COUNTRY TECHNICAL SERVICES TEAM

What is the UNFPA CST Pacific? 

The UNFPA Country Technical Services Team (CST) for the Pacific is a multidisciplinary team which is intended to provide timely, high quality and consistent technical support and backstopping to national and regional population programmes and projects in the Pacific.  The team approach ensures greater coordination, communication, and flexibility in the provision of technical assistance and support.  The complexity of population-related problems demands that countries adopt an integrated and multidisciplinary approach to solving them and the CST embodies this approach.

The CST for the Pacific, based in Suva, Fiji, covers the following Pacific Island nations:

Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu.

How Does the UNFPA CST Work

The CST provides countries and territories in the Pacific with a wide range of technical support services ranging from ad hoc advisory services to planned national and regional training programmes and close technical backstopping with the aim of developing national self-reliance in the population field.

Technical inputs by Team members are planned jointly by the Governments, the UNFPA Representatives, United Nations agencies and the CST Director, with UNFPA–funded project requests for technical assistance channelled through the UNFPA Country Offices. 

The services could be in the broad areas of: 

• Reproductive health including family planning and sexual health 

• Population and development strategies 

• Advocacy and information, education and communication 

• Gender, population and development 

Technical support services in these areas are available from the Team to all ministries, national training and research institutions, NGOs, etc.  Where necessary, the Team will call upon the services of the Technical Support Service specialists and other experts at the United Nations agencies' headquarters and regional offices. 

The Team will also establish close working relationships with local experts, and thereby help strengthen national capacity in the population field. 

What Does The UNFPA CST Do?  

The functions of the CST include: 

• Conduct regional analysis and contribute to the development of regional strategies;

• Support capacity building for technical assistance;

• Promote UNFPA’s policy agenda;

• Share lessons learned and best practices; and

• Undertake strategic missions for the effective formulation and implementation of country programmes.

Some of the specific strategic tasks of the CSTs will be carried out through an integrated, multidisciplinary approach and these will include:

• Analysing ongoing trends, evolving needs and emerging issues in order to identify appropriate responses at the country, regional and organizational levels;

• Participating in policy dialogue at the country, regional and organizational levels;

• Synthesizing, analysing and disseminating lessons learned and best practices drawn from country and regional experiences;

• Providing technical support to countries in key stages of the UNFPA programme cycle, including the preparation of CCAs, UNDAFs, PRSPs, SWAPs, MDGs, country programme outlines, programme reviews and midterm reviews;

• Identifying, developing and applying effective strategies for capacity building at the country and regional levels;

• Participating with United Nations partners and headquarters divisions in the identification of needs to be met by the strategic partnership programme and in incorporating those outputs into country programmes; and

• Facilitating, promoting and building capacity for strategic planning and results-based management throughout the programming cycle.

Mr. Najib Assifi
Director, Provides overall guidance to the multidisciplinary team of advisers in the formulation and implementation of policies and programmes in the areas of reproductive health, population and development, and gender equality and the empowerment of women. Promotes the role of the CST in strengthening country capacity to achieve the goals agreed to at the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development  (ICPD) and other recent United Nations global conferences and summits.

Mr. Geoffrey Robert Hayes,
Adviser in Population and Development, He offers advisory services in the formulation and implementation of comprehensive population - development policies at the country level. Helps to organize and to contribute to policy-related research and training activities aimed at imparting technical know-how and appropriate practical methodologies to development planners and policy makers. 

Dr. Annette Sachs Robertson
Adviser in Reproductive Health Programme Assement and Operations Research, She collaborates with the Pacific governments and any other countries designated, in planning, evaluating, training and implementation of UNFPA-funded Reproductive Health including Family Planning and Sexual Health projects/programmes. Participates actively in the formulation of RH/FP-SH project requests for submission by respective governments to UNFPA. 

Dr. Wame Baravilala
Adviser in Reproductive Health, He will be working closely with the Adviser in Reproductive Health Programme Assessment and Operations Research in providing technical support to Pacific island countries, including Papua New Guinea, in reproductive health matters . 

UNFPA Country Technical Services Team for the Pacific

Office : FNPF Place, Victoria Parade, Suva, Fiji
Mailing : UNFPA Office for the Pacific, Private Mail Bag, Suva, Fiji
Phone : (679) 330 8022
Fax : (679) 331 2785
Email : registry@unfpa.org.fj
Homepage : http://pacific.unfpa.org