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Mister President and distinguished delegates,
 I have the honour of presenting to you the Country Programme
Documents for 2013-2016 between UNICEF and the Government
of Haiti and for 2013 – 2017 between UNICEF and the
Government of Nicaragua. In addition we have just finalized the
mid-term review of the Country Programme Document between
UNICEF and the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.
 Latin American and the Caribbean, one of the most diverse regions
of the world, is home to 195 million children (0-18 years), and
while the LAC region is, on average, on track to achieve most of
the MDGs, a closer look beyond the regional and national averages
reveals vast disparities among and within countries.
 While the region has experienced steady economic growth in the
last few years, there are still many outstanding challenges.
Persistent poverty and social exclusion related to gender, ethnicity
and place of residence have excluded many population groups from
the benefits of development. This situation of exclusion and
poverty is exacerbated when countries are impacted by recurrent
natural disasters.
 The earthquake which struck Port au Prince in 2010, one the most
devastating natural disasters of our time, has also brought forth an
unprecedented show of commitment, solidarity and cooperation
from Latin America and the Caribbean and the rest of the world.
The global response fostered new and innovative partnerships and
provided us with valuable evidence and lessons learned, on the
importance of strengthening national and local institutions.
 The draft Country Programmes to be presented today for Haiti and
Nicaragua, while rooted in their own country context, are both the
result of discussions and consensus with governments, partners and
UN colleagues on key strategic priorities and tangible
programmatic results for the most deprived children.
 Using the life-cycle approach and the Monitoring for Results
analysis, we were able to identify what interventions are most
appropriate and what indicators are the most relevant to monitor, in
order to ensure that results for children are achieved.
 Both CPDs embrace UNICEF core role of monitoring the situation
of children, conducting country-led evaluations and providing an
opportunity to accompany and support national efforts which target
the most excluded groups.
 Please allow me now to mention some of the individual
characteristics of each of the draft country programmes:
 Our contribution to the emergency response provided to Haiti since
2010 built on the strong partnership with the Government and the
networks of community-based partners towards the realisation of a
“transformative agenda” for the country.
 We attended to immediate needs while bearing in mind the need
for a longer term vision for children in Haiti. As a result, UNICEF
today is well positioned to accompany the Government in its
efforts to uphold commitments under the CRC and accelerate
national efforts to the realization of the MDGs with equity.
 Through its new CPD, UNICEF will sharpen its equity focus and
promote a decentralized approach to address disparities. The
programme will produce tangible results at both national level and
in the priority North and South Departments in an effort to
elaborate strategies to balance service delivery with capacity
development at all levels outside of the Port-au-Prince
metropolitan area.
 UNICEF new country programme with the Government of Haiti
consists of three programme components: Child Survival and
Development; Learning and Protective Environment; and
Partnerships for Children’s Rights.
 In 2013-2016, UNICEF will support national authorities to reduce
child illness and death by ensuring access for children and women,
especially the most vulnerable, to a proven, cost-effective package
of high-impact preventative and curative health and nutrition
interventions at the community level. This includes support to the
Expanded Programme on Immunization, Integrated Management
of Child Illnesses, Neonatal and Obstetric Care, and HIV/ AIDS
prevention and treatment care.
 UNICEF knows that keeping children in school is one of the best
ways to protect them from violence and abuse. Through its 20132016 Country Programme, UNICEF will support government
institutions to increase children’s access to quality formal and
community and family-based early learning opportunities.
UNICEF will also support the government in developing policy
frameworks to regulate the education system, abolish education
fees and define quality standards for state and nonstate service
providers – thus paving the way for more children to get a better
quality of education.
 The 2013-2016 Country Programme will strengthen the capacity of
government institutions at national and sub-national levels to
effectively implement, monitor and enforce norms for the delivery
of protective services for children, including through the
development of minimum standards and codes of conduct to ensure
that caregivers provide children with a higher standard of care.
 UNICEF will also address violence against children by developing
protocols and referral mechanisms and supporting government
authorities to put in place a solid case management and social
service system prioritizing the needs of vulnerable children and
their access to basic social services.
