United Nations Swaziland

Dr. Okello acknowledges the UN RC and the EU Delegate to Swaziland

MBABANE (5 FEBRUARY 2013): The low participation of men is being cited as one of the drawbacks in the in the HIV and AIDS response. Men are reluctant to attend campaigns promoting HIV awareness, are reluctant to test and mostly are not aware of their HIV status and therefore can't access services.
This is one of the challenges presented during the first annual review of the UN Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF) 2011-2015 in Mbabane. The meeting which was opened by the Principal Secretary at the Ministry of Economic Planning and Development Mr. Bertram Stewart, was attended by stakeholders from a cross section of the national development landscape including bilateral development partners, government officials, civil society and UN agencies.

MBABANE (18th January 2013): The United Nations in Swaziland has launched a study on OPPORTUNITIES AND CONSTRAINTS TO YOUTH ENTREPRENEURSHIP: Perspectives of Young Entrepreneurs in Swaziland.
The study which was commissioned by the UN, was launched at a conference on youth entreprenership attended by senior government officials from the ministries of commerce and industry; economic planning and development as well as from youth affairs. Members of the UN and civil society organizations also attended. Speasking at the launch, the Under Secretary at the Ministry of Commerce commended the UN for the initiative which he said complements the efforts of the Government to promote economic growth.

UN Resident Coordinator Mr. Israel Dessalegne also underlined the importance of strengthening capacity of the youth to play an important role in the economy. He said the study sought to respond to Swaziland's major challenge of youth employment.

New York, 18 December 2012: Growth of the world economy has weakened considerably during 2012 and is expected to remain subdued in the coming two years, according to the United Nations in its latest issue of the World Economic Situation and Prospects 2013 (WESP), published today. The global economy is expected to grow at 2.4 per cent in 2013 and 3.2 per cent in 2014 a significant downgrade from the UN’s forecast of half a year ago.
This pace of growth will be far from sufficient to overcome the continued jobs crisis that many countries are still facing. With existing policies and growth trends, it may take at least another five years for Europe and the United States to make up for the job losses caused by the Great Recession of 2008-2009.