As Economic and Social Council Opens Operational Activities Segment, Speakers Urge Organization to Better Utilize Resources for More Effective Development System
While huge efforts had been made to adapt the development system to evolving country needs, the United Nations must use its credibility, impartiality and access to specialized knowledge more effectively in order to deliver fit-for-purpose results over the next 15 years, the Economic and Social Council heard today, as it opened its 2015 operational activities segment.
During the segment, which runs through 25 February, the Council will examine the longer-term positioning of the United Nations development system in the context of the post-2015 development agenda. It will also assess the implementation of General Assembly resolution 67/226, on the Quadrennial Comprehensive Policy Review — the mechanism through which it evaluates the coherence, effectiveness and funding of the United Nations’ 27 programmes, funds and specialized agencies for development.
“We have set the bar high this year,” said United Nations Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson in opening remarks, citing the goals of adopting an ambitious sustainable development agenda in September, and later, agreeing on a universal climate agreement. The Council had broken new ground by bringing together an unprecedented range of views into preparations for the post-2015 framework, reflected in the “bold” ambition of the proposed sustainable development goals.
He said the year must be used to accelerate progress towards the Millennium Development Goals, which would offer a “springboard” to a future free from poverty. Decisions taken at the third World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction, in March, for example, would have major implications for the United Nations’ operational activities, making it all the more important that the development system was “fit for purpose”.
Already, he said, the system was valued for its normative role, as well as its credibility, impartiality and access to specialized knowledge, with 86 per cent of partner countries considering it more relevant than just two years ago. At the governance level, it was responding to calls for more reporting through governing bodies on the Policy Review, while at the country level, it was shaping its presence around expectations for more coherence. More countries were adopting the “Delivering as One” approach, through which engagement, transparency and alignment were “way up”.
Going forward, the system would need to change faster to meet evolving challenges, he said. That required “vigorously” reducing transaction costs associated with programming and reporting, and bringing integrated, tailored content to specific country needs. Improved capacities were needed to help Governments leverage partnerships. With intellectual, institutional and financial resources becoming more dispersed, a system that embraced innovation could help countries tap into those assets. “Our main challenge is to provide the best possible support to national coordination”, he said. In that regard, he encouraged more country consultations on the system’s long-term positioning. To overcome challenges, operational activities must join together wherever they were needed.
Calling 2015 a “landmark year” for the United Nations, Council Vice-President María Emma Mejía Vélez, in opening remarks, said the new development agenda would require significantly strengthening of the system’s ability to pursue different activities in close collaboration, rather than in silos. In that regard, the segment’s two objectives — fulfilling the Council’s mandate pursuant to General Assembly resolution 67/226 on the Quadrennial Comprehensive Policy Review, and contributing to the recently launched dialogue on the longer-term positioning of the UN development system in the context of the post-2015 development agenda — were critical.
Today, operational activities accounted for nearly two thirds of the Organization’s work, she said, of which some 95 per cent were voluntarily funded. However, processes common to those activities were regulated by different entities. “This is a paradox that needs to be examined more carefully by Member States,” she said, citing a number of changes that could be considered in that respect, including the provision of coherent and integrated support tailored to changing country needs and priorities, and the increased demand for improved efficiency.
The day featured two panel discussions, the first of which — on the longer-term positioning of the United Nations development system — was opened by Ms. Vélez, who, in a special briefing, recalled that a road map for the next year and a half recently had been presented to the Council. “We must adjust the system to the new realities, and enable the support needed to deliver the new, unified and universal development agenda,” she said.
National ownership remained critical, she stressed. The development system had to align with — and support — national priorities, as well as rethink its functions considering the changing needs of developing countries. Funding should be adapted to differentiated needs and contexts. Governance must improve. In a post-2015 world, the system’s role in helping Governments build inclusive partnerships that leveraged resources and expertise would be essential.
In the afternoon, Wu Hongbo, Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, launched a second panel on ensuring coherence in the funding of operational activities with the introduction of the Secretary-General’s report on the implementation of the Policy Review. Total contributions to the United Nations development system in 2013 had reached $26.4 billion. Official development assistance stood at $147.1 billion, of which operational activities accounted for 17 per cent. Funding had become more diversified in recent years. In 2014, all major funds and programmes had either initiated or conducted structural dialogues with States on the issue of funding, as well as developed common principles for the concept of “critical mass” of core resources.
