TREND OF EMPLOYING NATIONAL EXPERTS SHOULD CONTINUE, SECOND COMMITTEE TOLD
Press Release
GA/EF/2700
TREND OF EMPLOYING NATIONAL EXPERTS SHOULD CONTINUE, SECOND COMMITTEE TOLD
19951109 Committee Continues Policy Review Of Operational Activities for DevelopmentThe trend of employing national instead of international experts in the development field should continue as they were in a better position to understand and find solutions to the problems of their countries, the representative of Ethiopia told the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) this morning as it continued the triennial policy review of operational activities for development of the United Nations system.
Although recognizing that sources and patterns of funding for operational activities had changed over the last decade, the representative of the United States said the triennial policy review should not take on the challenge of how best to improve such funding. Current mechanisms and negotiations already existed to explore viable alternatives, including the negotiations on the Agenda for Development.
The representative of India said recommendations on the country strategy note contained in the Secretary-General's report appeared to be based more on responses from field representatives of United Nations agencies than from sovereign governments. He asked how many country responses had formed the basis of the recommendations. Attempts to formulate guidelines based on narrow experiences and then making them applicable throughout the United Nations system went against the spirit of United Nations development assistance.
The representative of Poland said she was not ready at present to support the creation of a regional strategy note as a framework for regional cooperation. There was a need for a country strategy note but that should be shaped along the conditions and requirements of individual countries.
Also making statements were the representatives of Ecuador (on behalf of the Rio Group), Slovak Republic, Qatar, Honduras (on behalf of Central American countries), Republic of Korea, Bangladesh, Thailand, Japan, Morocco and Belize. The observer for Switzerland made a statement as did the Director of the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM).
The Committee will meet again at 3 p.m. today to continue its triennial policy review of operational activities for development.
Committee Work Programme
The Second Committee (Economic and Financial) met this morning to continue the triennial policy review of operational activities for development of the United Nations system. (For background information, see Press Release GA/EF/2698, of 7 November.)
Statements Made
NOELEEN HEYZER, Director of United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), said that in the post-Beijing era, the Fund's priorities were founded in two key concerns: women's economic and political empowerment as a means to reduce and eliminate the feminization of poverty and to build on women's leadership and capacities. To ensure women's participation in the development of governmental strategies to implement the Beijing Platform for Action by the end of 1996, UNIFEM had been discussing with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) the possibility of providing technical support to United Nations resident coordinators to assist in its implementation at the national level. Also, the Fund chaired the working group on women's empowerment for the implementation of the recommendation of the International Conference on Population and Development outcome and worked closely with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) on women's empowerment.
The Platform for Action provided a strong endorsement of the mission, policy framework and strategies of UNIFEM, she said. It called for UNIFEM to play a leading role in its implementation. Stressing that the Fund looked forward to that challenge, she asked however: "If UNIFEM is an organization that invests in women, is it not time for Member States to invest further in UNIFEM?"
To honour commitments made at Beijing and to make the Platform for Action a reality, there was a pressing need to further strengthen UNIFEM to move into the next phase of its work, she said. There was a need to double its resources of $12 million because the resource baseline that supported women's empowerment was low. What was urgently needed was the political will to reallocate or provide resources to that agenda for social and human development. At the same time, there was a need for imaginative strategies to use those resources well in the particular circumstances of each country and within the United Nations system.
MARJORIE ULLOA (Ecuador) spoke on behalf of the Rio Group -- Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Chile, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, Venezuela and Ecuador. Donor countries should fulfil the official development assistance (ODA) goals and make sure that it was delivered in a predictable way. The universality of the United Nations must be respected. She supported UNDP priorities for allocation of resources for human sustainable development: eradication of poverty, the environment, women's
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empowerment and job creation. Technology played an important role in maximizing results of operational activities. An evaluation of programmes should be conducted every year; programmes should be adapted to the specific conditions of countries.
