Strategic Alignment
The Country Programming Framework (CPF) agreed between FAO and the Eswatini Government sets up our three priority areas for the period 2022-2025, which will guide FAO’s partnership with and support of the Government of Eswatini to achieve its development agenda. The CPF is guided by the FAO Strategic Framework 2022-31, which guides the efforts to create more efficient, inclusive, resilient, and sustainable agrifood systems, leaving no one behind.
FAO’s role in supporting the Government of Eswatini is aligned and embedded in the United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF) 2022-2025 in Eswatini. In collaboration with other UN agencies as One UN, FAO leads the implementation of Outcome 1 and Outcome 4 of the UNSDCF: Outcome 1: Promoting Sustainable and Inclusive Economic Growth, which aims to ensure that women, men, and youth, including marginalized individuals, actively participate in and reap the rewards of economic advancement. This is achieved by providing increased access to decent employment, fair socio-economic prospects, sustainable business opportunities, and robust, financially viable social protection systems. By focusing on these aspects, the goal is to promote inclusive economic growth, empower marginalized groups, and build resilient and sustainable pathways to prosperity for all members of society.
Outcome 4 of the UNSDCF: Strengthening natural resource management, climate resilience and environmental sustainability, which aims at guiding the country towards an inclusive, low-carbon development that is resilient to the impacts of climate change. This pathway emphasizes the sustainable management of natural resources, enhanced community resilience to climate change, and improved livelihoods, health, and food security. The focus is ensuring that vulnerable and marginalized communities are empowered to adapt to climate change effectively, leading to enhanced well-being and sustainable development outcomes for all.
FAO’s support to Eswatini is in line with and contributes to a number of other government policies and initiatives, which include the Government’s National Development Plan and sector strategies and plans, the goals and targets of the SDGs, the UN overall normative agenda, the Comparative Advantages of UN agencies; the findings of the 2020 UN commissioned Common Country Analysis (CCA) and the 2018 mid-term evaluation of the current UNDAF; the international commitments and instruments to which the Government of Eswatini is a signatory; and the UN’s consultations with the Government, development partners, the private sector, the academia, civil society and other stakeholders during the UNSDCF formulation period.
Among various development partners engaging in agrifood systems in Eswatini, FAO maintains its comparative advantage in policy support and provision of technical assistance in areas of agriculture (horticulture and crop production), one health support (focused on animal health), biodiversity conservation, sustainable natural resource management, environmental protection, and climate actions on mitigations, adaptation and resilience building.