Current CARICOM Chairman and Barbados Prime Minister, Mia Mottley, is one of ten prominent global advocates chosen to mobilise support for the new United Nations post-COVID-19 recovery framework.
The framework was launched on 27 April, by Deputy Secretary-General, Amina Mohammed and UNDP Administrator, Achim Steiner.
During the launch, the Deputy Secretary-General also introduced the Rise for All initiative, which brings together women leaders to mobilise support for the recovery framework and for the UN Recovery Trust Fund, which is designed to support the most vulnerable (including Small Island Developing States) in confronting the impacts of the pandemic.
According to the Georgetown-based CARICOM Secretariat, Prime Minister Mottley has called for a renewed commitment to confront the COVID-19 challenge: “Let us re-purpose, because this is perhaps the most apt reminder of what we must fight for in the multilateral system, in the global community of nations.”
We can do it, she says, “but we need to respect each other, to see each other, to hear each other and to work together,” Mottley says.
In addition to the Prime Minister of Barbados, this first Rise for All cohort includes the President of Ethiopia, Sahle-Work Zewde; the Prime Minister of Norway and SDG Advocate, Erna Solberg; SDG Advocate, Her Highness Sheikha Moza bint Nasser of Qatar; SDG Advocate, Dia Mirza; and UN Women Goodwill Ambassador of Pakistan, Muniba Mazari; along with the Executive Directors of UNICEF, Henrietta Fore; of UN Women, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka; and of UNFPA, Natalia Kanem.
The UN Secretary-General’s report, Shared responsibility, global solidarity: Responding to the socio-economic impacts of COVID-19, calls for action to suppress the virus and overcome the pandemic, safeguard livelihoods, and learn the lessons of this crisis to “build back better”.
International cooperation and partnerships at every level are critical to the plan’s success, and to the recovery of societies and economies along a more inclusive, sustainable path.
“Women are on the frontlines of COVID-19 and bearing the brunt of this human crisis…It is time for us to rise as women leaders to conquer the pandemic and come out stronger so as … to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030,” says Ms. Mohammed.
