LAHORE: The Punjab government and Unicef, the United Nations agency for children, have joined hands for provision of human and technical support to government partners and international non-governmental organisations for enhancing capacity building of administrative departments.

An agreement was signed by Planning and Development Board Chairman Irfan Elahi and Unicef Senior Representative in Pakistan, Angela Kearney, at a ceremony at the Planning and Development Complex here on Wednesday.

Under the 2.5-year agreement, Unicef would provide technical assistance of $37 million to the Punjab government for implementation of multiple-year work plan (MYWP) that took effect from July and would run till December 2017. To be implemented through government structures, the plan would contribute to improving the quality of life of women and children in Punjab.

The programme would focus on supporting the Punjab government in improvement of maternal and child health, improvement in sanitation, addressing stunting and malnutrition among children, reducing child mortality, polio eradication, emergency preparedness and response with a key focus on disaster risk reduction and promotion of education for all, focusing on the marginalised and disadvantaged population in the province.

Irfan Elahi acknowledged Unicef’s long partnership with the Punjab government. The continued technical and financial support by Unicef has produced results on ground, he said while pledging stronger working partnership with the organisation in the future.

Angela Kearney thanked Elahi for coordinating the development platform in the province that catalysed Unicef’s participation in the development space in promotion of realisation of children and women’s rights in the province.

She recommitted Unicef’s continued support to the government for capacity and service delivery development and strengthening while calling on provincial development partners to ensure utilisation of available resources for development.

Published in Dawn, August 6th, 2015

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