Cheema on Maldives: Challenges Ahead, UNDP’s Plan in Motion

UNDP Resident Representative to Maldives Adnan Cheema speaks to The Edition about his aspirations for the country during his term in office.

He touched upon the unique challenges faced by the island nation, and elaborated on how the UNDP will assist the Maldives in its journey towards achieving its Sustainable Development Goals and other national priorities.

During the conversation, Cheema touched upon one of the key challenges faced at present. He noted how traditional aid has declined, adding “it’s less than five percent now”.

International funding for developing nations has also been slashed recently, marking a steep decline in the aid available for countries such as the Maldives. Cheema emphasized on how the UNDP is aiming to address this.

“We are looking for more innovative options for our traditional donors and new donors to come in, and also look at what we call blended finance, which means that you bring in public finance, you bring in private finance, multilateral, philanthropic. And that’s an area I think is really key to expand and we have made a lot of good progress and we are hoping to build further on that.”

Further on in our conversation, Cheema elaborated on the UNDP’s future initiatives and priorities.

“So going forward, the main target that we are working towards is to have a trajectory that’s going to lead to sustainable, inclusive development for the Maldives, and for that we will be looking to strengthen access to sustainable finance,” he said.

“We’ll also be trying to scale up innovative solutions related to climate, the blue economy, and inclusive access to basic services for the citizens. We’ll also be looking to deepen our multi-lateral collaboration to tackle global uncertainties while prioritizing national ownership.”

Watch the full interview below.