ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COUNCIL OPENS OPERATIONAL ACTIVITIES SEGMENT, Holds

Panel Discussion on Effectiveness of United Nations Development System

(Reissued as received.)

GENEVA, 10 July (UN Information Service) -- The Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) this afternoon began its operational activities segment, addressing the operational activities of the United Nations system for international development cooperation.  Having heard an introduction to the segment, the Council held a panel discussion on the contribution and effectiveness of the United Nations Development System.

Introducing the operational activities segment, Idriss Jazairy (Algeria), Vice-President of the Council, said that today, the Council would be addressing the way in which the United Nations was working to maximise its impact on poverty reduction, economic growth and sustainable development.  The international community had to intensify its efforts if it was to succeed in achieving the Millennium Development Goals, and the United Nations system should pave the way in this regard.  The debate on operational activities was of very special importance this year, as its main theme was the triennial review of the United Nations system operational activities for development.

Introducing the panel discussion on the contribution and effectiveness of the United Nations development system, Mr. Jazairy said the environment in which the United Nations system was acting was of increasing complexity.  Due to the globalization of the world economy, developing countries were facing numerous challenges.  Inequalities were increasing within countries and between countries.  Progress had been made in view of the Millennium Development Goals, but it was still unequal and insufficient.  The question of the contribution and the efficiency of the United Nations system was at the heart of the triennial examination of the operational development activities of the United Nations.

Kim Hak-Su, Executive Secretary of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific and moderator of the discussion, said the changing development cooperation environment had prompted the United Nations system to question and assess its contribution, effectiveness and relevance.  Due to its multilateral nature and comprehensive mandate, the United Nations system supported development in ways that differed from that of donors and other entities.  Challenges existed in the area of funding; in relation to the system’s contribution to capacity development and development effectiveness; as well as in dimensions related to the functioning of the system at the country level.

Bert Koenders, Minister for Development Cooperation of the Netherlands, said the United Nations had a special responsibility, and the contribution and effectiveness of the United Nations development system was laudable but by far not sufficient enough.  The structures for international cooperation urgently needed to be adapted to reflect the realities of the twenty-first century.  Only a reformed United Nations could reclaim its place at the centre of development cooperation and lead the international effort to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, to the benefit of all the world’s citizens.  Unfortunately, the United Nations was now too fragmented to translate this wealth of expertise into a coherent contribution to national development plans.

Serge Chapatte, Assistant Director-General of the Swiss Agency for Development Cooperation, said as the process of the triennial review of the development cooperation apparatus of the United Nations system began, what was striking was the quick pace of change which had been observed over the last three years on the global aid scenery.  It was observed in the field that the national capacities required for the implementation of the development effectiveness agenda pressingly needed to be developed and strengthened in all the areas of state responsibilities.  The key to increased effectiveness of the United Nations at the field level was a substantially improved coordination and harmonisation.

Phongsavath Boupha, Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, said implementation of the Millennium Development Goals was another area where the United Nations system was working in a harmonised approach.  With the process of United Nations reform, particularly the launching of the United Nations Development Group, the United Nations system in the Lao People’s Democratic Republic had intensified its efforts to realise the goals of coherence and harmonisation among the United Nations agencies.  Despite remarkable achievements, there remained challenging issues, which the Government and the United Nations country team needed to take into account.

Antonin Dossou, Director of Cabinet in the Ministry of Development, Economy and Finance of Benin, said most of the agencies of the United Nations system had offices in Benin, and each had its own area of work.  Progress could still be made in harmonizing and improving coordination.  Accelerated growth should be put at the heart of the policy.  Cooperation with the system had been refocused and retargeted.  A few proposals on how to improve effectiveness were better programming, and starting from the independent ideas voiced by the local authorities.  The programming of the interventions of the different agencies could be improved in view of the same objective.  A second proposal was to have a focal point allowing all agencies to act through it.  When setting the costs of achieving the Millennium Development Goals, a lot of money would be needed.

Annika Söder, Assistant Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization, said the unique contribution of the United Nations as a development partner was its universality in ownership and in membership, and in terms of providing access to expertise from whatever origin or level, and its neutrality in terms of content of its assistance and advice.  The United Nations was considered as a neutral provider of advice on how to reach the Goals, and could provide a good assessment of the level of success or failure in achieving these.

