September 2013

W elcome to the seventh issue of the

UN in Lesotho Newsletter! The UN

was created to be an agent of

change, not just an object of change. From its

inception, the UN has been an incubator of

ideas, a builder of norms, and an arbiter of

standards.

The month of September saw the start of

the 68th Session of the UN General Assembly.

This is where representatives of all Member

States find consensus on difficult issues;

initiate studies and make recommendations to

promote international political cooperation;

develop and codify international law; advocate for

the protection of human rights and fundamental

freedoms; and ensure international collaboration

in the economic, social, humanitarian, cultural,

educational and health fields.

In this issue, we focus on reducing hunger

and improving health while at the same time

protecting the environment. We are looking at

sustainable projects that have socio-economic

benefits as well as environmental awareness.

Effects of the African Armyworm outbreak

in late January 2013 left a bitter taste in the

mouths of many Basotho. Due to the outbreak,

the 2012/13 crop production has been at an

all-time low level thus, aggravating the prevailing

food crisis. Programmes such as Cash-for-

Assets, Child Grants and School Feeding help

mitigate the impact of the food crisis.

Social protection is one of the key priority

sectors in the National Strategic Development

Plan 2012-2017 (NSDP) and in the National

Social Development Policy finalized in 2013.

Maternal and child mortality for Lesotho

remains very high. This is so although the

country is implementing low cost evidence-

based interventions focussing on reducing

maternal and newborn morbidity and mortality.

We note that sexual and reproductive health-

related life skills are essential for marginalised

groups. As the country is currently off-track in

achieving health-related MDGs, the UN

supports the government plans to establish a

School of Medicine.

As the world celebrated the International Day of

Democracy, Lesotho reflected on the twenty years of

constitutional democratic rule.

With just over 800 days left to achieve the

Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), it is

incumbent upon all of us to show renewed

urgency to accelerate the various development

efforts.

’

Inside this issue:

Steps towards establishment of School of Medicine Control and preparedness for armyworm

Social protection systems: Lesotho experience Celebrating population day

Sehlabathebe National Park given World Heritage status Linking environmental and health perspectives

Cash for Assets programme brings change Marking 20 years of democratic rule in Lesotho

Empowering youth from marginalized communities

UNITED NATIONS DELIVERING AS ONE IN LESOTHO

Number 7

The United Nations World Food

Programme (WFP) and an inter-ministerial

Lesotho Government delegation recently

travelled to Brazil to learn new skills for

managing the country’s school feeding

programme.

Lesotho Government ministers and

officials learnt about the Zero Hunger

strategy which originated in Brazil. The

Strategy is being developed at the WFP

Centre of Excellence Against Hunger,

established in the capital, Brasilia, in

partnership with the Government of Brazil.

The centre was set up in 2011 to

enable capacity development of national

Uniting for healthier school meals

The UN Resident

Coordinator’s Corner

World Food Programme supports 125,000 children each month with school meals in Lesotho.

(continued on page 2)

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Improving control and preparedness for armyworm

In response to the armyworm out-

break, which affected Lesotho in January

and February 2013, the Ministry of

Agriculture and Food Security (MAFS)

and the United Nations Food and

Agriculture Organization (FAO) worked

hand-in-hand to strengthen, control

and provide preparedness capacities

to manage more effectively this

emerging risk for Lesotho.

The Government and FAO’s

response plan received financial

support from the European Commission

for Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection

Directorate General (ECHO).

Eight districts of Lesotho including

lowlands and the Senqu Valley areas

registered nearly 35,000 hectares

on the 10th of September.

The Lesotho Meteorological

Services (LMS) collaborates in the

implementation of the EWS since rain

patterns are a major factor allowing

the reproduction of armyworm.

ECHO funding will also provide

the extension network with quality

equipment including over 300 sprayers,

400 personal protective equipment

kits, 1000 liters of chemicals, 100

pheromone traps and 100 rain gauges,

complementing both control and EWS

activities.

affected at different degrees with Maseru,

Berea, Leribe and Mafeteng making up

around 90per cent of the affected areas.

ECHO’s generous support amounted to

330,000 USD and will allow MAFS and

FAO to conduct training for extension

staff and communities in the functioning of

an Early Warning System (EWS) to detect

the presence of armyworms before they

multiply and reach devastating numbers

limiting their impact and the amount of

chemicals needed to control them in any

future potential outbreak.

