OneUN
in the Maldives Newsletter
Issue 13
October - December 2013
Message from the Resident Coordinator, Mr Tony E. Lisle In 2010 the UN System signed the United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF) with the Government of Maldives that outlines the UN's support to the country for the period 2011-2015. The UNDAF framework focuses on coordinating development assistance and activities in areas where the UN has comparative advantage. It is structured around four main pillars - Social Equity, Democratic Governance, Poverty and Environment and Gender – which corresponds to eight national development objectives. An UNDAF Action Plan was also developed as a common operation and management tool for the delivery of UNDAF results. An UNDAF Mid-Term Review (MTR) commenced with the agreement and partnership of Government in early 2013. Preliminary findings of the review show that the UNDAF remains broadly relevant to the needs of the Maldives when assessed against national priorities and emerging trends based on new data and evidence. The situation analysis carried out as part of the MTR has shown that while Maldives has made solid progress towards achieving most of the MDGs, there are areas that require intensified attention, notably urban poverty, gender, malnutrition, youth unemployment and environmental sustainability.
UN Resident Coordinator Mr. Tony E. Lisle
The UNDAF Action Plan is being revised to align with the key findings and recommendations of the MTR. The revised Action Plan identifies priority development assistance areas where tangible results can be achieved over the next two years. UN agencies will continue to dialogue with their implementing partners over the next month to review proposed changes, make adjustments and prepare for the high level UN-government and partner validation meeting scheduled for December 2013. The results of the MTR and the validation process will give the necessary impetus to accelerate activities identified in the UNDAF Action Plan which will support national efforts to consolidate and sustain MDG progress while at the same time intensify support and partnerships over the next two years that aim to intensify action to address goals where there are signs of regression. Let me take this opportunity to appreciate our partnerships and collaboration with government, civil society and the private sector in realising the UN's collective contributions to the country's development priorities as we continue to “Deliver as One”.
CONTENTS 2. BCC Campaign on Maternal and Child Nutrition 3.Family planning is at the heart of UNFPA’s work 4. Evidence-Based Strategic Plan for Health Workforce 5. Disaster Risk Management project with Government 6. Child-Centred Disaster Risk Reduction (CCDRR) 7. Partnering for success 8. Timeline: Domestic Violence Act Advocacy 9.IOM Establishes its Presence in the Republic of Maldives10.IOM Current Projects in Maldives 11. UN RC, WHO Representative and UNOPS Country Manager Meet the President 12. Young Migrants Move Development Forward 13. SAARC-UNICEF Policy Dialogue on Adolescents 13. Drug and HIV/AIDS Prevention among young people 14.Maldives: Preserving biodiversity while starting businesses
Stakeholder consultations for BCC campaign Photo:UNICEF
UNDAF Outcome 1 Targeted groups have equitable access to preventive and essential health care services and nutrition.
Behaviour Change Communication Campaign on Maternal and Child Nutrition In the Maldives, there is a vital need to focus on the current national nutrition situation in order to improve the well-being of mothers and children.
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UNICEF in collaboration with the Health Protection Agency of Ministry of Health is undertaking the work of designing and developing a Mother and Child Nutrition Guide and Manual for the purpose of supporting dietary behaviour changes of mothers, children and families. The content will be developed in a manner that enhances and strengthens communication messages related to nutrition including specific Behavior Change Communication (BCC) interventions to promote maternal and child nutrition. The Guide will be available for all women of childbearing age, parents, and caregivers of children 0-5 years. In addition, a separate manual for health care workers will be developed based on the contents of the Guide in order to help build capacity of health care providers at community level. Caregivers who obtain the Guide at antenatal care /or growth monitoring sessions will be linked to trained health workers who will support and direct families on the use of the Guide. The BCC guidelines will focus on optimal infant and young child feeding practices, the increase of micronutrient intake through change in dietary behaviours and food choices, and address specific and common dietary practices in Maldives such as delayed breakfast, lack of appetite for local fruits and vegetables, and rise in consumption of imported processed foods and drinks high in sugar and caffeine. Stakeholder consultations are currently taking place with health care providers, schools, and parents and the draft material will be pretested with caregivers and nutrition service providers. The Guide and Manual are expected to be finalized by the end of the year and launched in early 2014.
