Crown Prince Haakon In Zambia With UNDP

In his capacity as Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Crown Prince Haakon visited Zambia from October 28th-31th, 2013. During his visit, he put special focus on the UN Millennium Development Goals.

His program of activities was centered around health, the environment, education and youth leadership. Together with the First Lady of Zambia, Dr. Christine Kaseba, he visited Chongwe District Hospital. Crown Prince Haakon said: “I am very happy to be here in Zambia and I was looking forward to coming here. It is so wonderful to see the good work that is making a difference in people’s lives. I know that the wonderful facilities I have seen here today work to safeguard the health of the people. I have seen that the facilities here focus on issues such as HIV and AIDS, TB… a lot of important work is being done.”

At the University of Zambia, he met representatives of the youth organizations to discuss the role of UNDP and the United Nations and received great enthusiasm from the audience.  Crown Prince Haakon also met people from several villages and talked to women rice farmers about participation in working life and the role of women. Furthermore, he got a tour of UNDP’s work like funded climate change adaptation projects in rural Zambia.

During his visit, Crown Prince Haakon also met with Zambia’s vice president, foreign minister and other representatives of the Zambian government as well as Dr. Kenneth Kaunda, the first president of Zambia, and UNDP staff. They talked about issues relating to internal distribution and the problem of poverty, the country’s health and education systems, Zambia’s future course of development and the need for assistance from the UNDP to strengthen the efforts to achieve the UN Millennium Development.

In connection with the growing industry of sustainable tourism, Crown Prince Haakon visited the Victoria Falls, a site that attracts tourists from around the world. After a guided tour of the Victoria Falls Park, Crown Prince Haakon met with representatives of the Toka-Leya people, natives who are living in the area around the Falls, and they talked about management of natural resources, distribution, and the integration of social, cultural and economic traditions in a modern Zambia.

Crown Prince Haakon is a UNDP Goodwill Ambassador since 2003 and has travelled to Haiti, Nepal, Botswana, Tanzania, Cambodia, Sierra Leone, Guatemala, Burundi and Mongolia in this capacity.

Filed under Norway
Tagged Crown Prince Haakon of Norway, Health, Hospital, Humanitarian Efforts, United Nations, Working Visit, Zambia.