Angola

Poverty Reduction

The reduction of poverty, particularly of extreme poverty, continues to be a priority for the Angolan State and the development stakeholders in the country. The “Estratégia de Combate à Pobreza - ECP” formally approved on the 11 th February 2004 and revised in September 2005 is still the main strategy document which is orientates the main areas of intervention for government and stakeholders which prioritises the reconstruction of infrastructures, increasing access to education, health, and other basic services, as well as the decentralization of governance structures.

During 2008, the Government of Angola is expected to approve the new medium term development plan, from 2009-20013, and this medium term plan should refine and build upon the Estrategia de Combate a Pobreza.

UNDP’s 2008-2011 corporate strategy is anchored in the Millennium Declaration and the realisation of the MDGs, with the main objective being accelerated human development, and its four main areas of focus for development are:

poverty reduction and support to the MDGs, democratic governance, crisis prevention and recovery and environment, and sustainable development.

With capacity development being the overarching crosscutting issue in UNDP’s global strategy and the guiding principles of national ownership, effective aid management, and south-south cooperation, as well as the fact that gender equality and women’s empowerment continues to be a fundamental dimension of all programmes, UNDP’s interventions seek to empower stakeholders in the process of meeting the MDGs in order to guarantee sustainable human development.

The Regional Bureau for Africa further prioritises the global overarching crosscutting issue of capacity development, by defining that for the Africa region the overarching principle of the 2008-2011 strategy is the capacity development for pro-poor growth and accountability. This regional focus is important for the achievement of the MDGs, as Africa continues to lag behind as a region in the indicators and the goals for achieving the MDGs, including MDG 1, which is to halve extreme poverty by 2015.

The strategic focus on capacity development for pro-poor growth and accountability means that the interventions at the country level should focus on promoting inclusive growth and reducing poverty, by increasing capacity for economic actions and policies that benefit the poor and increasing capacity for greater accountability frameworks and structures. This focus should be guided by an ability to respond to the opportunities to support change, to foster private sector growth as well the promotion of basic services, and the mainstreaming enhanced accountability at all stages of programme design, implementation and review.

As a result, UNDP Angola’s poverty cluster must focus its interventions on those activities and programmes which will increase capacity of government, civil society and other development stakeholders in the definition and implementation of programmes for pro-poor growth (policies and regulation and delivery of services and infrastructure) and enhanced accountability (through skill formation and improved information systems).

The Poverty Cluster strategy is has identified the following focus areas for its programmes:

• Developing national capacity for planning, implementing and monitoring MDGs
• Developing national capacities for macro-economic analysis and formulation of social policies to attaining MDGs
• Strengthening national capacities at all levels and in all social sectors, grounded in human rights-based approach
• Private sector development
• Strategies for sustainable development ( environmental focus on bio-diversity and resource management)
• Institutional Capacity to respond to HIV/AIDS and other diseases

Ongoing Projects (by MYFF Service Lines)

1. ACHIEVING THE MDGS AND REDUCING HUMAN POVERTY

Project ID	Title
1.2 PRO-POOR POLICY REFORM TO ACHIEVE MDG TARGETS
00011122	Support for MDG and NEPAD Advocacy Activities
1.5 PRIVATE SECTOR DEVELOPMENT
00040754	Angola Enterprise Programme
1.6 GENDER MAINSTREAMING
00046236	Joint Gender programme
1.8 MAking ictd work for the poor
00039328	Science and Technology Innovation
00036258	Developing Community Networks to Leverage the Local Development in Angola- ANGONET