The 2004 Namibia CCA is an integral part of the national development planning process in Namibia as well as of the global UN reform. The preparation process was used to generate consensus on the nature and causes of the most critical development challenges facing Namibia. The CCA will be the basis to form the UNDAF, which will identify areas where the UN system has a comparative advantage in providing assistance and provide a framework for the UN to respond effectively to national development priorities and objectives. The UNDAF in turn will guide the development of agency-specific and joint programmes to address the critical issues.

1.1 CCA Preparation Process
The CCA process, initiated in February 2004, was linked to other national processes through cross participation in the preparation of Namibia’s 2004 Millennium Development Goals Report (MDGR) and reviews of its National Development Plan (NDP) II and National Poverty Reduction Action Plan (NPRAP). The process was done under the umbrella of the National Planning Commission Secretariat (NPCS) and was a collaborative effort generating broad participation from government Ministries (Health & Social Services; Regional, Local Government & Housing; Environment and Tourism; Women Affairs & Child Welfare; Basic Education, Sport & Culture; Higher Education, Training & Employment Creation; Agriculture, Water & Rural Development; Home Affairs; Finance; Foreign Affairs; Land, Resettlement & Rehabilitation; Information and Broadcasting; Justice; Mines & Energy and Labour) and of the resident UN agencies, including FAO, UNAIDS, UNDP, UNESCO, UNFPA, UNHCR, UNICEF, WFP and WHO and; non-resident UN agencies, including IFAD, ILO and UNIFEM; as well as civil society organisations; Non-governmental Organisations (NGOs); the University of Namibia (UNAM) and some resident development partners.

Under the overall guidance of an interagency working group led by UNICEF, the CCA process began with the compilation of national and international data into an indicator framework, a synopsis of which is provided in Annex 1. The data was reviewed by six sub-groups in the broad areas of governance and political participation; income poverty and macro-economic trends; environmental sustainability (facilitated by UNDP) and health, nutrition and population; education; and special protection (facilitated by UNICEF). The sub-groups also used the outcomes of the 2001 to 2005 UNDAF midterm review, national assessments undertaken by the United States Agency for International Development and the European Union, Namibia’s Vision 2030, NDPII, the Third National Strategic Plan on HIV/AIDS (MTP III) and the MDGR. The NPCS, the UN System in Namibia and its counterparts agreed that the CCA would add value to these antecedents by providing deeper analysis within a human rights context. They also agreed that in all cases the gender dimensions of the issues would be captured in the analysis, the formulation of the UNDAF and ultimately in programming. The process focused on sectors and areas in which the UN has a clear mandate and where the UN System with programmes of cooperation in Namibia are already active in.

The sub-groups identified positive or negative trends and prioritized issues for further analysis by stakeholders at a workshop held in Swakopmund from 8 to 10 June 2004. The participants analysed causality, role pattern and capacity gaps for a deeper understanding of the underlying issues and for designing appropriate interventions in the preparation of the UNDAF. The outcomes of the analyses are the basis of this document.

The sub-group reports were consolidated to form the basis for the five strategic analysis sections in this document. Various drafts of the CCA have been reviewed by the key stakeholders in Government, NGOs, Development Partners and the UN System, with extensive comments give by many agencies and individuals outside the UN System. The main conclusions of the CCA were presented to the Namibian stakeholders and UN agencies at the UNDAF Prioritization workshop, held from 31 August to 3 September 2004. This workshop marked the beginning of the UNDAF preparation with a consensus on the top priorities which should form the basis for action in the UNDAF.