On capacity development and operational effectiveness, he said 93 per cent of countries agreed that the United Nations had been effective in targeting the poorest and most disadvantaged. From the system’s perspective, greater use of national systems was often hindered by the limited capacity of national institutions, a lack of transparency, high staff turnover and stringent donor requirements. For host countries, the United Nations appeared to be risk averse, with procedures that were too complex to allow for the use of national systems.
With that in mind, he said, United Nations agencies had stepped up efforts to support South-South cooperation, which had been integrated in 20 of 22 agencies, and more than 80 United Nations Development Assistance Frameworks. Overcoming challenges to increased support for such cooperation required more understanding of the United Nations’ role. In the area of functioning, implementation of some Policy Review mandates was on track, while on others, it was a “work in progress”. Of 22 United Nations entities, 15 had aligned their strategic plans with the Policy Review and 13 had reported on Policy Review progress to their governing bodies.
In sum, there was “much scope” to strengthen the use of common services at country level, he said, which should be accorded high priority in the two remaining years of the Policy Review cycle, as many those services did not require harmonizing agency-specific rules, policies or procedures. Modest progress had been made in the area of rules-based management, which the system should proactively support Governments adopting as part of national monitoring frameworks. The Secretary-General’s report indicated that, while the United Nations was the preferred partner for most programme countries, it was called upon to be more responsive to changing the needs of programme countries and the broader development cooperation environment.
The Economic and Social Council will reconvene at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, 24 February, to continue its operational activities segment.
Panel on Positioning of the United Nations Development System
The Council then launched a panel discussion on “The longer-term positioning of the United Nations development system in the context of the post-2015 development agenda”.
Moderated by David Steven, Senior Fellow and Associate Director, Center on International Development Cooperation, New York University, panellists included: Thomas Silberhorn, Parliamentary Secretary, Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, Germany; Albert Toikeusse Mabri, Minister for Planning and Development, Côte d’Ivoire; Courtenay Rattray, Permanent Representative of Jamaica; and Koki Muli Grignon, Deputy Permanent Representative of Kenya.
Opening the discussion, Mr. STEVEN said that there were just 312 days until the new development agenda would begin to be implemented. Delays would be costly. “It’s not just that the new goals and targets are much tougher,” he said. The new goals brought fresh and exciting challenges into the development agenda. A bolder and broader alliance, as well as new ways of working, were needed.
Mr. SILBERHORN said that the United Nations and its development partners must strengthen their preventative work, their work in crisis and post-conflict situations — such as, currently, in Ukraine and Syria — and that they must invest more in infrastructure. Current crises around the world demonstrated that development cooperation had a role to play “right from the beginning of a crisis”. Turning to post-conflict situations, he underscored that institution-building at the sub-national level was critical. Better coherence was needed between the United Nations development system and other development actors, and better coordination was needed between the United Nations and the World Bank Group, the European Union and other partners. Donors would feel better and do more if fragmentation, duplication of work and “senseless” overlap were reduced. He said he hoped to add a political declaration on reform of the United Nations development system to the post-2015 development agenda.
Mr. MABRI, speaking via video link, said that, four years ago, Abidjan had been in a critical situation. Today, however, the country was growing and improving, and had developed a National Plan for 2012-2020. “The United Nations system accompanied us through the hardest times,” he said. Specifically, it had helped to mobilize funding to implement the national plan and had helped to open dialogue on the topics of population, demographics, and the post-2015 development agenda. Action must now be focused on boosting domestic resources. Capacity-building must include issues related to sustainable development, including climate change. “We must ensure that we are mutually accountable,” he said, stressing that all stakeholders should support the Government as a unified whole.
Taking the floor, Mr. RATTRAY said that, Jamaica, as a middle-income country, faced many complex development challenges, including high debt, sluggish growth and a significant lack of official development assistance (ODA). The United Nations was working to implement a development effectiveness framework, which was expected to put the Government “in the driving seat” and work in a synergistic manner. A top priority was national capacity development and job growth. Moving forward, it was critical that the United Nations development system provide support in an inclusive manner, which addressed vulnerable and marginalized groups. Importantly, the United Nations had organized post-2015 consultations in Jamaica, “getting the voices of the voiceless” heard in the development process. However, middle-income countries still had urgent needs, including technical and capacity-building. In that regard, the United Nations development system remained a “relatively small player in development cooperation”, accounting for only 7 per cent of Jamaica’s programme aid. A “re-think” was needed in order to marshal the United Nations’ rich technical and operational know-how in support of middle-income countries.