Trainings for 250 participants are

being conducted by technical staff from

MAFS during the months of September

and October 2013. these trainings started

governments in the areas of school

feeding, nutrition, and food security.

While in Brazil on mission in August

2013, the Lesotho team visited national

institutions as well as schools, small

producers, members of civic society and

local government officials.

officials integrate school feeding into

broader national safety net policies

and poverty alleviation programmes,

and to support local agricultural

production.

For more information about the

Centre of Excellence Against Hunger

visit: http://www.wfp.org/centre-of-

excellence-hunger

Each year, some 125,000 children

living in mountainous and difficult-to-reach

areas of Lesotho receive a hot lunch

through the national School Meals

Programme. This programme is currently

managed by WFP.

The visit which is heralded as an exam-

ple of the South-South cooperation between

countries, is designed to help Lesotho

(Continued from page 1)

Uniting for healthier school meals

(Left) A healthy maize field before being attacked by armyworms in Leribe district; (right) The damaged maize field after armyworms

wreaked havoc leaving only stalks.

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Lesotho has made some significant

moves towards the establishment of its

School of Medicine through a project

that commenced in 2010 following a

feasibility study that was supported by

the United Nations World Health

Programme (WHO).

In the study, one of the proposals was

the arrangement of “sandwich training.”

A Memorandum of Understanding was

signed between the two governments

indicating how the training in the basic

sciences was to be conducted at the

College of Health Sciences in Zimbabwe

while the clinical training to be done in

Lesotho.

In preparation for this development,

a series of stakeholder meetings were

initiated to streamline the process during

the month of July.

On July 18th, a meeting took place at

the United Nations Building. The purpose

was for the Technical Working Group to

give an update on the project progress.

This was followed by agreement on

division of labor among the key players.

The following week, the project was

officially handed over to the Ministry of

Education for further development,

along with input from the Ministry of

Development Planning and Ministry of

Finance.

An enlightening meeting took place

in the following week with Professor

Midion Chidzonga, the Dean of the

University of Zimbabwe College of

Health Sciences. Topics discussed

included an update of training and

identification of gaps to be considered

by Columbia University.

It was proposed that clinical

training shall be conducted at Queen

‘Mamohato Memorial Hospital (QMMH)

as continuation of the training years 4

and 5 in Lesotho commencing from June

2014.

The Ministry of Health hosted a

delegation from Columbia University,

where the scope of support for the 1st

year of training was explored. Tentatively,

the first year training shall begin in

September 2014, being the start of the

full cycle of medical training from first

year to 5th year all done in Lesotho.

The readiness of QMMH, the

designated teaching hospital for the

students, in relation to clinical training

space, scope and staff, was discussed

in a meeting chaired by Dr. Karen Prins,

the Hospital Director.

The National Health Training Centre

(NHTC) agreed to the use of its lecture

rooms, office space, the library, laboratories,

staff houses, student residences and a

site.

The National University of Lesotho

through Professor Sharon Siverts, the

Vice-Chancellor, agreed to house the

School of Medicine within the Health

Science Faculty and to accredit the

degree and programme with the university

Senate and the Council on Higher

Education.

The clinical training is scheduled to

begin mid-2014 in Lesotho simultaneous

with the introduction of the first year

training of students in Lesotho.

Key steps towards establishment of School of Medicine

A photo of those who took part in the meeting at Queen ‘Mamohato Memorial Hospital on

30th July.

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Social protection systems: Lesotho experience

Socio-economic situation analysis in

Lesotho reveals that poverty, unemploy-

ment, HIV and AIDS and food insecurity

are the major threats to human well-

being in Lesotho.

A total of 57.1per cent of population

live below the poverty line. Poverty

situation is also characterized by high

inequalities with the Gini-Coefficient

(measure of equity of resources on a

scale of 0-1, with 1 being the worst) of

0.525.

Poverty is further exacerbated by

unexpected emergencies such as floods

and drought. For example, Lesotho has

experienced in 2012, more than 70 per cent

decline in domestic agricultural production

that has put more than 725,000 people,

over a third of the population, at serious

risk of food insecurity.

Moreover, the country has one of the

highest HIV prevalence rates in the world

(23per cent), and represents one of the

most pressing challenges for social

development in the country.

