United Nations in Lesotho

The Sustainable Development Goals are a global call to action to end poverty, protect the earth’s environment and climate, and ensure that people everywhere can enjoy peace and prosperity. These are the goals the UN is working on in Lesotho:

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Publication

27 April 2022

UN COUNTRY RESULTS REPORT 2021

The report highlights the UN's support to the Government of Lesotho in 2021.The UN worked with government on the COVID-19 response and recovery in strengthening health systems, social protection, protecting jobs, MSMEs and the informal sector, supporting community resilience and much more. The report shows the impact of the UN's work in the lives of the Basotho people.

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Publication

07 December 2021

Multi Dimensional Child Poverty Report

This multidimensional child poverty report presents the child poverty situation in Lesotho based on multiple and overlapping deprivation analysis using data in the 2018 Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS). Lesotho has successfully reduced poverty in the past fifteen years, with the overall national poverty ratios decreasing from 56.6 per cent in 2002 to 49.7 per cent in 2017, and absolute poverty from 34.1 per cent in 2002 and 24.1 per cent in 2017.
Thanks to a widespread Social Protection Programme, inequality registered a drop, with the Gini index falling from 51.9 in 2002 to 44.6 in 2017. The report utilises the National Multidimensional Overlapping Deprivation Analysis (N-MODA) methodology (De Neuborg, et al., 2012) and measures trends since the 2018 N-MODA analysis. The methodology hinges on the Alkire and Foster method used to measure Multidimensional Poverty (Alkire & Foster, 2011) at the global level.
The Lesotho N-MODA focuses on eight dimensions, four (education, nutrition, health, and protection from violence), which are measured at the level of the child. The other four namely: water, sanitation, housing, and access to information, are measured at the household level, meaning they affect all household members equally, regardless of age. Even though there are eight dimensions in total, three age groups, 0-23 months, 5-12 years, and 13-17 years, were assessed against seven dimensions defining their welfare, while six were considered for the aged group 24-59 months. One or more indicators define each dimension.
To measure deprivation in a particular dimension, indicators are aggregated into dimensions using the union approach, which considers a child as deprived in the specific indicator when her status falls below the agreed threshold. Likewise, a child is considered deprived in a dimension if she is deprived in any one indicator. A child is considered multidimensionally poor if deprived in 3 dimensions simultaneously. In the multidimensional poverty status computation, all dimensions have equal weight as there is no trade-off between child rights.

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22 February 2023

The Lesotho Cooperation Framework Strategic Prioritisation Exercise

The United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF), also known as the Cooperation Framework (CF), is a core instrument for providing a coherent, strategic direction for all UN development activities in Lesotho. It guides the UN system in planning and implementing UN development activities and in mobilizing a spectrum of development partners beyond the United Nations. The CF is nationally owned and anchored in national development priorities, the 2030 Agenda, and the principles of the United Nations Charter. Lesotho’s existing five-year United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF) expires in 2023. Therefore, the United Nations Country Team (UNCT) in Lesotho comprising Resident and Non-Resident Agencies, in consultation with the Government of Lesotho, has launched the process to develop a new CF. Strategic priority setting exercise The UN development system cannot and should not attempt to address all development issues in Lesotho. In consultation with national partners, it must choose strategic priorities and related development results (outcomes and outputs) in which to invest its collective efforts, capacities and resources. The strategic prioritization held in Maseru from 8- 10 February 2023 brought representatives from UN, government, businesses, youth and women groups, academia, civil society, people living with disabilities, and religious groups. The prioritization drew from the following key strategic documents - the National Strategic Development Plan II (2023/4-2027/8) and the 2022 Common Country Analysis. “The next five years for the UN in Lesotho have to leave a mark, we no longer want to speak about small projects, but about changed lives and lasting solutions for the Basotho”, remarked the UN Resident Coordinator Amanda Khozi Mukwashi at the opening of the workshop, re-assuring participants that the UN in Lesotho will work to ensure that the new CF is transformational, with lasting and sustainable solutions in support of Lesotho’s development aspirations. The Minister of Finance and Development Planning, Dr Retsilisitsoe Matlanyane highlighted that the government’s focus for the next five years, among other priorities, will be on climate change including climate-smart technologies, agricultural production to address the food insecurity, growing the economy including industrialization and improving value chains, governance and accountability and the national reforms. “Without stability, we cannot transform Lesotho, for us to achieve sustainable development and see tangible results in all the areas we will work on as the government and with support from the UN, we need peace”, she said. The exercise extensively discussed on the key macro-development challenges facing Lesotho based on magnitude, severity, persistence, criticality for prevention agenda, economic transformation, regional/cross border, transformational effect, alignment to NSDPII and UN mandate and substantial collective value-add. The process came up with an initial 15 challenges that were further analyzed and the top five challenges selected. These five were further prioritized to the top three that are most critical based on convergence with national/ government priorities and UN Value Add. The Strategic Prioritization Exercise will be followed by the "Theory of Change" workshop to further articulate desired outcomes to address the identified top challenges, leading to the final document expected to be signed by the Government of Lesotho and the UN by June 2023.