The workshop on Quality of Care and Clinical Guidelines for Counseling in Family Planning at Marble Hotel in Male', held from 19th to 22nd August 2013, was an initiative by UNFPA; conducted in collaboration with Health Protection Agency of the Ministry of Health. This interactive workshop was facilitated by Dr. Vinit Sharma; Regional Advisor at UNFPA Asia Pacific Regional Office in Bangkok. The workshop served as a platform for healthcare providers already working in family planning services at various levels from across the nation to refresh their knowledge and exercise their skills as well as familiarize with new tools and guidelines on Family Planning counseling. This is one in many continuous efforts by UNFPA to improve quality of family planning services and information. It is anticipated that some trained providers will be used as master trainers to conduct simliar trainings at island and atoll levels. In the close-knit island communities of ours, there is a significant disparity between the demand for family planning and having access to it. The paper ICPD and Beyond: Achievements and Challenges in the Maldives highlights a number of challenges in the area of Reproductive Health and Rights that Maldives continues to face. The maternal death audits show that the unmet need in the older age group and amongst high parity women is a key concern. The paper notes that changing socio-cultural attitudes towards reproductive health and gender equality is necessary in order to ensure full protection of human rights and in particular reproductive rights. According to Demographic and Health Survey of 2009, 1 in 4 people has an unmet need for modern methods of contraception, and every 6 in 10 (60%) married women either want no more children or want to delay at least 2 years before their next child. Some of the challenges to improve quality of services have been due to the lack of institutional capacity to plan, implement, evaluate and manage the services both nationally and sub-nationally. A rigorous effort to revitalize family planning is essential to meet the unmet need for contraception and to reduce contraceptive discontinuation rates which can have an impact on the overall wellbeing of women as well as reducing maternal deaths and disabilities, unintended pregnancies and abortion complications. There is irrefutable and urgent need to improve the quality of care and counseling in family planning services in Maldives. The workshop is one step closer to this achieving this goal.
UNFPA Family Planning Strategy CHOICES NOT CHANCE UNFPA delivers a world where every pregnancy is wanted, every birth is safe and every young person's potential is fulfilled. Delivering universal access to family planning within the overall context of efforts to promote sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights is an essential step towards this future. For the next eight years, the UNFPA Family Planning Strategy 2012-2020, Choices not Chance, will align UNFPA's work across its sub-regional, regional and global levels to facilitate, promote and support efforts in program countries. This will strengthen ongoing actions to reposition and revitalize rights-based family planning within the broader, developmental context of the ICPD Programme of Action, the Millennium Development Goals and the upcoming Post-2015 development agenda. It will position UNFPA in support of countries' efforts to reduce unmet need for family planning, increase contraceptive prevalence rates, and reduce inequities in access to and use of family planning services and supplies.
Newsletter I Issue 13 I October - December 2013
Family planning is at the heart of UNFPA’s work
UNDAF Outcome 1.3 Enhanced equitable access of men, women and young people to sexual and reproduictive health services
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Workshop on Quality of Care and Clinical Guidelines for Counseling in Family Planning Photo: UNFPA
UNDAF Outcome 1 Targeted groups have equitable access to preventive and essential health care services and nutrition.
Evidence-Based Strategic Plan for Health Workforce, Republic of Maldives (2013 -2018)
Human Resources for Health (HRH) is a crucial component and pillar of a health system.In order to provide access to qualified and efficient health services to the entire population, HRH of an adequate quantity and necessary skill mix is required, and HRH should be equitably distributed, well supported and sufficiently motivated. The World Health Report 2006 – “Working Together for Health�, reveals an estimated shortage of almost 4.3 million doctors, midwives, nurses and support workers worldwide. The First Global Forum on HRH by the Global Health Workforce Alliance (GHWA) agreed on a policy document to provide due guidance to countries through its six interacting strategies. This document, the Kampala Declaration and Agenda for Global Action, focuses on all stages of the health workers' career lifespan from entry to health training, to job recruitment through to retirement.
