The High Level Steering Committee of the United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF) was convened on 8^th December 2019 at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The meeting was co-chaired by Dr. Ali Naseer Mohamed, Secretary, Multilateral at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as the Government Co-Chair; and Dr. Arvind Mathur, UN Resident Coordinator, a.i., as the UN Co-Chair of the UNDAF Steering Committee. Speaking at the meeting, Secretary, Multilateral expressed the Governments desire for the UN to align its country-level developmental framework with the priorities of the Government; and in this regard, Dr. Ali Naseer Mohamed highlighted the relevance of the recently launched Strategic Action Plan of the Government, as the basis for the next UNDAF (to be renamed the United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework). The UN Resident Coordinator a.i. commended the Governments key achievements in its short duration, including the judicial reforms and the progress in decentralization.

The UNDAF for the period 2016-2020, was signed between the Government of Maldives and the UN on 24 August 2015. It focuses on four key outcome areas, namely, youth and children; gender; governance; and environment and climate change. At the meeting, five government agencies responsible for the four outcome areas presented their main achievements, challenges and way forward in their respective outcome groups. The UN Country Team also presented the key findings from the UNDAF final evaluation that was carried out earlier in the year, as well as roll out of the new United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework.

During the meeting of the UNDAF High Level Steering Committee the Government of Maldives was represented by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Ministry of Youth, Sports and Community Empowerment; Ministry of Education; Ministry of Gender, Family and Social Services; Ministry of Environment; Ministry of Planning and National Development; Ministry of Finance; and the Attorney-Generals Office;. The United Nations was represented by the entire UN Country Team which includes 4 resident agencies UNDP, WHO, UNICEF, UNFPA and the UN Resident Coordinators Office.