Peter Piot, Executive Director of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), said in many countries, the efforts of coherence were undermined by the funding streams of the donors, funding some programmes outside the agreed plans.  In terms of becoming more efficient, UNAIDS could only be effective if the priorities of the countries were supported.  Coherence had been improved.  The focus was not only around the process.  The division of labour among agencies with clear accountability and national ownership were mentioned as very important.  Coherence among and within Member States was crucial.  Overall, there was a new wind blowing in the United Nations system in terms of coherence, but one needed to move faster.

Ad Melkert, Associate Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), said under the results framework, there were four main tasks for the United Nations to deliver on the Millennium Development Goals in support of country efforts:  to collect reliable data, and UNDP was preparing the launch of a Millennium Development Goal monitor to provide that data and show results and gaps; to provide support to institution-building; advocacy for mobilising international resources to support Millennium Development Goal implementation, where sadly the international community did not live up to its commitments; and the issue of domestic resources, where the role was to advise Governments and programmes in countries with regards to domestic resource mobilisation and allocation.  The international community should continue to invest in the second half of the Millennium Development Goal period.

During the discussion, speakers raised a number of issues, including the need for the United Nations to play a lead role in global economic policy at the international level as well as at the country level; how one could ensure greater cooperation between the Bretton Woods institutions and the other organizations in order to ensure more cohesion; the need to strengthen systematic coordination in order to enhance national leadership; the need to take into account national factors whenever a programme was implemented; and whether an unreformed agency could be effective in a reformed United Nations system.

Also speaking this afternoon were the representatives of Brazil, Barbados, Thailand, Namibia, Indonesia, Portugal (on behalf of the European Union) and the Conference of Non-Governmental Organizations.

The Council is scheduled to meet at 7:30 p.m. later to adopt a ministerial declaration following the high-level segment of the ECOSOC session.  The Council will then meet on Wednesday, 11 July at 10 a.m., when it is scheduled to hear the reports of the Executive Boards of the United Nations Development Programme, the United Nations Population Fund, the United Nations Children’s Fund, and the World Food Programme, which will be followed by a dialogue with the Executive Heads of these bodies.

Documents

The Council has before it the report of the Secretary-General on the triennial comprehensive policy review of operational activities of the United Nations development system (E/2007/52), which reviews those activities and examines whether they meet the expectations of Member States as expressed in General Assembly resolution 59/250 and the 2005 World Summit Outcome.  At present, the United Nations development system is not configured at the country level to allow developing countries to have optimal access to all United Nations development resources, including those from specialized agencies and other global and regional entities.  A special effort is therefore currently being made to ensure that the Resident Coordinator system, the common country assessment and the United Nations Development Assistance Framework become more inclusive of non-resident agencies, including specialized agencies and other global and regional entities.  Challenges remain in making the development system more coherent and efficient, and ongoing processes and emerging outcomes are described and analysed.  The report also reviews the adequacy of funding and the current funding modalities of operational activities for development, including innovative initiatives to enhance the predictability and dependability of resource availability.

The Council has before it the report of the Secretary-General on comprehensive statistical analysis of the financing of operational activities for development of the United Nations system (E/2007/54), which is submitted in response to General Assembly resolutions 35/81 and 59/250, in which the Assembly requested the Secretary-General to improve the annual statistical report to the operational activities segment of ECOSOC by adding a multi-year perspective fully incorporating available information and statistics.  It also responds to ECOSOC resolution 2006/14, which requested the Secretary-General to further refine the data in the report in order to improve understanding of funding trends in the United Nations development system and humanitarian field, including through a better distinction between funding for development assistance and for long-term development cooperation.  The data coverage and analysis have been further strengthened through greater disaggregation; a reconciliation of the differences between the estimates of the United Nations and the Development Assistance Committee of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development of the contributions to the United Nations system; the inclusion of the activities of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees; and an expanded analysis on humanitarian assistance.  The report also recommends the building of a comprehensive and sustainable financial data and reporting system for operational activities of the United Nations system.

