UN agencies to spend $150 million on projects

Four United Nations agencies and the Kenyan government on Friday launched new funding programmes for Kenya under which the agencies will spend US $150 million to support various projects during the next five years. The UN Development Programme (UNDP), the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) and the UN World Food Programme (WFP) are to disburse $21.2 million, $24.6 million, $9.5 million and $ 94.1 million of core resources respectively to implement the programmes. It is expected that more resources will be made available through resource-mobilisation efforts. "We are very grateful for this assistance and acknowledge that additional resources will need to be mobilised to cover the gap between the earmarked resources and the total resources likely to be available," Kenyan Finance Minister David Mwiraria said at the launch. The programmes are expected to reinforce Kenya's priorities and commitments as outlined in its poverty reduction strategy paper, the more recent economic recovery strategy and the various sectoral and thematic policy and planning frameworks. Speaking at the function, the UN resident coordinator, Paul Andre de la Porte, said the new country programmes jointly reflected the reform plan initiated by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, whose objective was to ensure that UN operations in the field were more coordinated. "This launch coincides with significant socioeconomic and political reforms in Kenya that has seen the overall policy framework, the Economic Recovery Strategy, translated into spirited anti-corruption crusades, positive movements towards reforms in the civil service, expansion in free primary education, among others," said De la Porte. Through the new programmes, the UNDP intends to enhance the capacity of key national and local governance institutions to deliver effective, transparent, accountable and equitable public services, as well as restore public confidence in the government's financial management. UNICEF will contribute to the realisation of the rights of children and women countrywide by focusing on child protection, health, nutrition, education, water and sanitation, while UNFPA will improve the quality of life for the people of Kenya by supporting population and reproductive health policies and programmes. WFP will seek to improve the food security and living conditions of the food insecure households and communities with a specific focus on women-headed households in the arid and semiarid districts, poor urban slum dwellers and people living with HIV/AIDS. Implementation of the four Country Programme Action Plans will be carried out by government ministries, UN agencies, the private sector, NGOs and community-based organisations, according to Mwiraria.