Foreword
The Common Country Assessment (CCA) presents the United Nations assessment and analysis of key development challenges in meeting national development priorities and achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in the Maldives. This document is the product of an extensive consultation process between the United Nations (UN), the Government, communities, NGOs and other development partners.
The CCA builds on and draws extensively from the draft 7th National Development Plan as well as sectoral plans and strategies. The assessment and analysis were undertaken with the national development priorities as a starting point and with the comparative advantage of UN agencies in mind, so as to determine the national priority areas where the UN will offer its support for the period 2008-2010. An attempt has been made to analyze, to the extent possible, the development challenges from the perspective of the rights-based approach, applying the principles of recognizing, respecting, promoting and fulfilling the fundamental rights of the Maldivian people.
The consultations with stakeholders offered substantial insights on the developmental challenges facing the Maldives and how these can best be addressed. The consultations strongly highlighted the challenges of employment and of protection of the most vulnerable in the society, in particular women, youth and children. Furthermore, while the Maldives has made considerable progress towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals on health, nutrition and education, the need to make further progress in these areas also emerged as priority challenges.
In the area of Governance, the thematic consultations particularly highlighted the public demand for reform in the governance processes as well as the low engagement of civil society. In that regard, the UN is much encouraged by the September 2006 accession of the Republic of the Maldives to the International Covenant on the Civil, Political and Human Rights and the Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights which brings great promise that the continued promotion and fulfillment of these fundamental freedoms will be a high priority in the months and years to come.
The protection of the environment, adaptation to climate change and disaster preparedness were confirmed to be amongst the fundamental challenges for the future of the Maldives, which has been brought forth by the devastating tsunami of December 2004 from which the country is still recovering.
The assessment and analysis of the CCA was discussed in a retreat with participation of key development partners to come up with priority areas for the United Nations Development Assistance Framework for 2008-2010. The UNDAF process has produced a consensus that in support of the four main sectors of the National Development Plan, the UN Country Team will focus its assistance on improving Social and Economic Equity, Governance, Environment Management and Disaster Risk Reduction, with a particular focus on the most vulnerable such as women, youth and children. It is the hope and conviction of the UN that our support and partnership will enable the Maldives to make further strides towards reaching these fundamental development goals.