| Overview : The United Nations (UN) in Malawi is formulating a new United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF), which will allow the UN to respond to the Malawi Government’s medium term strategy and integrate the 2030 Agenda into its medium-term programming. To date, the United Nations Country Team (UNCT) has implemented several activities, including a Root-Cause Analysis, and a Comparative Advantage and Stakeholder Analysis. In doing so, a clearer, focused vision will be developed to ensure people-centered UN programming over the medium term. The UN will continue to respond to the priorities of the Government of Malawi and delivery of services in line with the inter-sectoral nature of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). By coming together around strategic objectives that reflect the UN’s comparative advantage, focusing on areas where the UN system can best add value, it is envisioned that the UNDAF will contribute to Malawi’s future while also enhancing the relevance and credibility of the UN in Malawi. Recognizing that the UN is, by no means, the only contributor to Malawi’s development trajectory, developing new and existing partnerships and synergies will be a central component of the successor UNDAF, not only between UN agencies, but also between the UN and the various stakeholders operating across the development spectrum in Malawi. A robust UNDAF will outline the UNs strengths, pulling together responses to the challenges facing Malawi in a holistic manner. The UNDAF will translate the global and regional goals into localized implementable priorities to support coordinated action on all three dimensions of sustainability i.e. economic, social and environmental. Additionally, cross-sectoral interventions will be recognized as an enabler to the achievement of leaving no-one behind, not only to foster cohesion, but to inclusively engage stakeholders, at all levels, to advance evidence based policies and programmes and to reach the most vulnerable. All programmes within the UNDAF will emphasize the application of universal standards, principles and values, including Malawi’s international human rights obligations. The conceptualization of the universality of principles will demand greater partnering; increased public engagement; knowledge sharing and data transparency; more institutional openness and innovation. These factors will test how fit the UN in Malawi is for the universal agenda. From strategic planning, through identification of needs, selecting and testing appropriate methodologies, concluding in holistic analysis and design, the UNDAF will focus on achieving the human rights of the most marginalized population groups first. Reaching the last mile will necessitate a more precise understanding of the structural drivers of deprivation, exclusion, and discrimination. Essential to achieving the SDGs, the UNDAF will include a robust data strategy emphasizing an increase in the frequency, quality and use of data, allowing for further integration across sectors and informing programme interventions. The UNDAF data strategy will ensure stronger disaggregated data to improve targeting of interventions which impact the most vulnerable groups including girls, women, migrants, refugees, older persons, persons with disabilities and minorities and identify where additional resources are needed. Finally, it should be noted that the UNDAF should not be a collection of agency specific mandates. Rather, the UNs medium term plan should be a realistic outline of how the UN intends to Deliver as One in Malawi. Consequentially, the UNDAF will show where the One UN in Malawi can bring its unique strengths to bear in advocacy, capacity development, programming, and cutting edge knowledge, innovation and policy advice, among others, for the achievement of internationally agreed standards and national development goals. |