The Council has before it the World economic situation and prospects as of mid-2007:  Macroeconomic trends in the world economy (E/2007/CRP.2), updating the World Economic Situation and Prospects 2007, released in January 2007.  The report concludes that, after solid and broad-based growth for three consecutive years, world economic growth is moderating in 2007.  The growth of world gross product is expected to slow to a pace of 3.4 per cent for 2007 as a whole, down from 4.0 per cent, as recorded in 2006.  The slowdown is expected to stabilize in 2008 with a projected growth of WGP at 3.6 per cent.  The risks, however, are slanted on the downside.  The report goes on to analyse world economic performance by region, with reference also as to whether the countries concerned are developed, developing, or have economies in transition.  It also considers the question of the challenge for policymakers worldwide to sustain robust growth and, more importantly, how to engender higher growth in more developing countries so as to secure the fulfilment of the Millennium Development Goals.

Opening Statement of Operational Segment

IDRISS JAZAIRY ( Algeria), Vice-President of the Economic and Social Council, in an introductory statement opening the operational segment, said last week the Council considered ways of eliminating poverty and hunger.  Under its coordination segment, it discussed the role of the United Nations in ensuring full and productive employment and decent work for all.  Today, it would be addressing the way in which the United Nations was working to maximise its impact on poverty reduction, economic growth and sustainable development.  The international community had to intensify its efforts if it was to succeed in achieving the Millennium Development Goals, and the United Nations system should pave the way in this regard.  The debate on operational activities was of very special importance this year, as its main theme was the triennial review of the United Nations system’s operational activities for development.

Development cooperation was in full flux -- stress was now, more than ever before, being placed on the role of national policies as the guiding framework for international cooperation, and new forms of aid had emerged.  The United Nations system needed to face up to these new challenges.  It was essential to ensure that the United Nations system made the best possible use of resources and expertise, with the best possible impact on developing countries.  The triennial review of operational activities was a chance to assess to what extent the system implemented guidelines, and the Secretary-General’s report showed that the system had adopted new initiatives, and had adapted its working methods.  The various entities that made up the system had enhanced their cooperation in various areas, but this had not always lived up to the expectations of Member States -- there were still areas of weakness.

Mr. Jazairy said the debate would prepare the ground for the General Assembly’s debate on the triennial review in September.  All should come forward with new ideas.  The draft declaration that the Secretary-General would present to the General Assembly would be based on Member States’ statements.  The programme of the debate would provide Member States with all the information they needed to prepare their statements for Thursday and Friday’s general debate.

Introductory Statements for High-Level Panel Discussion

Mr. JAZAIRY ( Algeria) said the environment in which the United Nations system was acting was of an increasing complexity.  Due to the globalization of the economy, developing countries were facing numerous challenges.  Inequalities were increasing within countries and between countries.  Progress had been made in view of the Millennium Development Goals, but it was still unequal and insufficient.

The 2005 Summit recognized the important role of the United Nations system for development, Mr. Jazairy said.  The system had been called upon to support the efforts of the developing countries.  The General Assembly called upon the system to strengthen its capacity to help the countries to achieve their priorities in the field of development.  The question of the contribution and of the efficiency of the United Nations system was at the heart of the triennial review of the operational development activities of the United Nations.

KIM HAK-SU, Executive Secretary of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), moderating the panel, said the changing development cooperation environment had prompted the United Nations system to question and assess its contribution, effectiveness and relevance.  Due to its multilateral nature and comprehensive mandate, the United Nations system supported development in ways that differed from that of donors and other entities.  Challenges existed in the area of funding:  in relation to the system’s contribution to capacity development and development effectiveness; as well as in dimensions related to the functioning of the system at the country level.

He suggested four questions to help focus the discussion, including what was the unique contribution of the United Nations system to help Member States pursue their national policies and achieve the internationally agreed development goals; how effective was the United Nations system in contributing to national efforts to eradicate poverty and achieve sustained economic growth and sustainable development, given the current funding situation; to what extent did the current Resident Coordinator System and the Common Country Assessment (CCA)/United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF) allow Member States to fully benefit from the normative and operational activities of all funds, programmes, agencies and other global and regional entities of the United Nations system; and what would be recommended to strengthen the contribution and effectiveness in support of development.