Ms. GRIGNON said that the United Nations had helped Kenya in a number of ways, including support in policy formulation and implementation; institutional and system support; enabling the Government to enhance its human and institutional capacity; enhancing accountability in the public service; and supporting peace resolution and negotiations. However, some problems remained, including a lack of harmonized monitoring systems; a lack of real-time data on the impacts of programmes; problems with resources and accounting systems; inadequate understanding on the part of the private sector and civil society on United Nations requirements; and the partial funding of development projects. “There is so much more that needs to be done,” she said, emphasizing that the United Nations should “build into what already exists”, instead of imposing new programmes at the national level. The Organization could also help to mobilize domestic resources, and to reform international financial institutions, in order to help fund the post-2015 development agenda at the country level.
Following the presentations, delegates highlighted the importance of making the United Nations development system fit for purpose, in part by eliminating competition among its various agencies. The system’s relevance depended on its responsiveness to development challenges in different country settings. More must be done to align strategic plans and country programmes with the goals of the new development framework. Many encouraged the Organization to help countries build capacity to that end, with others emphasizing the importance of improved data systems that allowed policy makers to design more effective programmes.
In that context, some donor country speakers outlined ways in which their Governments were making assistance more effective, with the representative of Luxembourg announcing that his country was being more flexible in its donations by working to decrease the use of earmarking in core resources. He encouraged United Nations agencies to work together in areas where their expertise was required.
The representative of the United Kingdom said “fit for purpose” meant simplifying business practices, making the Resident Coordinator system work well and focusing on results. As a major provider of core and non-core funding, his Government had an interest in what was being delivered. High-quality resources were needed in different country settings. If the country request was going to be specific, the United Nations must ensure its technical assistance was of high value. He asked panellists how the Organization’s country presence should best operate.
The representative of the United States added that a focus on quality, transparency, accountability and innovation was the only way to ensure the United Nations was best positioned to deliver results the world demanded over the next 15 years.
Speakers from recipient countries said improvements in integration and coordination should build synergies with regional approaches. The representative of Trinidad and Tobago, on behalf of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), said one step towards that goal would be a revised development assistance matrix outlining the focus of United Nations entities, as well as other regional and subregional agencies. Core resources fostered the most flexible, effective and impartial allocation of funding across the development system. Developing countries would need more institutional and capacity-building support to implement the post-2015 agenda, especially in the area of data collection and analysis.
China’s representative said positioning the United Nations system for the long-term should be guided by the principle of national ownership of programmes. Developing country needs should be considered, as should countries’ respective development levels.
In response, Mr. RATTRAY said the growth trajectory that had allowed Jamaica to attain upper middle-income country status would be in jeopardy if the development community assumed the country “had arrived”. The complex situation in each country must be examined. Jamaica’s growth rate had averaged 1.5 per cent over the last four decades, with unemployment at 13.5 per cent. For young people, it was more than 31 per cent. Energy costs — which drove economic competitiveness — averaged $.38 per kilowatt hour, far above its competitors. Jamaica’s oil import bill was 125 per cent of its annual export revenue. There was a chronic current account deficit, which had led to a 145 per cent debt-to-gross domestic product (GDP) ratio.
Against that backdrop, he said, the United Nations must acknowledge that there would be a time lag in terms of “delivery”. Global investment capital stood at more than $210 trillion; the savings stock was around $30 trillion. Indeed, there was global money on the side-lines. Those funds must be matched to development needs. Sovereign wealth funds, pension funds, insurance funds and others were ideally suited to invest in development. “It’s going to take time,” he said. The Organization’s rights-based approach to activities across the development spectrum was among its comparative advantages.
Ms. GRIGNON said mandates should come from Member States, as national ownership was essential. Commenting on domestic resource mobilization, she said Kenya was a lower middle-income country, and while it relied on ODA, it mainly depended on domestic revenues, in large part from taxation. Therefore, its tax systems required capacity-building. She called for less competition among United Nations country offices — especially in such areas as disaster risk management — to ensure they worked closely with each other and with the host Government. Goals and intentions had to be aligned so the system added more value with limited resources.
“We can’t do this when UN agencies are pulling in different directions,” she stressed. In addition, she urged a focus on the “huge” financial resources that were illegally flowing out of Africa. The African Union needed help to ensure that did not happen. Success would mean that countries could reduce or even eliminate their dependence on ODA.