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Maldives is not among the 57 countries facing serious shortage of health workforce. The past successes of Maldives in public health were possible due to a strong Government commitment to primary health care (PHC) principles putting community health workers at the core of health promotion and PHC delivery. In recent years, the tangible shift towards curative care brought new challenges, prompting the Government of Maldives to put a greater focus and emphasis on health workforce' development, deployment and management. By achieving a better HRH management and development strategy, the Ministry of Health (MOH) is expecting to ensure that all Maldivians have equitable access to comprehensive health services provided by a competent and professional health workforce.4The current issues of sustaining the health workforce of good quality and equitable distribution are rooted in the country's unique situation. It is highly dependent on expatriate workforce to cater it's health delivery across 194 inhabited islands, all Maldivian doctors receive their medical education abroad in the absence of medical college in the country and with high mobility of staff it is difficult to retain adequate skill-mix in the islands. The National HRH Plan (2001-2010) was implemented by MOH aiming to solve HRH issues over the recent past.5MOH have made significant progress in expanding and upgrading the regional, atoll and health center level facilities, and in increasing the number of local and expatriate HRH as planned. However, recent health system reforms and significant changes in international markets have made the HRH problems persist. Since HRH challenges concern many stakeholders, solving such a complex issue needs a well thought out strategic plan resulting from intense policy dialogue among the related actors. Thus the MOH sought the development of a structured approach to analyze the HRH
situation and plan a strategy. This strategic plan would a) guide MOH action in securing support for HRH development, b) provide a framework for making consistent decisions for planning human resources and their capacity building, c) help monitor MOH actions on HRH development and management, d) identify gaps in the system that needs to be addressed, and e) help estimate costs of human resource training and deployment. In turn, the HRH strategic plan would help in securing better finances from the national budget by prioritizing HRH as a critical area with documented evidence. The MOH, with the support of WHO and other partners, engaged in the development of an evidence-based strategy to ensure availability of quality human resources that is adequate to cater for health services that meet the needs of the people of Maldives.6
The assessment of the current HRH situation is the first stage in this undertaking which goes hand-in-hand with other complex analysis of health systems and health sector reform processes, such as analysis of health financing and costs of basic service delivery, as well as availability of essential drugs and supplies. The HRH situational analysis is currently being undertaken by the team of national and international experts under the leadership of the MOH. The analysis involves inputs from a multi-stakeholder reviews, discussions, consultations and interviews of key decision makers, accreditation body, academia, health service providers and prospective students, and communities in addition to the review of literature, reports and records. The HRH conceptual framework helps to develop a common understanding of the approach used for the situational analysis, which considers external and internal factors which result in availability, distribution, skill mix, quality, performance and retention of the required workforce. This analysis is the first step and its results will feed into the development of the 2014-2018 Strategic Plan for HRH in Maldives.
Government and UNDP sign project to address disaster risk management in the Maldives Project will assist in developing people strengthening systems and partnerships
UNDP Maldives Resident Representative, Tony Lisle, highlighted on the importance of multistakeholder involvement, as well as increased expectations in capacity that come along with the newly acquired status of Middle Income Country by the Maldives. “I hope that the project will address the critical gaps in disaster risk reduction, and will facilitate strategic steps forward in the area of disaster risk reduction and management in the country,” Tony Lisle said. Since the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami, the Maldives has achieved improvements in disaster risk reduction, which has provided important building blocks towards enhancement of national capacities. This includes the integration of disaster risk reduction in the humanitarian emergency and early recovery interventions, and setting the foundation for developing institutional and governance capacities for disaster risk reduction and management, including the creation of the
DRM Project to address critical gaps in disaster risk reduction Photo: Project signing ceremony, UNDP
The project will support The establishment of the institutional and legal systems for disaster risk reduction and effective disaster risk reduction organizations/ institutions. Strengthening of the end-to-end early warning systems and implementation of public awareness campaigns and knowledge building on disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation. Increasing community capacities for disaster preparedness for effective response. Involving multi-stakeholder engagement Assessing and strengthening the capacities of the NDMC as the lead national institution on disaster risk reduction and disaster risk management and coordination.
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The "Enhance National Capacity for Disaster Risk Reduction and Management in Maldives”, project will be funded to the tune of US $ 400,000 by the UNDP Bureau for Crisis Prevention and Recovery (BCPR). “As we transitioned from response to recovery after the tsunami nearly nine years ago, we began to realize how unprepared we were for such contingencies. The shortage of trained individuals and the lack of institutions, systems and mechanism were evident to everybody,” said the Minister of Defence and National Security, Colonel (Rtd) Mohamed Nazim, speaking at the ceremony. The project is a capacity development initiative for disaster risk reduction and management. It is geared towards helping the Government of Maldives to strengthen its disaster risk reduction and management capacity, enhance national and local preparedness and reduce risks, and achieve its global commitment to the Hyogo Framework for Action and the Millennium Development Goals.