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Story

16 January 2023

The Lesotho National Information System for Social Assistance: A tool for targeting the most in need with social assistance programmes

We meet Augustina Motaba in the foothills of the Mafeteng district of the Mountain Kingdom of Lesotho. Augustina is 36 years, and she comes from Sebelekoane Village in the Lehlakaneng Community Council of the district. She tells us that she is married and has two children, both boys. The oldest boy is 15 years and is in grade 9 in school, while the younger one is only one year old. Happy one-year-old Voeane goes everywhere with his mother as there is no one to look after him when Augustina is not around. Augustina’s household needs to provide information to MoSD personnel fed into the National Information System for Social Assistance (NISSA), NISSA database. In 2009 the Government of Lesotho, through the Ministry of Social Development (MoSD), established the National Information System for Social Assistance (NISSA), a social registry where household information is recorded, and households are categorised based on their vulnerability level. NISSA contains information on over ninety percent of all households in Lesotho. The purpose of this household information system is to aid in identifying households in need of government support through social protection. The NISSA is regularly updated with new household data. In 2021, the updating exercise happened in a few selected Community Councils. As part of the NISSA updating process, a few weeks earlier, Augustina’s village met with MoSD personnel to generate a new list of all households in the village that included old and new families. The village members had after that categorised every household into four categories: Able, Middle, Poor, and Ultra Poor. Augustina's household had been categorised as poor. All households categorised as poor and ultra-poor are the ones for which the data has to be updated in the NISSA. This is the first time for Augustina’s household to be included in NISSA since when it was done in the past, they were not living in the village. The village chief informed Augustina to attend the meeting so the MoSD personnel could capture her household data as part of the NISSA updating exercise. Augustina sits with MoSD personnel for about 15 minutes, answering the questions they ask her. The questions include confirming the number of household members, age, education level, and occupation. There are also questions on assets that the household owns, access to food, and the type of shelter they live in. Augustina responds to all the questions confidently and even provides her and her husband's IDs as well as the birth certificates of her two children. After this process is completed, we take time to chat with Augustina. She tells us that she had gone to school up to grade 7 when she dropped out. Augustina’s husband, as is true of many other Lesotho men, had previously gone to work in the mines in South Africa. However, he had to return home in 2013 because of poor health. The husband currently works for other people in the village herding their livestock. Augustina takes care of the household and the children. "We do not have any livestock of our own and we grow very few crops," Augustina tells us. Augustina’s household currently does not benefit from any social assistance programme but she tells us that one time in the past, they had received food parcels and money for school uniforms for the older son. When we ask her how she feels about being classified as poor, she says, “It is true that we are poor as we have no assets such as livestock and I feel that the process of categorising households in my village was fair.” Augustina also tells us that she did not only come to provide information for her household but that she had also come to represent her neighbor.“My neighbor is 56 years old and cannot walk long distances and she lives alone, so I also presented her case”. Augustina even brought the neighbor’s ID for the MoSD personnel to record. The neighbor who was categorised as ultra-poor currently is on a disability grant that the Government of Lesotho provides to those with severe disabilities. The NISSA database is key to supporting targeting for social assistance programmes and humanitarian response that can benefit Augustina’s household and her neighbor. UNICEF with funding from the European Commission has supported the Government of Lesotho to develop the NISSA and ensure that its data is updated regularly. Currently, the NISSA database has data for over 500,000 households which is over 90 percent of all households in Lesotho from both urban and rural areas.

