Statement of Dr. Babatunde Osotimehin at the First Regular Session UNDP/UNFPA Executive Board

Madame President,
Excellencies
Distinguished delegates,
Partners in civil society,
Colleagues and friends,

It is my pleasure to address the Executive Board for the first time as the Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund.

I would like to extend congratulations to members elected to the Executive Board Bureau, namely: Ambassador Edita Hrda of the Czech Republic, and Vice Presidents, Mr. Takeshi Osuga of Japan, Ambassador Michel Tommo Monthe of the Cameroon, Mr. Nojibur Rahman of Bangladesh; and Ambassador Carlos E. Garcia-Gonzalez of El Salvador.

I thank you for your support to UNFPA and look forward to working closely with you through what will be a momentous year. I would also like thank the outgoing members of the Board Bureau: Ambassador Atoki Ileka of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mr. Muhammad Ayub and Mr. Ahmad Naseem Warraich of Pakistan, Ms. Claude Lemieux of Canada, Mr. Farid Jafarov of Azerbaijan, and Ambassador John Ashe of Antigua and Barbuda.
I would like to express gratitude to United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon for placing his trust in me and appointing me to this position. He visited UNFPA Headquarters at the start of the year—on the first working day of 2011, and we were heartened to hear that five of his eight strategic priorities for this year involve the mandate of UNFPA.

In December, before I assumed office, I had the opportunity to spend time at Headquarters to be briefed by the Executive Director, other colleagues and partners. I would like to thank Thoraya for facilitating this overlap period, which was very useful for me and has assisted a smooth transition. Furthermore, I would like to pay tribute to Thoraya Obaid for her distinguished leadership of UNFPA, and commend her predecessor, Dr. Nafis Sadik, who was the leading force behind the successful Cairo Conference, which I had the good fortune to attend.

I also take this opportunity to express my gratitude to Member States and partners in civil society for your warm wishes of support and continued collaboration. Under my leadership, strengthening partnerships will be an ongoing strategic priority. To all of you, as Board members, I appreciate your guidance and collaboration, and look forward to working closely with you in the days, months and years ahead.

Although I’ve been on the job for just a month, from what I have seen, UNFPA is filled with dynamic and dedicated staff members who are fired up about our mission and eager to make a bigger impact. Many UNFPA staff members are working on the frontlines in difficult, challenging and dangerous conditions. I appreciate their commitment, and I plan to build on this energy and goodwill to further strengthen the organization and staff capacity so that we can better deliver on our mandate and management priorities. Strengthening the organization and structure of UNFPA will be a priority for me.

As I see it, the four-year term ahead of me is bookended by two historic events: this year’s world population of 7 billion, and 2014, which is the 20th anniversary of the International Conference on Population and Development, and near the target date to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, and universal access to reproductive health.

My friends, time is ticking and I will lead UNFPA with a sense of urgency and deep commitment to results and accountability.

Transparency and Accountability and Response to Audit

Madame President,

Strengthening accountability is the number one priority for UNFPA in 2011. I will strengthen a culture of accountability throughout the organization and do my best to ensure that UNFPA never receives another qualified audit. Transparency and accountability will be fundamental principles of my leadership at UNFPA as they have been in all my leadership roles to date.

I can assure you that we will continue to address the audit in a comprehensive and systematic manner. Before I came on board, the management was on the right track in their response to the audit, and we need to continue. I have personally decided to chair the internal Audit Monitoring Committee, which focuses on ensuring that both internal and external audit recommendations are promptly addressed. And I am regularly communicating with staff on accountability-related matters, ensuring that everybody within the organization is clear about the fact that being accountable is an indispensable requisite to operate in the current aid environment.

For the short-term, we are working to address specific comments and recommendations. I am pleased to announce that more than two-thirds, or 66 of 93, of the audit recommendations have been addressed to date, and we are working to address the remaining 27 recommendations as soon as possible. In addition, UNFPA has undertaken a series of actions to strengthen the management of nationally executed expenditures.

UNFPA is also working to strengthen the operational capacity of its country offices and implementing partners – actions which will show improvement and results in the longer term. Significant measures are being taken to enhance overall accountability, strengthen controls in country offices and address the various issues raised by the auditors.

