Cape Verde Transition Fund

Overview

In January 2006, in response to the Triennial Comprehensive Policy Review (TCPR) and ECOSOC the Executive Committee of the United Nations Development Group (UNDP, UNFPA, UNICEF and WFP) and the Government of Cape Verde established a Joint Office for the United Nations Funds and Programmes in Cape Verde. The primary objectives were to achieve a more coherent Programme delivery at the country level and to achieve a significant reduction in the administrative and procedural costs of the organizations to their national partners.

In November 2006, the Cape Verde Government reiterated its commitment to pursue the reform efforts by moving from the Joint Office to “Delivering as One” pilot within the context of the High Level Panel (HLP) on UN System-Wide Coherence and the Spirit of the Paris Declaration. Since the beginning of 2007, Cape Verde is piloting the concept of “Delivering as One” as proposed by the HLP, but tailored to the national context.

As many of the elements of the “Delivering as One” were already present in the Joint Office of the four Ex Com Agencies, the process was agreed to focus on the programmatic aspect of the “Delivering as One”, making the “One Programme” the main goal to enlarge the UNCT to include Non-Resident Agencies in addition to the two non Joint Office Resident Agencies, FAO and WHO, under a common development document based on new emerging national priorities. The "One Programme” 2008-2010 and its related budgetary framework are aimed primarily at addressing the implications of the Graduation of Cape Verde from the group of Least Developed Countries and vulnerabilities related to this and to attain the MDGs by 2015.

Thus, the focus is to ensure a guiding framework and common understanding between UN Agencies working in the country, according to the UNDAF priorities for the period 2006-2010, and in line with the Government’s request to implement the “Delivering as One” concept in Cape Verde. The “One Programme” is being developed to achieve the overall goal of UN strategic support to accelerate the country’s development and transition, especially after its Graduation from the LDC group in January 2008. The One Programme is composed by (9) sub-programmes led (in alphabetical order) by: UNCTAD, UNDP, UNESCO, UNFPA, UNICEF, UNIDO, UNODC and WHO.

Following the various UNCT retreats in 2007, the UNCT agreed to establish the Transition Fund to support the implementation of the One UN Programme during 2008. The Transition Fund is governed by its Terms of Reference that may be revised to reflect the dynamic nature of the UN in Cape Verde.

The Cape Verde Transition Fund is administered by the Multi-Donor Trust Fund (MDTF) Office of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in accordance with its financial regulations and rules.