Why Social protection systems?

Social protection is one of the key

priority sectors in the National Strategic

Development Plan 2012-2017 (NSDP)

and in the National Social Development

Policy finalized in 2013. It represents at

least 4.6per cent of GDP which is well

above 1 to 2 per cent spent by most

developing countries.

There are currently ten different

social protection/assistance programmes

implemented in the country covering

Children, Education, Health, and Agriculture

sectors. The biggest are the Child Grants

Program (CGP), the Old Age Pension

(OAP), the Public Assistance (PA) and the

Orphans as well as the Vulnerable Chil-

dren (OVC) Bursary programs (see table

1, below).

A recent social safety nets review

supported by the World Bank in 2013

showed that in spite of the strong

commitment of Government of Lesotho,

there are some weaknesses in existing

social protection programmes that can

affect their impact and efficiency.

Most of the challenges highlighted

are the lack of coordination; lack of pro-

poor targeting for some programmes;

existence of the duplicated-spending on

tasks that can be shared between pro-

grammes and the existence of overlaps

and gaps in coverage.

That’s why; moving towards social

protection system is recognized by

national stakeholders to build to fight

effectively and in a sustainable manner

against poverty, vulnerability and social

exclusion. More specifically, it will

contribute to:

i) Strengthen coordination and

complementarity of social protection

interventions and enhance their align-

ment to the national poverty reduction

vision;

Beneficiaries queue to receive monthly Child Grants.

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5

S o m e f a c t s a b o u t s a n i t a t i o n

protection) and the World Bank to

support building the pillars;

Mobilization of Government

resources for social protection. As

a result since March 2013, the

Government takes over all benefit

cost of 20 000 Households and

50per cent of operational cost.

Government financial commitment

will cover 25 000 Households and

all operational cost by end of 2014.

Perspectives and way forward

UNICEF’s way forward to support

government vision to build social

protection systems will be focused on

three pronged interventions that are:

(i) Finalization of the national

social protection strategy which will

focus on building current system

(ii) Support national capacity

development to promote sustainability

of current CGP and for to move towards

the integration of social safety nets to

increase inclusiveness and efficiency

(iii) Development of NISSA as a

single registry of all social assistance

programme to promote pro-poor targeting

for all social protection programmes.

ii) Improve targeting by enhancing

pro-poor targeting and reducing

duplications

Iii) Promote efficiency and effective-

ness of government resources allocated

to social protection by creating

economies of scale.

Key achievements and role of UNICEF

The development of social protection

systems in Lesotho is supported by a

strong Government commitment.

In this regard, key strategic building

blocks for social protection system have

been developed or are currently under

development. These include:

Creation of a Ministry of Social

Development in 2012, as the government

structure responsible to coordinate

Government’s vision on social protection;

Development of a National Social

Protection Strategy (under formulation)

with a main focus on the development

of integrated social protection systems;

Movement towards a National

Information System for Social Assistance

(NISSA), to serve as a single national

registry for all social assistance

programs (Child Grant, OVC Bursary, Old

Age Pension and Public Assistance;

Development of a common targeting

criteria for social assistance programs

that moves from “OVC” to a wider/

comprehensive definition of vulnerability

(economic and social) which is still

under preparation;

Scaling –up of the Child Grant

Programme from 10,000 households

(initial pilot beneficiaries) to 25,000

household by 2014 totally covered by

national recurrent budget.

UNICEF, as leading partner of the

social protection sectors in Lesotho, has

played a major role during the past 5 years

in building these above mentioned pillars.

UNICEFs support contributed to the:

Provision of technical assistance,

guidance in implementation of social

protection initiative;

Support capacity building of the

newly created Ministry of Social

Development to realize this vision;

Development of strategic partner-

ships to mobilize key donors particularly

the European Union (EU contributed to

22 Million Euro since 2008 in social

Social Safety Network Programme Description

Child Grants Programme Poverty targeted non-conditional cash transfer programme for poor and vulnerable households caring for children below 18 years

Public Assistance Poverty targeted non-conditional cash transfer programme for poor and vulnerable households without regular income

Old Age Pension Universal pension fund for elderly people above 70 years

Orphaned and Vulnerable Children Bursary (Sec. Education)

Orphans and vulnerable children in Secondary Education

School Feeding, Public Work, etc. Several school feeding and public work programmes

Table 1: Main social protection programmes in Lesotho

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Mabeoana come in droves to celebrate population day

Very early in the morning, the Deputy

Minister of Finance, Mrs. ‘Matšepo

Ramakoae, was already at Ha Toloane

ready to lead a march which kicked off

activities for the day. She led the march,

accompanied by the District Administrator

for Maseru, Major General (retired)

Samuel Makoro.

