ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COUNCIL HEARS OF NEW FRAMEWORK FOR UN DEVELOPMENT EFFORTS AT COUNTRY LEVEL
Press Release
ECOSOC/5772
ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COUNCIL HEARS OF NEW FRAMEWORK FOR UN DEVELOPMENT EFFORTS AT COUNTRY LEVEL
19980710 Projected 'UNDAF' Said To Be Key Component of Reform Proposals Of Secretary-General; Close Consultation with Governments EnvisagedThe United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF) was the centrepiece for optimizing and coordinating United Nations development efforts at the country level, a panellist told the Economic and Social Council this afternoon during a discussion on results achieved by United Nations funds and programmes. The Council was continuing its segment on operational activities of the United Nations for international development cooperation.
Noting that UNDAF was a key component of the Secretary-General's reform proposals, the Director of the Information and External Relations Division of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), Stirling Scruggs, said UNDAF sought goal-oriented collaboration, programmatic coherence and mutual reinforcement. It also involved collaborative programming and close consultation with governments.
Panel participant Rafeeuddin Ahmed, Associate Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), said South-South cooperation was extremely relevant to UNDP's mandate. The special unit on technical cooperation among developing countries was working on that issue. An evaluation of the triennial comprehensive policy review made clear that there was uneven performance in that area. There was a need to develop more innovative ideas for South-South cooperation in order to deal with the issues of capacity and impact.
The Secretary of the Executive Board of the World Food Programme (WFP), Valerie Sequeira, said the WFP Executive Board had emphasized that only the most vulnerable populations in the poorest countries should be targetted. Greater emphasis had been placed on gender, enhanced community participation, and a people-centred approach. The WFP's emergency work in 1997 focused on efforts in conflict situations, with a dramatic increase in the number of beneficiaries in areas suffering from drought.
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The Director of the United Nations Inter-Agency Affairs of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), Ado Vaher, said that this year the degree of collaboration that took place among the funds and programmes in the drafting of various reports was extraordinary and indicated a new level of cooperation in Headquarters.
Also this afternoon, the Council concluded its informal dialogue with the heads of the United Nations funds and programmes. The dialogue included the participation of the Administrator of the UNDP, James Gustave Speth; the Executive Director of the UNFPA, Nafis Sadik; the Executive Director of the WFP, Catherine Bertini; and the Executive Director of UNICEF, Carol Bellamy.
The Council will meet again on Monday, 13 July, at 10 a.m., to continue its segment on operational activities for international development cooperation.
Council Work Programme
The Economic and Social Council met this afternoon to conclude its informal dialogue with the heads of the United Nations funds and programmes. The dialogue included the following participants: Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), James Gustave Speth; Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), Nafis Sadik; Executive Director of the World Food Programme (WFP), Catherine Bertini; and Executive Director of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), Carol Bellamy.
Following the informal dialogue, the Council was scheduled to continue its segment on operational activities for international development with a panel discussion on the outcome of those agencies' recent executive board meetings. The panellists included: the Associate Administrator of the UNDP, the Director of the Information and External Relations Division of the UNFPA, the Secretary of the Executive Board of the WFP, and the Director of the United Nations Inter-Agency Affairs of UNICEF. (For further background, see Press Release ECOSOC/5771, issued on 10 July.)
Informal Dialogue
JAMES GUSTAVE SPETH, Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), said the UNDP was trying to shift towards holistic after- the-fact results-based monitoring originating from the country offices. The emphasis would, therefore, be on results. He warned against trying to pre- judge the outcome of the United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF). He said that while there was need to compare documentation from within UNDAF with documentation of institutions, such as the Bretton Woods institutions, the organization should not attempt to go too far in harmonizing reports.
On gender mainstreaming, he said that the suggestions on that issue offered by the Secretary-General to the Economic and Social Council should be acted on as they represented quite a step forward. He invited the Council to give favourable consideration to those recommendations.
He said that, so far, the tendency had been to shy away from the full embrace of results-based budgeting. Perhaps, that was because there was some uncertainty about what results-based budgeting was. In the interim, there had been efforts to develop quantitative results that were measurable. The United Nations, however, was engaged in many things that were intangible and difficult to measure.
NAFIS SADIK, Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), said joint activities had existed before the initiation of the UNDAF process in areas, including census and health programmes. The UNDAF was designed to undertake activities in other areas, including building the
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capacity of governments in financial monitoring. It had been intended that UNDAF's programmes would result in common action, including training, data systems and skills development. It was a bit too early to determine if UNDAF had met expectations.
Regarding the Council's role in gender mainstreaming, she said the members of the executive boards should look at gender mainstreaming within each of the funds and programmes. There should be many more women in the system, particularly in the field. That would lead to a more balanced gender perspective.
In response to questions about indicators, she said real country ownership must be achieved through a dialogue with governments on objectives and goals for development programme, she said. There was a difference in approach between the Bretton Woods institutions and the United Nations system. Common indicators came from governments transforming goals agreed upon by the international community into indicators. It might be useful to have a more open discussion about how indicators are developed in order to achieve a better understanding of their value.