National Disaster Management Centre (NDMC) - a nodal agency for disaster risk reduction and management in the country. An early warning system has also been established in the country, capacitating the Maldives Meteorological Services. A number of island communities have developed disaster preparedness capacities through Community Based Disaster Risk Reduction and Management techniques. Disaster risk profiling, vulnerability and risk assessments, and DRR has been mainstreamed into schools and building codes. UNDP assisted in these processes, as well as supported the drafting of the initial disaster management bill. This fed into the formulation of the Maldives National Disaster Management Bill, which is currently ready for submission to the Parliament.
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The National Disaster Management Centre (NDMC) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) signed a project to address disaster risk management in the Maldives on 28 July 2013.
Child-centered approaches to DRR can help ensure that the specific risks faced by children are addressed. Photo: UNICEF
UNDAF Outcome 9 Enhanced capacities at national and local levels to support low carbon lifestyles, climate change adaptations, and disaster risk reduction
Child-Centred Disaster Risk Reductions (CCDRR) Conflict, disasters and fragility are most likely to leave devastating effects on the lives of vulnerable groups especially children. In some cases, these are risks faced exclusively by children – such as disruption to schooling, protection issues and certain health risks – and in others, risks that will be felt differently by children than other segments of the population.
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This highlights the importance of ensuring that the risks to children are central to disaster risk reduction (DRR) programming. Child-centered approaches to DRR can help ensure that the specific risks faced by children can be addressed. For example, action that focuses on ensuring that children can still attend school, in spite of the impacts of a climate-related disaster, is essential to making sure children can still have their right to education fulfilled in the context of a changing climate. UNICEF is supporting the Ministry of Education in the development of a child-centred disaster risk reduction (CCDRR) approach for the Education Sector in the Maldives. , The objective is to plan steps to reduce disaster risk, climate change and natural hazard impacts on the lives and development of children. The plan will include CC DRR which means putting children at the heart of DRR, institutionalize child centred DRR within the Ministry of Education (MoE). In addition work will continue to promote education in emergencies (EiE) where MoE will be equipped to respond to school emergencies and safeguard continuous quality education as well as advocate the importance of DRR, climate change impacts and emergencies amongst schools.
Partnering for success
Volunteers prepare for a 16 day activism ’activity. Photo: UNFPA
1 in 3 women in Maldives between ages 15 – 49 go through some form of physical/sexual abuse in her life. Governed by an age old culture of patriarchy limiting women's participation in socio-economic activities, men are seen to be dominant players both within family and outside home. Often bearing an unequal weight in family responsibilities it is evident that women's contribution to the family and economic developed are often underestimated, if not ignored. Dependency on the spouse or partner has clearly aggravated the situation and added to this misfortune is the statistical evidence of their vulnerability to domestic violence. This is continuing even today….but until when? A call for a fight, a fight for a cause, the “16 day activism” in Maldives finally shone the beacon of hope on one of the most important issues in the society; gender based violence. In a society where women's voice has yet to bear some weight, never before has the issue been more evident since the first event was organized in the country just 3 years ago. Both men and women participated from all walks of life, all for the same cause and speaking with one voice. Eventually activism it had to be, in order that voices and concerns strike the general public's conscience. Through peaceful walks, community theatre acts and theme songs, the noise created through collective efforts of the volunteers is gradually making a difference. It finally worked; the campaign not only initiated the very first open dialogues but also gave an impetus to the unfailing efforts of many passionate individuals who were finally able to express their concerns. The campaign brought many rights based NGOs, the government sector and individuals calling for commitments in addressing gender based violence which lead to the parliamentary endorsement of the country's first Domestic Violence Act condemning domestic violence as a crime. It is a milestone that lays the basis for all future legislative and criminal procedures involving cases of domestic violence and led to the establishment of the first ever Family Protection Unit. The partnership efforts in the events that led to the DV Act sets an example to focusing on an issue that requires much attention in the Maldivian society. It is not about religion or politics, but about basic human rights. UNFPA country office, UN Women and a handful of like minded individuals working together under the name Gender Advocacy Working Group joined hands to push their efforts in addressing domestic violence. Today, thanks to this partnership, the annual 16 days of activism is participated by a large group of people making the event, the annual peak of concerted efforts in addressing domestic violence in the country.