Discussion

BERT KOENDERS, Minister for Development Cooperation of the Netherlands, said that on 7 July 2007, the world was half way to its stated goal, reaching the Millennium Development Goals by 2015.  The United Nations had a special responsibility, and the contribution and effectiveness of the United Nations development system was laudable but by far not sufficient enough.  The structures for international cooperation urgently needed to be adapted to reflect the realities of the twenty-first century.  And existing structures, like the Security Council, needed to become more representative of the world’s nations.  The United Nations, as the only organization with universal membership, should play a leading role in securing global public goods for all the world’s citizens.  Unfortunately, in recent years one had seen the United Nations’ role in development declining.  Too often, the United Nations had been perceived as being too slow, inefficient, fragmented, over-politicised and bureaucratic to play a leading role in development.  These negative perceptions, combined with donor selectivity, had led to a major increase in earmarking, at the expense of core contributions.  This in turn had contributed to even greater fragmentation and inefficiency.

Only a reformed United Nations could reclaim its place at the centre of development cooperation and lead the international effort to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, to the benefit of all the world’s citizens, Mr. Koenders said.  To achieve the goals by 2015, efforts needed to be stepped up.  This included the governments, civil society, and the private sector in both developing and donor countries, the World Bank and the global programmes.  Unfortunately, the United Nations was now too fragmented to translate this wealth of expertise into a coherent contribution to national development plans.  The idea that the United Nations should work as “One”:  One leader, One programme, One budget, was strongly supported.

It was essential to strengthen the Resident Coordinator system if one wanted to create synergy and coherence instead of fragmentation and duplication, Mr. Koenders said.  The Resident Coordinator should be representative of, as well as accountable to, the whole United Nations system.  There was a need for three documents:  first, the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper.  Second, a Joint Assistance Strategy, which outlined a division of labour between all the different players, based on the relative strengths and added value.  And lastly, an integrated and coherent United Nations country programme, which replaced the United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF).  Naturally, flexibility was important; one size did not fit all.  It was crucial to increase both the quantity and quality of development assistance.  The Netherlands spent 0.8 per cent of its national income on development cooperation.

SERGE CHAPATTE, Assistant Director-General of the Swiss Agency for Development Cooperation, said as the process of the triennial review of the development cooperation apparatus of the United Nations system began, what was striking was the quick pace of change which had been observed over the last three years on the global aid scenery.  Not only had new approaches been generated which all aimed at reducing aid transactions costs and at increasing aid quality and effectiveness, but the aid architecture had also evolved with new funding mechanisms being, somehow unfortunately, added to the already existing instruments.  This quickly evolving context provided the background for considerations.  Progress had been made -- the reality on the ground, however, showed that the implementation of the triennial comprehensive policy review was lagging behind.

The United Nations system was the repository of a wealth of qualified competencies in most domains, relevant to social and economic development, Mr. Chapatte said.  It enjoyed a high legitimacy as a forum for global standards and norm setting, a high level of acceptance and trust by its recipient partners, as well as a wide field representation network.  United Nations organizations were valued and privileged partners for national Governments.  Member States had repeatedly called for the United Nations system to enhance its efforts at the country level to support national capacity development.

It was observed in the field that the national capacities required for the implementation of the development effectiveness agenda pressingly needed to be developed and strengthened in all the areas of state responsibilities.  Progress in strengthening the United Nations system’s delivery for capacity development had been slow and uncertain.  The key to increased effectiveness of the United Nations at the field level was substantially improved coordination and harmonisation.  Determined action was still needed, especially to strengthen and improve the functioning of the Resident Coordinator system.  Some progress had been made in this regard, but a lot remained to be done, in particular the firm establishment of a convincing and transparent Resident Coordinator’s accountability framework.

In the course of the discussion following the first two panellists’ presentations, Brazil expressed its doubts about the benefits of the establishing of “One” United Nations.  It seemed that a programme needed to be based on a generic type of document.  If a centralized programme was based on a more detailed text, that would affect the autonomy of the respective governments.  Financial mechanisms were not all equal among themselves.  If centralized programmes were elaborated, one should determine which bodies and agencies were to be involved.  The need for the United Nations to play a lead role in global economic policy at the international level as well as at the country level had been mentioned in the presentations.  The representative of Barbados asked how one could ensure greater cooperation between the Bretton Woods institutions and the other organizations in order to ensure more cohesion.

