Further, the rapid political and economic transformation reached an important milestone with the holding of legislative elections in September 2008, the first in 16 years, helping the country to consolidate the political stability Angola has enjoyed since 2002. Ten political parties and four coalitions contested the elections, and the results confirmed the legitimacy of the two main parties. The governing party MPLA recorded a landslide victory, with 82% of the votes, with the second party UNITA coming in far behind with only a 10% score. The decisive win allows the MPLA to achieve more than its desired two-thirds majority in the National Assembly, giving it the platform to pursue an ambitious program for economic and social transformation. A process is underway with a view to change the Constitution and prepare for future presidential and local elections. Efforts to consolidate quasi one-party dominance in Government were achieved through a cabinet reshuffle held in October 2008. It is worth noting that with the new elections, the gender balance has improved considerably, with 39.9% of women in Parliament, and 18 women as cabinet ministers and vice-ministers, representing 22% of the cabinet, placing Angola at the forefront in gender balance in the sub-region and in 8th place in the world for parliaments. Angola has also exercised a leadership role in the SADC region and among the African lusophone countries, increasing thereby its international legitimacy and political influence.

While the current global financial crisis has imposed constraints on all countries, Angola’s progress is expected to remain significant but fragile. A number of measures have been taken to restructure the budget and reinforce efforts for more effective management of public affairs.

Summary on progress towards UNDAF outcomes

Summary on progress in UN Reform

The most significant development was the formulation of the new UNDAF, guided by the review of the current UNDAF and the analysis of the major challenges to achieving the commitments to the MDGs. The process of formulating the new UNDAF was launched with the support of the RDT through the technical support of UNFPA as chair of the QSA. The participatory and consultative process offered an opportunity for agencies to come together and work with key national stakeholders, and the acceptance of the GoA to participate in the process brought legitimacy to the team effort and demonstrated stronger effort at harmonization with national priorities.

The core strategic elements of the UNDAF will address outcomes in the areas of Governance, Access to integrated social sectors, strengthened national capacity in the fight against HIV/AIDS, and sustainable economic development. The period of the new UNDAF is harmonized with the draft national medium-term Development Plan and aligned with the CPAP of UNFPA, UNICEF and UNDP. The three CPD/CPAPs were submitted for approval at the same time (September session) to the respective executive boards of the Agencies concerned, and prior to that, a joint meeting was held locally with key donors and stakeholders to present the CPD/CPAPs. The GoA has agreed, for the first time, to sign the UNDAF and the respective CPAPs, a significant achievement since previous documents were not formally endorsed by the Government of Angola.

During 2008, the collaborative effort with respect to joint programme has focused on the work of the Joint UN team on HIV/AIDS. While the experience has been limited in its application of Joint Programme guidelines, the process itself has helped to build a first step toward undertaking more formal joint programmes. In this respect, approval was received in December 2008 for a Joint Programme formulated jointly by UNICEF, UNDP, ILO and IOM under the Spanish MDG-F modality. The implementation of this joint programme in the area of Water and Sanitation will further enhance agency collaboration and government national ownership of the process. A second joint programme under the same funding modality has also received approval and the process of formulating a programme document in the area of Children, Food Security and Nutrition is underway under the leadership of UNICEF, with the joint participation of FAO, WHO, IOM and UNDP.

To circumvent the failure to mobilize funding from agencies for the joint funding of a post of Coordination Officer, funding was obtained through the Spanish MDG fund. A JPO Coordination Officer has been selected and will be available by mid-year. Nonetheless, there is need to address the critical shortage of professional staff in the Office of the RC, with no support for over a year.

With respect to HACT, the UNCT has focused on preparation leading to the roll-out of this important modality, investing in the first phase of assessments, with the macro assessment conducted. This exercise is of priority to the UN Programme (Ex-Com) agencies, with UNICEF playing a leadership role in leading the process and contributing a large portion of the shared funding. There is a need to invest in immediate capacity building from the outset, with significant cost savings in the longer-term for our national partners.