Timeline
Domestic Violence Act Advocacy
2012
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2011
2010
16 Days of Activism Domestic Violence bill was drafted and submitted to the parliament. A group of gender advocates consisting of NGO representatives, UN agencies, government officials, state institutions such as Human Rights Commission, media and like minded rights activists got together to conduct a 2 day workshop to draft comments to the bill and this was submitted to the parliament. The group also lobbied to individual parliamentarians to push for recommendations to the bill in the parliament. With successful lobbying there was strong support to the bill from the majority of the parliamentarians from across the political divide. The same year the Thinakun Ekeh (1 in 3) Campaign started to end domestic violence in the Maldives was launched on 25 November 2010 as part of 16 days of activism. A campaign song dedicated to domestic violence called “geveshi hiya” in Dhivehi was launched and a walk around Hulhumale by strong supporters. Maldivian climbers to mount Everest walked with their backpack on to show that domestic violence is a tough struggle one goes through and its even tougher to advocate against it due to the social cultural attitudes to it stating that it should be dealt at family level. The campaign song, “geveshi hiyaa” was used widely in the media including social media to advocate for the cause. Media was used as a frequent platform to impart messages both to the public and the policy makers.
Gender Advocacy Working Group; an initiative of UNFPA was formed, consisting of people from rights based NGOs, UN staff and individual rights activists. GAWG led 16 days of activism on 1 in 3, Thinakun Ekeh on the theme Insaafu hoadhumah “getting justice”, to advocate on enacting the domestic violence bill. A 500km collaborative run around Male' was done by strong supporters of the campaign to show the strength required to get justice. Gender Advocacy Working Group members, UN staff, NGOs, fitness studios, youth and individuals joined this run to show their support to the cause and the event was covered extensively in the media. GAWG members and resource persons appeared on media throughout the 16 days to talk on the issues related to gender based violence and the urgent need to enact the domestic violence bill which was in the parliament for over a year.
The Domestic Violence Bill was enacted on April 2012 and took few months to endorse the bill and form the Family Protection Authority which is oversight body mandated to implement the Act. GAWG members also nominated technical persons to be appointed to the board and its an achievement that majority of the nominees have been appointed to the board. GAWG led 16 days of activism with UNFPA, UN Women and NGOs to mark the 16 days of activism on the theme “thinakunEkeh Hujjatheneih” , “1 in 3, “no excuse” .
RESULTS
IOM Project Manager Ms Alia Hijri delivers remarks at awareness semina Photo: IOM
The International Organization for Migration Establishes its Presence in the Republic of Maldives The Government of Maldives (GoM) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM), together with non-governmental actors, are working to combat Trafficking in Persons (TiP). The Republic of Maldives became a member state of IOM on 5 August 2011 and IOM established its presence in the country in April 2013. Since then IOM and GoM have launched a number of initiatives in the areas of TiP prevention, prosecution of perpetrators and victim protection.
There is much work ahead; hence, IOM has established a partnership with the government and proposed a comprehensive approach to provide ongoing support for two years.
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At present, Maldives is placed by the U.S. State Department on the Tier 2 watch list for a fourth consecutive year. The Maldives was granted a waiver from an otherwise downgrade to Tire 3 since the government wrote a National Plan of Action. The waiver was granted on the condition that if the National Plan of Action is implemented, this “would constitute making significant efforts to meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking” (The U.S State Department Report, 2013).
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The Republic of Maldives is a destination country for migrant workers. Some of these predominantly, unskilled men and women are subjected to forced labor and sex trafficking. A number of Maldivian children are also subjected to trafficking within the country. According to the U.S. State Department Report (2013) approximately 150,000 foreign workers, primarily from Bangladesh and India, face conditions of “forced Labor; fraudulent recruitment, confiscation of identity and travel documents, withholding or non-payment of wages and debt bondage.”
IOM Current Projects in Maldives
The goal of the project is to work with GoM and non-governmental actors to combat trafficking in the areas of prevention, prosecution, protection and partnerships. IOM will provide support to establish an anti-trafficking investigation unit; develop the capacity of police and immigration officials when conducting investigations, formulate guidelines on assisting victims of trafficking; develop standard operating procedures for a safer and more efficient identification and protection of victims and delivery of assistance, and to establish a free helpline. Throughout the project, IOM will provide continuous support with the formulation and implementation of human-trafficking policy formulation and implementation in the Maldives. Project Accomplishments to date/ upcoming activities Awareness raising seminars: On 29 January 2013, IOM's Chief of Mission made a presentation on Trafficking in Persons to Maldivian President Mohammed Waheed Hassan and the Cabinet. On the 11 June 2013, an awareness seminar on TIP was held for the media, which provided an overview of the existing problem of trafficking in the Maldives. This was followed by a discussion on the role of the media in combating the crime and assisting victims. This seminar was jointly organized by IOM, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Human Rights Commission of the Maldives and the Maldives Media Council. A series of awareness raising trainings for the prosecutors and the Employment Tribunal were conducted in August and in early September. The upcoming awareness seminars will be held for parliamentarians and the private sector. The Anti-Human Trafficking Steering Committee participated in a training session on 3 June 2013 on the Basic concepts of human trafficking and Operationalization of the Maldives Anti-Human Trafficking National Action Plan (2013-2014). The plan was endorsed by the Cabinet in February 2013. One of the significant outcomes of the Steering Committee was a detailed work plan from June to December 2013. National guidelines for victim assistance have been established to ensure that government institutions and service providers are aware of their roles and responsibilities in the identification, provision of direct assistance and reintegration of victims of human trafficking.