All of this requires significant investment and will produce a return with time. I am giving it my personal leadership and I need your support as Board members, as well as the Board of Auditors’ continued support, for this effort to be successful.

7 billion: Balance, Rights and Equity

Madame President,
Distinguished Delegates,

This year you and I, and my new granddaughter born on January 20th, will each be one of 7 billion people on Earth. I would now like to show you a video from National Geographic that highlights some of the dynamics of our world today and the need for greater balance.

1…

A world population of 7 billion represents a major milestone in human history. It is hard to imagine a more propitious opportunity for UNFPA to raise awareness about its core mandate of population and development, reproductive health and rights, and gender equality and the empowerment of women.

Plans are underway to seize this opportunity—to raise visibility for UNFPA’s work and increase awareness of the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), which defines our work.

The world's population has doubled since 1967, and is still growing, although the pace of growth has slowed considerably. Global population is rising by about 78 million people each year, down from an annual addition of 89 million just over 20 years ago. It is projected to reach 9 billion by the year 2045.

Today a significant proportion of population growth is occurring in cities in less developed countries. In 1960, one in three people lived in a city, today more than half of all people do, and by 2045, it is predicted that two thirds of people will live in urban and peri-urban areas.

For every 100 people added to the world’s population, 97 are in the less developed countries. This growth stands in stark contrast to some middle income and high income countries that are experiencing population decline.

This demographic diversity is highlighted by comparing Germany and Ethiopia. Today they have populations that are roughly the same size: Germany has 82 million people and Ethiopia has 85 million. But at the current pace, their paths will diverge dramatically during the next 40 years. By 2050, the population of Germany is expected to decline to 70 million while Ethiopia’s population is expected to more than double to 174 million people.

While the world population is undergoing unprecedented ageing, it is also young. More than 3 billion people are under the age of 25, with almost 1.8 billion people between the ages of 10 and 24, the parents of the next generation.

Overall, people are living longer and healthier lives, and the number of women dying from complications during pregnancy and childbirth has declined by one-third since 1990.

Young people are leading the HIV prevention revolution with HIV prevalence among youth declining in 15 of the most severely affected countries.

Growing numbers of women and couples are able to make their own choices about how many children to have. Women's use of contraceptives in developing regions has increased from 52 per cent in 1990 to 62 per cent in 2007.

Madame President,
Distinguished Delegates,

In our complex world, we at UNFPA are united by a common vision.

In a world of 7 billion, every person should enjoy human rights and human dignity, and have the opportunity to make the most of his or her potential.

Our vision is grounded in certain core values and principles that are embedded in the ICPD Programme of Action: that every person has the right to sexual and reproductive health, every pregnancy is wanted, every birth is safe, every young person has the education and services to grow up healthy, every girl is treated with dignity and respect, and violence against women should and can end.

Achieving these aspirations requires global solidarity and local action.

I will outline some of the ways that we will transform UNFPA into a leading global development organization to meet the demands of the 21st century.

Responding to New Population Dynamics

Madame President,

A world approaching a population of 7 billion is marked by new dynamics to which UNFPA must support countries to respond. The defining features are rapid urban growth in Africa and Asia—with urban growth set to double within a single generation, declining fertility with variance across regions and with Africa home to the highest birth rates, unprecedented ageing, and the world’s largest youth population.

To respond to these dynamics, UNFPA will place a strategic focus on robust data, evidence and policy to meet different countries’ contexts and needs. We will strive to better support and advocate with countries to strengthen their national systems and capacity to collect, analyse and use population data to inform their policies and programmes.

This year UNFPA is providing support to 76 countries to undertake their national censuses, and we are proud of our work in this area. The database that we have generated for the MDG5 target on universal access to reproductive health allows us to monitor progress. These are solid areas of engagement, as is our work to track resource flows for implementation of the ICPD Programme of Action.

As we move forward, we will strongly position UNFPA’s policies, programmes and messaging on population and aspects of demographic change such as urbanization, migration and ageing, and also on climate change, as they relate to our core mandate and sustainable development.

In December, UNFPA convened 20 NGOs to discuss population and sustainable development. We look forward to continued collaboration with partners, especially during this year of 7 billion, and the preparations towards RIO + 20, to highlight the importance of population, reproductive health and gender to sustainable development.

