On the 28 September 2017, UNFPA met with a high-level delegation of Noble Energy Headquarters in Houston/USA, who visited Equatorial Guinea on 27-29 September 2017, to know better its corporate and social projects in Equatorial Guinea. The delegation was composed of the General Counsel and Senior Vice President of Noble Energy, Mr. Arne Johnson, and three other Noble Energy senior management, namely: Mr. Thor Pruckl, Country manager and Vice President; Ms. Meghan Eilher, Senior managing Counsel; and Ms. Amy Jolley, Vice President – Tax.

Noble Energy is currently implementing number of projects in various sectors as part of its social investment program for bettering people’s lives in Equatorial Guinea. Among these projects are: Bioko Island Malaria Control Project, Cervical Cancer Prevention Program, Maternal and Neonatal Health Program, Workforce Development, Building Local Capacity, Water Project, and Parks Project.

Like other projects, the UNFPA team, chaired by the Resident Representative, made a presentation on UNFPA mandate and UNFPA-Noble Energy EG Ltd Project.

Equatorial Guinea was one of the four African countries to reach MDG 5, on improving maternal health, by reducing by three quarters, between 1990 and 2015, the maternal mortality ratio. However, the country cannot stand by and relax its efforts in this critical sector. On the contrary, it must strive in the financing and effective implementation of actions in health, in particular in maternal and neonatal health, as well as in all other related development sectors.

The meeting with the delegation was very participatory and productive and contributed to a better understanding of what the financing of social development by the private sector, through corporate social responsibility, can change the lives of the people, especially the poorest. It also took the measure of what the success of the results achieved in this project can contribute, in a new project cycle, to its expansion to cover the other provinces of the country and its extension over time to achieve universal and people-centred transformative results by 2030, namely the elimination of preventable maternal deaths, unmet needs for family planning and gender-based violence, and all harmful practices including child, early and forced marriage, and teenage pregnancy.

The presentations have also shown synergies and opportunities for integration to leverage and consolidate efforts and maximize the impacts within the targeted population and communities. For instance, there are possibilities for jointly implementing and coordinating activities related to the Maternal and Neonatal Health (MNH) services and the parks. This may include the provision of youth-friendly services during the games among young people or the construction of parks close to youth-friendly health centers in localities covered by the UNFPA-Noble Energy EG Ltd project on reducing maternal and neonatal mortality in the provinces of Bioko Norte and Kie Ntem.