Mr. KOENDERS said there was a need for a broad look at the aid architecture.  Looking at the present situation, there were a number of interesting developments.  The European Union was playing a larger and more effective and efficient role in aid, and there was a particular harmonisation of aid as per the Paris Agenda.  There was a wide range of aid providers, and there was a need for increase of unity and policy in this regard.  The comparative advantages and legitimacy of the different organizations needed to be examined.  The United Nations was the organization with the legitimacy to set norms and where it was effective to carry out programmes.  Architecture was crucial, as was a clear link with the international financial institutions.  It should be clear that the United Nations remained the key organization for norm setting, and that arrangements with the Bretton Woods institutions remained in effect.

There were too many different systems to deliver aid.  There was probably no alternative to coming to strategic papers per country, and this required a lot from both countries as well as donors.  “One” United Nations was not the same as one size fits all -- this would be the worst thing, as the world was very divided and diverse.  Maybe, if a national plan could be devised which looked much more at the national setting, then there could be a unified strategy, rather than a number of plans from the development agencies which did not have the funding nor the ability to go beyond the one size fits all approach.  The United Nations should work as one as far as possible, and this was not a new idea, with one budget and one office, but what was required was to make sure that the United Nations was more than simply the sum of its parts.

Mr. CHAPATTE emphasized that the dangers raised by Brazil were trying to be avoided.  The reform of the United Nations would increase the independence and efficiency of the receiving governments.  Within improved coordination, the diversity would be maintained.  The pressure was also on donors.  Questions on the fragmentation were asked and the organization also needed to improve.  More competition for limited official development aid funds was important.  All donors insisted on a greater relationship with the Bretton-Woods institutions.  Increased collaboration was on the way but it needed to be increased at the country level.  Donors had to agree on a country system.  On the global level, even more progress needed to be made and there was a need for better discussion.

PHONGSAVATH BOUPHA, Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, said for many decades, the United Nations system had played a pivotal role in the process of national development in the Lao People’s Democratic Republic.  As one of the longest serving and trusted development partners of the country, the United Nations had made useful contributions towards key areas of the Government’s agenda, including the transition to a market economy, poverty eradication, and exiting the least development country status by 2020.  The assistance provided by the United Nations agencies over past years had been effective, and had met the needs and priorities of national development.  All United Nations development programmes and projects had been formulated and tailored to support the Government’s national plans such as long, medium and short-term socio-economic development. 

Implementation of the Millennium Development Goals was another area where the United Nations system was working in a harmonised approach.  With the process of United Nations reform, particularly the launching of the United Nations Development Group, the United Nations system in the Lao People’s Democratic Republic had intensified its efforts to realise the goals of coherence and harmonisation among the various agencies.  The process of coherence and harmonisation in the United Nations system in the country could be slow, but it was more promising as it was in line with the Government’s policy on managing international development assistance or aid effectiveness.

Despite remarkable achievements, there remained challenging issues which the Government and the United Nations country team needed to take into account.  Importantly, the Vientiane Declaration on Aid Effectiveness through Harmonisation and Alignment needed to be fully implemented.  Through this, aid would be delivered more effectively.  In addition, the simplification and harmonisation of policies, rules and regulations among United Nations agencies and between the Government and United Nations agencies should be put in place.  Moreover, unexploded ordinance would continue to pose a challenge in the Lao People’s Democratic Republic and for its development partners, as well as being a major obstacle for socio-economic development, and in this regard, more substantial support both financially and technically was needed.

