Praia [Cape Verde], February 25: The Joint Cooperation Plan for 2025 between Cape Verde and the United Nations is set to have a budget of 20 million U.S. dollars, the UN Resident Coordinator in Cape Verde Patricia Portela announced Monday in Praia.
She made the statement during the first meeting of the steering committee for "One UN in Cape Verde 2025," which resulted in the signing of the Joint Cooperation Plan. The document was signed by Portela and the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation Miryam Vieira.
The plan focuses on six priority areas, including digital transformation, energy transition, social inclusion, and environmental sustainability.
Reviewing the progress made in 2024, Portela highlighted "visible gains" in key areas, notably the eradication of poverty through support for the expansion of the Unified Social Registry.
Last year's plan also facilitated Cape Verde's inclusion in the Labor and Social Protection Accelerator, with various actions undertaken by UN agencies, funds, and programs to advance the goal of eradicating extreme poverty by 2026, according to Portela.
"In the health sector, we emphasize the expansion of access to primary healthcare services, recalling that in 2022, these services reached 69 percent of the population," she noted.
By 2024, 81 percent of Cape Verde's population had access to primary healthcare services, with a target of 91 percent by 2027, she added.
Other achievements of the 2024 plan included support for the development of a digital transition strategy in education, the new Statute on Children and Adolescents, the expansion of marine protected areas, improvements in environmental management practices, the strengthening of agricultural value chains, access to water for approximately 26,000 people, and a 20 percent increase in resources allocated to gender-related issues.
Source: Xinhua