Mr. SILBERHORN said a comprehensive approach must be implemented in a complimentary way: among the United Nations, World Bank and regional development bank, as well as public and new private donors. Priorities must be set. All stakeholders must do more. Key questions centred on supporting countries in mobilizing domestic resources, and on whether the United Nations was doing enough around financial management in terms of shaping financial markets, leveraging domestic resources and accompanying private investors to ensure investments were being carried out in a “development-friendly” way. The United Nations development system could answer those questions, he asserted.
Also speaking in the debate were the representatives of Switzerland, Sweden and Mexico.
Panel on Coherence in Funding Operational Activities
In the afternoon, the Council held a panel on “How to ensure coherence in the funding of operational activities of the UN system for effective realization of the post-23015 development agenda”.
Moderated by María Emma Mejía Vélez (Colombia), Vice-President of the Economic and Social Council, panellists included: Kikeo Chanthaboury, Vice Minister, Ministry of Planning and Investment of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic; George Wilfred Talbot, Permanent Representative of Guyana to the United Nations; and Berit Fladby, Policy Director for United Nations Operational Activities, Department for United Nations and Humanitarian Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Norway.
Opening the panel, Mr. CHANTHABOURY cited the importance of increasing flexibility in the allocation of non-core resources in order to enhance the “core-like” characteristics of such finance. That could require greater use of pooled funding mechanisms and an examination of how humanitarian and development resources were allocated. Core resources could help the development system take a greater role in partnerships, which, in turn, could lead to innovative financing and organizational improvement. That would allow the United Nations to become “highly adept” at leveraging outside human and financial resources. His country’s experience in pooled funding had enhanced donor coordination and reduced the risk of duplication, as well as increased the predictability and “critical mass” of funding. On the strengths and weaknesses of the current funding architecture, core or unrestricted funding was seen as the most efficient way of building effective partnerships with programme countries. There was a need to rationalize the multiplicity of funding flows in developing countries, he said, stressing that core and non-core financing challenges could be resolved by determining the appropriate financing for specific programmes.
Mr. TALBOT focused on the integration of sustainable development’s three pillars and the universal applicability of that agenda. How the United Nations responded to challenges identified at national and regional levels was also important. Throughout, coherence and systemic approaches would become more pronounced in terms of policies and partnerships that would have implications for resource mobilization and use. He asked what kind of system was being created: whether it would be relevant to diverse development situations or more focused on the world’s poorest. The United Nations could play an important role in providing thought leadership and in translating sustainable development’s three dimensions into policy recommendations and development models. Only 25 per cent of funding was channelled through core resources, which impacted the United Nations’ ability to support an integrated agenda, and he called for targeted funding that was broader in scope than under the current instruments. He also urged more flexibility in the United Nations’ response to differentiated national realities, asking by way of example, how the system would address de-industrialization in Africa, while ensuring a greener and more inclusive approach.
Ms. FLADBY said simply because the post-2015 agenda would be broader in scope did not mean the United Nations should do everything. Rather, it should focus on its comparative advantages and areas where it could make a difference. The Policy Review resolution called for enhanced use of funding modalities that could foster coherence: increased core and softly earmarked contributions, as well as greater use of pooled funding mechanisms. The Secretary-General’s report in 2013 stated that core resources had amounted to 31 per cent and earmarked contributions to 69 per cent of overall United Nations development activities, which was clearly “imbalanced”. Only 8 per cent of earmarked funds were for thematic support for entities, as called for by the Policy Review, implying that 92 per cent of those funds had been “strictly” earmarked for specific projects. Core resources could ensure the coherent implementation of strategic plans and the ability to transfer funds to programme countries. They would become more crucial with the new agenda’s stronger call for coherence and partnerships. On softly earmarked contributions, she advocated funding that corresponded to an outcome outlined in strategic plans.
Following those presentations, Olav Kjørven, Director for the Division of public Partnerships at United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), took the floor as lead discussant, stressing that the current system was largely overstretched — possibly broken. The “rich ecosystem” of development finance actors was a strength that should be maximized. After all, solutions required broad participation. He urged refocusing ODA towards maximizing its catalytic role, and in that context, defining the optimal role for the United Nations. Partnerships had to unlock new resources. The challenge was to create enabling conditions for the United Nations to play such roles.