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24 October 2022

Collecting voices of the Basotho People to Transform Education

Lesotho much like many countries around the world is facing an education crisis that has been further impeded by the pandemic, reducing learning time and increasing dropout rates. To find solutions to education challenges, the UN Secretary-General has invited world leaders to the Transforming Education Summit (TES) in September to reflect on efforts made thus far post the pandemic, and ways to accelerate the implementation of SDG4. To garner support in transforming education in Lesotho, the public was consulted through dialogue sessions throughout the country, with the UN supporting government to develop tools & methodologies for the consultations. For this process, the Office of the Resident Coordinator brought together expertise from UN agencies to support the Ministry of Education and Training. An interagency task team was established in support of a common cause, comprising UNICEF, UNFPA, UNAIDS and UNESCO. National ownership of the process was ensured with the Ministry of Education and Training leading the process through another task team of government officials and the UN. A whole-of-government approach was used in consulting a wide range of stakeholders from the education sector including representation from national and district departments, teacher formations, school boards, principals, higher learning institutions, and faith based organizations. Inclusion and leave-no-one-behind principles were fostered for all dialogue sessions by taking into consideration all marginalized and excluded groups, decentralizing the process, using inclusive methods of consultation, and employing all the official languages. The disadvantaged, marginalized, and excluded groups including Orphaned and Vulnerable Children, People with Disabilities, LGBTQI+ communities and Non-Formal Education Service Providers representing youth groups such as herd-boys, teenage mothers, Domestic Workers, Street Children and Sex Workers were consulted. “As a person with disabilities, it has been difficult for me to access quality education in Lesotho, I feel there has not been enough investment and funding in education for people with disabilities, so this conversation is important and I hope to see a change after the summit”, said Marealeboha Lephoto at a consultation session for people with disabilities. A total of 3288 persons were consulted; 73 % were females with 22 % youth and students (including children and adolescents); 15 % parents and caregivers. To increase public accountability and transparency, media involvement was used throughout the consultation process. Finally, the dialogues were concluded with a report on the findings, which were validated at a high-level stakeholder meeting led by the Minister of Education and Training. "The findings are telling us that current education crisis might turn into a generational catastrophe especially for the vulnerable and marginalized groups, if we don’t act now for education," expressed the Minister of Education and Training Hon Mamookho Phiri at the meeting. The Chief of Education for Primary Education, Thulo Ntsekhe-Mokhele highlighted some recommendations from the report that to transform education, Lesotho would need to focus on access to quality early childhood education, enhancing teachers ‘capacity for lifelong learning and adequate funding. For continuity and sustainability, the TES is directly linked to the Education Plus Initiative; which aims to achieve gender equality in Sub-Saharan Africa as well as empowering adolescent girls and women through education. It has become clear to the UN Country Team that the TES report will also be a key input into the Common Country Analysis that is currently underway to inform the next UN Cooperation framework in Lesotho for the next five years. The power of partnerships and effective coordination and collaboration towards a common vision has yielded positive results before for Lesotho. In 2020, in collaboration with the UN and Local Education groups, Lesotho was successful in its application for a US3.47 Million grant from the Global Partnership for Education to support the Government in its bid to reduce the risks of the social impacts of COVID19 on education. Through this funding the country was able to roll out free and open digital tools to schools, resulting in large scale remote learning and the provision of much needed water and sanitation facilities. The TES should not be seen as a one-time event but a continued effort for the realization of transformative education for Lesotho. The UN continues to support and engage with the government of Lesotho on its development priorities with are in line with Agenda 2030.