The young and old came in droves to

the commemoration of the 2013 World

Population Day which was held in Morija.

Though the day is commemorated

globally on July 11, Lesotho celebrated

on August 15.

The main message for the day, which

kicked off with a march from Ha Toloane

to Morija, was Prevention of teenage

pregnancy — in line with the global theme

for this year, Adolescent Pregnancy.

As the main speaker for the day, the

Minister of Development Planning Dr.

Moeketsi Majoro emphasised the need for

breaking the cycle of adolescent pregnancy.

He also thanked the United Nations

for its unwavering support to Lesotho, in

particular, the United Nations Population

Fund (UNFPA) which, he said, is the biggest

partner for population and development

issues.

On behalf of UNFPA, the United Nations

Resident Coordinator in Lesotho, Ms. Karla

Robin Hershey, presented a message from

UNFPA Executive Director, Dr. Babatunde

Osotimehin, who called for provision of a

comprehens ive and ag e -

appropriate sexuality education

for adolescents and youth so as

to develop the knowledge and

skills they need to protect their

health throughout their lives.

“Today, we call on governments,

the international community and

all stakeholders involved to take

measures that enable adolescent

girls to make responsible life choices

and to provide the necessary support

for them in cases when their

rights are threatened. Every

young girl, regardless of where

she lives, or her economic cir-

cumstances, has the right to fulfil

her human potential. Today, too

many girls are denied that right. We can

change that, and we must,” Ms. Hershey

added.

All speakers including a representative

of young people, Tabitha Sefoko, implored

on the youth to focus on their education

and abstain from sex so that they can

have a better future.

Mabeoana and Lijabatho (as the

people of this area are popularly known)

entertained the crowd with traditional

dances and songs.

World Population Day was established

by the Governing Council of the United

Nations Development Programme and the

United Nations Population Fund in 1989.

The day seeks to focus attention on the

urgency and importance of population

issues, particularly in the context of

overall development plans and

programmes and the need to find

solutions.

Lesotho has commemorated the day

at various areas around the country. Last

year, the theme was Universal Access to

Reproductive Health Services. As part of

the commemoration, outreach services

were provided in various areas around

the country where communities were

given health services such as ante-natal

clinic, immunization for children aged

under five years as well as HIV counseling

and testing.

Deputy Minister of Finance, Mrs. ‘Mats’epo Ramakoae

(first on the left) before the march started.

Principal Chief of Matsieng, Chief Seeiso

Bereng Seeiso.

School children and the public carry placards with messages on prevention of teenage pregnancy.

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S o m e f a c t s a b o u t s a n i t a t i o n

For the first time in history, Lesotho is

recognized as a host to one of the World

Heritage Sites, the Sehlabathebe National

Park, listed by the United Nations

Educational, Scientific and Cultural

Organization (UNESCO).

Situated in the Maloti Mountains in

Qacha’s Nek district, Sehlabathebe was

recognized on 22 June 2013 as a UN

World Heritage site, along with seven

others on a list at a meeting in Cambodia

that reviewed 32 proposed sites and

several already on the list.

Sehlabathebe National Park was

honoured by the UNESCO World Heritage

Committee as an extension to the

uKhahlamba Drakensberg Park in South

Africa, which is now to be named Maloti

Drakensberg Trans-boundary World

Heritage Site.

Committee members praised the

6,500 hectare Park’s "spectacularly

beautiful watershed area" that hosts

flora and fauna of scientific importance. It

is also home to three endangered species,

the Maloti Minnow (a species of fish

found only in the Park) as well as the

Cape and Bearded Vultures.

Sehlabathebe means the “Shield of

the Plateau”, mirroring the rolling grass-

lands, wild flowers and silence provide a

sense of complete isolation and peace. It

also hosts 117 bird species consisting of

29 vagrants, 18 visitors and 70 breeding

and probable breeding residents.

