Jaipur, May 6 (IANS) Unicef India Representative Cynthia McCaffrey met Rajasthan Chief Secretary V. Srinivas at the Government Secretariat on Wednesday, with discussions centred on strengthening collaboration in key sectors including health, women and child development, nutrition, education and child rights protection.

During the meeting, the Chief Secretary highlighted that the state government is actively working across sectors to realise the vision of a “Developed Rajasthan” under the leadership of Chief Minister Bhajan Lal Sharma.

He noted that large-scale campaigns under the National Health Mission are improving health and nutrition indicators, while the Chief Minister Ayushman Arogya Yojana is strengthening healthcare services across the state.

Additional Chief Secretary (School Education) Rajesh Yadav said several innovative initiatives are being implemented with Unicef’s support to enhance the quality of education, including efforts to promote multilingual learning.

Additional Chief Secretary (Higher Education) Kuldeep Ranka highlighted the “Yuva Setu” programme, supported by Unicef, as a key platform for youth empowerment with a focus on leadership development and skill-building.

Principal Secretary (Medical and Health) Gayatri Rathore noted that joint training programmes and innovation-driven initiatives with Unicef have contributed to a decline in maternal and infant mortality rates.

She added that immunisation drives are being implemented effectively and that capacity-building programmes for ASHA workers and ANMs have significantly improved service delivery.

Secretary, Women and Child Development, Punam said that monitoring child growth in tribal areas continues to remain a challenge and stressed the need for enhanced training and data validation systems with Unicef’s support.

McCaffrey said that under Unicef’s upcoming 2026-29 work plan, the organisation will expand its role in policy support, technical assistance and advisory services.

She emphasised that the focus would remain on strengthening social protection systems and increasing women’s participation while leveraging emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) to address development challenges.

Senior officials, including Additional Chief Secretary (Social Justice) Dinesh Kumar and NHM Mission Director Dr Jogaram, along with Unicef representatives, were also present at the meeting.

–IANS

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