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08 August 2022

Members of Senate workshop on the National Reforms

As the Kingdom of Lesotho continues in its journey of the national reforms processes aimed at creating lasting political stability, The National Reforms Authority convened a 3-day workshop with members of the senate, to create a common understanding on the proposals contained in the 11th Amendment to the Constitution Bill, known as the Omnibus Constitutional Bill. With support from UNDP and the EU, the workshop that was officially opened on the 4th of July in Maseru, could help pave way for the Senators to process the Bill swiftly. The Senate of Lesotho which is the upper chamber of the Parliament comprising of twenty-two Principal Chiefs and eleven other Senators, has the key responsibility to debate and consent on the bill, which must be passed by both chambers of parliament. Despite the senate members raising a few areas of concerns on some of the contents of the bill, there is still optimism and consensus over the need to reform and to fast-track the processing of the Omnibus Constitutional Bill. Speaking at the workshop, the President of Senate, Honourable Mamonaheng Mokitimi, expressed her positivity that the highly anticipated Omnibus Constitutional Bill will indeed bring peace, stability and efficiency on service delivery once passed into a law. With the window of opportunity before the end of term of the Parliament getting smaller, key stakeholders have urged on the need for the concerned parties to put their differences aside and focus on the national interests that will pave way for the reforms within the different sectors. Speaking at the opening event for the workshop, the EU Head of Delegation, H.E. Paola Amadei, said: “The reforms are a promise for a better future which will bring in more political stability, transparency, accountability of governance, and further delay of the approval could potentially be the end of the process without anything or little to show”. The UN Resident Coordinator, Amanda Mukwashi also expressed her optimism that the workshop has provided an opportunity for the Members of the Senate to have a comprehensive insight on what is contained in the document, to make meaningful contributions during the formal debate on Bill that is now before Parliament. The Government of Lesotho with support from the UN, and in partnership with the EU and other stakeholders are working to support the implementation of the National Reforms Programme that will help steer the kingdom towards greater peace and stability, by improving the judiciary, security forces, economy, media, public service, parliament, and constitution.

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06 June 2022

How a teenager with an STI got more than she bargained for at a Lesotho health clinic...

HA KOALI, Berea district, Lesotho—When a high school teenager with a sexually transmitted infection (STI) visited a clinic at Ha Koali for treatment, she got more than she expected. Nursing Officer ‘Makatleho Rapapa counselled and treated her, then provided information on family planning, including the newly introduced self-injection depo, Sayanna Press. “The fact that she had an STI showed that she was already [having] sex,” Ms Rapapa said. “During counselling, I showed her different types of contraceptives and she opted for Sayanna Press. She preferred it as she would not have to miss school or ask her parents to [allow her to] visit the health facility regularly.” By providing the girl with counselling and information services, contraceptives, and treating her STI, the clinic provided integrated sexual and reproductive health-care services, as recommended under the 2gether 4 SRHR programme. This is a regional intervention with the goal of improving the sexual and reproductive health and rights of all people, with a particular focus on adolescent girls, young people and key populations in East and Southern Africa. Integrating services for greater efficiency To ensure integrated services, healthcare providers must have the knowledge and skills needed to provide an appropriate basic package of services, and to refer patients for other necessary services not provided at that site, as the Nursing Officer did in the case of the teenager. In Quthing district, integrated services are offered during community outreach initiatives. As 80 per cent of the population in Quthing works in South Africa, they are given a full package of services during a community outreach programme, as they visit Lesotho on a seasonal basis, according to the District’s Public Health Nurse, ‘Mateboho Mothupi. “We provide the full package, including cervical cancer screening and HIV testing and counselling, besides the provision of different types of contraceptives, and refer cases of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV). Just recently, we referred a 12-year-old HIV-positive girl who had a mental illness, whose father was aware of a [case of] SGBV [perpetrated] on her by a friend,” she said. In Quthing, most people walk long distances to reach a health facility, hence the need for the community outreach initiative. In Butha-Buthe district, Lesotho Planned Parenthood Association (LPPA) launched and runs the outreach programme once a month at ‘Moteng, and includes a health talk. It also offers HIV testing and counselling, cancer screening, COVID-19 vaccination and family planning services. Self-injecting contraceptive method gaining ground Rethabile* heard about the self-injection depo (Sayana Press) during one of the health talks and made a decision to use it, with the assistance of the health-care providers. “I will come for the next dose after three months. If, by then, they realise that I can inject myself, then they will give me the next doses to do it myself,” she said. “It is not painful. I am going to encourage others to use it.” The rationale for the integration of services is to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of the health system and to meet people’s needs for accessible, acceptable, convenient, client-centred and comprehensive care. In Lesotho, UNFPA, the United Nations sexual and reproductive health agency, leads the implementation of the 2gether 4 SRHR programme in collaboration with UNAIDS, UNICEF and WHO. The programme combines strategies and activities according to the strengths and advantages of the four participating UN agencies. It provides support to governments, civil society and communities to scale up quality services on integrated sexual reproductive health and rights, HIV, and sexual and gender-based violence for all, especially adolescent girls, young people and key populations. UNFPA has developed the capacity of journalists in Lesotho to report on sexual and reproductive health and rights, with focus on the 2gether 4 SRHR programme and integration of SRHR, HIV and SGBV services, so that they can raise awareness about the programme and related issues. The journalists toured health facilities to observe at first hand the provision of integrated services. Lesotho is one of five countries implementing the 2gether 4 SRHR programme, which is funded by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA). * Name changed to protect privacy

