Locations(L-R) UNDP Pacific Office in Fiji Deputy Resident Representative a.i., Kevin Petrini and SPC Deputy Director General, Dr. Audrey Aumua with the signed MoU.
Suva, Fiji – The UN Development Programme (UNDP) and the Pacific Community (SPC) today launched a new partnership, which will strengthen regional efforts towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and support the national development priorities of Pacific nations across a wide variety of sectors.
Activities undertaken under this comprehensive partnership will be guided by the ‘Pacific Roadmap for Sustainable Development’ and cover areas including: governance, institutional mechanisms and human rights, climate change, resilience and sustainable development, as well as inclusive growth, private sector collaboration, response to natural disasters, food security, public health, statistics, SDG monitoring and data for development.
At the signing ceremony for the official Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), Deputy Resident Representative a.i. of the UNDP Pacific Office in Fiji, Kevin Petrini, highlighted how this agreement compliments UNDP’s long-standing commitment to regional collaboration saying, “Partnership is at the heart of everything UNDP does, and this MOU is an example of how ‘Next Generation UNDP’ is helping countries and communities respond to a fast-changing development landscape. An investment in strong partnerships will accelerate progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals in the Pacific.”
As an early focus for this partnership, the UNDP Accelerator Lab for the Pacific in Fiji and SPC’s Pacific Data Hub (PDH) will conduct an in-depth analysis of UNDP project datasets to help improve the visibly and integration of this information into PDH’s regional knowledge resources. Better accessibly to these datasets will be invaluable for Pacific nations when developing smart, evidence-based policies and programs, and will be a key research tool for international organizations, academic institutions and research centres.
Dr. Audrey Aumua, SPC Deputy Director General, highlighted the data project as a prime example of why partnerships between organizations like SPC and UNDP are so important for the region.
“Our joint efforts to strengthen the Pacific Data Hub will reaffirm this regionally owned resource’s position as the premier central repository of data on the Pacific and will demonstrate the benefits of shared open data portals,” said Dr. Aumua.
“It is a wonderful first step for our partnership with UNDP and the start of what I know will be an extremely productive relationship.”
SPC and UNDP share a common commitment to the SDGs, also known as the Global Goals. Under the umbrella of the ‘Pacific Roadmap for Sustainable Development’, the Pacific’s ‘SAMOA Pathway’ and ‘Framework for Pacific Regionalism’ form the guiding principles of the region’s common development goals.
(L-R) UNDP Pacific Office in Fiji Deputy Resident Representative a.i., Kevin Petrini and SPC Deputy Director General, Dr. Audrey Aumua officially signing the MoU.
Related links:
- SDGs - sdgs.un.org/goals
- Samoa Pathway - sustainabledevelopment.un.org/samoapathway
- Pacific Roadmap for Sustainable Development - www.forumsec.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/The-Pacific-Roadmap-for-Sustainable-Development.pdf
- Framework for Pacific Regionalism - www.forumsec.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Framework-for-Pacific-Regionalism.pdf
- Pacific Data Hub - pacificdata.org
- UNDP Accelerator Lab for the Pacific in Fiji - www.pacific.undp.org/AcceleratorLabPacific
About SPC
The Pacific Community has been supporting sustainable development in the Pacific, through science, knowledge and innovation since 1947. It is the principal intergovernmental organization in the region, owned and governed by its 26 member countries and territories. www.spc.int
For additional information, please contact:
Johannes Schunter, Head of UNDP Accelerator Lab Pacific, johannes.schunter@undp.org
Aleksandar Zivaljevic, Pacific Data Hub Programme Manager, aleksandarz@spc.int