Project 2: Funding source: IOM DEVELOPMENT FUND The IOM Development Fund contribution to the Maldives is designed to complement the ongoing counter trafficking work in the country. The IDF project commenced in September 2013. Two of the major highlights of the project are training program and a study tour. The training is designed for frontline border control officials on the phenomenon of people smuggling and trafficking. It will also include a presentation on the international legal framework on trafficking and will address crucial job-related skills such as document examination, interview techniques, victim identification, health protection and the return and reintegration of victims of trafficking. The study tour to Bangladesh will be facilitated by IOM for senior Maldivian officers to provide exposure to existing procedures for Bangladesh labor migration with a view to possible incorporation of relevant components into the Maldivian immigration system. Other areas for discussion will be the establishment of a pre-departure screening facility for Bangladeshi labor migrants to the Maldives, including medical screening.
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Project 1. Funding Source: US Department of State Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons
IOM Awareness seminar Photo: IOM
UN RC, WHO Representative and UNOPS Country Manager meets the President Photo: President’s Office
UN Resident Coordinator, WHO Representative and UNOPS Country Manager Meet the President
Maldives' remarkable achievements in public health, such as sustained control of communicable diseases (eradication of malaria and control of poliomyelitis and other vaccine preventable diseases to name a few) and steep declines of maternal mortality and morbidity, resulting in increase in life expectancy and its quality were possible due to a sound orientation on primary health care with a dedicated workforce. Universal health coverage is synonymous to “Health for All� and the Primary Health care approach remains as ever important to cater more effective and less costly preventive interventions for safeguarding public health. Over the years, the Government of Maldives continuously demonstrated its commitment for protecting public health, ensuring equity of access to services and maintaining these achievements. With rising costs and rising health expenditures, policy considerations were to be made about how best to raise sufficient funds for healthcare, how to pool them together to spread the financial risks through
The UN Resident Coordinator and the WHO Representative of the UN agencies' commitment and continued technical and programmatic support to the health sector, especially in improving health systems orientation on preventive approaches, prophylaxis and health promotion. The UN joins efforts in building evidence and approaches for sustainable financing, strategic development of human resources and ensuring access to affordable diagnostics and medicines through centralized procurement system, which will contribute to the ability of the people of Maldives to enjoy quality universal health care.
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The meeting took place at the President's Office and discussions were held on the progress in the Maldives' health sector and the UN collaboration towards addressing universal health coverage goals of financial protection and equity of access of the Maldivian population to quality healthcare.
adequate health financing mechanisms. Maldives GDP spent on health is one of the highest in the South-East Asia Region. Yet, more expenditure does not necessarily assure more health per se and cost controls can advance technical and allocative efficiencies. Cost escalations are associated predominantly with curative care services and technological advances, demographic and epidemiological transitions with prevalent chronic diseases and high level of risk factors for noncommunicable diseases. Moreover, health care is provided by a complex and shifting combination of government and private sector entities. In such an environment, the current analysis of health systems inputs, such as health workforce, health financing and medical supply management helps to study options for re-designing health systems for its most efficient performance. The options need to be discussed and the best pathway chosen looking into holistic developmental goals of the country and aspirations of the people of Maldives for happy and healthy lives.
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The UN Resident Coordinator in Maldives Tony Lisle, WHO Representative Dr Akjemal Magtymova, and Project Centre Manager of the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS), Mr Alejandro RuizAcevedo met President of the Republic of Maldives, Dr Mohamed Waheed on 31 July 2013. Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dr Abdul Samad Abdulla, Minister of Finance, Mr Abdulla Jihad, Mrs Aishath Bisham and Mr Ahmed Thaufeeq of President's Office were present.