Only through a periodic review could the errors of the United Nations development system be corrected, she said. Through the review exercise, pragmatic solutions would be found to shared problems. The Rio Group expressed concerned that because Latin America and the Caribbean had achieved a certain stage of development there had been a certain decrease in resources to UNDP programmes there. Eligibility for assistance should be based on universality. She expressed the hope that the positions expressed by Member States would be taken into account by the United Nations system.
MILAN DUBCEK (Slovak Republic) said the limited resources allocated to the United Nations meant that it must seek a balance between peace-keeping and international security activities and activities aimed at promoting human betterment and helping people to live decent lives. Setting up general policies and strategies for United Nations development funds was essential but they would not work if they were not coordinated with practical steps. Donor countries should have better representation in United Nations development funds and programmes' financial and audit departments. They should look more closely on how their donations were used.
The new Member States from central and eastern Europe were underrepresented in the United Nations system, he said. The hiring freeze had made it even harder for them to have representatives in the United Nations system. Any mechanism that would allow the hiring of nationals of those States by the system would be welcomed by the regional group. Internship for young people was one means of addressing that unfavourable situation. He drew attention to positive changes approved by the summer session of the UNDP Executive Board -- the European Division had been strengthened and placed in the organizational structure at the same level as other regional bureaus.
FAISAL AL-MANIA (QATAR) said the fiftieth anniversary year of the United Nations provided an excellent opportunity to review operational activities of the Organization. Resources for those activities were an important topic for such discussions and that there were several ways to utilize them to achieve best results. Resources were becoming scarce as demands for development activities grew; the United Nations system was also being called upon to help developing countries with dwindling resources. The gap between demands of countries and available resources was increasing.
He said the deficit in UNDP resources was affecting its long-term plans for development activities. It had also become difficult for the level of financing to be predicted. There was need for mechanisms that would help participating countries respect their commitments. The triennial review of
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operational activities should be used for discussing financing problems. There should be greater cooperation between the Bretton Woods institutions and the organs and organizations within the United Nations involved in development activities.
Qatar had contributed a total of $586,000 to United Nations development activities, he added. Noting that development and peace were closely related, he said the international community should cooperate to promote development for the better future of mankind.
GERARDO MARTINEZ BLANCO (Honduras), speaking also on behalf of Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua and Panama, said the increase in demand for the services of the United Nations system in humanitarian emergencies meant that the system should use its resources in a more effective way. Donor countries must take into account national strategies and must not put pressure on developing countries.
He supported the convening of an international conference on South-South cooperation. A dialogue among the countries of Central America was taking place aimed at fostering sustainable development goals, and United Nations support was needed to further it. The role of the United Nations must be oriented towards action policies in development activities and for that to happen there a was a need for thorough reform and increased cooperation between the United Nations system and the Bretton Woods institutions.
PARK SOO GIL (Republic of Korea) said the country strategy note should be designed to harmonize and integrate the support of the United Nations system at the country level according to national priorities and to provide a sound basis for monitoring and evaluation. Although some countries had not opted to pursue the strategy note process at present, many recipient countries had nonetheless recognized it as a valuable tool for coordinating external aid. Efforts should be made to assist the countries that had decided to start the process in order to facilitate its preparation. The strategy note process should not be led by resident coordinators nor guided by United Nations priorities, as it reflected a country's assessed priorities, plans and strategies.
Noting the significant progress made in implementing the programme approach, he said attention should be paid to the concerns of smaller technical agencies whose development assistance was conducted in a highly focused sub-sectoral issues. It was therefore desirable to incorporate flexibility in the application of the programme approach. He called for a more systematic and sustainable approach to help integrate the different dimensions of development. The resident coordinator system should be strengthened to ensure effective utilization of limited resources. His delegation supported the promotion at the headquarters of the relevant agencies of a more focused policy dialogue with the Bretton Woods institutions
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and the encouragement of harmonization between the country strategy note, the World Bank policy framework paper and the letter of intent of the International Monetary Fund.
