EuropaWorld 31/8/2001 UNDP In Lesotho

The United Nations Development Programme is active in a great many countries playing an active and significant part in a wide range of development activities. In this article specially written for EuropaWorld Ajuruchukwu Obi and Sekhonyana Bereng, Programme Officers with UNDP in Lesotho, describe some of the agency's activities there.

Lesotho is a small country completely surrounded by the Republic of South Africa (RSA), which plays an important role in its economy. The country only returned to democratic rule in 1993 after two decades of unrepresentative and military regimes. Five years later, in 1998, a political crisis arose from a disputed general election result. The ensuing civil strife caused extensive damage and disruption to the infrastructure and production systems culminating in an external military intervention by armed forces of the Southern African Development Community. Lesotho is now slowly recovering from the violent aftermath of these disturbances with UNDP playing a significant role in bringing normalcy to the mountain kingdom.

Next year a new general election will be held. But in a country where democracy is still fragile, the electoral process is viewed with scepticism. Voter registration is almost as important as the actual election. Earlier this month Lesotho's Independent Electoral Commission launched the voter registration process in all of the country's 80 parliamentary constituencies. All the 9 million residents of Lesotho (known as Basotho), aged 18 and above, are entitled to register, but must do so before 9 September. To the out-going UNDP Resident Representative, Edward Omotoso, who assumed office shortly before the 1998 post-electoral conflict, commencement of voter registration is the consummation of a long-drawn, and sometimes difficult, process in which UNDP played a substantial part.

UNDP supported the Electoral Commission in building a consensus for a new electoral model and a new methodology of voter registration. The agency is now coordinating the mobilisation of donor support for the electoral process itself.

A second major area in which UNDP is involved is in the economic field. A large part of Lesotho's men work in the mines of RSA and their remittances contribute about 45% of the GNP. During the period of apartheid, when South Africa was largely isolated from the world community, Lesotho was able to attract substantial overseas investment due to its unique location. Recent political changes in RSA, however, have had a dramatic impact on this situation and it is now harder to persuade investors to come to Lesotho given the competition of RSA with its much better infrastructure and growing reputation as the continent's potential engine of economic growth. Employment opportunities for migrant Basotho workers in the mines of RSA are also declining and this adds to the increasing economic challenge.

In order to overcome some of the problems and advance mutually beneficial relations, there are ongoing discussions on closer political and economic integration between the two countries, largely supported by the country's development partners, including UNDP.

In addition, UNDP has over the years given especial attention to concrete development priorities. At different times, the emphasis has moved around Agriculture, Community/Rural Development, Infrastructure, Health and Employment.

During 1991-95, UNDP, made a significant contribution towards poverty alleviation in Lesotho by providing training designed to strengthen the planning and management capability of Village and District Development Councils. This followed a long-running umbrella project that had focused on strengthening Lesotho's engineering capacity during the 1980s and early 1990s.

Since 1997 UNDP has adopted a rolling planning framework, known as the Country Cooperation Framework (CCF). This has ensured that its programmes of technical co-operation have become more aligned with the development priorities of the Government of Lesotho.

The first CCF focused on good governance, human resource development and rural development. Additional, stand-alone projects initiated during the period included an HIV/AIDS peer educator project, and projects associated with conservation of bio-diversity and watershed management in Lesotho's mountain districts.

In 2000, using funding made available by the Japanese Government to the United Nations Volunteers, an initiative was launched to strengthen the capacities of municipal councils in regard to urban upgrading works. This project was initially designed for two years but seems poised to be scaled up to embrace all the urban areas of the country and forms part of an upcoming sustainable cities programme of the Lesotho Government.

The next CCF is being prepared in parallel to the existing one. It is designed to respond to the Government's Poverty Reduction Strategy, now in process of formulation, as well as to the longer term. A two-pronged approach is envisaged. First, the core thrust of the proposed strategy will be to establish mechanisms that support the design, co-ordination, implementation and monitoring of key policy instruments under each thematic area. Secondly, partnership-based project and programme interventions will be designed within these policy frameworks to generate best practices and promote evidence-based policy making.

The major difference between the proposed strategy and the one pursued under the previous CCF is a step-up in policy and advisory functions supported by project interventions. Broad-based consultations have served to identify the key developmental issues facing Lesotho. Now these emerging issues will guide UNDP policy and programmes in the years to come.