The UNCT has also invested in the establishment of a number of common services in the UN building that serves as common premises for five of the eight resident agencies, and liaison offices for two NRA. The link between the Operations Management Team and the UNCT has been strengthened, creating more buy-in for decision making on common services issues. Services for banking, office cleaning, security and travel services have been harmonized creating opportunity for potential savings and operational efficiency gains. The UNCT continues to strive to support a coordinated response to disaster management. To this end, the UN Disaster Management Team has been revived, with roles and functions further defined and a coordinated response strategy in support of national efforts. The DMT was successful at mobilizing funding through the CERF modality in 2008 in response to flooding in a number of provinces of Angola.

With respect to UN Security of staff, the UN SMT has been considerably strengthened and regular meetings are held with active participation of Heads of Agency and continued information and advocacy to UN staff. Proper security planning/monitoring is now in place with an adequate response strategy in support of security preparedness. It is unfortunate that during 2008, the decision was taken to transfer the post of Senior Security Adviser to another duty station, leaving a relatively junior team to manage security in a Phase I post.

The UNCT advocated the return of UN DPA during the legislative elections. Although the Government of Angola did not request electoral assistance, the presence of DPA/EAD during the elections offered an opportunity to initiate dialogue with electoral officials since 1992, when the UN was seen to have “abandoned” Angola in the aftermath of the disputed legislative elections. The UN DPA/EAD mission was seen as an opportunity for the UN to rebuild and recalibrate its relationship with Angola, both at the operational level (through the provision of expert electoral assistance) and at the strategic level (through helping the country define for itself a positive role in the sub-region and on the African continent).

The closure in 2008 by the Government of Angola of the UN Office of Human Rights leaves a gap which some international partners are pressing the UNCT to fill. Opportunities are being explored to build national capacity to assume a monitory or advocacy role on human rights. On-going activities on civic education and support to decentralization can also serve to strengthen further cooperation in this important area.

All efforts at renewed UN implications with Angola will continued to be pursued, both in support of the country’s robust development agenda and in effort for increased political engagement.

Key aspects of the proposed 2009 workplan

• Support to operationalization of UNDAF, through the formulation of the operational guidelines and the holding of a joint annual review of respective country programmes against UNDAF priorities • Develop an interagency UNDAF M&E mechanism and methodology • Support the Government of Angola in the preparation of the 2009 MDG Progress Report, the first after a long hiatus. • Continue the MDG Advocacy campaign • Pursue to finalization of HACT assessment and roll-out • Highlight the UN role and its comparative advantage through increased advocacy, Observance of special UN celebrations, organization of forum for discussions and creation of a UN Website. • There is a critical need to strengthen the office of the RC, through the recruitment of a Senior Coordination Officer. While efforts have been made to obtain funding from the Spanish MDG for the position of a JPO Coordination, the Office of the RC is in critical need to strengthen its capacity. There has been no Coordination Officer for over a year, and efforts to obtain agency cost-sharing were met with resistance. With the implementation of two recently approved MDG-F Joint Programmes and the operationalization of the UNDAF, the function of a Senior Coordination Officer is of critical importance.

- DevInfo effectively used as management tool to monitor the MDGs in Angola.

- DevInfo software offically adopted by the Government.

- UN M&E Working Group more operational and sthrengthened through recruitment of more M&E Officers by the UN Agencies.

Hired dedicated staff to carry out the assessment.

Conducted partners training

-Macro-assessment consolidated.

UN Joint Team on AIDS Capacity development Plan developed and implemented ( UN learning strategy-Prevention training- M&E workshop including CRIS utilization- AIDS & development)

Development of UNJ Program of Support (UNJPS),

Institutional framework, common M&E framework developed

Advocacy plan for and facilitate all partners alignment and participation to the Joint Annual Programme Review

Joint Annual Programme Review report

Visitors properly received

-Secure funding for National DevInfo Database Manager (ALD3)

-Secure funding for Executive Assistant to RC (G5)

-Secure funding for Finance Assistant (G3 Service Contract)

-Secure funding for RC driver (G3)

-Secure funding for RC Office driver (G2)

-Finance secured

-Finance secured

-Finance secured

-Finance secured