SHARAD PAWAR (India) said India had reiterated that the country strategy note was to be employed by governments who felt the need for it, and as such, should not become the basis on which generalized policy guidelines for the United Nations system were attempted. India had not felt the need for the note specifically for the United Nations agencies, in addition to the elaborate economic guidelines that the government formulated routinely. In India, the role of the agencies was not significant enough to warrant documentation over and above what his government prepared for its requirements. India was also aware that several other governments felt as it did.
India had also emphasized that there could be no discussion of any of the strategy notes in the Boards of the agencies as that would be contrary to the General Assembly resolution which specified that the notes, wherever available, would only be used for reference purposes, he said. The recommendations on the subject in the report appeared to be based more on direct responses from the field representatives of the agencies in the participating recipient countries than from the sovereign governments themselves. He asked how many country responses had formed the basis of the recommendations. Attempts to formulate guidelines based on narrow experiences and then making them applicable throughout the United Nations system went against the spirit of United Nations development assistance and India would not be able to support them.
He said India had recently announced generous contributions for developmental activities of the United Nations and that those activities would have to be played by the rules. Such assistance had to be impartial, universal and country-driven. India could not accept short-cuts to mandates that were not being obtained in the Executive Boards of the agencies.
TERUNEH ZENNA (Ethiopia) expressed the hope that the decision of UNDP to put eradication of poverty at the centre of its development programmes and to increase resource allocation to that issue would be emulated by similar United Nations programmes and funds. The UNDP decision was in line with the Programme of Action adopted by the Copenhagen World Summit for Social Development. He expressed support for the process of integrated approach at the national and regional levels which aimed at identifying areas of priority and coordinating the activities of various funds and programmes. That exercise was being carried out in Ethiopia; efforts of agencies such as the World Bank and the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) to coordinate among themselves and make their activities relevant at the grass-roots level was quite commendable.
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He called for increased efforts to support capacity-building in least developed countries, to help increase their self-reliance and ability to manage their economies. He supported the process of on-going decentralization and delegation of power in the United Nations development organizations. Decentralization and empowerment of field offices were essential for the preparation and effective implementation of the development programmes. The present trend of employing more national experts in the development field as opposed to international experts should continue. Besides being cost- effective, the national experts were in a better position to understand the problems of their countries and to find solutions for them. The higher expectation by developing countries called for more qualified and experienced United Nations personnel at the country level than had been in the past.
On the question of resources, he said it was always the most disadvantaged developing countries which were most severely affected by reduced programmes of the United Nations. The effect of the reduction was particularly critical in sub-Saharan Africa, where net ODA flow had decreased 6 per cent in 1993; that sub-region received only 1.5 per cent of the total foreign direct investment in developing countries. Their share of world trade in the early 1990s declined to less than 2 per cent which was half of what it was a decade ago. "What is growing in the African continent is population, debt burden and poverty", he said, calling for a predictable, continuous and assured financial resources for development activities, commensurate with the increasing need of the developing countries.
SHAHJAHAN OMAR (Bangladesh) said his country believed that it was essential for national governments to retain direct access to programmes and funds, expertise and cooperation of individual United Nations organizations. Programme activity had to be conducive to the implementation of national development goals and objectives. There was a growing concern that the United Nations was according more importance to conflict resolution and short-term humanitarian relief activities. Attention should be devoted to the development field which would provide a solid basis for international peace and security.
He said it was time for Member States to promise that operational activities would not suffer further from lack of resources. Nothing could be more tragic and ironic than the reduction of resources at a time when discussions were being held about revitalizing the United Nations system to meet economic and social needs of the developing countries. Development partners should substantially increase their contributions for operational activities for development on a continuous, predictable, assured and preferably, multi-year basis. The desperate economic situation of the least developed countries should receive special attention of the international community. Their special needs should be the particular focus of operational activities of the United Nations system.
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The country strategy notes should be prepared if desired by respective countries with full participation and leadership of the government so that there was no confusion over its ownership, he continued. The resident coordinator's office could facilitate that process where necessary. The strategy note could be a complementary tool for overall programming and implementation of development activities by governments with or without the assistance of development partners, including the United Nations system.