It is wonderfully peaceful, and yet

exciting with many small lakes, huge

rock overhangs and striking sandstone

formations, especially the many

“arches” which characterize this park.

It also features a record number of

65 rock art sites made by the Bushmen

(the San people) who had been living on

the site for 4 000 years and other forms

of previous habitation of the site. The

images depict animals and human

beings, and represent the spiritual life

of these people.

Established in 1969, Sehlabathebe

was added to the UNESCO World

Heritage Tentative List on 8th October,

2008 in the Mixed (Cultural + Natural)

category because it has both natural

and cultural elements.

Typical high altitude species endemic to

the Maloti Drakensberg region include

Drakensburg Siskin, Mountain Pipit and

the Orange-breasted Rock-Jumper.

Home to both striking biological

diversity as well as important cultural

heritage, the larger ecosystem as a

whole performs invaluable functions

including providing freshwater to Lesotho,

South Africa and Namibia.

Sehlabathebe National Park given World Heritage status

Sehlabathebe hosts a globally significant animal and plant biodiversity, with unique habitats and species found only in Lesotho. (Left) The

characteristic natural tunnels or arches of the park, (middle) the bearded vulture and, (right) breath-taking rock pools.

Situated at an average elevation of some 2,400 metres above sea level, the

Sehlabathebe National Park is home to various outstanding biodiversity species, some

of which are endemic and endangered.

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Linking environmental and health perspectives

The Ministries of Health and

Environment held a one day Stakeholders

Workshop on National Plans of Joint

Action in August 2013.

The purpose of the workshop was

to discuss and have the National Plans

of Joint Action (NPJA) for Lesotho

endorsed by the relevant stakeholders.

The NPJA is an initiative that

followed after the first inter-ministerial

conference for health and environment

that was held in Libreville, Gabon.

The Libreville Declaration on

Health and Environment Linkages in

Africa was signed by the Health and

Environment Ministers from 52 African

countries in August 2008.

The implementation framework of the

Libreville Declaration on Health and

Environment has three phases: Situation

Analysis and Needs Assessment,

Development of National Plans of Joint

Action and Implementation, Monitoring

and Evaluation.

The workshop was conducted under

the guidance of the multi-sectoral Country

Task Team (CTT), while United Nations

World Health Organization (WHO) facilitated

the process.

Mr. Stanley Damane, the Director of

Environment, thanked WHO for technical

and financial support in making this

process possible.

“This stage is only a mile stone in an

ongoing process. We are moving towards

the implementation stage. A clean

environment is essential for human

health and well-being”, he added.

World Health Organization Representative,

Dr. Jacob Mufunda, cited environment as

one of the contributing factors for Lesotho

being off track in some of the Millennium

Development Goals.

After the endorsement by the stake-

holders, the NPJA document will go

through all the authority levels until it is

approved by the cabinet as a National

Some of the participants at the Stakeholders Workshop on National Plans of Joint Action pose for a photo session at the end of the workshop.

Mr. Sam Theko, Chief Health Inspector,

giving closing remarks .

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S o m e f a c t s a b o u t s a n i t a t i o n

A pile of dirt which was originally

intended to be a vegetable garden is

now used as a barren playground for

Ntsoaki Semoko and her two year

old sister.

Nearly two years ago, Ntsoaki

suffered a terrible setback when she

lost her father to HIV/AIDS, and her

mother to the false promise of a better

life in South Africa, she hasn't been

heard from since.

Today, she and her sister live in a

100 year traditional stone house in the

Southern district of Mafeteng. They are

in the care of their 80 year old grand-

mother, Paile Semoko.

Paile had a smile which lightened

the sombre mood of her barren kitchen,

when WFP arrived at her home to check

on her family’s situation, it was clear to

see that they were struggling.

Although Paile’s will was strong, her

body has grown weak with age. She

received no assistance from other family

members which made life challenging

since she lacked the physical strength to

complete heavy tasks such as building a

vegetable garden. With no money for sim-

ple items like seeds, her vegetable garden

and cupboards remained bare. She lay

awake at night worried about how she

would feed her granddaughters.

Life changed for the Semoko family

when they were identified by the local

government and WFP as candidates for

support. Like many areas of Lesotho, her

village is struggling with drought and ero-

sion due to climate change. In fact only

10per cent of the land in Lesotho is ara-

ble and each year the country loses anoth-

er 1per cent due to erosion.

