UNICEF Country Program Support DRC 2022-2025 - UNICEF Country Program Support UNICEF Landprogramstöd DRK 2022-2025 Sida has decided to continue supporting UNICEFs country programme in the DRC between 2022-2025. The support is thematic and covers the entire country programme. 

The intervention corresponds to Sweden's priorities in the current strategy for development cooperation with the DRC (2021-2025), particularly in the areas of improved basic health, human security as well as nexus. 

The operation is expected to contribute to improved local access to quality health care for children and pregnant women, particularly in areas related to immunisation and treatment of child diarrhoea and cholera, as well as improved access to local water and sanitation systems (WASH) and general health system strengthening.
Furthermore, the intervention aims to provide children associated with armed groups and forces access to psychosocial support and opportunities to reintegrate into their original communities, as well as the possibility to resume schooling or to create their own livelihood through economic activities. The intervention also aims to contribute to strengthening and reducing the vulnerability of IDPs and local populations through improved basic health, nutrition, education, water and sanitation, among other things, so that they are better able to cope with future crises (this links to Sida's nexus work). 

UNICEF's current country programme in DRC is for the period 2020-2024, but Sida aims to support UNICEF until 2025, which means one year into a new UNICEF country programme. 
This intervention builds on previous support to UNICEF but increases UNICEF's flexibility and efficiency in planning and implementation, through clearer synergies between the relevant focus areas. The flexible thematic support is also expected to lead to a more efficient use of staff resources and more effective cooperation between UNICEF and the Embassy in the DRC. Sida har beslutat att fortsätta stödja Unicef landprogram i DRK mellan 2022–2025. Stödet är tematiskt och omfattar hela landprogrammet.

Insatsen motsvarar Sveriges prioriteringar i den nuvarande strategin för utvecklingssamarbetet med DRK 2021-2025, särskilt avseende områdena förbättrad grundläggande hälsa, värnad mänsklig säkerhet och frihet från våld och nexus.

Insatsen förväntas bidra till en förbättrad lokal tillgång till en högkvalitativ vård för barn och gravida kvinnor, särskilt avseende tillgång till vaccination och basläkemedel för diarré och kolera. Dessutom åsyftas en förbättrad tillgång till lokala vatten- och sanitetssystem samt även ett allmänt förstärkt hälsosystem.

Vidare avser insatsen att ge de barn som deltagit i beväpnade grupper tillgång till psykosocialt stöd och möjligheter att återintegrera barnen in i deras ursprungliga samhällen, samt möjlighet att återuppta skolgång eller skapa egen försörjning genom ekonomiska aktiviteter. Insatsen avser även bidra till att förstärka och minska sårbarheten hos internflyktingar och lokalbefolkning genom bl.a. förbättrad hälsa, nutrition, utbildning samt vatten- och sanitet så att de lättare klarar av framtida kriser (vilket är ett fokus inom Sida’s nexus arbete).

Unicefs nuvarande landprogram i DRK gäller för perioden 2020-2024, men Sida syftar att stödja Unicef fram till 2025 vilket innebär ett år in i ett nytt landprogram för Unicef.
Denna insats bygger vidare på tidigare stöd till Unicef men ökar Unicef’s flexibilitet och effektivitet i planering och implementering, bl.a. på grund av tydligare synergier mellan de berörda fokusområdena. Det flexibla tematiska Stödet bedöms även leda till en effektivare resursanvändning av personal samt ett effektivare samarbete mellan Unicef och ambassaden. The objectives of this intervention are to support the UNICEF 2020-2024 Country Program Document (CPD) and ultimately the delivery of the UNICEF Strategic Plan 2022-2025.

The goal of the CPD is for children in the Democratic Republic of Congo, especially in the most deprived provinces and humanitarian settings, to have equitable, quality and sustainable access to basic social services. The Unicef Strategic Plan 2022-2025 highlights 5 result areas of which the CPD aligns to:

- Every child, including adolescents, survives and thrives, with access to nutritious diets, quality primary health care, nurturing practices and essential supplies

- Every child, including adolescents, learns and acquires skills for the future

- Every child, including adolescents, is protected from violence, exploitation, abuse, neglect and harmful practices

- Every child, including adolescents, has access to safe and equitable water, sanitation and hygiene services, and lives in a safe and sustainable climate and environment

- Every child has an equitable chance in life

At the end of the Country Programme, Unicef is expected to have contributed to addressing some of the system-wide bottlenecks to social services in the DRC by investing in the following areas:

Health

The overall objective is to support government on health system strengthening in areas of maternal, adolescent and child health. This includes working on routine immunization, RMNCAH (including HIV prevention and treatment), integrated management of childhood illnesses, epidemic surveillance, preparedness and response, as well as to support positive health policy development centrally and provincial level.

Child Protection

This intervention will contribute to promote governance for child protection and strengthening protective environment from all forms of violence in the country. The child protection work is based on promoting access to basic social services but with fair judicial protection from birth. Unicef has since 2013 worked on the reintegration of children associated with armed forces and groups, but also on the issue of civil/birth registration of children. Other areas include advocating and working towards scaling up childrens courts and alternatives to detention, working on SGBV and child marriage.

Nutrition

UNICEF nutrition program supports the new national nutrition program and focuses on capacity building of community and health systems to scale up multisectoral nutrition interventions such as SAM treatment, community surveillance for early detection of SAM cases, working on social norms on food and feeding practices, provide joint WASH and nutrition interventions, among others.

WASH

UNICEF has a well established WASH programme that works with government to improve water safety and sanitation in rural and urban areas. The program aims to increase knowledge, increase uptake of WASH services, build on their preparedness and capacity to respond to waterborne diseases, provide WASH in health facilities, while continuing to advocate for political commitment and multi-sectoral coordination of WASH. Lastly the Program will undertake an energy and climate analysis, with pilot interventions selected areas affected by climate change.

Education

UNICEF education program is building institutional capacity to improve the Education Management Information System. At policy level they are supporting Government on the implementation of the pre-primary education policy and advocating for school fee abolishment. Several social issues are also included in their education program such as interventions focusing on early child marriage (linked to their child protection work), reaching out of school children with education, addressing GBV and promote good hygiene practices.

Social inclusion and Resilience

This intervention primarily focuses on enabling access to child-sensitive and shock responsive social protection for the most deprived children and adolescents. The social inclusion and resilience program works in collaboration with several actors such as UNDP, WFP and IOM to address socio-economic vulnerabilities. The program is also well aligned with the Humanitarian Response Plan.

Besides the result areas of WASH and Education, the CPD is very much in line with the priorities outlined in the Swedish Development Cooperation Strategy for DRC 2021-2025, particularly related to result areas 2 - Health equity and 3  Peaceful and inclusive societies.