Objectives
Fund scope
São Tomé and Príncipe, a small island developing state (SIDS) in the Gulf of Guinea, has the second smallest economy in Africa. With a population of 220,000 inhabitants across six national districts, 73% of the population live in urban areas. Despite notable development progress in the last two decades in different sectors, the country still faces significant challenges in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) plus inclusive economic growth in the run up to 2030. In preliminary assessments in 2022, climate and energy experts and government partners identified two main roadblocks: Poor health service quality and deficient infrastructure and related processes.
As such, stakeholders of the Green Infrastructure for Health and Education in São Tomé and Príncipe JP have responded to these critical development challenges by operationalizing solutions in the sectors of energy, health, education and agriculture. Applying a ONE United Nations lens has meant strategic investments in building strong relationships with the ministries of health, education and infrastructure, ensuring complementarity with other climate and energy initiatives, supporting assessments carried out by other UN organizations, and facilitating data collection, monitoring, and evaluation that is based on a robust RBM approach.
Through the Joint Programme stakeholders support a sustainability strategy centred on three basic pillars: Involvement of decision makers, capacity building at all levels and community involvement. Activities fall under the thematic pillars of energy, water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH), agriculture, nutrition and education. Energy is crucial for delivering quality and affordable health services since healthcare facilities with sufficient and reliable electricity means women can give birth more safely at night, medical equipment and life-saving vaccines for newborns, children, and adults can be maintained at clinics, and facilities are better able to respond to emergencies.
Urgent investments are needed in areas that have an immediate and substantial impact on the access and acceptability of health care and, ultimately, health for all. Improved WASH in health facilities contribute to accelerating universal health coverage while investments in infrastructure, capacity building, and process development for water, sanitation, and electricity in these facilities send a vital message to communities and health professionals about government commitment to improving health facilities and services through long-term reforms and mobilization of resources.
Moreover, access to water and electricity are essential for the development of any food value chain, but especially to build an energetically, financially, and socially sustainable school feeding model that has a positive impact on education and retention of students in school. Part of Joint Programme action is to scale a national sustainable school feeding program in São Tomé and Príncipe through investments in environmental-friendly energy sources and innovations.
Strategic framework and theory of change
At an aggregated level, the objective of the Joint Programme is to support the Government of São Tomé and Principe and its partners in implementing an integrated and comprehensive approach to achieve SDG results that also emphasize national priorities related to energy access, health and well-being, education, and reducing inequalities.
Intended changes are designed “to improve the quality and safety of health services in São Tomé and Príncipe, through adequate infrastructure and processes.” To this end, preliminary changes must be triggered through the implementation of strategies that:
- Create adequate infrastructure conditions for better provision of services in health units.
- Strengthen existing human capacities to leverage infrastructure delivered in health facilities.
- Provide schools with access to solar energy and water for adequate preparation and preservation of food in pre- and primary schools.
- Provide schools with access to adequate infrastructure and modern equipment for cooking, food storage and conservation.
- Strengthen the capacities of smallholder farmers close to targeted schools and support connections between school feeding/nutrition and local market.
All Joint Programme components are aligned with recommendations made in the Zero Hunger Strategic Review Report, national frameworks and policies, government strategies for the education, school feeding, agriculture and energy sectors, as well as the new United Nations Sustainable Cooperation Framework 2023-2027.
> $55M 
$55M - $25M
$25M - $5M
< $5M