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Press Release

09 December 2022

Human Rights Day Statement by the UN Resident Coordinator

The end of the 16 days of activism against gender based violence is a hard phenomenon to celebrate or commemorate. This is because of the need to advocate for an end to gender based violence is work we should do all year. This time coincides always with an important time when the world celebrates and commemorates Human Rights Day. This year’s Human Rights Day theme is celebrating the 75th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) under the slogan “Dignity, Freedom and Justice for All”. In his message, Volker Türk the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has this year underlined that “On this Human Rights Day, we reiterate the need and relevance of human rights now as they were seventy-six years ago. Our hope is to increase knowledge of the UDHR as a foundational blueprint for taking concrete actions to stand up for human rights and tackle pressing global issues today”. To ensure that the ideals enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights become reality for Basotho, there is a role for everyone to play in ensuring respect, promotion and protection of human rights for all. The passing of The Persons with Disability Equity Act by the government of Lesotho has signified the commitment to ensure and safeguard the rights of people with disability in Lesotho. This Act now needs to be fully implemented to truly ensure that all Basotho with disabilities enjoy the full protection of and provision of their rights. Human rights start at the family level permeating to communities, schools, the workplace and to parliament. Indeed, as one of the lead drafters of the Universal Declaration Eleanor Roosevelt said in 1958: “Where, after all, do universal human rights begin? In small places, close to home—so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any maps of the world. Yet they are the world of the individual person; the neighborhood he/she lives in; the school or college he/she attends; the factory, farm, or office where he/she works. Such are the places where every man, woman, and child seek equal justice, equal opportunity, equal dignity without discrimination. Unless these rights have meaning there, they have little meaning anywhere.” The UN commits to continue working with the Government of Lesotho towards strengthening a national human rights legislative, policy and institutional framework for the promotion and protection of human rights. One of the institutions that will strengthen the national protection framework for human rights is the Human Rights Commission whose establishment is still awaited. This year’s activities on the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Based Violence across the country have indicated a need for more engagement, more platforms and more importantly a need for a better coordinated and systematic approach to ending gender based violence in Lesotho. Throughout the several activities in commemoration of 16 Days of Activism, numerous stories were told of women and girls that have survived gender based violence and remembered with sadness those that have died and whose stories we can only tell. We heard from a sixteen-year-old girl who as a result of being raped by her father is now a young mother to her own sister. Of the many dreams she has, she shared how she would like to go back to school and be able to raise her child. Gender based violence does not only affect individuals through the violence in their bodies, but it also affects children born of such incidences, children that live through these circumstances, affects productivity and production thus the economy. It has a bearing on our health systems, affects development and truly impacts all aspects of our lives. The UN joins the people of Lesotho to advocate against gender based violence for 365 days. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is as relevant today as it was when it was adopted 75 years ago. It has withstood the tests of the passing years, and the advent of dramatic new technologies and social, political and economic developments that its drafters could not have foreseen. For instance, its provisions are so fundamental that they can be applied to every new dilemma including new phenomena like artificial intelligence, the digital world and countering the effects of climate change on people. Everyone is entitled to all the freedoms listed in the Universal Declaration "without distinction of any kind such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status." Gender is a concept that is addressed in almost every clause of the Declaration. For its time, the document was remarkably lacking in sexist language. The document refers to "everyone," "all" or "no one" throughout its 30 Articles. Indeed, for the first time in the history of international law-making, women played a prominent role in drafting the Universal Declaration. But, 75 years after its adoption, the work the Universal Declaration lays down for us to do is far from over, and it never will be. It is the duty of everyone to ensure that the provisions of the Universal Declaration and all the international and regional treaties to which Lesotho is party are turned into a reality for the people of Lesotho especially the most marginalised.