Under my leadership, UNFPA will strengthen its capacity and partnerships to provide top-notch evidence and policy guidance to countries.

Advancing the Right to Sexual and Reproductive Health

Madame President,
Distinguished Delegates,

Advancing the right to sexual and reproductive health lies at the heart of UNFPA. To garner greater progress, we will advocate for investments by countries and donors for a comprehensive package of integrated sexual and reproductive health services as well as comprehensive sexuality education.

UNFPA will support countries to make the hard decisions required in this difficult economic time to adequately fund the health and social sector budgets, paying particular attention to ensure that sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights are a priority, especially within the context of work to strengthen health systems.

Specifically, we will assist countries to develop national plans that generate health equity, and empower the poor and otherwise marginalized, particularly women and adolescents.

Mr. President,

Last September, the UN Secretary-General launched the Global Strategy for Women’s and Children’s Health. Through this strategy, UNFPA is working with H4+ agencies (UNICEF, WHO, UNFPA, the World Bank and UNAIDS) and civil society to coordinate existing efforts, build new commitments, and establish accountability for results across the health-related MDGs.

Together with the H4 +, UNFPA mobilized 25 high burden countries to engage with the Global Strategy through making commitments based on their national plans. Going forward, we are working together to obtain the engagement of a further 24 countries, and providing support for the implementation of all commitments already made. I am pleased to report that the Office of the UN Secretary-General has commended UNFPA's role in the Global Strategy as indispensable.

This is a great opportunity for UNFPA to advance the agenda of sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights. We will align the organization with this initiative and contribute in the context of the H4+ to advance the achievement of the health MDGs, to which the integrated package of sexual and reproductive health services is essential.
We will continue to lead the Global Programme for Reproductive Health Commodity Security providing countries with life-saving supplies, supporting more sustainable supply systems, national capacity and advocacy. This effort is showing measurable impact with strengthened logistical systems, declines in stock-outs and improvements in rates of contraceptive prevalence, which fits nicely with our integrated package paradigm.
We will strengthen our dynamic Campaign to End Fistula, which is active in nearly 50 countries. Through this campaign, we have improved the ability of governments to map and reach vulnerable women in desperate need of health services, prevent fistula and restore numerous lives through repair and treatment, and enable fistula survivors to become champions for maternal health.

This year together with partners we will issue a groundbreaking report on The State of the World’s Midwifery. The aim is to strengthen a skilled health workforce to achieve the health MDGs, especially MDG 5.

UNFPA will play a strong role in HIV prevention within the new division of labour among cosponsors of UNAIDS. We will focus on further reducing the sexual transmission of HIV, especially among women and young people—by empowering youth to protect themselves, supporting comprehensive condom programming, increasing young people’s use of HIV testing, and furthering the reconnection of HIV and sexual and reproductive health integrated within a health system that better delivers at the primary level. Further integration is needed in all regions, including southern Africa where AIDS is a major contributor to maternal death.

A Special focus on adolescents and youth

Madame President,
Distingushed Delegates,

UNFPA will place a special emphasis on today’s large generation of young people. There are an estimated 1.8 billion adolescents and youth in the world today aged 10 to 24 years, accounting for more than a quarter of the world's population. Just below 90 per cent live in developing countries and that proportion will increase during the next 20 years. They need increased support, and they want freedom, participation and dignity.

Under my leadership, UNFPA will build on the solid foundation within the organization and among collaborating partners to give young people, especially adolescent girls, the attention they deserve. Together with our colleagues in UN Country Teams, we will push for greater investments in young people across many sectors—in education, including sexuality education, in reproductive health, employment and participation, and UNFPA will provide technical assistance to implement sexual and reproductive health programmes.

These programmes help young people, particularly young girls, to stay in school, stay healthy and free from unwanted pregnancies and HIV, postpone family formation and eventually enter the labour market with skills to earn an income and contribute to economic growth. UNFPA can help Member States recognize this window of opportunity for healthy and productive new generations.

This is especially important for the least developed countries that have the highest rates of poverty and mortality, and where population growth is nearly double that of less developed countries as a whole. Today 6 in 10 people in the least developed countries are below the age of 25.

The large youthful populations are a potential asset if young people enjoy productive employment. This calls for the development of human capital and much higher investment in adolescents and young people and their education, skills and health.