DINO BETI, observer for Switzerland, said international cooperation for development was going through a bad period. Donor countries were facing budget problems and external assistance needs of developing countries were growing. In addition, numerous countries in transition were facing increasing problems. Thus there was a need to do better with fewer resources and painful choices would be required in that regard. United Nations programmes and funds should focus on areas in which they had comparative advantage, namely areas in which they could make a difference.
It was important that programmes of the system were really relevant and effective and had the necessary impact, he said. The Secretary-General's report said nothing in that regard. A complete evaluation of major aspects of operational activities should be carried out. Switzerland would be prepared to provide financial support to that type of evaluation. United Nations funds and programmes were important at the field level, particularly in the areas of capacity building and empowerment. He expressed satisfaction with improvements made in the selection process of resident coordinators. The present financing for operational activities strongly handicapped the United Nations funds and programmes. It was hoped that the working group on the matter would be able to consider a full spectrum of options, both traditional and unconventional, to correct the situation.
NITYA PIBULSONGGRAM (Thailand) stressed that recipient governments had the primary responsibility for coordinating efforts in executing plan and priorities set for national development. Because of the diverse situation in each country, the role of the United Nations system might need to be adapted to be able to cope with sustainable development demands.
He said the country strategy note served well in outlining the framework for United Nations development activities. Thailand was in the process of implementing its fifth strategy note which concentrated on the thematic issues of income distribution and regional prosperity, human resources development and environmental and natural resources management. Those issues were central to his Government and had been incorporated into his country's national economic and social development plan which would begin next year.
National execution was a practical approach in enhancing national capacity and institutional building, he said. However, at the initial stage of implementation there had been some setbacks. He expressed concern over the
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clarity of some United Nations rules and regulations, including those on the administration of resources and on the recruitment process for technical experts. It was encouraging that the Secretary-General's report contained recommendations on that matter. It was critical that donor countries had a political commitment for the financing of operational activities.
MATSUSHIRO HORIGUCHI (Japan) said the country strategy note contributed to the effective implementation of United Nations operational activities and was also instrumental in the coordination of development projects at the local level. Japan believed it was very important to promote the formulation of such notes. The notes should not be limited to United Nations operational activities only; they should also be used by donor countries as a basis for the coordination of bilateral assistance activities. Such coordination would require time and effort, but the result would be that the entire range of assistance would be implemented in a coordinated and effective manner. Japan was prepared to make the best use of the notes in its development assistance activities, should a consensus on the matter be established.
Japan also welcomed the intention of the Bretton Woods institutions to cooperate closely with the United Nations system, he stated. It would be desirable for United Nations-related agencies such as UNDP to formulate project-related or sector-specific development plans that could be funded by the World Bank. For its part, his Government was prepared to promote coordination between its own bilateral assistance projects and those of multilateral agencies. It would also like to expand the cooperation it extended to the planning and implementation of multilateral projects and programmes by providing technical and financial assistance.
He said Japan remained of the view that UNDP should be responsible for the coordination of all development projects in the United Nations system and that its ability to do so should be strengthened. The role of resident coordinators was critical to the efficient implementation and coordination of United Nations operational activities. Representatives of all funds, programmes and specialized agencies engaged in field operations should consult the resident coordinators on the implementation of major programmes. The resident coordinator should be allowed to propose to the heads of those agencies amendments to those programmes where required to bring them in line with the strategy notes.
AHMED AMAZIANE (Morocco) said the triennial review was taking place while the Organization was facing a financial crisis in both its peace as well as development activities. That was particularly paradoxical as development activities had been expanded to countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and now included areas such as public administration and human rights matters. There was an increasing trend among donor countries to finance areas they were interested in. That was a deplorable erosion of
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multilateralism. There was a need more than ever to set up a new funding system for development activities.
