Mr. President, Ms. Executive Director, Ladies and Gentlemen
Sweden would like to thank the Executive Director and the UNICEF staff for the annual report for 2006, the first report for the current MTSP (2006-2009). It is encouraging to see the steady improvement of UNICEF’s reporting in the last couple of years. For instance, we appreciate that the report is analytical and comprehensive. It clearly links results achieved to the relevant focus areas of the MTSP. It also includes the estimated programme assistance spent in each area. We appreciate that it clarifies how the MTSP relates to the MDGs while highlighting lessons learned and some of the key partnerships for each priority area.
In particular, Sweden wishes to comment on developments in focus areas 2-4 of the MTSP:
UNICEF’s efforts in focus area 2; basic education and gender equality, are contributing in a significant way to MDG 2. Sweden believes that equal access and opportunities for girls to take part in primary and secondary education is key to achieve gender equality. We are therefore pleased to note that 91 developing countries and 34 industrialized countries are on track to achieving gender parity in primary education, even if intra-country disparities remain as a challenge to tackle.
Regarding focus area 3 HIV- AIDS and children important progress has been made in several fields, including that of prenatal mother-to-child transmission where UNICEF supported programmes in 91 countries. Sweden believes that prevention among adolescents is an important area for UNICEF. We therefore note with interest the progress made with youth friendly services in the Eastern Europe and Central Asia. At the same time we are concerned by the fact that only about 5 % of the resources for the MTSP has been spent on HIV-AIDS and children.
In focus area 4 child protection, we particularly welcome and encourage UNICEF’s work on building partnerships and coalitions for the follow-up of the UN study on violence against children. We take great interest in the follow- up of Security Council Resolution 1612 on children in armed conflict. In this regard, we would like to express our appreciation of UNICEF’s work in monitoring and reporting. This has a real impact on the ground and is instrumental for the further work in the Security Council and elsewhere. In the field of justice we note with appreciation UNICEF’s efforts to ensure greater protection for children as victims, witnesses and offenders, including training programmes for prison guards and police to protect children in prison.
It is of concern to us that, whereas programmes have been successful in the focus areas that I have mentioned, they seem to have had limited impact since it has not always been possible to use good examples produced by UNICEF in a wider national context. We encourage UNICEF to focus on capacity building and would be interested to know how UNICEF plans to scale up programs that have proven to give sustainable results.
We believe that there is scope to give more attention to the cross-cutting strategies of the MTSP in the report. Of special concern to us is the human-rights based approach which in our view should be part and parcel of every single activity undertaken by UNICEF. Mr. President,
Sweden attaches great importance to UNICEF’s involvement in the UN reform process. However, the report lacks a comprehensive overview of the efforts of UNICEF in that context. This could have been part of an introductory strategic overview, instead of being dealt with through scattered examples here and there in the report. For example, we would have liked to hear more about how UNICEF views the on-going work in the pilot countries.
The report highlights UNICEF’s commendable work in emergency situations in the horn of Africa, Lebanon, Chad, Sri Lanka and Timor-Leste. We would be interested to hear more about lessons learned especially concerning the cluster-lead approach and UNICEF’s involvement in humanitarian reform, including how UNICEF views the first year of the implementation of the CERF.
Sweden is pleased that the Executive Director has initiated an organisational review of how UNICEF carries out its work. We appreciate that UNICEF has shared the consultant’s synthesis report ahead of the board meeting but would also like to see a management response to this. Many of the observations and conclusions in that report could help UNICEF to better position itself in the changing aid environment and finding its place within on-going UN reform efforts. Sweden looks forward to a continued dialogue in the Executive Board on how the findings of the report can be implemented in the coming years.
Quite a few questions have been raised during the process of the “Ending Child Hunger and Under-nutrition Initiative”. We look forward to discussing the forthcoming report requested by the Executive Board in January. We hope that this report will outline different types of UNICEF partnerships as well as recommendations for improving the design and strategic approach for such partnerships. We would also like to hear more about the findings and possible follow-up of the issue of strategic partnerships in the context of the organisational review.
Sweden would furthermore like to continue the discussion regarding the relationship between the support strategies and the MTSP. We are not convinced that the support strategies have to be negotiated by the Executive Board. If they are adding value to the implementation of the MTSP there should be a support strategy for each focus area including on child protection, HIV-AIDS and children, and advocacy.
Mr President,
The need for enhanced clarity on governance, oversight and accountability of the UN organisations has been highlighted in recent reports by the SG and decisions in the GA and different boards. Strengthened accountability is key not only for donors in order to increase levels of core contributions, but also for program countries to ensure quality support in their development efforts. We welcome UNICEF’s proposal to develop an evaluation policy and we look forward to being involved in the process of developing this policy and to strengthening the link between the evaluation function and the board. We also see the ongoing process to develop Results Based Budgeting as an important element to strengthen accountability. However, it is important to underline the different responsibilities, authorities and functions of the Executive Board and management respectively, to avoid micro-management and to maintain clear lines of accountability.
Sweden welcomes that as many as 104 governments have made financial contributions to UNICEF. This signals a wide-spread support for UNICEF’s agenda. However, we are concerned that governments’ contributions to regular resources have decreased in 2006. A predictable and growing flow of regular resources is needed to maintain a strong base of programs and presence globally and for achieving sustainable results for children. We would like to ask UNICEF how the organisation is planning to adjust its resource mobilization in order to address this challenge and whether it has a strategy for encouraging donors among governments and national committees as well as the private sector to provide more funds to regular resources or thematic funding.
Finally Mr President,
Sweden believes that UNICEF is contributing greatly to a coherent UN approach to programming through initiatives within nationally led, unified country frameworks and its support to the implementation of national plans based on the MDGs. It is crucial for the organisation to evaluate its successes and challenges so that it can benefit from lessons learned and constantly develop the way that it addresses its core mission. With all its ongoing efforts we are confident that UNICEF will continue to contribute to making the United Nations system even more fervent and effective in addressing the rights and needs of children.
Thank you!