Al Mashat Holds Meeting with UNICEF Officials to Discuss Mutual Cooperation

Minister of International Cooperation Dr. Rania A. Al-Mashat met with the representative of the United Nations Children’s Fund in Egypt (UNICEF), Jeremy Hopkins, to review the ongoing development cooperation portfolio between the Government of Egypt and UNICEF.

This meeting addressed the roadmap and the main proposals for developing the future country partnership program with Egypt’s relevant authorities. This comes within the framework of the UNPDF 2023-2027 and the strategic partnership with the United Nations and its affiliated agencies for 2023-2027.

Minister Al-Mashat applauded the UNICEF’s efforts, which aligns with the Government of Egypt’s efforts to protect children and to enhance the care provided in the first 1000 days of a child’s life, as well as to promote their basic school education’s enrollment, in a way that aligns with Egypt’s Vision 2030.

She added that UNICEF's role comes within the strategic framework of the partnership with the UN and its affiliated agencies, which work through joint cooperation programs on stimulating national development efforts; pushing forward the UN Partnership Development Framework for Egypt (UNPDF) from 2023 to 2027.

Al Mashat further added that UNICEF has implemented several joint cooperation programs with the government amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, which resembled the cooperation between different stakeholders, including the private and public sectors and the civil society; supporting the government's plans to combat the repercussions of the pandemic.

During the meeting, the UNICEF presented the “Generation Unlimited” global initiative that has been implemented across different countries and will be launched in Egypt soon, to support the 2030 national development vision, through tapping on the potential of youth and advancing entrepreneurship.

This global initiative aims to be a multi-sector partnership to meet the urgent need for expanded education, training and employment opportunities for young people.

For his part, the representative of the United Nations Children’s Fund in Egypt (UNICEF), Jeremy Hopkins, expressed his aspiration for joint cooperation with the Ministry of International Cooperation and Egypt’s relevant authorities, to further support national efforts directed towards protecting children and empowering girls and youth.

Hopkins added that the UNICEF works in partnership with the government, to establish the Strategic Partnership Framework from 2023 to 2027, which aligns with the national priorities; especially the social safety net program “Takaful and Karama”, as well as the “Decent Life” Presidential Initiative; noting that it will focus more on providing support to Upper Egypt; the most vulnerable groups; and persons of disabilities, as well as the youth and girls.

During the meeting, UNICEF officials reviewed the current status of the country partnership program with Egypt, which is being implemented within the current UNPDF 2018/2022, and is committed to achieving Inclusive Economic Development, Social Justice, Environmental Sustainability and Natural Resource Management, as well as Women’s Empowerment.

They also delved into the exerted efforts in providing the necessary financial resources to achieve the joint strategy, in addition to addressing the funding gap that is being bridged by development partners; as the UNICEF partners with a number of development partners, including the European Union, the United States of America, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Japan, and Italy, to provide the needed resources to implement its strategy in Egypt.

Furthermore, they explained that among the pillars of the current country strategic partnership, is enhancing statistical capacities in cooperation with the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS); improving maternal and child healthcare services for about 3 million mothers and children; supporting the Ministry of Health and Population’s efforts in increasing vaccination rates and distributing about 13 million units for personal protection tools, as well as facilitation 3 million children’s access to basic education.

They further referred to “Dawwie”, a Women-led National Girls’ Empowerment Initiative, implemented in cooperation with the National Council for Women and the National Council for Childhood and Motherhood, which has benefited over two million girls.

The Ministry of International Cooperation launched the national consultation meetings tackling the new strategic partnership framework between the Egyptian government and the United Nations in Egypt in the period between 2023 and 2027, to address the main pillars of cooperation during the next five years, and to discuss means of consolidating national priorities through future programs and projects with the UN, with the participation of the relevant stakeholders and all the United Nations agencies and programs.

The Ministry of International Cooperation is the National Coordinator of the United Nations Partnership Development Framework (UNPDF) 2018/2022 and co-chairs the UNPDF Steering Committee with the UN Resident Coordinator Office in Egypt.

This comes within the framework of the Ministry of International Cooperation’s Presidential Decree No. 303 of 2004, which defines the objectives and tasks of the Ministry.

The first is to develop and strengthen the economic cooperation between the Arab Republic of Egypt and other countries as well as international and regional organizations; the second is to propose the criteria for obtaining external financing; both funds and grants; the third is to follow-up and monitor ministries and national agencies that benefit from foreign financing within the framework of the general economic policy of the country to ensure achieving the economic development goals; and the fourth is to manage Egypt’s economic relations with international organizations of economic cooperation, the international financial institutions and specialized agencies of the United Nations.