Economic and Social Council Dialogue Focuses on Long-Term Positioning of United Nations Development System for Post-2015 Agenda
Experts, United Nations officials and representatives of Member States exchanged views over two sessions today on the longer-term positioning of the Organization’s development system taking into account the post-2015 development agenda, at a dialogue organized by the Economic and Social Council.
Opening the event, María Emma Mejía Vélez, Permanent Representative of Colombia and Vice-President of the Council, said the organ had mandated the dialogue to allow Member States to debate the interlinkages among the key issues pertaining to the long-term position of the United Nations development system.
Two years ago, the Assembly had adopted by consensus resolution 67/226, on the Quadrennial Comprehensive Policy Review of the United Nations operational activities for development, she said. An important role of the Council was to monitor the implementation of the resolution through the provision of effective guidance to the system. In that regard, the dialogue was meant to provide the impetus to further strengthen the coherence and alignment of the system in preparation of the post-2015 development agenda.
The event represented the first opportunity for Member States to consider what alignments were needed to the system to best support all countries to meet the sustainable development goals, while keeping poverty eradication at the centre of the agenda, she noted. Member States must also self-reflect and take steps to improve coherence on governance, funding, programming and reporting.
Thomas Gass, Assistant Secretary-General, Policy Coordination and Inter-Agency Affairs of the United Nations, said that Economic and Social Council resolution 2014/14 recognized that the changed development landscape required a significant exercise of strategic repositioning beyond the focus of the 2012 Quadrennial Review on measures to improve operational efficiencies — a vision that provided the backbone of preparations for the next Review, to be adopted in 2016.
Three times in its history, the United Nations development system had changed to adapt to new realities. As preparations continued for the post-2015 agenda, he said, it would be safe to say “we are at the cusp of a fourth major change”, for which inspection and dialogue were the first steps. To that end, the system must internalize the emerging agenda and the aspirations of universality and sustainability, with the intention to address inequalities and leave no one behind. It should be anchored in human rights and international standards, for which credible data and evidence were needed.
The Council, he asserted, was the main body for coordination of that system, for policy review, policy dialogue and recommendations; it should also promote reflection, debate and innovative thinking. Accordingly, he looked forward to dialogues about the “big picture” grounded in the Council’s work on data analysis and economic and social policy, and the view that the Organization’s development scheme “cannot be disconnected” from the broader United Nations system.
Panel Discussion I
Opening the discussion, BRUCE JENKS, Senior Adviser, Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation, said capturing the richness of the issues involved was daunting. The complexities involved could lead to a lack of willpower, and the purpose of the dialogue should be to overcome such fears. The parameters for discussion included the changing development landscape; the role of the United Nations development system; organization/partnerships; and impact.
Different Member States had different views on how each parameter related to the others and the discussion paper’s role was to try and provide useful elements for the dialogue, he said. The overriding hypothesis was that if the United Nations sought to provide leadership on such a powerful agenda, there could be no business as usual.
BISRAT AKILU, Board Member, Centre for International Forestry Research, said that the issues being discussed were not necessarily new; they were being viewed for the first time through their interlinkages. He highlighted the need for special focus to operational requirements of the least developed countries, where most of the world’s poor would continue to live. Strengthening norms and facilitating the provision of global public goods were critical dimensions of the contributions of the United Nations development system to a unified and universal agenda.
A key post-2015 priority was to strengthen capacity in countries to deal with the new development agenda. The development system should strengthen its capacity to be a champion of evidence-based policy and to develop new sources of finance, while leveraging existing external flows. The system should deepen and expand issue-based coalitions at the global, regional and national levels.
Taking the floor, ANNE BIRGITTE ALBRECTSEN, Chair, Advisory Group, United Nations Development Group and Deputy Executive Director, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the first of three discussants, said the functions must be universal, while fully recognizing that different countries had different needs. The integrated nature of the sustainable development goals required an integrated United Nations development agenda. The objective should be intergenerational sustainability and efforts should focus on ways of preventing a rollback of gains. The multiplicity of fund flows had acted as centrifugal force which worked against cohesion and integration. What was needed was a look across agencies in order to pool more resources across shared goals in a transparent and accountable way.
JANE STEWART, Vice-Chair, United Nations High-level Committee on Programmes and Special Representative to the United Nations and Director, International Labour Organization Office in New York, said the Organization was encouraged by the progress made by Member States in developing a sustainable development agenda. A primary role of the United Nations development system was to help Member States operationalize the normative framework negotiated. The framework worked across the development, humanitarian and peace and security pillars and would clarify both the “what” and “how” in terms of tailoring support and services in a differentiated way according to country needs.
JAN BEAGLE, Vice-Chair, United Nations High-level Committee on Management, and Deputy Executive Director, Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), said the strategic repositioning of the Organization should clearly connect goals and means. Numerous initiatives had been taken towards redesigning business models and encouraging new ways of thinking. The underlying objective was to simplify and streamline processes through people capable of working across different areas by employing new technologies.
When the floor was opened for discussion, the representative of Bolivia, on behalf of the “Group of 77” developing countries and China, said many positions of the Group were not reflected as a priority or in the discussion paper. The intergovernmental negotiations should be driven in the Assembly under rules of that body. The document failed to acknowledge poverty and underdevelopment in middle-income countries.
Member States should play a vital role in the fourth-generation reforms of the United Nations, the representative of Guatemala said. Indonesia’s representative said the United Nations development system should help countries build capacities to achieve goals before it could be able to measure impact. For that, a framework should be developed to disburse aid, based on individual country needs.
