Africa-Press – Tanzania. STAFF members of the United Nations (UN) on Wednesday teamed-up with local residents here to plant trees at Mtopepo, and clean-up beach at Funguni-Malindi area in Stone Town, as part of a series of activities to celebrate the UN Day in Zanzibar.
A considerable number of UN members of staff led by those from World Health Organization (WHO) devoted their time to clean Funguni beach littered with plastic empties, sacks and broken glasses.
Mayor of Zanzibar City, Mr Mahmoud Mohamed Mussa led the exercise while emphasizing on the culture of maintaining cleanliness. Zanzibar City Director, Mr Salmin Amour Abdalla also encouraged the planting of trees.
“We thank the UN staffs in Zanzibar for deciding to celebrate in this way, taking into consideration protection of environment and maintaining hygiene. We cannot achieve the development goals when our environment is dirty and without trees,” Mr Mussa said.
Speaking on behalf of his colleagues from the UN family, Ms Amina Kheri from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) said the cleaning and tree planting exercises reflect the chosen UN Day theme: ‘Building Back with Better Health Systems’, which is in line with Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) number 3 on Good Health and Well Being.
She informed cleaners, including students that the theme focuses on reviewing existing health systems, so that they can better respond to pandemics like Covid-19 and health related emergencies for a Sustainable future. Countries, including Tanzania, are slowly recovering from the effects of Covid-19.
The UN staffs in Zanzibar join the government, other partners in implementation of development programmes, in marking the UN Day through a number of activities. It started with a flag raising ceremony at Nyerere Square in Dodoma on October 23 this year.
Activities to celebrate the UN Day ends today with President Hussein Mwinyi expected to grace a competition awarding ceremony. United Nations Day is commemorated globally on October 24, to mark the anniversary of the day in 1945 when the UN Charter entered into force.
UN Day, celebrated every year, offers the opportunity to amplify our common agenda as UN Member States and reaffirm the purposes and principles of the UN Charter that have guided us for the past 76 years.
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