Paile has been enrolled in a special

programme called Cash for Assets which

works to reverse this damage. Paile works

12 days a month in exchange for

funds which she can use for food, veg-

etable seeds and other household

needs.

She works with a large group of

men and women from her area to

create community assets such as fruit

forests which secure topsoil, as well

as and stone walls which divert fast

flowing rain water away from farm

lands thus, reducing erosion.

Due to her age she has been giv-

en simple tasks, and she takes great

pride in earning an income for her

family, while creating a better environ-

ment for her community to grow food.

The Cash for Assets programme

aims to assist 145,000 people in

Lesotho.

Cash for Assets programme brings change

Ntsoaki (5), Lebohang (2), and Paile (80) used to live in fear of where their next meal would

come from, today they have the support of WFP.

Ntsoaki (5) now enjoys daily meals at

the WFP-supported pre-school.

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Marking 20 years of democratic rule in Lesotho

A clarion call by the United Nations

Resident Coordinator to Lesotho, Ms.

Karla Robin Hershey, for the UN system in

Lesotho to celebrate the International

Day for Democracy (IDD) this year was

received with a lot of enthusiasm by

agenc ies ; the Uni ted Nat ions

Development Programme (UNDP) and

United Nations Information Centre (UNIC)

collaborated with the Transformation

Resource Centre (TRC), a civil society

organization, in organizing the event.

Based on this year’s theme,

“Strengthening voices for democracy”,

UNDP hoped that this activity to mark

the International Day of Democracy

would promote democratic governance

and promote the voices of the people of

Lesotho to be heard.

The event was both an opportunity to

disseminate the United Nations Secretary

General’s message of the day as well as a

good platform to buttress the importance

of democratic governance and recognition

of marginalized groups in Lesotho.

On their part, the civil society organization

wanted to use the event to mark 20 years

of democratic rule in Lesotho.

This was seen as an opportunity to

talk about governance and democracy

issues at a time when the nation is at

peace and there is no crisis.

A high profile round table discussion

was therefore organized to reflect on the

20 year constitution and raise issues that

impede voices of ordinary people to be heard.

The dialogue was aimed to provide

Government of Lesotho, media and civil

society opportunity to share views on

successes that Lesotho has achieved

since its return to democracy in 1993.

It was also a reflection on potholes

which probably have created constraints

to the inclusion and strengthening of all

the voices for the democracy.

The event was attended by senior

government officials, the Speaker of the

National Assembly (who gave a key note

Participants at the International Day of Democracy high-level dialogue were drawn from the

Legislature, the Judiciary and the Executive — the three pillars of government.

Speaker of the National Assembly, Mr. Sephiri

Motanyane (MP) addresses participants.

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S o m e f a c t s a b o u t s a n i t a t i o n

address) and his Deputy, the Deputy

Prime Minister, His Lordship the Chief

Justice, Members of Parliament, Leader

of the Opposition in Parliament, Clerk of

the Senate, members of the diplomatic

community civil society leaders, the

media and general public.

When welcoming participants, TRC

Director – Mr Tšoeu Petlane recognized

IDD celebration as biggest opportunity

that Basotho should start processes of

discussion on Constitution because it

ties with 20 years return to democracy.

He was mindful of the fact that it is

rare in Lesotho that one can have

government and civil society together in

dialogue about democracy and Constitution.

The UN Secretary General’s message

was read by UNDP Governance Advisor,

Mr. Thabo Mosoeunyane, and was

captured by both state and private media.

Mr. Mosoeunyane also highlighted the

importance of celebrating Democracy Day

at a time when Lesotho is commemorating

two decades of commitment to democratic

values, guarantee of human rights and

development of democratic institutions.

He appealed to country’s leadership

to espouse tolerance and cultivation of

culture of dialogue as they had shown

in recent National Assembly’s 2012 Elec-

tions.

In his keynote address, Speaker of

the National Assembly, Hon. Mr. Sephiri

Motanyane, urged his fellow parliamen-

tarians to respect and listen to voices of

the people especially the marginalized.

He urged them to heed the call by the

UN Secretary General and learn from it.

In his closing remarks and giving a vote

of thanks on behalf of the government,

Deputy Prime Minister, Hon. Mothejoa

Metsing, noted that “it requires every

one of us to demonstrate unwavering

commitment to democracy and all its

pillars and principles such as tolerance

towards others and to defend their right

to speak even when we disagree with

them”.

