Government together with 16 United Nations agencies have signed the “One UN” Programme with a commitment to integrate several UN reforms into national reforms. Upon request by the Government, Rwanda was selected as one of eight pilot countries for the “One UN – Delivering as One” reform in January this year. Unlike before, UN agencies will now collectively work under one roof to achieve the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in Rwanda. “We have embraced the opportunity to pilot and demonstrate Rwanda’s willingness and readiness to take the lead in championing harmonisation and managing partnerships for results,” Finance and Economic Planning Minister James Musoni said yesterday after signing the programme at the ministry’s offices. The UNDP Resident Coordinator in Rwanda Moustapha Soumaré, signed on behalf of the United Nations. Under the reform integration process, there will be streamlined coordination to facilitate more focus on UN activities in Rwanda, thus reducing transaction costs. The process will also lead to scaled up resource inflows for Rwanda through a focused and result–oriented partnership with the UN systems.Soumaré said that the programme would lead to a better equipped system to respond to challenges of achieving the MDGs. He added that this would be achieved through reducing duplication of roles and interventions, and high costs of the agencies while carrying operations on ground. The Country Director of United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), Josephine Odera, said this was a better forum of addressing issues that impact negatively on women. UNICEF Country Representative Dr Joseph Foumbi said: “Our services to children will now be more result oriented. We shall also ably work towards achieving the country’s Vision 2020 objectives.”World Food Programme (WFP) Country Director Maarit Hirvonen said that the new programme would lead to a more common understanding and harmony in UN operations in the country. “We were split but we shall now work together as a team in different sectors like education and health,” she said. Ends
