President Shein Launches Zanzibar Joint Programme

The United Nations Tanzania officially launched the Zanzibar Joint Programme (ZJP) on August 28th in partnership with the Revolutionary Government of Zanzibar. The ZJP was launched by the President of Zanzibar and the Chairman of Revolutionary Council, H.E. Dr. Ali Mohamed Shein at the Idris Abdul Wakil Hall, former House of Representatives, and it attracted more than 250 participants from government, the UN, civil society, youth and the general public.

Currently nine UN agencies are participating in the ZJP, namely, the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO); the International Labour Organization (ILO); the International Organization for Migration (IOM); the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP); the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA); the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF); the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO); UN Women and the World Health Organization (WHO). The ZJP is comprised of these nine agencies working across four themes: Maternal and Newborn Health; Women’s Economic Empowerment through Seaweed Value Chain Development; Ending Violence Against Women and Children; and Capacity Building for SDG Coordination and Reporting.

Speaking at the launch, President Shein said: “It suffices to mention that the UN has remained steadfast in its support of the Government plans to improve education, health, infrastructure, gender equality, good governance, environment; and many other sectors.” He added, “We say thanks to all the UN agencies for the support they provide to us. Let me reiterate our commitment to work closely and productively with the UN agencies to ensure that, together, we achieve our mission and vision to improve the well- being of the people of Zanzibar and the United Republic of Tanzania in general.”

On his part the UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Representative, Mr. Alvaro Rodriguez noted that “We appreciate the efforts made by the Revolutionary government of Zanzibar to work closely with us to develop the Zanzibar Joint Programme. The UN commits continuous support to the government and the people of Zanzibar in achieving Zanzibar Vision 2020 and the SDGs.”

The day before the launch, government officials, Heads and Representatives of UN Agencies, journalists and other stakeholders, took part in field visits to three UN projects. They first visited a group of FAO-supported women’s seaweed farmers in Paje village located on the East Coast of Zanzibar. This was followed by a visit to a UNICEF-supported Police Gender and Children’s Desk in Mahonda, North B District of Unguja. The final field visit was to the Civil Registration and Vital Statistics authority which has received support from UNFPA and UNDP.

Prior to the launch, the UN and the Tanzania Editors Forum (TEF) conducted Zonal Media Training for 18 journalists from Zanzibar and Pemba. The aim of the workshop was to build the capacity of journalists to better be able to understand and report on UN interventions in Zanzibar especially on the Zanzibar Joint Programme (ZJP). Additionally, the workshop enhanced journalists’ ability to report on development in the context of achieving the Global Goals in a way that highlights the best practices being implemented as well as challenges that communities are still experiencing. The ZJP is currently supported by Canada, Japan, Sweden, Norway and other existing funds from UN agencies. The Programme has a total budget of USD 33.8M out of which USD 6.5M is funded so far.