Kinshasa, June 10, 2021 - The UN Assistant Secretary-General and Director of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) Regional Bureau for Africa, Ms. Ahunna Eziakonwa, and the Swedish Ambassador to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), His Excellency Mr. Henric Råsbrant, announce a new multi-year partnership, signed today in Kinshasa and virtually. This new support for the UNDP recovery and development program in the Democratic Republic of the Congo amounts to a record US $20 million for the first two years, and is expected to subsequently reach a total of $40 million. Considering the the scope of actions covered and the amount of the envelope, this funding is, to date, the highest received by the UNDP in the DRC for the period 2020-2024.

“This new large-scale partnership is a significant act for the people of the DRC,” stressed Ms. Eziakonwa. “This multiyear funding introduces the certainty, predictability and clarity that will help us increase the impact of our development programmes. It will foster direct support to women and youth in face of an extremely difficult situation generated by the COVID-19 pandemic and the multiple crises the courageous people of the DRC have been facing for too many years.”

“We are very pleased to deepen our partnership with UNDP to improve governance in the DRC. It marks our joint ambition to transition from humanitarian crisis to development,” declared His Excellency Mr. Råsbrant. “We see UNDP as a key partner for the Congolese government in its efforts to reduce the level of poverty in the country and restore state authority.”

Sweden's funding will support the implementation of the new 2020-2024 UNDP Country Programme Cycle in the DRC, which requires a total of $ 458 million. It will support key interventions in the areas of governance, stabilization and resilience. This concerns support for decentralization, local governance and development planning; support for the fight against corruption, support for the implementation of the joint United Nations programme of support to justice reforms and the establishment of a joint United Nations stabilization support programme.

“Sweden is one of UNDP’s most important donors and partners,” notes Ulrika Modéer, UN Assistant Secretary-General and Director of UNDP's Bureau for External Relations and Advocacy. “We are grateful for the confidence the people of Sweden place in the work of UNDP in the DRC and other parts of the world. Such multi-year support is essential to enable UNDP to carry out its actions more flexibly and more efficiently towards greater results in a country facing multiple protracted crises. "

Sweden has been present in the DRC since 1960 and has been providing support for even longer. It maintains excellent relations with the UNDP Country Office and has financed several projects including that of the Donor Coordination Group (GCP) and actions in various fields such as elections, access to justice, the fight against poverty through microfinance and community recovery. Currently, Sweden is funding the Action, Change and Transformation through Financial Inclusion in the DRC Program (ACTIF), with a budget of $ 5.8 million.

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Note to Editors

This new Swedish funding agreement will allow UNDP to:

• Support the capacities of the Congolese State to accelerate the process of territorial decentralization in all its dimensions (political, administrative and fiscal) in order to strengthen local governance, boost grassroots economic development and improve the living conditions of population;
• Support national institutions, provinces and decentralized territorial entities (ETD) to refine their own capacities for planning, programming, budgeting, and monitoring and evaluation of development based on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), with a view to accelerating the socioeconomic development of the country;
• Contribute to strengthening the rule of law by supporting the efforts of the authorities and other stakeholders with a view to a significant and lasting reduction in acts of corruption;
• Support efforts in favor of a better supervised, responsible, more efficient and respectful of human rights justice, meeting the justice and legal protection needs of populations, in particular vulnerable and at risk populations, with a view to stabilization and development of the country and given the announced gradual withdrawal of MONUSCO over the next few years;
• Contribute to the stabilization, the restoration of peace and the strengthening of the resilience of the populations.

For more details and interview requests, please contact:

Eve Sabbagh, Strategic Communication Specialist, UNDP New York, email: eve.sabbagh@undp.org, +1 484 904 5730

Lucien Toulou, Team Leader, Consolidation of peace and strengthening of democracy, UNDP DRC, email: Lucien.toulou@undp.org.