Sandra Paulemon, Minister of Planning and External Cooperation, accompanied by Guy Roméo Latry, Director General of the Ministry, and Paul Ruddy Mentor, her Chief of Staff, held an important working session with Ms. Nicole Kouassi, Resident Coordinator of the United Nations System in Haiti, and her technical team.

Discussions focused on the steering committee for the overall cooperation framework, the steering committee for the Peacebuilding Fund (PBF), Haiti's Strategic Development Plan (PSDH), the mid-term report of the Doha Development Agenda, and the economic stabilization and recovery program. This program aligns with the government's priorities, which aim to facilitate the safe return of citizens to their neighborhoods and the return of children to school. It also intends to improve access to drinking water and promote a range of essential social initiatives for the restoration of the economic and community fabric.

In her address, Minister Paulemon reiterated that this program is based on strategic leadership provided by the Prime Minister's Office, with the Ministry of Economy and Finance acting as the technical coordinator. The Ministry of Economy and Finance ensures budgetary oversight.

The program's intervention areas are defined according to criteria combining the degree of vulnerability, security pressures, and economic potential. They primarily target fragile urban areas, strategic border corridors, and agricultural basins essential for food security and job creation.

Minister Paulemon emphasized the need to mobilize coordinated, predictable, and rapidly deployable funding to produce tangible results that directly benefit the population. She stressed that the population can no longer afford to wait. The Minister emphasized not only the return of displaced persons to their neighborhoods but also the rebuilding of these households' capital.

During the discussions, the Minister advocated for a comprehensive cooperation framework geared towards concrete results and aligned with the Government's priority areas: security, economic and social recovery, and the organization of elections.

Guy Roméo Latry emphasized the need for the Ministry and the United Nations system to agree on concrete elements within the overall cooperation framework. He reiterated that this framework must produce tangible, visible, and measurable results. In this regard, he called for an impact-oriented approach to ensure that commitments are translated into concrete actions that directly benefit the population.

Furthermore, Minister Paulemon and Ms. Kouassi addressed the issue of Haiti's Strategic Development Plan, stressing the need for alignment with the Government's current priorities. The Minister emphasized the need to strengthen technical exchanges between the departments of her Ministry and the Office of the Resident Coordinator, in order to harmonize references and avoid any ambiguity regarding the strategic basis for external support.

The discussions also allowed progress to be made on finalizing the mid-term report of the Doha Development Agenda, as well as on the organization and composition of the steering committee of the Peacebuilding Fund.

This working session helped consolidate the strategic alignment between the Ministry of Planning and the United Nations system; to record significant progress on the governance mechanisms of the Global Cooperation Framework and the Peacebuilding Fund (PBF); and to clarify the next steps in implementing the stabilization plan.

HL/ HaitiLibre