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Last Updated: Mar 2, 2022 - 11:54:15 AM |
When Dr Garry Conille step foot on New Providence days ago, he was on a mission solidify a renewed partnership between The Bahamas and the United Nations and The Bahamas that will bode well for the Bahamian people for years to come.
This mission served to welcome The Bahamas into the Multi-country Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (2022-2026). It enhances the UN’s presence in The Bahamas, and paves the way for a more coordinated effort to move the needle on achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Dr Conille is the UN Resident Coordinator (RC) for The Bahamas, Bermuda, Cayman Islands, Jamaica and the Turks & Caicos Islands (while resident in Jamaica). The role of the RC encompasses the northern islands, and includes coordinating the UN’s operational and development activities in support of the country’s efforts to implement the 2030 Agenda.
He is also responsible for promoting and advocating for the fundamental values, standards and principles of the UN Charter, including respect for and protection of human rights, gender equality and advocacy on the SDG commitment to leave no one behind in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.
Dr Conille is the designated representative of UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, in the countries he covers.
On his mission to The Bahamas Dr Conille said: “Together, we will raise the bar for equality and well-being, leaving no one behind. We will build resilience to climate change and other shocks and support sustainable natural resource management. And together, we will promote peace, safety, justice and the rule of law. Together, we can work to create shared prosperity and economic resilience.”
On Friday, February 11, 2022, The Bahamas signed on to the Multi-country Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (MSDCF) at the Office of the Prime Minister. The MSDCF is the primary roadmap for UN partnership member states of the Caribbean. It allows for greater strategic engagement by the UN on the instruction of the Bahamian government.
This partnership framework is a plan of action for people, planet and prosperity, according to the UN. It also seeks to strengthen universal peace in larger freedom. The UN sees eradicating poverty in all its forms and dimensions, including extreme poverty, as the greatest global challenge, and an indispensable requirement for sustainable development.
“I can say, unequivocally, that these steps, and the Country Implementation Plan we will develop and tailor together, will, with our unwavering mutual commitment, result in sustained progress for The Bahamas and its people,” Dr Conille said.
On hand for the signing were: Prime Minister Philip E Davis; Minister of Works and Utilities (and Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs) Alfred Sears; Minister of Economic Affairs Michael Halkitis; and Acting Director General Eugene Newry.
Dr Conille was joined by UN Country team representatives from the Pan American Health Organisation/ World Health Organisation (PAHO/WHO), International Organisation on Migration (IOM), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), UN Women, and United Nations’s Children’s Fund (UNICEF); and Aneesah Abdullah, Country Coordination Officer for the UN Resident Coordinator’s Office, The Bahamas.
Minister Sears and Dr Conille signed the actual Framework, with the Prime Minister expressing his pleasure in this achievement.
Dr Conille is no stranger to UN diplomacy. A former Prime Minister of Haiti, Dr. Garry Conille joined the UN Country Team in Jamaica after serving as UN Resident Coordinator in Burundi. His extensive experience as a development practitioner includes 20 years in the UN system. His work includes serving as the Regional Director for UN Office for Project Services (UNOPS) Africa Region and head of UNDP’s Millennium Development Goals (MDG) support unit.
“This is the first time that The Bahamas will become a signatory to the MSDCF,” Dr Conille said.
“As such, today is an historic one for the United Nations and The Bahamas, and it is indeed my pleasure to be here in person to facilitate its signing.”
Prior to the signing, the UN Country team made a number of courtesy visits to better understand the needs and priorities of The Bahamas. The team also provided consultation into how the MSDCF and the Country Implementation Plan can support the country in moving forward, especially aiding the most vulnerable.
One of those visits included a courtesy call to Minister of State in the Office of the Prime Minister, with responsibility for Disaster Preparedness Myles Laroda. There, Dr Conille shared similar sentiments with Minister Laroda about the impending hurricane season, and what it means in the midst of a COVID-19 pandemic. He spoke about lessons learned from the massive earthquake in Haiti, and the efforts to assist his own people.