ANTONIN DOSSOU, Director of Cabinet in the Ministry of Development, Economy and Finance of Benin, said his country had the benefit of being next door to Nigeria, but special policies needed to be defined.  Benin was one of the least developed countries in the world.  Benin held position number 173 on the human development indicator ranking.  It used to be a Marxist country.  It still had a long way to go.  Nevertheless, as of April 2006, it was operating in a different context.  There was a true desire to achieve change.  The President had been elected with a 75 per cent majority.  This showed the expectations the people had.  There was a firm intention to make Benin an emerging country.  The current income per capita could be maintained.  Strategic development guidelines were being developed.  There were six main pillars for economic emergence, such as public sector reconstruction, and an up-to-date and effective administration.  The private sector, which was the armed wing of accelerated growth, needed to be served.  One of the options was to develop quality infrastructures to organize the market and to improve the business climate.  The human capital resources also needed to be strengthened.  Grassroots developments should strengthen grassroots democracy.  Cooperation with the United Nations started in 1962.

Most of the agencies of the United Nations system had offices in Benin, Mr. Dossou said.  Each had its own area of work.  Progress could still be made in harmonizing and improving coordination.  One essential reality in Benin was the fight against poverty, which required an acceleration of growth.  In September 2006, the Government had adopted the strategic development guidelines and the framework document to reduce poverty.  Accelerated growth should be put at the heart of the policy.  Cooperation with the system had been refocused and retargeted.  A few proposals on how to improve effectiveness included better programming, starting from the independent ideas voiced by the local authorities.  The programming of the interventions of the different agencies could be improved in view of the same objective.  A second proposal was to have a focal point allowing all agencies to act through it.  When setting the costs of achieving the Millennium Development Goals, a lot of money would be needed.  Hundreds of millions of dollars were needed to achieve these goals.

ANNIKA SÖDER, Assistant Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), said the unique contribution of the United Nations as a development partner was its universality in ownership and in membership, in terms of providing access to expertise from whatever origin or level, and its neutrality in terms of content of its assistance and advice.  The knowledge provision and capacity development were related to standards and so forth.  Implementation was key to development.  The United Nations aimed to be the source of best practices, among others.  Another unique contribution of the United Nations system in achieving the internationally agreed development goals and the Millennium Development Goals was that without the United Nations it would not have been possible to agree on these.  It was thanks to the United Nations that the international community could pull in the same direction.

The United Nations was considered as a neutral provider of advice on how to reach the Goals, and could provide a good assessment of the level of success or failure in achieving these.  Effectiveness of the aid of the United Nations of course depended on how well the Organization was integrated in national processes, as it was not independent.  When it came to general coherence of the United Nations system itself, many improvements were necessary to achieve improvements, including cooperation and coordination, with division of labour, strengthening of individual and joint capacities, and a focus on improvement of delivery and meriting the trust of all Member States.  Reform was about avoiding overlap and duplication, as well as fragmentation, and getting rid of high transaction costs.

The Resident Coordinator system needed to perform the function of a gateway to the entire United Nations system, either by acting as a provider or a gateway to knowledge.  This could only function as a composite of channels, rather than a single channel.  Each programme, fund and agency should ensure that country representatives were well versed in the capabilities of the bodies they represented.  The effectiveness and efficiency of the United Nations system when it came to working with development partners relied on shaping the delivery, further strengthening the ownership of the developing countries, and the capacity of executing this was key.  Working together was not only about the field -- much could be done at Headquarters to jointly make the Organization a partner in development.

PETER PIOT, Executive Director of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), said that as far as AIDS was concerned, there was some real progress made in some countries, but action needed to be accelerated.  UNAIDS was a child of ECOSOC.  It was a joint and co-sponsored programme.  The secretariat was based in Geneva.  On the question on how UNAIDS could become more efficient, five points were mentioned, including the improvement of coherence among the programme with AIDS as the central theme, the Unified Work and Budget Plan, joint horizontal accountability and a clear division of labour.  All these were challenges.  Accountability of individuals was still quite weak and there was a long way to go to performance management.  The programme had high transaction costs initially, which went down afterwards.

In many countries, the efforts of coherence were undermined by the funding streams of the donors, funding some programmes outside the agreed plans, Mr. Piot said.  In terms of becoming more efficient, UNAIDS could only be effective if the priorities of the countries were supported.  Coherence had been improved.  The focus was not only around the process.  Everybody was working to support the national priorities, involving civil society and using one monitoring and evaluation framework.  UNAIDS had been active in resource mobilization.  Here the relationship with the World Bank as well as with the Global Fund was essential.  The Global Fund and UNAIDS were totally complementary.  The unit costs of intervention had also been reduced, such as costs of antiretroviral drugs.  “Making the money work for the people” was the slogan of UNAIDS.   The big challenge was to have a cultural change within the United Nations system with regard to supporting implementation.

