The United Nations General Assembly resolution 72/279 elevated the United Nations Development Assistance Framework (now renamed the United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework) as “the most important instrument for planning and implementation of the UN development activities at country level in support of the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (2030 Agenda)”. The Cooperation Framework guides the entire programme cycle, driving planning, implementation, monitoring, reporting and evaluation of collective UN support for achieving the 2030 Agenda. The Cooperation Framework determines and reflects the United Nations development system’s contributions in the country and shapes the configuration of the UN assets required in and outside the country. The Cooperation Framework represents a commitment to the people and country particularly the most marginalized and vulnerable.   

The present Cooperation Framework for Belize, is the Multi-country Sustainable Development Framework (MSDF) 2017-2021, the business plan for UN agencies, funds and programmes in the English and Dutch speaking Caribbean, jointly prepared through inclusive consultations and implemented in 18 Caribbean countries and territories with the respective governments, United Nations agencies, funds and programmes along with civil society partners.

To inform the new Cooperation Framework for Belize, the United Nations has completing a UN Common Country Analysis (CCA) for 2020 the UN system’s independent, impartial and collective assessment and analysis of a country’s socio-economic and developmental situation, progress gaps, opportunities and bottlenecks vis-à-vis Belize’s commitment to achieving the 2030 Agenda. The CCA is the critical analytical foundation upon which the Cooperation Framework is developed and is an integrated, forward-looking and evidence-based joint UN analysis, prepared in such a way to be an up-to-date source of information on country context for the whole UN system to adjust UN programmatic actions and anticipate emerging issues. 

The United Nations in Belize is now in the process of the preparation and formulation of the 2022-2026 Multi-country Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework which is expected to be completed in August/September 2021.  

Furthermore, the COVID-19 pandemic has precipitated the need for the United Nations to have in place a Socio-Economic Response Plan drawn from the United Nations framework for the immediate socio-economic response to COVID-19, consisting of five streams of work, representing an integrated support package offered by the UN development system to protect the needs and rights of people with particular focus on the most vulnerable.  The United Nations in Belize has a Country Implementation Plan 2021 and will prepare a 2022 Country Implementation Plan aligned to the new Cooperation Framework including joint programme solutions.

A critical part of the UN reform process is the new configuration of the Resident Coordinator Office. Belize is part of a multi-country office together with El Salvador and therefore has not received the full staffing and is missing a Partnership and Development Finance officer who normally would support the processes of establishing the financing framework and the partnership strategy in the UNSDCF. The present consultant post will cover part of these tasks. The consultant therefore would function as part of the core team in the Resident Coordinator Office (RCO) and laisse with UN agencies, government and development partners as required.    

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) emphasizes transformative shifts, integrated approaches, and solutions to structural barriers to sustainable development.   This goal requires financial flows (public, private domestic and international), as well as finding the adequate resource mix and overcoming market barriers to ensure investments reach those left furthest behind. 

The Cooperation Framework covers two concepts that are distinct yet mutually reinforcing: 

• Financing the SDGs is based on the Addis Ababa Action Agenda’s call for nationally owned   sustainable development strategies, supported by an Integrated National Financing Framework to achieve the 2030 Agenda; mobilizing and aligning all sources of finance to implement national plans to achieve the SDGs; strengthening partnership with IFIs, private sector and other stakeholders towards the achievement of the Agenda 2030.
• Funding the Cooperation Framework   refers  to  the traditional  concept   of  mobilizing  resources   through United Nations  accounts in  order to close  budgetary gaps   in the Cooperation  Framework as the primary planning and implementation   instrument  for the United Nations to contribute  to achieving  the  2030 Agenda  at the country level.