ECOSOC Dialogue with UNDG Executive Heads

Statement by Thoraya Ahmed Obaid, Executive Director, UNFPA

Mr. President, Distinguished Delegates,

I am very pleased to join you at this dialogue, with my ExCom colleagues. UNFPA is fully committed to working in close partnership with the ExCom, and the wider UN Development Group. We see ourselves as champions of UN reform.

Introduction

I will briefly present our collective thinking on sector programming and national capacity development. I will highlight the role we see ourselves playing; outline the actions we have taken; and conclude with some of the challenges and issues for the future.

As UNDG we recognize the growing importance of sector programming and capacity development that characterize the new aid environment, and that are manifest in the Paris Declaration and the TCPR resolution.

Last year, the TCPR tasked the UN to increase efforts to strengthen the national capacity development strategies essential to achieving the internationally agreed development goals, including the MDGs, and the capacities needed to manage different aid modalities.

On 2 March 2005, Ministers and other high-level officials of some 85 developed and developing countries as well as heads of some 20 bi- and multilateral development organizations gathered in Paris, France, to discuss ways to improve the quality of development assistance. The members of the UN Development Group participated as one delegation, itself a sign of the increased depth of cooperation among the operational development agencies of the UN system. We are committed as UNDG and as individual agencies to follow-up on these outcomes.

How do we see our role?

We see ourselves playing an active and supportive role in four aspects, where we do have a comparative advantage:

1. Policy dialogue;
2. Advocacy;
3. Capacity development; and
4. Technical assistance.

We are not major players in terms of financial contributions – but we do have experience and responsibility to leverage national and international resources to help meet the internationally agreed goals and targets, and the priorities laid out for us by the international community.

UN Country Teams can play a pivotal role in supporting national leadership and in helping national partners to ensure and verify that sector-based programmes are effectively accessible to the poorest people and marginalized families. Our success will depend on the extent to which we can act as a neutral broker and arbitrator, helping to manage negotiations and providing solid, evidence-based policy advice with a legitimacy based on the UN's international experience, normative and human rights-based work and access to best practice.

What have we done?

First, I should state that our overall thrust is along three axes:

1. Putting national development plans at the center of UN country programming;
2. Strengthening national capacities; and
3. Increasingly using and strengthening national systems.

To operationalize this, we have taken the following five steps:

1. We are sending out a clear message to all UNCTs to align the UN’s analytical and planning work with national processes. The message is don’t duplicate – but do ensure that our issues are reflected and addressed.
2. We have an agreed UNDG policy position on sector support highlighting the important role the UN can play in sector programmes during conception and implementation, and an approved Action Plan to turn the commitments made in Paris into practice. A notable feature is our UNDG commitment to amend, by the end of 2005, any policies and regulations that prevent agencies from fully participating in sector support arrangements and to increase the use of national systems.
3. We are encouraging our UNCTs to reduce transaction costs on national partners through greater use of national systems for sector reporting, monitoring and evaluation, annual performance reviews, progress reports and procurement procedures. A special case in point is the area of financial interaction with national counterparts. The member agencies of the ExCom have already agreed to harmonize the way we transfer cash to implementing partners at the national level, thereby greatly reducing transaction costs.
4. We have tasked an inter-agency team to re-define our role in capacity development and to sharpen our focus by providing practical guidance to UNCTs by the end of 2005.
5. We are gathering experience together from UNCTs, and we will monitor the implementation of these actions through our UNDG mechanisms. We look forward to sharing the experience and results with you.

What challenges remain?

Allow me to highlight six key issues.

1. Overcoming a traditional approach.

Frankly, in the past, capacity development initiatives often addressed capacities needed to manage and implement UN-supported programmes/projects, rather than strengthening counterpart capacities to manage and implement the national development process. We need to get beyond this approach. We need to set performance measures as incentives for our staff to make this shift, take risks, and we have to provide the environment that supports and motivates them to move ahead with confidence in this new context.

2. Getting the right staff and skill mix

We will need to review the staffing and skill mix at country level away from project-based to sector-level working - particularly the need to provide high quality "upstream" policy advice in key sectors, as well as across sectors. Some steps are being taken in this regard, but we need to do more.

3. South-south cooperation

At my recent participation in Doha, I was once again reminded of the importance of south-south cooperation as a key element in capacity development. I strongly believe it must become an important area in the future. Some of us do this as individual agencies, and sometimes collectively. I think there is more we can do to promote south-south cooperation together. Likewise, I believe we need to do more to enhance collaborative regional support for capacity development and technical assistance.

4. Financial implications

The shift towards direct budget and sector support has also meant changes in the modus operandi of bilateral donors. As the demands from projects decrease, many agencies are withdrawing technical staff from country missions. From the perspective of the UN system this provides an opportunity and a challenge. The opportunity to take on a greater role in supporting policy dialogue is clear. But there are also costs involved in building and strengthening capacity, and these costs have to be borne at a time when core funding and financing for technical cooperation through the UN is seen to be under threat. We will seek to engage bilateral partners in examining the implications for financing the role of the UN Country Team in this new environment.

5. “Breaking through” to simplification

We all share the aspirations of simplifying the way we work in development to help achieve national goals and make assistance as effective as possible. As UNDG we are examining ways to do more on simplification, based on country experience. But we need your help too. Sometimes donors are inconsistent in their demands on us. Sometimes we have conflicting messages from capitals and embassies. Sometimes we are perceived as wanting to reduce participation. I want to stress that we do not seek to undermine due process, transparency or accountability. We want to get the balance right. It’s a leap of faith and trust – we should all have confidence to take it.

6. Measuring results

Lastly, and related to my previous point, issues of accountability and measuring the results of UN inputs become perhaps more difficult in the new aid environment. On the one hand, demonstrating results is critical, and the emphasis on being able to do so has (rightly) intensified. On the other hand, it becomes harder when there aren’t the same visible projects, rather shared outcomes. This does not deter us from the tasks that lie ahead, and we seek your support and guidance as we move ahead.

Conclusion

The final point I would like to make is that development is a human process. We can improve systems and mechanisms, and we should continue to do so, but we must stay focused on people. We must remain committed, above all, to helping people to help themselves so they can achieve their potential and aspirations, and the realization of their human rights. Yes, development is about building capacity. But it is also about building trust, building relationships and building momentum to unleash energy and accelerated action.

Thank you.