“Your portfolio is central to the work that we will be doing,” Dr Conille told Minister Laroda.
“We are anxious to work with you at all levels to make sure the Bahamas is ready to handle any contingency but also continue to rebuild.
As he hails from Haiti, which he described as “just a short distance away”, Dr Conille said he also lives in “fear of June” (hurricane season). He noted that disasters can become “so much more complicated” when you have to factor in COVID-19. He recalled his own experience dealing with the 2010 earthquake in Haiti and the numerous challenges that needed to be addressed.
“We are anxious to work as one UN team, so the Ministry of Disaster Preparedness can really access the whole gamut of support that the different agencies and programmes can provide,” Dr Conille said.
“The urgency for us is for the technical teams to come together, assess the needs, and think through, with you, how best to address them.
In keeping with the Member States’ demands for the UN to strengthen its footprint in-country, a satellite office was established in The Bahamas, and is headed by a Country Coordinator. This is to ensure that the ambitions outlined in the MSDCF and the broader UN reform is responsive to each country’s national priorities. Aneesah Abdullah, Bahamian national, heads this office.
Dr Conille said the UN Multi-country Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework is “very much aligned” with the administration’s Blueprint for Change.
He outlined shared priorities:
MSDCF Priority Area 1: Shared Prosperity and Economic Resilience – the UN will support the country’s agenda to recover, rebuild and revolutionize the Bahamian economy through the technical expertise and mobilizing power of the UN and its partners.
MSDCF Priority Area 2: Equality Well-being and Leaving no One Behind – the UN will continue to see UN agencies supporting the Government’s response in ending the health and socio-economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and building resilience and preparedness for future health emergencies.
MSDCF Priority Area 3: Resilience to Climate Change and Shocks and Sustainable Natural Resource Management - just days after assuming office, PM Davis addressed the 76th session of the UN General Assembly, calling for greater climate financing. Then at the United Nations Climate Change Conference, COP 26, PM Davis appealed to world leaders for specific and concrete efforts to mitigate the effects of climate change.
MSDCF Priority Area 4: Peace, Safety, Justice and the Rule of Law - in an effort to address gender inequalities, the UN takes note that the Government has moved to initiate progress towards the implementation of a Gender-based Violence Bill to be passed in the coming months.
Dr Conille welcomed all of the work being done towards the SDGs in the country and reiterated the UN’s readiness to provide support. His commitments to stand at the helm ready to help all of the counties signed on to the MSDCF comes with a wealth of experience in humanitarian work. In addition to his vast UN experience, he has served as Under Secretary General for Programmes and Operations with the International Federation of The Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, the world’s largest humanitarian network.
In the wake of Haiti’s 2010 earthquake, Mr. Conille served as Chief of Staff to the office of the Special Envoy for Haiti, former United States President William J. Clinton, where he helped coordinate Haiti’s reconstruction efforts. In addition, in 2012 he served as Senior Advisor to Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf in her role as Co-Chair of the UN High Level Panel on the Post-2015 Development Agenda.
Mr. Conille holds a medical degree from the Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy of the State University of Haiti and a Master of Public Health from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is the father of twin girls.
The UN Mission to The Bahamas included: Dr Eldonna Boisson, Representative, PAHO/WHO, The Bahamas and Turks and Caicos Islands; Karen Moss-Timothy, Head of Mission, IOM Bahamas; Denise Antonio, Representative, UNDP Multicountry Office for The Bahamas, Belize, Bermuda, Cayman Islands, Jamaica, and Turks & Caicos Islands; Ava Whyte, Assistant Resident Representative, UNDP Multicountry Office for The Bahamas, Belize, Bermuda, Cayman Islands, Jamaica, and Turks & Caicos Islands; Tonni Ann Brodber, Representative, UN Women - Multi-Country Office Caribbean; Mariko Kagoshima, Representative, UNICEF Jamaica; and Aneesah Abdullah, Country Coordination Officer, The Bahamas (UNRCO).
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