Remarks by Ms Janet Rogan, UN Resident Coordinator at the Opening Session of the Board Meeting of the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health, Lusaka, Zambia, Tuesday 13 October, 2015 Board Chair, Ms Graca Machel Honourable Ministers, Board members, Distinguished participants, members of the media It is a great honour to be here today to represent the UN in Zambia at this very significant Board meeting of the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health, the first to be held after the unanimous adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals in New York on 27 September 2015. Today, the Board will be considering issues of great significance globally for maternal, newborn and child health, particularly the need to do things differently for Agenda 2030 so we truly Leave No-one Behind. But even with a global agenda, change has to be delivered at the level of the country, the district, the household, the individual human being. The Honourable Ministers have spoken
eloquently about Zambia's national aspirations and high level of ambition. My job today is to say a little about how the UN in Zambia can support this beautiful country and its government to achieve that high level of ambition and contribute in a real way to the global transformation called for by Agenda 2030. A 15 year old school child today will be a grown man or woman of 30 by 2030, the target year for achieving the SDGs and for achieving Zambia s Vision 2030. The transition that that 15 year old will go through from school child to empowered adult will be determined by the deliberate investments we as a society decide to make over the next 15 years in all aspects of development - social, economic, governance. Why am I focusing on youth? 37% of the population in Zambia is between the ages of 15 and 35. In total, 82% of Zambia's population is under the age of 35 - that's over 10 million people. That enormous percentage of young people is the highest population of youth in Zambia's history. They are a very mixed demographic but there is one thing they all share: a huge variety of challenges standing in the way of fulfilment of their potential: the potential of that 15 year old school girl and her journey over the 15 years of the SDGs. We know these challenges: they start with sexual crimes, most often occuring at home, defilements leading to high rates of HIV and child pregnancies, high rates of maternal mortality - young girls dying from pregnancies for which their immature bodies are not ready; child marriages; poor education with low transition from primary to secondary school, poor educational qualifications and skills for employability even when school is completed; contributing to high unemployment and hopelessness; limited access to youthfriendly health services, including for sexual and reproductive health. 2 5
Yet, even facing all those challenges, this huge youth population is one of Zambia s greatest assets and represents tremendous potential for rapid national economic growth and development. There was progress under all of these challenge areas during the MDG era, but the SDGS will need to pick up a lot of unfinished business. The work of the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health sits at the centre of that nexus of issues and potential, and it is at the heart of the support offered by the UN in Zambia. We are what we call a Delivering as One country - which simply means that the whole UN family in Zambia strategise, plan and deliver together in support of the government and national priorities. This is a trend for the UN: here in the Africa region many countries are already Delivering as One; others are being encouraged to move in that direction because the SDGs demand a comprehensive response. The UN is not a donor. The UN system - all the funds and agencies that I represent today - is the development partner of our Member States. That is the purpose for which we exist and no other - your agenda is our agenda. Here in Zambia we are taking a strong partnership approach, reaching out to new partners, including the youth. Zambia is one of the very first countries in the world where the UN System, the government through the Ministry of Youth, and youth representatives have come together to design and launch a national UN Youth SWAP programme. UN Youth SWAP simply means UN System Wide Approach. Health is one of the key areas of focus for the UN Youth SWAP (the others are employment and entrepreneurship; protection of rights, civic engagement and political inclusion; education, including comprehensive sexuality education). The UN Youth SWAP is setting up a Youth Partnership Platform which is intended to place young people 3 5
in the driving seat of change. This partnership will be core to the UN in Zambia's new programme of support to Zambia which will run from 2016-2021. This programme of support is called the Zambia-United Nations Sustainable Development Partnership Framework 2016-2021. Its first pillar (of three) is "Inclusive Social Development". The two top level outcomes under this pillar aim to promote equity in policy frameworks and strategies, national development processes, and effectiveness and efficiency of systems; while in parallel stimulating those who are marginalised from progress and are vulnerable to socio-economic hardship proactively demand and utilise a wide range of social services: quality education; equitable, quality and integrated health care information and services; adequate housing; child and family welfare; and adequate water and sanitation, food and nutrition - stunting affects over 40% of children in Zambia and the UN in Zambia will bring nutrition-sensitive and nutrition-specific interventions to address this. And in case anyone thinks that focusing on the vulnerable and marginalised is too narrow, remember that 63% of the population in Zambia is multi-dimensionally poor, suffering over-lapping deprivation in education, health and living standards; and extreme poverty remains at an average of 58% in rural areas and 13% in urban areas. Putting people first: Mobilising and Empowering Communities The social pillar has a deliberate aim of putting people first. This is not just about having people-centred policies; it is about policies that people influence, so all members of society exercise their full rights and have a voice that is heard in 4 5
developing policies and programmes. UN in Zambia interventions will include social engagement to: i) improve knowledge, build capacity and empower communities; ii) amplify the voices of vulnerable and marginalised people and influence behaviour change of both the service providers and the rights-holders; and iii) promote healthy behaviours and reduce harmful practices. Knowing who are the most in need and where they are is essential if we are to leave no-one behind and the UN in Zambia will work with government to reinforce capacity to develop, update and monitor inclusive, evidence-based policies and interventions through comprehensive and disaggregeated data, right down to the district level and even below. Another key support the UN can provide is leveraging resources for the government to scale up interventions to deliver sustainable results. Prioritisation of policies and implementation is key. The outcomes we are aiming for in the area of healthcare are truly transformational. If we can help the government and people of Zambia to achieve them, that woman who reaches the age of 30 in 2030, who startes this SDG journey as a 15 year old this year, should truly be able to saythat she sees a better future for herself and her family than her mother did. Thank You. 5 5