
By UNDP Eritrea,
THE Government of the State of Eritrea and the UN system signed the Strategic Partnership Cooperation Framework (SPCF) 2013- 2016 in 2013 to enhance the wellbeing of the people of Eritrea. The primary aim of the SPCF is to support the most vulnerable, through rapid, balanced, home-grown and sustainable economic growth.
The Framework is organized around Eritrea’s stated national priorities, which are to ensure basic social services, develop national capacity, promote food security and sustainable livelihoods, support environmental sustainability and foster gender equity and the advancement of women. Each priority area is closely tied to the related Millennium Development Goals and further elaborated into eight desired outcomes.
UNDP’s activities in Eritrea are organized by the agency’s Global Strategic Plan for 2014-2017, which prioritizes two areas of work: sustainable development pathways and inclusive and effective democratic governance. Therefore, UNDP’s Country Programme in Eritrea focuses on five (5) of the (8) SPCF outcomes, in line with this global strategy, as illustrated in the adjacent graphic.
Already, UNDP has recorded substantial achievements under the SPCF, including in the areas of national capacity development for stronger data collection and analysis; sustainable livelihoods and crisis recovery; environmental sustainability and gender equality and the empowerment of women.

.
UNDP in Eritrea
The vision of the new UNDP Strategic Plan 2014 – 2017 is to help countries achieve simultaneous eradication of poverty and significant reduction of inequalities and exclusion. UNDP’s newly designed main areas of development work will focus on adopting sustainable development pathways; building and/or strengthening inclusive and effective democratic governance; and building resilience.
In Eritrea, UNDP has been an important development partner for more than two decades. Country office activities began in Eritrea in 1992 and were formalized in 1994. Over these last 22 years, UNDP has worked to meet the needs of all Eritreans by working closely with the Government to meet its development objectives.
2013 marked a milestone for UN cooperation in Eritrea. The Government and the UN system signed the Strategic Partnership Cooperation Framework 2013-2016 and later the same year the partners came together to commemorate the UN Day for the first time in several years. These developments have paved the way for broader, deeper programming around a range of priority areas.
As a leading development agency in Eritrea, UNDP is well positioned within the Strategic Partnership Cooperation Framework to support the Government in five key areas:
• National capacity development;
• Gender equity and the advancement of women;
• Food security and sustainable livelihoods;
• Crisis prevention and recovery; and
• Environmental sustainability