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Press Release

07 December 2021

Lesotho: European Union continues to support those facing food insecurity through the World Food Programme

The funding, provided by the EU’s Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO) will be used to reach families worst affected by the impacts of rising climate shocks, food prices and the prolonged effects of COVID-19 in the capital Maseru and Qacha’s Nek districts; including families badly affected by recent windstorms in Sehlaba-Thebe, Qacha`s Nek. Each household will receive the equivalent of € 54 in cash, per month, allowing them to buy food items from local markets. “The EU continues to support partners such as WFP in order to provide life-saving food assistance to the most vulnerable people suffering the effects of climate shocks and the COVID-19 pandemic” said Ms. Paola Amadei, EU Ambassador to Lesotho. “We are aware that people in urban and peri-urban areas who lost their jobs or businesses have been hit hard by climate shocks, and we want to contribute to alleviating their suffering as a consequence of the pandemic." The support from the EU comes at a crucial time, when hunger is peaking with over 470,000 of the population experiencing acute levels of food insecurity through March 2022. Food prices have increased, and households are still feeling the long-term impacts of COVID-19 control measures on their livelihoods such as loss of jobs and severe reduction in remittances, with many migrant workers returning to Lesotho after losing their jobs. “We thank the European Union for continuing their support, allowing WFP and the government to provide much-needed assistance to vulnerable people affected by COVID-19 and climate shocks”, said Ms. Aurore Rusiga, WFP Country Director and Representative in Lesotho. “This timely contribution will help WFP save lives by supporting those who are most at risk and change lives by improving the food security and nutrition of targeted people.” WFP will undertake Social Behaviour Change Communication (SBCC) initiatives during cash distributions to provide information on basic hygiene for the prevention of COVID-19, as well as information on nutritional practices to enhance purchasing choices for households to meet their nutritional needs. The European Union is one of WFP’s main donors in Lesotho. The latest contribution brings the total contributions to € 7 million in the last five years.

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Press Release

08 November 2021

Germany provides support to vulnerable people in Lesotho

This contribution will improve access to food and ensure that vulnerable people, including women, have access to an adequate and nutritious diet in times of need, particularly during the lean season, more commonly referred to as the period between planting and harvesting. The assistance to the identified people will be through monthly cash transfers via mobile money and commodity voucher assistance.
“Germany hopes that this funding will contribute to mitigating the suffering of vulnerable people at a time when more of them are in need of humanitarian assistance,” said Andreas Pesche, German Ambassador to South Africa, Lesotho and Eswatini, based in Pretoria. “We commend WFP for its continuous efforts to improve the lives of vulnerable people in the southern Africa region.”
According to the 2021 Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, about 312,000 people of the total rural population in Lesotho are food insecure and the Lesotho vulnerability Assessment report estimated that a total of 158,000 urban population in Lesotho is food insecure. In total, about 470,00 people are food insecure and require humanitarian assistance to reduce food gaps, protect and restore livelihoods and prevent acute malnutrition. “WFP welcomes this timely and generous contribution from the people of Germany to enable us to respond to the most urgent humanitarian needs across the country, especially during the difficult times of the COVID-19 pandemic which has impacted already vulnerable groups in Lesotho, driving them into increased food insecurity,” said Lesotho WFP Country Director and Representative, Aurora Rusiga. “This contribution from Germany will go a long way in assisting vulnerable people who are finding it increasingly difficult to put food on the table and in dire need of support.”
WFP aims to assist 122,000 food insecure people through emergency response assistance until the end of the lean season in March 2022 with monthly cash transfers via mobile money and commodity vouchers. Beneficiaries receive USD 47 per month to help meet their basic food needs. Presently, the available funding will allow WFP to assist a total of 44,000 food insecure people.

