Samoa validates Country Implementation Plan 2023-2024 within the UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework 2023-2027

Samoa was the first country working with the UN Multi Country Office to endorse the United Nations Sustainable Development Country Framework (UNSCDF) 2023 – 2027 when it signed the five-year plan on 11 October 2022. The country continues to demonstrate leadership and commitment as a partner of the United Nations when high-level government officials met on Saturday, 3 December, to review, provide input and validate the country’s implementation plan (CIP) for the next two years (2023-2024). The UN Resident Coordinator’s Office initiated this important next step by beginning with a mapping exercise that put together components of the key outcomes of the cooperation framework with its fourfold focus on people, planet, peace and prosperity. The framework’s overall objective is to improve the lives of people across the Pacific. “In the implementation of the cooperation framework we established a governance structure which includes a programme management team with results groups led by UN agencies in the room and joining from Fiji,” explained Dr. Simona Marinescu, the UN Resident Coordinator for the Samoa-MCO and Co-Chair of the UN-Government of Samoa Joint Steering Committee, in her opening remarks to the group. “We have started the process by reviewing the past. We conducted an evaluation of the last 5-year country implementation plan and this provided us with some very good lessons to make sure that, as we set the way forward, we do not repeat some of the mistakes and we learn from what worked well.”

The Country Implementation Plan draws on the Comprehensive Country Analysis (CCA) developed at the beginning of each five-year cycle and updated annually. Reference is also made to the government’s Pathway for the Development of Samoa (PDS) and its sector plans, in order to inform the UN where Samoa’s priorities lie.

In her remarks, Co-Chair of the UN-Government of Samoa Joint Steering Committee Afioga Peseta Noumea Simi thanked the government representatives for attending this session on a Saturday, a day usually set aside for leisure and privacy. She stated, “We had endorsed the Cooperation Framework  on the premise that it would support the delivery of our national priorities as articulated in our national development strategy, the Pathway for the Development of Samoa. We continue to re-emphasize that the 2030 Agenda and the Pacific Framework, with its focus on people, planet, peace, prosperity, and partnership, remains relevant to us only if the implementation of these global frameworks are tailored to our national circumstances.”

“The Government has placed priority on enhancing human development and as such, the Pathway for the Development of Samoa (PDS) was carefully designed with the vision of fostering social harmony, safety and freedom for all. The PDS consists of five key strategic outcomes comprising of improved social development, sustainable economy, security and governance, environment, and infrastructure, with a cross-cutting focus on overcoming hardships and challenges and access to opportunities for the poor and the most vulnerable in Samoa. The PDS also takes into consideration how we localize the sustainable development goals and their implementation to suit our national context and what we are experiencing in our villages and communities. These consultations can further accentuate how the framework can be contextualized and aligned to support our national development priorities. It is essential that we reflect what we feel requires the necessary attention and resources. We must have a greater role in the development of the CIP. As you and your Ministries are the lead implementers of our national strategies and national plans, that also signals our commitment and ownership of the process to ensure the successful delivery and outcomes for the next five years.”

The interactive session with the government divided the group into the four key focus areas of People, Planet, Peace and Prosperity. Over 50 people attended the meeting including Chief Executive Officers of Cabinet ministries and other senior public servants.