Norway gives Uganda Shs7b for UN reforms
Intervention. Norway Ambassador Susan Eckey (right) and UN Resident Coordinator in Uganda Rosa Malango at the Ambassador’s residence in Bugolobi, Kampala, on Tuesday. PHOTO BY MICHAEL KAKUMIRIZI
What you need to know:
- Aim. The reforms are also aimed at creating a “new generation of UN presence” around the world.
Kampala. The Norwegian government has offered the UN Resident Coordinator’s Office in Uganda (RCO) a multi-year contribution of $2m (Shs7.7b), the first of its kind in the world, as part of ongoing reforms by UN Secretary General António Guterres.
The reforms are aimed at creating more efficiency in the UN system by making the different agencies work closely on the ground, including countries remitting monetary contributions directly to the UN RCO offices in respective host countries and also rallying the private sector to contribute in the quest to meet the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) agenda.
The UN Resident Coordinator in Uganda, Ms Rosa Malango, told Daily Monitor on Tuesday evening that the reforms are also aimed at creating a “new generation of UN presence” around the world.
“The UN system in Uganda is already implementing the reforms which the Norwegian government is recognizing by offering as a multi-year contribution to coordinate human development assistance,” Ms Malango said at a reception to welcome the support at the Norwegian ambassador’s residence in Kampala.
As head of the RCO, Ms Malongo supervises all UN agencies in the country. She said Uganda as one of the pioneering countries in implementing the reforms was central in both pushing the same reforms as well negotiating the SDG agenda in 2015 when Foreign Affairs minister Sam Kutesa was president of the UN General Assembly (UNGA).
Mr Kutesa was in June 2014 voted unanimously as president of the UNGA’s 69th session during which tenure the SDG agenda was adopted.
Ms Malango further revealed that as part of creation of a new generation of UN presence, the UNGA last week adopted the resolution for repositioning of the UN development system in the context of the quadrennial comprehensive policy review of operational activities for development of the UN system.
The resolution creates a dedicated, independent, impartial, empowered and sustainable development-focused coordination function for the UN development system by separating the functions of the resident coordinator from those of the resident representative of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), drawing on the expertise and assets of all UN development system entities.