The DPM observed that “it would be

unfortunate if during these 20 years we

have also lapsed into authoritarianism

or oppression or any type of rule that

perpetuates tensions, suspicions,

mistrust and bitterness. I hope not.”

The DPM closed his remarks by

thanking development partners, civil

society organizations, and heads of

churches for standing together with

politicians through trying times.

Youth also took part and talked about how they can use their voices to not only take control of

their destiny, but to translate their desires and the desires of others into a better future for all

DELIVERING AS ONE WHAT’S HAPPENING?

UN Observances/ International Days

October

1 I.D. of Older Persons (UNDP)

2 I.D. of Non-Violence

3 World Habitat Day [1st Monday] (UN Habitat)

4-10 World Space Week

5 World Teachers’ Day (UNICEF/UNDP)

9 World Post Day (UNESCO)

10 World Mental Health Day (WHO)

12 I.D. for Natural Disaster Reduction [2nd Wednesday]

(UNDP)

15 I.D. of Rural Women (UNFPA)

16 World Food Day (FAO/WFP)

17 I.D. for the Eradication of Poverty (UNDP/FAO/WFP)

24 United Nations Day (ALL AGENCIES)

24 World Development Information Day

24-30 Disarmament Week

27 World Day for Audio-visual Heritage (UNESCO)

November

12 World Pneumonia Day (WHO)

14 World Diabetes Day (WHO)

16 I.D. of Tolerance (UNDP)

20 Universal Children’s Day (UNICEF)

20 Africa Industrialization Day (UNDP)

21 World Television Day (UNICEF/UNDP)

21 World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims

25 I.D. for the Elimination of Violence against Women (UNFPA)

December

1 World AIDS Day (UNAIDS)

2 I.D. for the Abolition of Slavery (UNDP/UNFPA)

3 I.D. of Disabled Persons (WHO)

5 International Volunteer Day (UNV)

7 International Civil Aviation Day (WFP/UNDP)

10 Human Rights Day (UNFPA/UNDP)

11 International Mountain Day (UNESCO)

18 International Migrants Day (UNDP/UNFPA)

UNITED NATIONS LESOTHO COMMUNICATIONS GROUP RESIDENT COORDINATOR’S OFFICE

UN House, UN Road, Box 301, Maseru, Lesotho. Tel: +266 2231 3790. Fax: +266 2231 0042

Comments and suggestions may be sent to the UN Communications Group through the

Communication Focal Points or to:

mamosa.ramakatane@undp.org

the Leribe district. She is now aged 26

and had a child when she was aged 23.

She says during their weekly village

meetings they talk about HIV transmission,

Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission

(PMTCT) of HIV, gender issues and peer

pressure. They also have an empowerment

programme.

“My peers are able to open up to me

about challenges relating to relationships

with their family members as most of

them have had children at a very young

age,” she says.

A young mother who has fallen

pregnant for the fourth time was finally

persuaded to attend antenatal clinic for

the first time.

In the same breath, young people

have been influenced to change their

behavior; some mentally disabled, some

physically challenged and others relegated

to being drug addicts without any future.

Youth Leadership Officer, Ms

‘Maseretse Ratiea and Lesotho Country

Director for Help Lesotho, Mr Shadrack

Mutembei attributed these successes to

the support they get from their partners,

among them the United Nations

Population Fund (UNFPA).

With support from UNFPA, Help Lesotho

has been able to train out of school youth

on life skills including HIV, Sexual

Reproductive Health and gender equality.

As Ms Ratiea said, “We are very

grateful for the support we get so that we

can reach the marginalized children in

Lesotho with information and training

which help shape their lives and positive

youth development.”

So far, more than 600 youths in Leribe

and 400 in Thaba Tseka have been

trained on life skills.

Help Lesotho also facilitates monthly

meetings for young mothers to discuss

maternal health, sexual and reproductive

health and other live skills. They meet at

village level every week to talk about

challenges they encounter and help one

another, where possible.

They are led by young leaders such as

‘Mankoane Mohapi, based at Tsikoane in

Empowering youth in marginalized communities

Out of school youth from Thaba Tseka and Leribe trained on life skills by Help Lesotho