Young Migrants Move Development Forward Locked up in a tiny dark room with a single red light, she could not tell the difference between day and night. Thinking of the laughter at home, of her beloved children and her kind parents kept her mind distracted from what is happening here and now; the constant flow of lone visitors, Asians, Arabs, Europeans, all sorts. Lured into a malicious trap, she had no say and no way out.
Expatriate workers in Maldives. A sizable proportion of these workers are young. Photo: UNFPA
Padma is a 23-year-old Sri Lankan who left behind her children, a two-year-old and a 6month-old, to work as a maid in Maldives. With no father to support her children, the promise of US$300 monthly was an opportunity to support her family and save money to invest in her children's' future.
Padma is one out of 214 million people who migrate internationally. Over 10% of international migrants are young people and half of them are female. The often unfamiliar environment and lack of social support make young migrants, especially women and girl migrants, vulnerable to exploitation, gender-based violence, human trafficking and unwanted pregnancies. Some, like Padma, fall victim to unfamiliar environments, while others return with new skills or capital to fuel development at home.
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The full potential of young people can only be harnessed if we provide them, especially young migrants, access to education, decent work and health services, including reproductive health services. Young people constitute more than 40% of the Maldives population and a sizeable proportion of expatriate workforce in Maldives is young. As Maldives is both a receiver and emitter of young migrants, UNFPA used the opportunity of International Youth Day, celebrated on 12 August, to highlight the potential of young people and migration in Maldives. In partnership with Ministry of Human Resources, Youth and Sports and the media, youth were engaged on issues relating to young people, particularly the right to family planning services and age-appropriate sexuality education for informed choices. A myriad of informative materials were distributed including messages of UN Secretary General and UNFPA Executive Director, UNFPA's Youth Factsheet and UNDG video on youth. UNFPA engages with partners to fulfill every young person's potential, in Maldives and across the Globe.
SAARC-UNICEF Policy Dialogue on Adolescents A SAARC-UNICEF Policy Dialogue on Adolescents in South Asia was held in Kathmandu from 16 – 18th September, 2013. The event was attended by members from SAARC countries consisting of Government, NGOs, UN organizations and adolescents. UNICEF supported the participation of six delegates from the Maldives to this important meeting. The meeting was opened by a welcome speech by Mr. Ahmed Saleem, Secretary General of SAARC followed by a speech by Ms. Karin Hulshof, Regional Director of UNICEF for South Asia. In her keynote speech, titled ”Stretching the Policy Platform for Adolescents” Helen Cahill (Associate Professor, Youth Research Center of the Melbourne Graduate School of Education) outlined the various settings and domains to be understood when policy planning for adolescents is undertaken. She said “to encompass all these domains, adolescent policy must harness a whole of government through a cross-sectoral and cross-ministry approach”. It must take into account the total environment which
UNICEF and the NGO Journey are partnering in a project on drug and HIV/AIDS prevention amongst young people in three islands of the Maldives. The project aims at empowering communities to address and prevent risk factors that may lead to inappropriate behaviour and life styles if left unattended. The activities include engaging community members, training for young people on drug and HIV/AIDS prevention, parenting awareness, door-to-door information dissemination and a youth camp. A key feature of the project is stakeholder engagement including support and buy-in of the community to engage with young people on drugs and HIV/AIDS prevention. Through the activities, selected adolescents in K. Maafushi, H.Dh. Kulhudhuffushi, and L. Gan are receiving knowledge and skills required to prevent them from adopting high risk behaviour, including drug use and those that will put them at risk of HIV/AIDS. In addition, a number of parents are expected to have better skills and awareness to support youth initiatives for prevention of drug abuse and HIV/AIDS. In the island of Kulhudhuffushi, 25 adolescents and 30 parents underwent training in related subjects. In addition, 65 youth took part in the Drug and HIV awareness camp. The participants believed that the learning was invaluable in helping to make better informed choices. Challenges include limited ability and resources of the trained participants to coordinate awareness activities on their own, as well as negative attitude of some community members towards drug education. A key objective is for young people to acquire the confidence and skills to reach out to their peers on prevention mechanisms through an ability to handle peer pressure.
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Stakeholder engagement session. Photo: UNICEF
The philosophy outlined in this statement reverberated throughout the discussions that took place in the two days of discussion. At the end a Plan of Action was put together with key recommendations related to 1) Growing up healthy 2) Education and Employment and 3) Participating and becoming a responsible citizen. Upon return to the Maldives, the delegation participated in a debriefing meeting with UNICEF and the Ministry of Gender, Family and Human Rights. Issues pertinent to the Maldives were discussed and will be compiled further by a small team for discussion by a group of stakeholders.
