Child Protection: Togo Records Significant Progress with UNICEF Support

Public Management

Monday, 12 August 2024 16:36

Child Protection: Togo Records Significant Progress with UNICEF Support

(Togo First) - Lomé hosted last Friday a meeting between Togolese authorities and a UNICEF delegation. The meeting was co-chaired by Sandra Ablamba Johnson, Minister Secretary General of the Presidency, and Aissata Ba Sidibé, UNICEF Resident Representative. The various sides reviewed their cooperation.

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The participants discussed UNICEF's key initiatives in Togo across various sectors. In health, for example, they found that Togo maintained a Penta 3 vaccine coverage rate above 90%, despite challenges from the Covid-19 pandemic.

Nous avons tenu le vendredi 09 Août 2024, une séance fondamentale avec l'#UNICEF afin d’évaluer et renforcer notre coopération en matière de protection et promotion des #droits de l'#enfant au Togo.
Cette rencontre marque un tournant décisif dans notre engagement commun ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/X0kMT3Rz1w
— Sandra ABLAMBA JOHNSON (@SandraA_JOHNSON) August 11, 2024

In hygiene and sanitation, the West African country has made progress in reducing open defecation. Thanks to the "Togo SANDAL by 2030" initiative, supported by UNICEF, 624 ecological and biogas latrines were built in rural areas. This helped reduce open defecation by nearly 10 points.

Other UNICEF-backed projects to combat violence against children have also been implemented, with 3,730 teachers receiving training. Also, from 2018 to 2022, birth registration for children under 5 went from 79.2% to 86%, spurred by the Togo-UNICEF partnership.

The two partners recently launched a new cooperation program for 2024-2026, with a budget of 30 billion FCFA. The program will focus on five key areas: child survival, education and development, child protection, social policies, and program effectiveness.

Esaïe Edoh

REFORMS OVERVIEW

STARTING A BUSINESS (more info)

At the fifteenth position, worldwide, and first in Africa, under the Starting a Business index of the 2020 Doing Business ranking, Togo sustains its reformative dynamics with more reforms….

ENFORCING CONTRACTS (more info)

Compared to some years ago when it was one of the lowest rankers under the Doing Business’ Enforcing Contracts indicator, Togo, leveraging many efforts to improve its business climate, was able to jump significantly on the index in the recent years... .

CONTRACT EXECUTION (more info)

Creation of special chambers of commerce for small debts • Creation of chambers of commerce at the Court of Appeal • Civil and commercial cases now handled by distinct clerks • Establishment of commercial courts in Lomé and Kara • Lawyers and bailiffs now have access to the FORSETI COMMERCIAL platform • A maximum period of 100 days was fixed to settle a commercial dispute .

TRADING ACROSS BORDERS (more info)

In comparison to previous years,Togo has significantly improved its ranking under the“Trading across borders” indicator by adopting multiple reforms that focus mainly on the digitization and reduction in delays, for import and export procedures related to import and export.

In comparison to previous years, Togo has significantly improved its ranking on the “Trading across borders” index by adopting multiple reforms that focus mainly on the digitalization and reduction in delays, for import and export procedures related to import and export.

CONSTRUCTION PERMIT (more info)

After moving from the 133rd to 127th place under the 2020 Doing Business’ construction permit index, Togo intends to reiterate this feat in the coming edition of the global ranking. To this end, it has introduced this year multiple reforms.

GETTING ELECTRICITY (more info)

Over the past two years, Togo’s ranking under the Doing Business’ Getting electricity and water indicator has increased consistently. Owing this performance to multiple reforms aimed at making it easier for businesses to access power and water, Lomé plans to introduce even more reforms this year to keep up its improvements.

REGISTERING A PROPERTY (more info)

Out of all the 'Doing Business’ indicators, Property Registration is where Togo has improved the most since 2018. Indeed, after spending years in the lowest part of this ranking, the country now seeks to beat Rwanda which is the best performer on this index in Africa. To do so, Lomé has been introducing many reforms, with the latest batch implemented this year.

PUBLIC PROCUREMENT (more info)

From professionalization to digitization, through legislative regulations, Togo’s public procurement framework is constantly being modernized. Several reforms have been implemented to improve the sector much to the benefit of the private sector, which is the focus of the National Development Plan.

PAYING TAXES AND DUTIES (more info)

To improve its business environment, Togo introduced some important reforms related to the payment of tax and duties. From the replacement of some taxes to the cancellation of others through exemptions, the country has only one objective: offer the most attractive tax framework to investors and economic operators. To achieve this, the authorities relied on digitization.