Maldives has signed a project document with the United Nations in the Maldives, enabling the island nation to recover better from the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.

The project document titled “Protecting Women and Children: Digitalizing and Streamlining Social Services and Creating a Unified Platform for National Care” was signed by Maldives Minister of Foreign Affairs Abdulla Shahid and the United Nations Resident Coordinator Catherine Haswell during a ceremony held at the Foreign Ministry on Thursday.

The project aims to link progress towards achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), in the Maldives road to recovery from Covid-19.

The ministry revealed that the project revolves around enhancing services to protect women and girls from falling into poverty as well as boosting their shock-responsive social protection benefits.

It also aims to protect them from violence in prolonged socioeconomic and emergency situations, like the ongoing global pandemic.

Worth USD 452,500, the project will be funded by the global UN Covid-19 Response and Recovery Multi-Partner Trust Fund and implemented by the government with joint efforts from UN agencies and civil society organizations.

Three of the main objectives the project aims to deliver in order to help the Maldives “build back better”, include the enhancement of the national stakeholders’ capacity to support social norms to prevent gender-based violence, empower women as well as increase access to reproductive health and economic opportunities.

The project also aims to increase access to most vulnerable communities including women, children, the elderly, those living in poverty, disabled persons as well as those suffering from mental illnesses, through better data collection “at all levels”.

Further, the project also has the purpose to build an integrated, efficient, inclusive and sustainable social protection system which is based on principles of Universal Basic Income (UBI) which paves the establishment of a reformed, expanded, streamlined and digitized national social protection policy that goes hand-in-hand with Maldives’ recovery plan.

Alongside the minister and UN Resident Coordinator, the Resident Representative of UNDP Akiko Fujii, Foreign Secretary Abdul Ghafoor Mohamed and State Minister Ahmed Khaleel were also in attendance at the signing ceremony.