I would like to stress that investing in young people and their reproductive health and gender equality can help put countries on a path to accelerated economic growth and equitable development. This is the message that I will carry forward to Istanbul in May for the Fourth United Nations Conference of the Least Developed Countries. I would also like to assure you that UNFPA will work together with development partners to mobilize support for LDCs to increase investment in young people.

Women’s empowerment and gender equality

Madame President,
Distinguished delegates,

Allow me now to talk about the work of UNFPA on women’s empowerment and gender equality. My colleagues and I welcome the establishment of UN Women and the 100 Day Action Plan that was put forward by Executive Director Michelle Bachelet. UNFPA fully supports UN Women and we look forward to close collaboration.
UNFPA will work together with UN Women and our other UN partner agencies in joint programmes and inter-agency platforms that already exist at global, regional and country levels, such as the UN Secretary-General’s UNiTE Campaign to end violence against women. UNFPA supports women’s empowerment and gender equality in line with the ICPD Programme of Action.

We will continue to champion human rights, including girls’ education through the secondary level, and the right of women and girls to be educated and make informed decisions about sexual and reproductive health. We will continue to work to advance reproductive rights, end child marriage and female genital mutilation/cutting and improve prospects for adolescent girls. UNFPA will also continue to work to end sexual violence and further advance the women, peace and security agenda.

We believe that a UN system delivering stronger on gender equality will make a greater contribution to development and sustainable implementation of the ICPD agenda. We look forward to UN Women playing a strong coordination and leadership role to ensure the best possible synergy among all stakeholders to deliver as one.

UNFPA invests in gender equality through dedicated staff, programmes and initiatives with our development partners, and we are committed to increase our work in this area. To be more accountable, and link our investments to targeted outcomes, UNFPA will initiate a harmonized gender marker system in 2011. This system will help us track gender mainstreaming and gender empowerment expenditures across all areas of the organization and facilitate more gender responsive planning and programming.

Humanitarian response

I would now like to turn to the work of UNFPA in humanitarian response, transition and recovery.
UNFPA has developed a second generation humanitarian strategy through Fund-wide consultations to improve humanitarian preparedness, response and recovery. The new strategy prioritizes disaster preparedness and promotes mainstreaming through integration of humanitarian programming with all institutional plans and systems. It further delineates roles and responsibilities, with a focus on shifting leadership from Headquarters to country and regional levels wherever possible. The strategy is accompanied by a results framework for the three pillars of our programmes and also management support functions.

Moreover, we are working to strengthen Fund-wide accountability to UNFPA’s role within the international humanitarian cluster system, collaborating with the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and partners in the Inter-Agency Standing Committee. Within the system, UNFPA plays a key role in providing expertise on reproductive health, gender-based violence, and population data during crisis. We look forward to your ongoing guidance as we finalize this strategy.

Transformational Leadership

Madame President,

UNFPA has undertaken an important decentralization and regionalization process that is essential in response to the diversity of our world, especially with regard to some of the culture-specific and sensitive issues which the organization has to address. The regionalization also acknowledges the fact that real change in the human condition can only happen on the ground, near to the people. I support this progressive move.

Building on this foundation, I will strive to improve performance throughout the organization. I will work to further strengthen the human resources at UNFPA so that staff members are highly skilled and motivated, speak with one voice, and share a common vision and unity of purpose.

We need a shared understanding and commitment to our agreed areas of programme focus. Such coherence across the organization is required to achieve tangible results and to hold all of us accountable, from country level to the regional and headquarters levels and back.

Reporting on results will be a key test of my leadership, and to be successful, my colleagues and I need more time to conduct the mid-term review of the UNFPA Strategic Plan to align it with my vision and ensure greater focus. I am thankful for the support of the Board and count on your future guidance during the process, which, I believe will result in greater cohesion and a strengthened culture of accountability and transparency throughout the organization.

As we move forward, I will further strengthen the capacity of UNFPA – to provide strategic, programmatic and technical guidance, transparent and accountable program formulation, and stronger monitoring and evaluation. We will improve critical analysis and research so that all we do is evidence-based to provide better support to countries.

We will improve UNFPA capacity to actively promote South–South collaboration, based on staff knowledge of what works. Working with UN Member States, we will support countries facing common challenges to make faster progress through shared learning and expertise.

