Angola Progress Report 2009

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CONTENTS I. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ................................................................................... 3 II. PURPOSE ........................................................................................................ 5 III. RESOURCES .................................................................................................. 6 IV. RESULTS ........................................................................................................ 7 V. FUTURE WORK PLAN .................................................................................. 13 VI. FINANCIAL IMPLEMENTATION ................................................................... 14 VII. EXPRESSION OF THANKS ......................................................................... 14 ANNEX ............................................................................................................... 15 LIST OF ACRONYMS ..................................................................................... 15 2
I. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Overview Eight years after the end of the war, social indicators for Angola are consistently among the worst in the world. Angola ranks 143 out of 182 countries on the 2009 UNDP Human Development Index; life expectancy is one of the lowest in the world; the under-5 child mortality rate represents one of the highest in Africa; 35 per cent of children suffer chronic malnutrition; and an estimated 68 per cent of Angolans live below the poverty line. By 2009 only about 40 per cent of the population had access to government health facilities. National immunization rates are low, and Angola remains one of the few countries in the world where polio has not been eradicated. Less than 50 per cent of the population has access to clean water, making cholera endemic, and more than 1 million children (over 35 per cent) do not attend primary school. Birth registration rates remain low, at an estimated 31 per cent, which has serious implications for access to basic social services, including enrolment in school. The national HIV/AIDS prevalence rate is estimated at 2.1 per cent. Although this is significantly lower than in the rest of sub-Sahara Africa, data indicate that the infection rate is growing exponentially. The impact on children will be increasingly serious, and more attention and resources will be needed for care and support in addition to prevention interventions. Recent years, however, have seen rapid economic growth and greater allocations of the State budget for the social sector. At the end of 2009 Parliament approved a budget for 2010 that will increase spending by about 50 per cent over the revised 2009 budget. The new budget allocates 28 per cent to social spending, including health and education. With a tripling of education funding, from $1 billion in 2005 to more than $3.1 billion in 2009/2010, primary school enrolment has increased in recent years. Net enrolment rose to 75 per cent in 2009, and gender parity was achieved in primary school attendance. However, dropout and repetition rates remain high, at 15 per cent and 29 per cent respectively. Primary school completion rates were only 33.2 per cent. Another positive sign is growing political momentum for improving basic social services and making children a priority. This was expressed in a series of high-level National Forums for Children begun in 2004, adoption of 11 Commitments to Angolan Children and creation of an inter-ministerial National Council for Children (CNAC). The 4th National Forum, held in June, was a watershed demonstration of nationwide commitment to children followed by concrete decentralized planning and a biannual national plan of action budgeted for $140 million. This has wide-ranging implications, especially in terms of advocacy, policy development, budgeting and monitoring of the situation of children. It also represents a key milestone on the path towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals and enormous potential to dramatically improve the situation of Angolan children. Although lack of recent valid, reliable, disaggregated data constrains analysis, planning and implementation of development programmes in all sectors, UNICEF is helping to correct the information deficit. It is supporting the National Institute for Statistics to analyse a joint Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey on Household Incomes and Expenditure, conducted in 2008, to update socio-demographic and economic data. UNICEF is also championing the strengthening of routine data collection systems under the Indicators for Angolan Children, which will assist in monitoring the 11 Commitments. Results Achieved In 2007, UNICEF Angola received funds granted by the Netherlands under the programme to improve education responses and interventions in emergencies and post-crisis transition countries. These funds have supported four broad programme objectives: 3
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Angola Progress Report 2009

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