAF Validation Workshop
Tuesday 7 th February 2006
Kairaba Beach Hotel
Honourable Secretary of State
Permanent Secretaries
Senior Government Officials
Members of the National Assembly
International Development Partners
UN Colleagues
Members of the Media
Members of National and International NGOs
Distinguished Guests
Ladies and Gentlemen
And all other protocols observed
On behalf of the UN Country Team in The Gambia, it is my pleasure to extend a
warm welcome to all of you to the United Nations Development Assistance
Framework (UNDAF) 2007­2011, Validation Workshop for The Gambia. I am
especially pleased that in one of my first official duties, I have the opportunity to
meet and dialogue with so many of you on a key area of the United Nations’ (UN)
work.
I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the Honourable Secretary of State
and Secretary General, Office of the President, for agreeing to grace this
1

occasion and present the opening remarks. I would also like to recognise the
Permanent Secretary, Office of the President and my co chair of this meeting, for
her ongoing support and commitment to the UNDAF process. We thank you for
deputising the Secretary General at this important meeting and we look forward
to fruitful deliberations.
Distinguished Guests,
Ladies and Gentleman,
As many of you are aware, UN Reform is now at the top of the development
agenda within the UN System and the UNDAF in many ways is the glue that
brings together the unique capabilities and comparative advantages of the system
around a common vision and cause.
Our vision as the UN team is to have, by 2011, a country team that is united
behind a common framework and programmes to achieve The Gambia’s MDG
targets. I hope that this validation workshop, to be followed tomorrow by the Joint
Strategy Meeting (JSM), will help us move in this direction.
The current UN common country programme process began in July of 2005 with
the development of the Common Country Assessment (CCA). This common
instrument of the United Nations system analysed the national development
situation in The Gambia and identified key development issues with a focus on
the MDGs and the other commitments, goals and targets of the Millennium
Declaration and international conferences, summits, conventions and human
rights instruments of the UN system.
2

Based on consultations between the UN, Government and Civil Society, the
Common Country Assessment identified a number of potential areas of
cooperation between the Government and the United Nations System, and during
a subsequent Strategic Planning Retreat held from the 8 th ­10 November, a
consensus was reached amongst representatives from the UN Government and
Civil Society, on the top priorities that formed the basis of the UNDAF. Namely:
basic social services, poverty reduction and social protection and governance and
human rights.
Distinguished Guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
All of the development assistance that will be provided by the various UN System
agencies in The Gambia for the period 2007­2011, will be anchored in the UNDAF,
which is in turn rooted in the national development priorities as articulated in the
Poverty Reduction Strategy Plan II (PRSPII/SPAII), The Gambia’s Vision 2020
and more broadly to the Millennium Development Goals and Millennium
Declaration to which the Government of The Gambia is signatory.
The UNDAF will guide the integration of programming among the UN Agencies to
support the Government and all national partners to reach the Gambia’s
economic and social development goals. The goal is to enhance programmatic
coherence and effective collaboration around key strategic results in which the
UN has demonstrable comparative advantage.
This validation workshop is the final stage with regard to the formulation process
of UNDAF. The purpose of today’s gathering is to discuss and adopt the UNDAF
3

Result Matrix and its monitoring and evaluation plan that will guide us on our
cooperation between the UN System and the Government.
For the UN Country Team, the validation of this UNDAF document will represent a
milestone in our efforts to create greater synergies and complementarities in
programme formulation. We hope that your invaluable feedback will help us
ensure that our programming is responding, to the greatest extent possible, to the
development challenges at hand.
Distinguished Guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Once again, on behalf of the UN Country Team in The Gambia, I would like to
thank all the partners who have been involved in the process of formulating
UNDAF and to thank all of you present for participating in this workshop today. I
am especially thankful to my UN colleagues who have carried this process to this
stage.
I look forward to your insights and suggestions and to a fruitful workshop.
Thank you.
4