A division of labour had been crucial, Mr. Piot said.  UNAIDS was happy with the essential role the United Nations Development Programme was now playing in the fight against AIDS.  The United Nations Development Assistance Framework was used but prioritised action was needed.  UNAIDS was very active in the pilot countries.  Finally, UNAIDS had shown that around a very concrete issue, the United Nations system could deliver as one.  In addition, a focus on results and not on processes had been key.  The division of labour among agencies with clear accountability and national ownership were mentioned as very important.  Coherence among and within Member States was crucial.  Overall, there was a new wind blowing in the United Nations system in terms of the coherence, but one needed to move faster.

AD MELKERT, Associate Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), said it had been a very rich debate to identify the issues that required to be further addressed and sooner or later would require an answer.  On the importance and relevance of the Millennium Development Goals to the United Nations efforts to contribute to development, these were really reshaping the landscape of development cooperation, particularly because of their two unique features:  that it was a sustained effort over a long period of time; and that it was an agenda that was connected to clear results and measurable outcomes, and this showed the results that should guide all the international organizations to adjust their systems and way of work accordingly.

Under that results framework, there were four main tasks for the United Nations to deliver on the Millennium Development Goals in support of country efforts:  to collect reliable data, and UNDP was preparing the launch of a Millennium Development Goal monitor to provide that data and show results and gaps; to provide support to institution-building; advocacy for mobilising international resources to support Millennium Development Goal implementation, where sadly the international community did not live up to its commitments; and the issue of domestic resources, where the role was to advise Governments and programmes in countries with regards to domestic resource mobilisation and allocation.  The international community should continue to invest in the second half of the Millennium Development Goal period.

For the United Nations system to be as effective as it should, there were two important groups:  the bilateral donors, and it was important that the United Nations system be supported by donors; and the multilateral donors, including the international financial organizations and the Bretton Woods institutions.  Fragmentation was an important issue with regards to the former group of donors.  There was still too much short-term financing, and there was a need for longer-term commitments.  In post-crisis situations, donor trust funds should be based on the comparative advantages of the United Nations and the World Bank, for example, and competition should be avoided.  The pitfall was that there was so much attention on coordination that the focus on the Millennium Development Goals could be diluted.

In the course of the discussion following the second group of presentations, a speaker mentioned that his country was pleased with the progress made in improving United Nations coherence.  This should coincide with the coherence of countries national development strategies.  Recipient countries should cooperate in a more effective manner.  The process of “One” United Nations should take the different characteristics of the countries into account.  In order to enhance national leadership, systematic coordination needed to be strengthened.  The progress made by the Global Task Team in the field of HIV/AIDS was impressive.  National capacity building and North-South cooperation were mentioned as important.  Concerted efforts among all partners would lead to the better achievement of the Millennium Development Goals.

Another member mentioned that whenever a programme such as the “One” United Nations was implemented, the national factors had to be taken into account.  A question was raised on the issue of coherence, also mentioning the Bretton Woods system.  When talking about coherence, one should ask what was being delivered.  Resource flows and the mobilization of resources were mentioned as important issues.  Various agencies were speaking for the need of “One” United Nations.  The question of flexibility was raised in this regard.  When talking of reform programmes, it was asked whether an unreformed agency could be effective in a reformed United Nations system.  A speaker mentioned the challenge of drug related crimes, constraining development efforts.  A non-governmental organization mentioned that civil society needed to be included at the table.

Mr. MELKERT responding to the questions and comments, said that some of the issues could be taken up at the next morning’s meeting, when there would be more time.  With regards to the tailor-made comment, national circumstances defined the kind of support that the United Nations should give, as there was in many areas a gradual shift of demand from many Governments to areas such as criminality and drugs, for example.  This was something that was very important in the interaction with donors -- accepting the need to focus and have a clear country programme should nevertheless include the ability to remain flexible and respond to specific demands.

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