CATHERINE BERTINI, Executive Director of the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), said her Programme, with the assistance of bilateral donors, planned to increase the number of independent external evaluations with the help of bilateral donors.
Commenting on results-based budgeting, she said WFP's budget was based on the volume of the food donated at any given time. If the volume of food in reserve went up, the budget went up and, vice versa, if the volume went down. It was not the perfect system, but it was better than anything the WFP had had in the past.
She asked delegates to suggest better ways for the boards to communicate effectively. Also, communication at the government level needed improvement.
CAROL BELLAMY, Executive Director of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), said the UNDAF evaluation about to take place was actually an assessment of the pilot phase. The assessment would address how the pilot phase had been designed and managed and ways it could be improved at the global and country level. It would also examine how the UNDAF process had already made, or is likely to make, a difference in the way the United Nations worked at the country level. The UNICEF believed there had been significant improvements, yet it was very worried about the country ownership aspect. It hoped that the United Nations could learn from the exercise and allow the process to move forward.
Regarding budgeting, she said it would be very useful to set time-bound goals and objectives for its programmes to determine whether results were being
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produced by their efforts. UNICEF's evaluations had been too quantitative and had not had a significant qualitative element. While the United Nations wanted to have quality programmes and make a difference in country, its final budget was usually a "post-crafted" budget. While it was important for the Council to discuss gender mainstreaming, it was an issue that needed to flow directly through the country programmes.
Regarding further questions about UNDAF, Mr. SPETH said it was clear that there should be full consultations with and ownership by governments. Without their approval, there would be no moving forward with UNDAF. In response to a comment about the Asian financial situation, he said there was no systematic approach to minimize the impact of that crisis. It underscored a big hole in the middle of the process of the United Nations. The Organization lacked a standing forum to consider that kind of major issue. There was no democratic institution of manageable size that was regularly taking up issues relevant to a world faced with rapidly expanding globalization.
Concerning Africa, he said each of the executive boards had prepared a response plan on the special initiative on Africa. The plans, regarding relief activities, were being integrated, and the Secretary-General had placed the report on the agenda of the next meeting of the Administrative Committee on Coordination (ACC) in October. In addition, the third African Governments Forum, to be held next year, would take up the issue of conflict and governance.
Commenting on the issue of national institutions and follow-up actions, Ms. SADIK said that evaluation was necessary to ascertain results.
She fully agreed with the suggestion that the United Nations system should reflect the needs of the country. She also invited other donors to participate in a system of consultation with a partner country.
Responding to a point about time wasting, she said that while processes were taking place, programmes were also being implemented. No work would come to a halt because processes were being worked on, she stressed.
On the crisis in East Asia, she said the UNFPA was trying to collect studies on the impact of the crisis on the social sector. The International Labour Organization (ILO) had already produced a study on the impact of the crisis on women.
Regarding Africa, Ms. BERTINI said that when more reports come out, Member States would be pleased to see the degree of coordination throughout the United Nations Development Group, among others, on the special initiative on Africa. The WFP was thoroughly involved in the follow-up to the Secretary- General's relevant report.
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The WFP Executive Board discussions on the issue of food aid for development was taken up in May at the annual meeting. The Board decided in May to review proposals among regional groups and then come back to the bureau at the end of July. The WFP was still waiting for feedback from the regional groups.
Ms. BELLAMY said there should be more enhanced coordination in the field of immunization. Although UNICEF's progress had immunized 80 per cent of children, the goal was to reach all the world's children. Reaching the remaining 20 per cent could be a bigger challenge.
Regarding drugs, she said UNICEF was trying to perform follow-up to the twentieth special session of the General Assembly through the framework of the World Health Organization (WHO).
Mr. SPETH reminded Member States that they would have an opportunity to discuss the UNDAF process in Mozambique when the resident coordinator for that country addressed the Council.
Panel Discussion
RAFEEUDDIN AHMED, Associate Administrator of the UNDP, said the Council had before it the annual reports of the UNDP highlighting how the Programme was responding, in a coordinated and focused way, to activities outlined in programmes of action of the international conferences. Noting also the report of the Executive Director of the UNFPA, he said the UNDP worked with the UNFPA, in consultation with other members of the United Nations Development Group, on the consolidated list of issues relating to the coordination of operational activities. The preparation of a report from the Development Group's work would be the best way to cover joint activities.
South-South cooperation was very much in line with UNDP's mandate, he said. The special unit on technical cooperation among developing countries was working on that issue. An evaluation of the triennial comprehensive policy review made clear that there was uneven performance in that area. There was a need to develop more innovative ideas for South-South cooperation to deal with the issues of capacity and impact.
STIRLING D. SCRUGGS, Director of Information and External Relations Division, UNFPA, said UNDAF was a key component of the Secretary-General's reform proposals. It sought goal-oriented collaboration, programmatic coherence, mutual reinforcement, and it entailed collaborative programming and close consultation with governments. That was the centrepiece for optimizing and coordinating United Nations development efforts at the country level.
