ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COUNCIL HOLDS 'POLICY EXCHANGE'

WITH HEADS OF UNDP, WFP, UNICEF, AND UNFPA

GENEVA, 6 July (UN Information Service) -- The Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) continued its annual substantive session this morning by holding a "policy exchange" with the heads of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the World Food Programme (WFP), the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), who said, among other things, that further efforts were being made to coordinate development programmes and to make such projects more efficient and effective.

Mark Malloch Brown, Administrator of the UNDP, in an introductory statement, told the session that the agency had carried out comprehensive internal reforms over the past two years to enable it to respond more effectively to the needs of Member States, and that its aim was to become a focused, flexible but fully accountable, results-based organization that provided cutting-edge advocacy, advisory services and capacity-building in its core practice areas.

The Executive Director of the WFP, Catherine Bertini, said that relief activities, wherever possible, should be infused with the principles of development, and that even in the midst of crises, the WFP sought, wherever possible and consistent with saving lives, to preserve assets and restore self-reliance.  Such efforts could reduce the cost of humanitarian assistance and, more important, helped build the resilience of people so that they could meet their own needs.

The UNICEF Executive Director, Carol Bellamy, said the Millennium Declaration had taken the many disparate areas of United Nations activity and brought them together in a summation of values and principles -- peace, security and disarmament; development and poverty eradication; the environment; human rights, democracy and good governance; protection of the vulnerable; the special needs for Africa; and strengthening the United Nations.  The UNICEF was working closely to apply the principles of the Declaration as they related to children, and in advance of the General Assembly special session on children, to be held in New York from 19 to 21 September.

The Executive Director of the UNFPA, Thoraya Ahmed Obaid, said the Fund had been asked by the United Nations Development Group (UNDG) to work towards developing a common programme approval process, which would include the explicit understanding that any programme development process be country-led and country-driven, and that the governments of programme countries were expected to be firmly in control of the process and the outcome.

Those taking part in the floor discussion said, among other things, that there had to be better long-term response or "transition" between United Nations reactions to crises such as natural disasters or armed conflicts and basic development programmes.  It was said that "institutional memory" should be improved, so that agencies repeated past successes and avoided past mistakes.  The focus in future should not be on holding global conferences and special sessions, but on implementing programmes and on meeting development goals already set.

Introductory Statements

MARK MALLOCH BROWN, Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), said that in his position as Chairman of the United Nations Development Group (UNDG), he was pleased to report that over the past year the Group had achieved greater coordination and efficiency at all levels.  It had expanded its membership to 18 following the recent accessions as full partners of the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

He said the resident coordinator system remained a major emphasis of the Group, which it had been working to ensure that resident coordinators represented the system in all its diversity and substantive strengths.

Mr. Brown said the UNDP had carried out comprehensive internal reforms over the past two years to enable it to respond more effectively to the needs of Member States and the aspirations of their peoples.  The aim of the UNDP was to become a focused, flexible but fully accountable, results-based organization that provided cutting-edge advocacy, advisory services and capacity-building in its core practice areas.  Also, after a long downward trend in resources, the UNDP had now -- thanks to increased contributions -- reached the point where its regular resources were set this year to increase for the first time in eight years, to a total of $660 million, with no fewer than 42 programme countries making contributions.

CATHERINE BERTINI, Executive Director of the World Food Programme (WFP), said relief activities, wherever possible, should be infused with the principles of development.  Efforts should be made, wherever possible and consistent with saving lives, to preserve assets and restore self-reliance.  Such efforts could reduce the cost of humanitarian assistance and, more important, help build the resilience of people to meet their own needs, both in times of crisis and of stability.  Development action also should address the root causes of crises.  It should emphasize disaster mitigation and conflict prevention and focus on the poorest, most vulnerable people in society.

She said the WFP was in a good position to provide relief and development linkages, as it was both a relief and a development organization.  In most countries where the WFP launched new emergency programmes, it already had development programmes in place.  Sufficient and flexible funding for relief and development was also a prerequisite for building the necessary linkages.  However, declining contributions to WFP's development efforts had not undermined its long-term presence in developing countries, and its ability to alleviate hunger, mitigate against future disasters, and address the root causes of crises.

