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UNDP encourages Govt to optimise development funds

COURTESY … United Nations Development Programme country director Alka Bhatia and president Nangolo Mbumba. Photo: UNDP

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has encouraged the government to optimise development funding.

During a recent courtesy visit between the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) country resident Alka Bhatia and president Nangolo Mbumba requested for development agencies to do what it takes to help the country develop.

Mbumba asked development agencies in the country to do more serious work in creating jobs, solving humanitarian problems, like the ongoing drought, as well as to drive development projects.

“Yes, we have conferences. A conference for women, a conference for children, but that does not help anybody to feed their child, or to find a blanket for their mattress,” he said.

“If you have the resources, you do those things. But I want us to be very straightforward in what needs to be done, it is to solve the real problems of ordinary citizens. “They are crying for services. We have to help one another, not with advice, but with work,” the president emphasised.

Bhatia said some ministries may have some challenges with implementation.

“There’s enough strategies, but how do you move from that strategy to the implementation?” she asked the president.

Bhatia said for the last several years, ministries have not used the funds optimally.

“The development expenditure is not fully utilised by the ministries,” she said.

During the discussion, Bhatia said the UNDP plans to inject N$727 million (U$40 million) into Namibia over a period of five years.

said this might be a “drop in the ocean.”

However, Bhatia said:

“Yes, it may be a drop in the ocean, but I think if optimised, it can actually go a long way.”

WRONG TREE

Economist Omu Kakujaha-Matundu believes Mbumba is talking to the wrong organisation.

“It is true that resources are needed to implement the research recommendations. But, I think the president is barking up the wrong tree,” Kakujaha-Matundu said.

He argues that most of these agencies commission important research.

“Socio-economic advice sprouting out of that research is indispensable in economic development. What matters is the quality of the research and the policy advice that emanates from such research,” he says.

He says the government should use policy advice offered by UN agencies to mobilise resources at home and abroad, rather than castigating the UN agencies for not providing the resources.

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