Commission for Social Development

Forty-fifth Session

12^th Meeting (AM)

COMMISSION FOR SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT HEARS BRIEFING BY DIRECTOR

OF RESEARCH INSTITUTE, NOMINATES MEMBERS TO ITS BOARD

 

The Commission for Social Development heard a briefing by the Director of the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD) this morning and addressed such organizational matters as the programme of work for 2008-2009 and the nomination of members to the Institute’s Board.

Reporting to the Commission, UNRISD Director Thandika Mkandawire said the Institute had always adopted a broad definition of social development that emphasized not only people’s material well-being, but also social cohesion, security and justice.  Its research programme continued to focus on social justice, poverty reduction and equity -– three explicit principles of the Millennium Development Goals.  The bulk of the Institute’s work was carried out by researchers based in academic institutions around the world, a network that allowed UNRISD to develop large international research programmes, while maintaining a minimal staff in Geneva.

During the biennium, he said, a new phase of the UNRSID research programme had been initiated under six themes:  social policy and development; democracy, governance and well-being; markets, business and regulations; civil society and social movements; identities, conflict and cohesion; and gender and development.  Research on social policy and development, carried out in 40 countries and involving 118 researchers, had been used in numerous publications, documents and conferences.  Cited in academic journals and used in university curricula, the Institute’s work had also been featured prominently in the 2006 International Forum on the Social Science-Policy Nexus, organized by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the Governments of Argentina and Uruguay.

Another significant area of work over the past two years had been the publication and dissemination of the UNRISD policy report on gender and development, which presented guiding principles for policymakers, he said.  The Institute had made greater efforts to synthesize the findings into a format that was accessible to policymakers.  Its small group of senior research staff in Geneva had also fulfilled nearly 100 requests for a wide range of consultative and advisory services over the past two years.

Under its current research agenda, he said, UNRISD had embarked on a major initiative that would contribute to the understanding of different paths to poverty reduction and to the improvement of policies and institutions.  That work would culminate in the publication of a flagship report in 2009.  The Institute’s programme for the next biennium included research on mechanisms for financing social policy and measuring its results.

He added that the Institute received no funding from the Organization’s regular budget and depended entirely on voluntary contributions from Member States, research foundations, United Nations agencies and other bodies.  Last year’s independent evaluation had assessed the relevance, quality, impact and cost-effectiveness of the Institute’s work from 1996 to 2005.  It had found that UNRISD had promoted a coherent and distinctive perspective on development, provided important inputs for United Nations summit processes, fostered an inter-disciplinary perspective, and played an important role in stimulating debate and mobilizing scholars from developing countries.

The Institute had been found to be cost-effective, and its autonomy to be valuable and deserving of protection, he said.  At the same time, the evaluation had recommended that UNRISD devote greater efforts to improving the visibility and impact of its work.  Another recommendation related to the need to put the Institute’s financing on a more secure and stable foundation and to increase its funding.

Under its agenda item on programme performance and implementation, the Commission took note of the proposed programme of work for the biennium 2008-2009 of the Division for Social Policy and Development (document E/CN.5/2007/CRP.1).  Johan Shovlinck, Director of that Division, presented an extract from the Secretary-General’s report on programme performance of the United Nations for the biennium 2004-2005 (document A/61/64), noting that General Assembly resolution 61/235 had approved the biennial programme plan for 2008-2009 containing the narrative of the social policy and development programme, which described its objectives, expected accomplishments, indicators of achievement and strategy.  Accordingly, the programme narrative and review of the proposed outputs would be included in the Secretary-General’s budget proposal for 2008-2009, which would be submitted to the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ) and the General Assembly at its sixty-second session.

Also this morning, the Commission nominated Peter Brandt Evans, Rosalind Eyben, Pasuk Phongpaichit, Annika Sundén, Zenebeworke Tadesse, Yakin Ertürk, Elizabeth Jelin and Marina Pavlova-Silvanskaya to serve on the Board of UNRISD, subject to confirmation by the Economic and Social Council.

The Commission will meet again tomorrow, Thursday, 15 February, to hear the introduction of draft proposals to be adopted on the last day of its session.

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For information media • not an official record