ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COUNCIL CONTINUES DISCUSSION ON OPERATIONAL ACTIVITIES FOR DEVELOPMENT AND COOPERATION

Press Release
ECOSOC/5701

ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COUNCIL CONTINUES DISCUSSION ON OPERATIONAL ACTIVITIES FOR DEVELOPMENT AND COOPERATION

(Reissued as received.)

GENEVA, 30 June (UN Information Service) -- The Economic and Social Council this afternoon continued an informal dialogue on "operational activities of the United Nations for international development and cooperation".

The exchange between Council members and heads of United Nations programmes and agencies touched on issues related to envisaged changes in the work of the Organization in the economic and social fields. Country delegates requested information on, among other things, plans to strengthen the independence of resident United Nations coordinators and Member State input in their appointment; the use of common premises for United Nations agencies in the field, and the organization of the relationship between the newly-established Economic and Social Department and the funds and programmes.

Country delegates also noted this afternoon that reform should not come at the cost of important development objectives and requested further clarification on that question.

Taking part in the discussion were the representatives of Luxembourg, France, Philippines, The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Norway, Swaziland, Chile, Germany, Pakistan, Jamaica, Bangladesh, Australia, Denmark, Mexico, Japan, Nepal, United Kingdom and Cuba.

Responding to questions from delegates were Catherine Bertini, Executive Director of the World Food Programme; Carol Bellamy, Executive Director of the United Nations Children's Fund; James Gustave Speth, Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme; Dr. Nafis Sadik, Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund, and Nitin Desai, Under-Secretary-General in charge of the Economic and Social Department.

Discussion

Country delegates requested information on, among other things, plans to strengthen the independence of resident United Nations coordinators and the possibility of input from Member States in a transparent appointment process for those officials. They also asked about concrete efforts to increase resources for operational activities and the need to reform and integrate the United Nations system to give it greater impact. Some country delegates asked where the bottlenecks were regarding coordination between the United Nations system and countries. They also queried agency heads about the relationship between the United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF) and earlier coordination procedures.

In addition, there were questions on the use of common premises for United Nations agencies in the field and the organization of the relationship between the newly-established Economic and Social Department and the funds and programmes. Country delegates noted that reform should not be at the cost of important development objectives and requested further clarification on that question.

CAROL BELLAMY, Executive Director of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), responding to questions on the resident coordinator, said there was a need to improve the selection of the coordinator as well as his or her responsiveness to the entire system. It was an issue of high priority and had to be addressed urgently. On the bottlenecks impairing the United Nations system, there was a need to reduce its reliance on "personalities". The media always focused on bad news and failure, so maybe the absence of the United Nations from the news was a good thing. However, the Organization's image could be improved through clear objectives and goals and more clarity in describing some of the results achieved. CATHERINE BERTINI, Executive Director of the World Food Programme (WFP), said that in the past, the responsibilities of the resident coordinator were normally handled by UNDP resident representatives. At the end of the year, when UNDP held its routine review of jobs for the new year, there would be a chance to broaden recruitment of resident coordinators to more of the United Nations system. A major problem was that persons doing the job needed to distinguish between their hat of resident coordinator and their usual responsibilities. The possibility of having a full-time resident coordinator was only one option being discussed. As for the use of premises, in half of the countries the WFP was present, it was co-located. Lack of resources was behind the WFP's decision to become involved in fewer countries in the future. By the end of 1997, it would phase out of nearly 20 countries. Dr. NAFIS SADIK, Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), said the Fund had several mechanisms to cooperate with specialized agencies and was exploring new ways of finding financing and

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resources, mainly involving government donors. UNPF had recently had some success in obtaining funds from the European Union. Reform did not necessarily result in increased resources, but there was still a need for system-wide reform in the United Nations.

Regarding the role of the resident coordinator, she said it should be separated from that of representative of any specific organization; otherwise there could be a conflict of interest. The resident coordinator should have a common set of goals to be pursued on behalf of the whole United Nations system, and maybe a separate resident coordinator was a good idea.

JAMES GUSTAVE SPETH, Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), said UNDP had taken measures to ensure that the resident coordinator represented all agencies equally and that he or she devoted adequate time to do the job. His personal view was that there would be tensions as long as the two-hat model remained, but those were kept to a minimum. Abandoning the two-hat model would mean a weakening of the system because a full-time resident coordinator would have no programme, would enjoy no respect and would not seat at the table. It would also be a waste because the job of resident coordinator was not a full-time responsibility.

Talk of bottlenecks made delegates dwell on the negative, while the many successes of collaboration between United Nations agencies were forgotten, Mr. SPETH continued. The shortcomings of the system were being addressed; some of them were caused by the resident coordinator's responsibilities exceeding his authority at the country level, by the scarcity of energy exerted by some resident coordinators, and by the lack of consistency between some of the residents' experiences and the needs of the system. The conflicts of interest between resident coordinators and UNDP were also an issue, but all those problems were being addressed. Both the suggestion of moving to a full-time resident coordinator or keeping the two-hat system were being discussed; a full-time resident coordinator had to be granted real authority and resources. In choosing the resident coordinator, the qualifications required by the country were taken into consideration; there was transparency, as the country could reject the candidate proposed. The best way for the United Nations to succeed in projecting itself was to come together at the country level in strong collaborative programmes and communicate this to various audiences.

NITIN DESAI, Under-Secretary-General in charge of the Economic and Social Department of the United Nations, said his department had sought to strengthen the role of the Council in the dialogue on operational activities. The Secretariat had sought full and effective participation in various processes of "operalization", despite the fact that it had modest capacities. The suggestion of a twice-yearly meeting to ensure better dialogue between the Secretariat and funds and programmes of the system had also been discussed.

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