Foreword by the Resident Representative

Since 1965, the United Nations Development Programme acted as a major development partner to the Government of Saudi Arabia with a multitude of projects, across many practice areas, always based along the nation’s development needs. UNDP has across the years been the number one partner to Saudi Arabia in the formulation of its national development plans. UNDP’s strong partnership with both the government and civil society stems from the fact that is a knowledge-based organization capable of tapping into its Global Development Network in support of Human Development and the MDGs.

2010 proved to be a continued success for UNDP and Saudi Arabia as partners in their efforts to achieve the Mil-lennium Development Goals (MDGs) and other Internationally Agreed Development Goals (IADG). UNDP has worked in over 190 countries in various contexts from Least Developed Countries and Middle-Income Countries to Net Contributing Countries such as Saudi Arabia. UNDP operations are anchored in the development priorities and plans of programme countries. National ownership constitutes the foundation of our work. Provisions of policy advice, technology transfer and capacity development throughout the years contributed to the success of several projects that were implemented by the government with the support of UNDP at the national and local levels. All efforts aiming to assist the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in the implementation of the coun¬try’s long term vision for development. 

UNDP is eager to support the country in its plans towards economic diversification, supporting regional balance and specialization, spread benefits of growth, infrastructure and access to public services across the country. Expanded trade and foreign direct investment are viewed as a preferred way of achieving economic diversification, improving competitiveness and providing jobs. UNDP thus strives to support new capacities for expansion of knowledge economy and service sector including tourism and IT. It will continue its support to achieve a sustainable development and stands ready to support new capacities for energy conservation and renewable energy; new technologies and policies and centers of excellence for research and development. UNDP’s forte lies in the vast experience it has globally in terms of providing in-depth analysis of environmental vulnerability and risks particularly as related to issues of climate change, water and waste, and the elaboration of strategies to develop sustainability measures.  Social empowerment, support to national development plans and policies including macro-economic planning, monitoring indicator systems linked to MDGs reporting and National HDRs through urban observatories have also been the backbone of our work on the ground in KSA. A recent contribution of UNDP in Saudi Arabia has been our assistance in the formulation of the rural development strategy and sustainable social service provision as well as the development of youth capabilities and capacities to implement National Youth Strategy and women economic empowerment

This newsletter was prepared by the UNDP in Saudi Arabia Country Office to highlight UNDP achievements and latest news.  Our aim is to familiarize our partners, counterparts and the public with current development issues with emphasis on UNDP’s support to overcome challenges. Fi¬nally, UNDP’s efforts have been and will be dedicated to ensure sustainable develop¬ment in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.        

Dr. Riyad Musa
UNDP Resident Representative
UN Resident Coordinator  

Amat Alsoswa Visit to the Kingdom  

 

 

The United Nations system launched on the 8th of June 2011, a global campaign called “Stigma Fuels HIV” aimed to create awareness and to fight against HIV related stigma and discrimination. The UN system strives to become a model workplace in regard to HIV and for this reason it provides continuing training to its employees about HIV prevention, treatment and care options; and it has adopted advanced policies that ensure a fair and respectful environment. “Stigma and discrimination are worse than HIV itself. These negative attitudes fuel the transmission of HIV and have greatly increased the negative impact associated with the epidemic. The UN strives to be an inclusive and respectful place for everyone; and we want all of our employees and family members to feel accepted and to be aware of HIV” says Dr. Riyad Musa Al-Ahmad the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Saudi Arabia.   HIV-related stigma can have the effect of preventing both HIV-positive and HIV-negative personnel from seeking necessary services, with the potential for a negative impact on their health and productivity.

 

On April 2011, UNDP launched a new project with Prince Sultan Fund for Women Development ( PSFW) in Khobar (Eastern Province). PSFW was founded by Prince Mohammed bin Fahd in 2007, to support women small enterprises nationally, as a financially independent non-profit organization, the fund provides technical and financial support to f women, as well as women’s small existing projects. The signed pioneer project falls under the Women Empowerment Practice area is funded by the Gender Thematic Trust Fund and Democratic Governance Thematic Trust Fund (GTTF 2011) for a period of two years starting April 2011, with a budget of US$ 200,000. The project main objective is to provide advisory and capacity development support to help achieve their goal of expanding access of women to livelihood opportunities. The approach taken is one of “governance for poverty reduction “cooperating to support inclusion of women in mainstream economic activities in the country and enhance independence.  The project will support both capacity assessments for (PSFW), institutional and individual capacity development activities, to provide empowerment trainings to women and girls towards development of entrepreneurial skills, marking their roles and inputs in various fields - cultural, economical and social.  There are a variety of expected results by 2011- 2012:  a. Institutional capacities required for PSFW to deliver its mandate of nurturing women businesses and leadership developed.  b. Empowering Saudi women as an income-earner and a decision-maker mobilizing and utilizing all available and potential resources through PSF institutional and individual capacity development.  c. Identify and train 20 women to be future trainers by developing their strengths and approaches of leadership skills.