13 OneUN in the Maldives
Drug and HIV/AIDS Prevention: helping young people to protect themselves from high risk behaviours
influences the lives of young people. To explain this she said “it must take a longitudinal perspective to influence the way in which young people shift from child to adult and then to future family builders and leaders. Adolescent policy must also take an environmental focus, attending to the impact and quality of both, the built and the natural environment as well as the social and cultural environment.”
Maldives: Preserving biodiversity while starting businesses Not long ago, Amira Sulaiman's days were consumed by housework. These days she can be found deep in concentration making traditional medicines, grinding together special ointments for massages and pain relief.
AEC grants are changing work that has long been seen as unprofitable. Traditional jobs, such as brewing herbal medicines and tapping toddy from palm trees, now provide stable income to the community.
In the small hut where she works, subtle aromas of coconut, Indian-mallow and clove waft through the air. She adjusts her burqa as she reaches out to scoop a spoonful of hilibeys – a pungent concoction of rice, coconut and exotic spices dried and ground into a fine, dark paste.
“It has shown us new perspectives, and the training they (AEC personnel) conducted has given us unique business ideas,” she says.
“This will make the backache more bearable,” she tells a middle-aged woman who recently gave birth to a baby boy. A dedicated homemaker, Amira never imagined being an entrepreneur. But her life changed after she was awarded a grant by the Atoll Ecosystem Conservation (AEC) project to start a small business. The AEC project, supported by UNDP and financed by the Global Environment Facility (GEF), was initiated to conserve the environment in and around the Baa Atoll, a group of islands in the Maldives with rich biodeversity. The ultimate aim was that the project would become a model of conservation for all atolls in the Maldives. Projects such as the AEC are being made to manage the environment and conserve the atoll's exceptional marine and coastal biodiversity. The AEC model has also contributed to shape nationwide policies that will secure and sustain rich biodiversity and ecological processes for the benefit of future generations.
HIGHLIGHTS
Newsletter I Issue 13 I October - December 2013
14 OneUN in the Maldives
Recently, Amira joined a group of women on her island of Kendhoo, part of the Baa Atoll, to produce a range of herbal remedies sold to nearby islands and atolls.
The AEC project has helped develop numerous small businesses active on the Baa Atoll, some of which have led to spin-off businesses . Thanks to the success of the AEC model, biodiversity conservation is also being considered in national planning processes. Following an extensive consultation with stakeholders and communities by the project team, the entirety of Baa Atoll was declared a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve in June 2011. In the wake of this international designation, the President of the Maldives pledged to extend the concept of the Biosphere Reserve to the entire country, which would make the Maldives the first country in the world to be fully included under a Biosphere Reserve. “Baa Atoll was a simple and poor atoll,” says Abdul Razzaq Mohamed, the retired Chief of Baa Atoll. “It is the people who made the atoll what it is today.” Eydhafushi Island is famous for textile making and weaving, while Thulhaadhoo Island is noted for fishing and organic lacquer souvenirs. The women of Kiyaadhoo Island are renowned for their skills in making rope, which they spin from dried coconut husk. The rope is still used in constructing traditional homes. These artisans of Baa Atoll used to rely on local raw materials, says the Chief, and the AEC project revived these Maldivian traditions that had fallen by the wayside. Maldivians have been coexisting with the environment for centuries, he says, and are once again beginning to take heed of it and realize the importance of conserving nature. “If we don't protect the environment that surrounds us, what is left to save us?”
The Atoll Ecosystem Conservation project is distributing grants that help traditional jobs, dependent on the environment, to be both profitable and sustainable. Following the success of UNESCO Biosphere Reserve formed in Baa Atoll in 2011, the president of the Maldives declared plans to implement the reserve plan on more than half of the islands by 2017. The project was financed with a US$ 2.73 million grant from the Global Environment Facility, and with US$1.31 million in co-finance from the Government and other partners.
CRIME
3,765 VOTERS U35 1,587
U35 1,744
C RIM
1,760
E
MALDIVES VOTES
in focus
2,005
TOP 5 PRIORITIES A good education Better healthcare Better job opportunities CRIME
Protection against crime and violence An honest and responsive government
Information as of 1 October 2013
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