Better focused and relevant UN support for Cook Islands in the next 5 years.

The UN Country Team serving the Cook Islands now has a better idea of the development areas to invest in and focus on in the next five years.

This was clearly understood from a robust and rich conversation with the Secretaries and officials of Government Ministries, over the list of development priorities and interventions that the UN agencies have identified under the Country Implementation Plan (CIP) encompassing the work of the UN in a specific country.

The CIP is an integral component of the UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF), as the planning tool that clearly informs the UN agencies of the development priorities of a country where its support, whether in financial resources or technical expertise adds value to.

The overall vision within the UNSDCF 2023-2025 is to improve the lives of the people of the Pacific and the UN for the Pacific has organized its development support under four key pillars namely, People, Planet, Prosperity and Peace.

Under the People pillar the UN envisions and aims to improve the lives of everyone through enabling access to quality essential services such as education and health; social protection services, sustainable food systems and nutrition.

The Planet Pillar aims to build resilience to shocks and disasters, climate change impacts, to ensure that the natural ecosystems and biodiversity are better protected, at the same time, their traditional knowledge and cultural values are integrated and recognized across these efforts.

The Prosperity Pillar brings together the work of the UN to ensure equal opportunities to decent jobs and livelihoods and the Peace Pillar focuses on human rights, gender equality and participation.

The four Pillars are aligned to the national development pillars of the Cook Islands and it was important that the UN seeks the validation from the Government on the exact development areas for successful development collaborations.

The Secretary of the Ministry of the Foreign Affairs and Immigration Ms Tepaeru Herrmann in her remarks encouraged stronger and meaningful collaborations between the government and the UN agencies.

"Almost every agency in this room has a partner UN organisation that they have worked with over the years and have developed a beneficial partnership and they continue to provide the support where needed."

"The Cook Islands is a success story," according to Resident Coordinator Simona Marinescu, "being one of the High Income countries in the Pacific and it has grown over the years and it serves as an example for the rest of the Small Islands Developing States."

After this consultation the UNCT for Cook Islands will develop the informed CIP that will be presented to the upcoming Multi Country Joint Steering Committee Meeting co-chaired by Secretary of MFAI Tepaeru Herrmann and the Resident Coordinator Simona Marinescu in March for endorsement.

The Cook Islands signed the UNSDCF 2023-2027 for the Pacific in October, 2022.