CAROL BELLAMY, Executive Director of the United Nations Children's Fund(UNICEF), said that the Millennium Declaration had taken the many disparate areas of United Nations activity and brought together the values and principles in many sectors -- peace, security and disarmament; development and poverty eradication; the environment; human rights, democracy and good governance; protection of the vulnerable; the special needs for Africa; and strengthening the United Nations. The follow-up to that Declaration and the upcoming General Assembly special session on children, (to be held in New York from 19 to 21 September), were closely and inextricably linked.

The review of progress since the 1990 World Summit for Children, including country reports that would make it possible to chart the achievements of the last decade, would provide baseline data for follow-up on the Millennium Declaration.

While a number of governments had continued to provide generous support for UNICEF -- and several had even announced overall increases resulting in a sustained overall level of resources -- there had been a continuing decline in contributions from governments of regular "core" resources.  That was a matter of deep concern.  Regular resources were the foundation of continued and sustained country programming.

THORAYA AHMED OBAID, Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), said the agency had this year joined the discussion as part of the UNDG team.  The Fund had been asked to propose to the other members of the UNDG the establishment of a working group with the objective of developing a common programme approval process.  The first round of discussions to that end had been held 1ast month.

Under UNFPA's leadership, the working group had embarked on its mandate with the explicit understanding that any programme development process would be country-led and country-driven.  The governments of programme countries were expected to be firmly in control of the process and the outcome.

She said there had to be an honest recognition of the critical need for adequate resources.  Yet, the issue of resources remained unresolved and appeared to be a matter of political will.  The amounts everyone was talking about were small, and the comparative advantage of United Nations operational activities was clear and crucial, especially in the era of globalization when some of the poorest countries had been left behind by market forces.

Discussion

Among remarks from the floor were that "institutional memory" on development topics and past mistakes and inefficiencies had to be improved, both among United Nations agencies and among participating countries.  It was said that there was too much in terms of global conferences and United Nations special sessions, and too little in terms of carrying out practical work on the ground.  Better links had to be made between responses to crises and disasters and long-term development efforts.  The resources for United Nations development activities continued to be insufficient and must be increased.  The UNDG should provide annual reports in future to the Council.  Ways should be found to reduce the "transaction costs" of the Common Country Assessment (CCA) and the United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF), to keep those entities from becoming another level of

"administrative burden".  It was said that coordination with the Bretton Woods institutions (the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund) should be improved, and that overlapping and duplication in development work at the country level continued to be a problem.

Responding to the debate, Mr. MALLOCH BROWN said that in future the most important UNDP asset of the agency would be its "institutional memory".  Building institutional wisdom and expertise, and making UNDP a "knowledge management" organization that kept track of and repeated its best practices, was – he said -- a major goal of UNDP reforms.  However, this did not mean that the UNDP was getting out of the business of conducting projects.  Despite progress made, the UNDP and other development programmes could do a much better job in linking relief and longer-term development work.

He said he and all agency heads felt strongly about the security of field staff.  He was sad to have to announce that yet another international agency staff member had been killed last night, Jean-Pierre L'Hommee of France, a UNDP field service officer in the Central African Republic.  It was vital for governments to do more to protect the lives and health of international staff within their borders.

Ms. BERTINI said more had to be done to link crisis response with basic development work.  Perhaps when a donor made a commitment to respond to an emergency, it could do some budgeting, as well, for longer-term development once the crisis was past.  Agencies should carry out periodic priority reviews to make sure that programmes reflected the priorities of recipient countries.

Ms. BELLAMY said coordination with Bretton Woods institutions had improved dramatically, but could be improved further.  A "hold" should be put on United Nations special sessions until it was figured out exactly what such sessions were for.  Setting goals and timetables, as happened at special sessions, was important, but it was important to find alternative mechanisms for spurring and measuring progress.  Ongoing review and monitoring were a good idea, rather than having reviews every five or 15 years through global meetings.

Ms. OBAID, responding to the debate, remarked that institutional memory was something the UNFPA was concerned about.  It had recently set up an office for knowledge-sharing, including between field offices and headquarters, and between the UNFPA and other agencies.  International conferences and special sessions were helpful for advocacy of certain topics and helped to build international consensus.  Then the question became, what did you do afterward?  The UNFPA currently felt that its "own envelope was full" and was going to concentrate on implementation of programmes and on meeting goals already set.

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