UNECA holds training workshop for COMESA

THE United Nations Commission for Africa (UNECA) conducted a capacity building training on African Social Development Index (ASDI) for COMESA staff in Lusaka. The event was held at Lusaka’s Taj Pamodzi Hotel. The training which was conducted on selected staff from Lusaka’s COMESA Secretariat was meant to increase workforce capacity in order to enable them collect and report on various indicators of African Social Development Index (ASDI), towards the realization of the COMESA goal of improved living standards of women, men, girls and boys in the region. A total of 25 staff from various COMESA departments including governance, library, statistics and administration participated in the training. Speaking at the opening of the training, UNECA Director Dr. Said Adejumobi explained that the training would introduce the tool to COMESA, raise awareness and build capacity for senior officials in order to enable them apply the ASDI in their own work, with a view to track progress in social development and human inclusion in member states. “This training is very important and we believe it will support the Secretariat to foster policy dialogue and devise targeted measures to address the various forms of exclusion and promote socioeconomic integration in COMESA states,” Dr Adejumobi said. And Assistant Secretary General for Programmes Ambassador Kipyego Cheluget described the training as timely adding that the tool would help the secretariat in ensuring that the development and monitoring of the 2016 – 2020 Medium Term Strategic Plan. Dr. Kipyego Cheluget further stressed that the training was imperative in that it takes into consideration socio- economic indicators to ensure the uplifting of the living standards of the marginalized women, youth and children.