'A lot of work needed to continue process of democratisation'

Sana'a: Yemen will not be able to reach the Millennium Development Goals by 2015, despite the recent donors' support to keep it on track with those goals, said a UN official who worked in the country over the last four years.

"From the assessments we conducted over the last few years, I am sorry to say that Yemen is off track, it will not be able to reach the goals," said Flavia Pansieri, former UN resident coordinator in an interview with Gulf News.

Pansieri, who left Yemen for a new UN job in Germany last week, urged Yemen to re-focus and re-align its planning and targets, "to make sure that the targets are not only realistic but also are supported by the allocation from donors and national budgets."

This is a source of great concern, she said. She said Yemen should face the challenges in implementation of the plans and capacity shortages. "There is a need for better systems of frameworks for implementation as well as systems for monitoring and evaluating."

Policies should be refined, targeting should be improved, and funding should be increased with clear priorities, she added.

However, she said, Yemen is running after moving targets as long as it continues to have the current growth rate in population which is 3.1 per cent, one of the highest rates in the world.

The GDP should be as high as the population growth rate, she said.

"And in this area there have been a number of encouraging steps, but a lot of work is still needed to continue with the process of democratisation, opening up to foreign investments, facilitating, empowering women to contribute to society, addressing the needs of the population in terms of providing basic social services and employment opportunities that have a real impact on poverty alleviation," said Pansieri.

Commenting on the recent western and Gulf countries' financial assistance, which amounted so far to about $5.3 billion [about Dh19.4 billion], the UN official said, "It is a partnership and every side has some responsibilities to meet, it is not just a matter of ... more funding, Yemen should continue the reform agenda.

Yemen is not a totally poor country it has resources of its own, it needs to utilise these resources wisely and in a manner that targets real improvement for the Yemeni people, she said.

When asked why people in the street don't get a sense of the UN's efforts in combating poverty, she said, "I don't know. I think there is obviously a need for doing a better job in explaining what we do.

"But also I think we need to confess that the resources that we have, unfortunately, are limited, there is no way with its current capacities in terms of funding and staffing that the UN will be able to touch every single individual in Yemen.

"But also I think we need to confess that the resources that we have, unfortunately, are limited, there is no way with its current capacities in terms of funding and staffing that the UN will be able to touch every single individual in Yemen."