Ambassador of Switzerland to Kenya Mr. Ralf Heckner (right) with UN Resident Coordinator to Kenya Mr. Siddharth Chatterjee sign the agreement for Switzerland’s support to strengthen the capacity of the UN Resident Coordinator’s Office in Kenya – Photo credit: UN Kenya

By PRESS RELEASE
NAIROBI, Kenya, Jul 24 2019 (IPS-Partners)

The Government of Switzerland is pleased to announce support for the ongoing UN reforms implementation in Kenya through a two-year cost-sharing arrangement that will strengthen the capacity of the Resident Coordinator’s Office, with focus on coordination of the integrated cross-border initiative and the SDG Partnership Platform, expanding partnerships and diversifying financial modalities for realising the SDGs.

Switzerland is one of the strongest supporters of the push for reforms in the UN development system and we acknowledge the leadership of the Resident Coordinator system in helping UN Country Teams to become much more field-focused, well-coordinated and accountable,” said the Ambassador of Switzerland Mr. Ralf Heckner when he announced the support.

The United Nations Resident Coordinator Office supports the work of the UN country team in the UN’s strategic response to the Government’s development priorities as captured in the UN Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF). The UNDAF describes how the UN country team will contribute to the achievement of development results based on a common country analysis and the UN comparative advantage.

The Resident Coordinators Office capability to spearhead UN reform in Kenya, continue lead and advance coordination, innovation and communication of results is essential for UN’s effective delivery of its total contribution to Kenya, the United Nation Development Assistance Framework, UNDAF, 2018-2022, signed by Government of Kenya and 23 UN Heads of Agencies, with an estimated budget close to USD 1.9 billion for the current 4-year period.

The Swiss Government support is in furtherance of UN member states’ desire to ensure that Resident Coordinator offices have sufficient capacities for coordination and strategic planning, economics, tailored policy support, results monitoring and evaluation, strategic partnerships and communications capacity.

Ralf Heckner
Ambassador of Switzerland

Reference from the UN

The Resident Coordinator’s Office leads, coordinate and incubate UN wide and joint actions on strategic policy, innovative approaches, expanded partnerships and diversification of investments, advancing the UN SG reform agenda and Kenya’s development strategies, at national and devolved levels, including a new partnership platform for expanding private sector and philanthropy in realizing SDGs and the Presidential Big 4 Agenda in Kenya. The platform under the Resident Coordinator coordinates efforts to diversify development financing tools, invest in SDG data development and nurture public, private partnerships, across the SDGs and UN agency mandates.

The Switzerland Government support will specifically strengthen the coordination of the ongoing cross-border initiatives between Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia, whose objectives are to prevent and mitigate the impact of violent conflict in these borderland areas, and to promote economic development and greater resilience.

The United Nations Country Teams (UNCTs) in Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia, in cooperation with the Governments of Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), and with the financial support of EU and other development partners, have embarked on an innovative and area-based Cross-Border Integrated Programme for Sustainable Peace and Socio-Economic development and strengthening resilience of communities in Marsabit/Borana, and Omo/Turakana Clusters and Mandera Triangle. The geographical scope of the project is along three cross-border areas, including the Ethiopia and Kenya border, as well as Somalia. This encompasses the cross-border area of Southwest Ethiopia and Northwest Kenya (South Omo in Ethiopia, and Turkana in Kenya) and Kenya-Somalia-Ethiopia (encompassing Mandera, Gedo and Doolow). The project will also contribute to an already-existing UN-managed programme encompassing Marsabit County in Kenya and Borana and Dawa Zones in Ethiopia. The programme will also build on the experiences and lessons learned from the Marsabit/Borana Zone cluster and improve the design and implementation of intervention polices in the other two clusters.

Switzerland is also supporting the SDG Partnership Platform, a UNDAF flagship initiative that takes leadership on overarching facilitation, coordination and demonstration of how public private collaboration can effectively translate the SDGs into action on the ground and thereby guide and accelerate innovations, impact, maximize investments and optimize resource utilization in support of the realization of Kenya’s Vision2030 and the “Big Four”. Maximizing investments through innovative financing: support to raise required investments for the large-scale partnership initiatives through optimizing blended financing instruments and redirection of capital flows towards SDG implementation.

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