The representative of the European Union Delegation stressed the importance of consensus and a common vision in order to move forward. While the international development landscape had new actors, institutions and drivers, the interlocking mandates of the United Nations gave it a unique comparative advantage.
Also taking the floor were representatives of Norway, Costa Rica, United States, Germany, Brazil, China and Sweden.
Responding to the comments, the panellists and discussants stressed that the process of deliberations had begun on a positive note and would continue on the basis of achieving consensus and a common vision.
Panel Discussion II
Providing the panel’s special address, Amina J. Mohammed, Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on Post-2015 Development Planning, said an unprecedented opportunity had been provided to create new pathways to address new challenges of sustainable development. The Secretary-General’s synthesis report tried to pull together from all the work done over the past two years to give some focus and clarity in order to forge ahead on the agenda.
There was no one inside or outside the room in the inclusive process, she said, adding that the changing developing landscape would require the international community to manage the transition towards a broader remit for sustainable development. The new concept of universality would involve opportunities as well as challenges.
Member States were driving the process in which coherence and coordinated action would be required, she said. The United Nations system would need to be more relevant, innovative and agile in responding to the differentiated needs of countries. There was much experience on what had worked in the past. Putting that to work would be a whole new challenge.
Taking the floor, PETER THOMSON, Permanent Representative of Fiji, the first of four panellists in the afternoon session, said designing the post-2015 agenda marked the highest point of those involved in development work. The world gave the United Nations a mixed report card, he said, adding that Board Chairs needed to interact more vigorously with management and ensure continuity of the issues identified. Member States lamented that the United Nations development system had a silo mentality and lacked of coherence. The competition for resources among agencies in the field was wrong and those agencies should be judged by attention to mandate, not to raising funds.
PIO WENNUBST, Assistant Director-General, Head of Department of Global Cooperation, Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, said that recognition of the fact that national-level efforts alone could not solve global problems should reinforce the legitimacy of the United Nations in obtaining a clear and universally valid mandate for the implementation of the post-2015 agenda. The Organization must define a strategic approach to support countries and regions in defining their regulatory and operational actions. Assuring a certain degree of independence will be crucial for the United Nations when it faced universal challenges. Funding that went beyond country-based core and earmarked contributions would be an important way to assure such independence.
JENNIFER TOPPING, United Nations Resident Coordinator and Humanitarian Coordinator in Mozambique, said the development agenda had varied implications whose relevance was tested every day at the national level in a real way. Mozambique and other countries that became part of the “Delivering as One” initiative in 2007 had built a foundation for the United Nations to support an integrated multisectoral framework agenda that strengthened national ownership. Consistency, coherence, integration and accountability needed to be developed in the medium and long term to ensure effectiveness.
BARBARA ADAMS, Board Chair, Global Policy Forum, New York, said a hodgepodge of partnerships had resulted in fragmentation and risked of undermining the power of the convening role of the United Nations in the country, regional and global levels. Member States were not making resources available commensurate with the Organization’s mandate. Partnerships with the private sector tended to be pro-cyclical and made claims on public resources. Civil society’s participation within the multistakeholders placed an equivalence that detracted from the contribution that vital sector could make. With the current tilt towards pragmatism from idealism, the United Nations ran the risk of squandering its legitimacy among the people.
As the floor was opened for general discussion, the representative of Belgium stressed the need to distinguish between the normative framework and the operational role of the United Nations on the ground. The role of bilateral and non-governmental donors in terms of funding the post-2015 agenda also needed greater deliberation.
The representative of Mozambique said it was important that reforms of the United Nations system take into account that while the post-2015 agenda was universal in nature, it had to respond to the specific needs of each country individually.
The representative of Canada said her country shared the enthusiasm for reforming the United Nations development system in order to ensure better relevance and stronger impact.
The representative of Pakistan said the discussion paper missed key elements of interest to his Government. It would be critical for the United Nations development system to identify deficiencies and delivery capacities and maintain a focus on eradicating poverty and helping build capacity of nations consistent with national priorities.
The representative of the United States said she wanted to hear voices from outside the system in future dialogues. She also sought greater clarity on the principle of universality, especially since many countries were outside the United Nation development system.
The representative of Viet Nam said his country expected localization of sustainable development goals in line with national priorities and development strategies.
The post-2015 agenda provided opportunities for bilateral, regional, North-South and South-South Cooperation, the representative of Sudan said.
Also speaking were the representatives of Guatemala, Brazil, Norway and Sweden.
After the panellists responded to the comments from the floor, Ms. MEJIA VÉLEZ delivered concluding remarks in which she described the discussions as a starting point for deepening understanding of what might be required to make the United Nations development system fit for its purpose. The second session of the dialogue would be held on 30 January 2015 for which the discussion paper would be elaborated to reflect the views shared by Member States.
Briefing
KIM WON-SOO, Secretary of the United Nations Chief Executives Board for Coordination, said the second Regular Session of Board for 2014 held on 20 and 21 November, took place against the backdrop of many challenges putting the multilateral system to the test. Those included the Ebola crisis in West Africa; conflicts in Syria, the Middle East, Central Africa and Ukraine; the worsening climate crisis, as well as sluggish economic recovery and high unemployment. During the formal session, the Board took decisions on programmatic, management and operational activities, and engaged in discussions on the data revolution and accountability.
The session covered broadly three types of issues: enhancing the United Nations system’s coordinated engagement in supporting national Millennium Development Goals implementation; deliberations on current world challenges and trends which had a cross-cutting impact on the Organization; and consideration of system-wide steps in supporting the Member States to achieve their sustainable development priorities.