 The new Country Programme will take advantage of the new
programming environment in Haiti, which is significantly more
“enabling” than before due to the new National Strategic
Development Plan and the increasing availability of new data from
the national census, the Demographic and Health Survey and the
update of the Situation Analysis for children. This will enable
UNICEF to be sharper in its targeting of the most disadvantaged
and more effective in monitoring the impact of programme
interventions on children.
 And now I will switch to Spanish – Ahora voy a pasar al español
 Now I would like to present to you some of the key elements of the
proposed country programme for Nicaragua. The country
programme is designed to contribute to national efforts attending
to the major gaps identified in the latest observations of the
Committee on the Rights of the Child (Sept. 2010), through:
(a) mainstreaming the principles of the Convention on the
Rights of the Child in the national legal framework and social
policies;
(b) implementing targeted interventions with marginalized
populations;
(c) developing policies and interventions based on the best
interests of children and adolescents with their participation; and
(d) operationalizing a national child protection system with
special focus on victims of violence.
 In spite of overall progress in child development over the years in
Nicaragua, the country remains the second poorest country in the
region. Disparities in social and child-related indicators are still
present, especially among the population of the Autonomous
Regional Territories in the Caribbean Coast and indigenous
peoples, whose indicators are well below national averages. In
addition, Nicaragua is extremely vulnerable to climate change.

To address these issues, the new country programme will have a
targeted territorial focus on the Caribbean Coast, where high levels
of poverty are slowing down national development trends. The
CPD will also develop and implement an innovative model of
environmental education based on climate change adaptation. This
approach will emphasize out-of-school adolescents involved in
drugs, gangs or sexual exploitation through vocational training
linked to climate change responses.
 The new CPD focuses on two critical moment of the life-cycle of
the child: early childhood and adolescents. It promotes
empowerment of adolescent girls to reduce their social
vulnerability and increase opportunities for participation. Based on
the analysis of gender practices, interventions with focus on male
involvement will be developed as a key strategy to promote early
childhood care and prevention of violence at family level.
 The new CPD also builds on the existing national strategy and
action plans related to early childhood (Programa Amor) as an
entry point to articulate synergies across different sectors,
including health, nutrition, education and child protection, thus
ensuring greater impact of cost-effective, cohesive interventions
and alignment with national priorities.
 A cyclical monitoring approach will be used to ensure the
achievement of concrete results. First, innovative data collection
mechanisms will serve as the springboard for targeted advocacy
efforts. In turn, bottleneck analyses will monitor the effectiveness
of translating upstream policies into improved services for
children.
 Focus on implementation issues will draw from a problem-driven
monitoring methodology in view of addressing bottlenecks in the
service delivery chain – from the policy level to the point of
delivery – so that concrete and measurable results can be achieved.
 I take this opportunity to also report to the board on the results of
the Mid-Term Review of Country Programme of the Bolivarian
Republic of Venezuela (2009-2013) which took place in 2011.
Venezuela, like many countries in the region, has made good
progress towards achieving the MDGs.
 The midterm review of the Country programme in Venezuela
reaffirmed the continuing relevance of UNICEF programmes in
middle income countries in providing them with technical
assistance to intensify progress towards achievement of the MDGs
with equity. The review results also noted the importance of
continuing to invest in the compilation of data at sub-national level
as a tool for which UNICEF will continue to provide its support;
to increase the inclusion of result-based management and human
rights approaches in the design, implementation, and monitoring of
public policies in education and health targeting children and
adolescents; and to continue to consolidate the systems and
programmes for child protection.
 UNICEF is looking forward to continue cooperation with national
authorities to produce results for children through our current
country programme.
 The two country programmes and the mid-term review presented to
you today make clear the importance of UNICEF accompaniment
strategy. We have learnt that only when we accompany
governments in their own efforts to strengthen systems, policies
and programmes to tackle national needs, do we create sustainable
solutions for children and their families.