He said the one area the executive heads of UNICEF, the UNDP and the UNFPA had provided considerable support and direction was in national
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capacity-building. A report on the ways of increasing the absorptive capacity and finance resource utilization in UNFPA's programme countries identified limited management capacity in programme countries and limited human resources and infrastructure as relevant issues. Civil service reform and decentralization; and social sector funding were also relevant.
He said there was no issue more important to the work of the Organization than the funding of operational activities. In its decision 98/7, the Executive Board had committed itself to adopting a decision at its third session in 1998 on a sustainable funding strategy for the UNFPA, so as to enable the Fund to play a central role in the follow-up to the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) Programme of Action. The decision also asked the UNFPA to organize informal intersessional meetings to review various funding mechanisms for the Fund. The key issues which had been identified so far were: predictability of resources; volume of resources; and the timely payment of contributions.
ADO VAHER, Director of the United Nations Inter-Agency Affairs, UNICEF, said one of the issues that would be before the Economic and Social Council in the coming weeks would be the reporting by funds and programmes. Hopefully, guidelines would emerge. This year, the degree of collaboration that took place in the drafting of various reports, however, was extraordinary and indicated a new level of cooperation in Headquarters.
VALERIE SEQUEIRA, Secretary of the Executive Board of the WFP, said that in 1997 the WFP had prepared 31 country strategy outlines and 12 programmes. The WFP had also participated fully in the UNDAF pilot phase. The WFP Executive Board emphasized that only the most vulnerable populations in the poorest countries should be targetted by its programmes. Evaluations had shifted away from projects, and greater emphasis was placed on gender, enhanced community participation, and a people-centred approach. The WFP was committed to upholding the themes and actions of the international conferences and summits. The Programme's emergency work in 1997 focused on efforts in conflict situations. There also was a dramatic increase of beneficiaries in areas suffering from drought. The review of WFP resources and long-term financing policies would be completed by the end of the year.
Mr. AHMED said, if the list before the Economic and Social Council replaced the types of earlier reports that were specified by General Assembly resolutions, reporting would become more issue-oriented.
On Conference follow-up, he said a thematic cross-cutting approach on actions taken and planned would be applied to the various conferences. The aim was to come up with ideas for action at the field level and to determine specific areas of responsibility. In addition, various thematic groups in countries would address specific areas, such as poverty and sustainable livelihood, to name but a few.
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Mr. SCRUGGS said it was important to note that the task forces were working together in a system-wide effort in the follow-up to conferences. It was coordination at the widest level which would also assist the Economic and Social Council at every opportunity.
Mr. VAHER said the impact of the current session of the Council had been felt in the work of the intergovernmental machinery and in the funds and programmes. One key issue was the follow-up to conferences. In its report, UNICEF devoted separate sections on the different conferences, and it was also preparing a report on follow-up to the World Summit for Children, which would have its tenth anniversary in 2001.
There was now a cross-cutting approach to the follow-up to conferences, he said. The work of the ACC task forces had looked at the whole range of international conferences and identified three sets of guidelines, with an over-arching requirement of poverty eradication. The UNDAF was asking the funds and programmes to integrate their work on follow-up to conferences into their specific country-support programmes. That would mean a change in reporting and how the intergovernmental machinery was informed.
Ms. SEQUEIRA said the WFP had reported on the follow-up to the World Food Summit, but it had not ignored the results of the other summits with direct concern to the Programme.
Mr. AHMED said that as far as decentralization was concerned, within the United Nations Development Group, most country offices had been given full responsibility for their affairs.
He said the World Bank was going to open many more offices in the field. That would result in synergy and more active participation. The various agendas for action were coinciding and more or less moving in the same direction. That would facilitate work at country level altogether. The question to be asked was what kind of authority would be given to those Bank field offices? Would they be able to authorize loans or would they have to refer back to Washington?
Mr. SCRUGGS said the debate was over documentation versus results and content versus process. The UNFPA was almost totally decentralized. While the reports of the funds and programme were good tools, there was some concern over the analyses. It was hoped to do better in that area.
Responding to several questions, Mr. VAHER said decentralization was an issue that was affected by nature of the organization and its administrative and financial rules of procedure. The UNICEF had had a country-programme approach for almost 30 years. Recently, with the reform process, UNICEF regional offices had been taking on additional responsibilities. Regional directors had become a very important direct link between headquarters-
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management structures and the country- management structure. The role of headquarters was to provide a review mechanism and to examine issues which involved a difference of views.
Regarding decentralization, Ms. SEQUEIRA said the WFP had 29 per cent of its staff at headquarters and 71 per cent of its staff in the field. Two regional bureaux would be transferred to the field in September. The WFP Executive Board approved country programmes. Budgetary decentralization was a completely different issue, and depended on connectivity, the availability of financial expertise at the country level, and having financial systems at headquarters to ensure accountability.
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