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Press Release

10 November 2021

“Reimagine, Rebalance, Restart: Recovering together”, celebrating the UN’s 76th Anniversary in Lesotho

The UN supported the capacity building of health personnel on COVID-19 prevention and care in health facilities across the country, more recently, with all the 206 health facility staff being capacitated on COVID19 vaccine administration. The UN further supported government in the procurement of COVID-19 vaccines through the COVAX facility, with the country having now administered at least 383 341 doses (about 11% of the population), exceeding the target set by WHO that by the end of September 2021, every country and territory should have vaccinated 10% of its population. Women were also supported with maternal health services, an effort for the continuity of health essential health services. Over 800 000 people and 500 000 school learners benefited from improved access to water and sanitation, which is key in the protection against COVID19 through the provision of handwashing facilities throughout the country. The UN day was commemorated through a UN Fair under the theme: “Recovering together” an opportune moment for the UN, on its 76th Anniversary, to reflect and celebrate joint achievements and impact of the various COVID19 response programmes across all the UN agencies in Lesotho. “I have come here today to salute the United Nations and the people of Lesotho for the progress in transforming this great Kingdom into a prosperous, peaceful and stable nation. We are all aware that we still have a long way to the optimum ‘Lesotho We want’,” remarked the UN Resident Coordinator a.i, Betty Wabunoha at the opening ceremony. She highlighted the importance of working together in finding ways to collectively find solutions to complex challenges that face the country including COVID19. Further, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Hon Matshepo Ramakoae, reiterated the importance of “building back better” from the pandemic which has affected millions of people, however, commending the UN in continuing to work with the government in the fight against it, and in its effort in assisting the country to accelerate the implementation of Agenda 2030, or the Sustainable Development Goals. Beyond the COVID19 response, the UN continues to support the government in the promotion of good governance, rule of law and human rights, gender responsive social protection systems, sustainable economic growth, food security and decent jobs, and sustainable natural resource use.

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Press Release

10 November 2021

Lesotho Convenes UNCTAD15 Side Panel Event On Bridging The Divide Between Formal & Informal Cross-Border Traders

The UNCTAD 15 conference will establish the organisation’s work priorities for the next four years and formulate global policy recommendations. It presents an opportunity for developed and developing countries to jointly take bold actions to reduce inequality and vulnerability and offer hope and direction to a world struggling to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. UNCTAD15 will be held under the theme “From inequality and vulnerability to prosperity for all”, offering the nations of the world a platform to devise new ways to use trade as an enabler of sustainable development. With economies all over the world ravaged by COVID-19, countries will explore how to build back better and strengthen their resilience. They will discuss the strategies and policies needed to resist shocks and quickly recover from crises – economic, financial, climate and social. To supplement the global conference, the UN in Lesotho today hosted host a side panel event specific to Lesotho under the theme “Bridging the divide between formal and informal cross-border traders”. The UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Representative, Betty Wahunoha remarked at the opening session “HOLD FOR QUOTE” Lesotho depends heavily on trade with South Africa, which was intermittently disrupted due to border closures during the COVID-19 pandemic. Whilst both formal and informal traders have been affected, formal, mainly medium-sized, traders have generally been able to navigate border closures and to maintain their trade routes and supply chains. However, informal, and small-sized formal, traders have experienced much greater disruption. Those that have been able to maintain some trade have had to navigate more restrictive informal border crossings, which offer less protection, and thus frequently increase their exposure to vulnerability, particularly in the case of female traders. As Lesotho recovers from COVID-19 and seeks to stabilize trade, there must be consideration as to how to recognize informal cross-border traders, to protect their safety and livelihoods, support their formalization and to ensure that nobody is left behind. This will further strengthen the national efforts towards accession to the African Continental Free Trade Agreement. HOLD FOR QUOTE, Eriko Nihushumura, IOM head of Office The panel discussion will focused on the biggest challenges facing informal cross-border traders, how to ensure their safety, increase their contribution to trade and economic development, the challenges and opportunities in their formalization and potential.

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