UNFPA will further strengthen partnerships with government ministries, parliamentarians, the UN system and civil society to be more effective. Under my leadership we will actively engage with civil society, youth-based organizations, those that focus on the youth, and those that represent women. This, we believe, will ensure that we attain the equity, social justice and sustainable development which UNFPA aspires to achieve. I will make sure that all of UNFPA’s work at headquarters, in countries and globally, gains from the contributions that NGOs, and other civil society actors can make.

The Cairo agenda remains extremely relevant to national development and the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals. This is highlighted by the resolution adopted by the General Assembly in December 2010 (GA resolution A/Res/65/234). The resolution extends the ICPD Programme of Action and the Key Actions for further implementation beyond 2014, and lays out a roadmap to ensure follow-up to meet its goals and objectives. On behalf of UNFPA, I congratulate Member States for adopting this forward-looking resolution.

As we move forward, UNFPA will work assiduously with you as Board members, and other Member States and partners, to undertake an operational review of ICPD implementation. Together we will base the review on quality data and analysis of the state of population and development. This analysis will be presented as a report of the Secretary-General to the Commission on Population and Development and subsequently to a special session of the General Assembly in 2014.

During these next four years, I will lead UNFPA with a sense of optimism amidst challenges, and a readiness to be innovative, proactive and collaborative. UNFPA will remain deeply committed to UN reform, Delivering as One, and systemwide coherence in support of national ownership and leadership. In all we do, we will strive to improve aid effectiveness and strengthen national capacity.

And, as UNFPA Executive Director, I will place emphasis on ensuring a financially sound fund.

UNFPA and ICPD Funding

Madame President,

Allow me now to provide you and the Board with an update on UNFPA and ICPD financing.

Last year in 2010, UNFPA received $848 million US dollars in contributions, marking a 15 per cent increase over the $740 million received in 2009 and making 2010 a record-breaking year. Contributions for regular resources were $491 million, an increase of nearly 5 per cent from 2009, and contributions for other resources were $357 million, an increase of 32 per cent from the previous year.

Last year, UNFPA received contributions from 151 governments, of which 43 governments made multi-year commitments. We are grateful that so many governments show support to our mandate even during difficult economic circumstances, and we will continue our efforts to maintain a wide donor base in 2011.

There has been a positive trend of increasing regular and other resources over the past five years, for which we are deeply appreciative. However, for the year 2011, three major donor governments have already indicated decreases in their core contributions for UNFPA, and revenue from core contributions is expected to decrease by nearly 10 per cent to approximately $444 million. Moreover, UNFPA’s revenue from other resources is expected to decrease by 24 per cent, from $357 million to $270 million. This would add up to a decrease in total contributions from a record-breaking $848 million in 2010 to $714 million in 2011 – a decrease of 16 per cent.

Another issue of concern is the fact that about 90 per cent of UNFPA’s core contributions consist of commitments in national currency terms, which are subject to exchange rate volatilities, and almost all our core revenue (96.4 per cent) comes from 15 major donors, which further exposes us to risks in funding.

At the same time, the needs remain significant, particularly to accelerate progress towards achieving MDG5, to reduce maternal mortality and provide universal access to reproductive health. Today global funding for ICPD implementation is just half of what is required. Expanding the level and variety of committed resources and better managing their use is an urgent priority.

In this time of uncertain and even shrinking donor resources, I will work to demonstrate UNFPA’s value-added and comparative advantage. While building the confidence of UNFPA’s longstanding supporters, I will also build bridges to new constituencies, including members of the G20, the African Union, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), development banks, among others. Increasingly, private foundations and not-for-profit organizations have begun to contribute to the work of UNFPA and I believe more could. I will also explore the possibility of engaging the private sector and individuals who wish to make contributions including those that are specific for regional or national programs.

Conclusion

In summary, I will focus on strengthening UNFPA to be the best organization it can be, to be more accountable, and more responsive to countries’ needs and young people. We will sharpen our strategic planning to generate stronger results in our three core areas of population and development, reproductive health and rights, and women’s empowerment and gender equality. As the Executive Director of UNFPA I will carry this mission forward and I look forward to working with you to make this a more just, healthy and balanced world. I thank you.