Despite those difficulties, which could be overcome, the United Nations system had made laudable efforts in its operational activities, he said. The country strategy notes had received approval by the majority of developing countries. The programme approach was starting to take root at the field level. United Nations bodies had continued to delegate power to their field offices and that had improved coordination. However, some gaps remained, for instance much remained to be done to simplify United Nations rules and procedures. That was particularly important because they had direct impact on national execution. A common interpretation of the programme approach was still lacking. The 1995 review was of particular importance as it was taking place at a time of decreasing resources. Responsibilities should be equitably shared in pursuing the common goal of sustainable development.
MARGARET POLLACK (United States) said national execution was a critical component of effective capacity-building and it was essential for the long- term sustainability of any development activity. "At the same time, we do not believe it should be viewed as the be all and end all of national capacity- building efforts."
The United Nations system had a special advantage to assist recipient governments in building or strengthening their capacity to design and analyze development policy and programme options, including formulating programme strategies and evaluating results, she said. "Special advantage" did not necessarily mean "a present capability". Greater attention must be given by governments and the United Nations system to building and strengthening capacity-building at the policy and programme analysis, development, management and evaluation levels. She supported the Secretary-General's recommendation regarding the strengthening of civil society and national non- governmental organizations.
Swift progress could be achieved in the areas of harmonization and simplification of rules and procedures, common premises and shared services and coordinated governance, she continued. Assembly resolution 47/199 provided clear policy guidance concerning harmonization and shared services. "What is not as clear, however, is the commitment by the agencies, funds and programmes involved to make it happen." Greater attention must be paid to that. Efforts to institute shared services, with or without being housed in common premises, must also be identified.
Concerning the proposal for a regional strategy note, she said her Government was not yet convinced of the utility or complementarity of such a note to the concept of country strategy notes. Also, before any programme or project could qualify to be nationally executed, internationally accepted standards of accountability must be in place. Sources and patterns of funding
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for operational activities had changed over the last decade. However, the triennial policy review should not take on the challenge of how best to improve such funding. Current mechanisms and negotiations already existed to explore viable alternatives, including the negotiations on the Agenda for Development.
ANNA RADUCHOWSKA-BROCHWICZ (Poland) said her country believed that many issues and recommendations in the report on the triennial policy review should be dealt with also in other contexts, particularly the restructuring and revitalization of the United Nations in the economic, social and related fields. That concerned the role of the Economic and Social Council whose working methods should be considered if it were to be the advisory body on economic and social matters. Poland would like more information on how the new proposals concerning the strengthening of the Council would work in practical terms. Capacity building effort in priority areas should continue to be an essential part of the operational activities of the United Nations at the country level. External support and assistance could not substitute for national efforts.
Poland welcomed close links between the United Nations system and the Bretton Woods institutions, she said. Better coordination of their efforts in the field was essential for consistency and complementarity in the use of internal and external resources. Coordination of activities of all United Nations organizations, agencies, programmes and funds in the field needed improvement which could be achieved through the strengthening of the resident coordinator system. That system should be provided with relevant tools, including sufficient financial resources, to enable it to operate effectively.
She said Poland was not ready at present to support the creation of a regional strategy note as a framework for regional cooperation. There was need for a country strategy note but that should be shaped along the conditions and requirements of individual countries. Her Government was satisfied with the national execution arrangement as the norm for operational activities of the United Nations system. It also believed that the General Assembly offered an excellent forum to address the issue of triennial policy review of operational activities for development.
EDWARD A. LAING (Belize) suggested that UNDP could expand its facilities for training on the preparation of country strategy notes. Belize was in general agreement about the potentialities of the notes but empathized with the concerns expressed about the instrument. Further thought should be given
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to the question of regional coordination. There was no resident coordinator in his country and the various agencies managed affairs from some four locations in different countries in the two sub-regions of which Belize was a member. There should be greater dialogue and coordination among those agencies.
He said the functions of the United Nations development community in the field should be performed under the direction of and with the closest collaboration of the host authorities. It was time for the Assembly to deal with the problem of autonomous financing for the Organization and for its development activities.
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