Mr. President,
On behalf of the Swedish Government I would like to thank the Administrator Ms. Clark for her insightful statement this morning. It gave us a clear picture of the main issues on the UNDP agenda ahead of us.
We agree with the Administrator that there is a need for greater prioritization in UNDP’s work to fight poverty and its contribution to the global achievement of the MDGs. UNDP should continue to sharpen its unique role as the world’s most extensive development network, connecting resources and knowledge with the needs of all developing countries. The sharpening of UNDP’s role should be done in conjunction with sister agencies in the context of reform of UN operational activities, so that each organization focuses on its added value and development results are maximized. This will lead to a better and more strategic positioning of the United Nations joint efforts to end world poverty. UN wide reform has taken major steps in recent years and UNDP has a key role in that process.
The ongoing budgetary reform effort is a top priority for Sweden. We look forward to a more transparent, results oriented, coherent and harmonized budget structure. This reform will be an important driver for enhanced organizational efficiency and enable this board to provide better strategic guidance. As demand from developing countries for upstream development services increase, the budget structure of UNDP also needs to be updated in order to better respond to this demand and to reflect the current business model of UNDP and other UN agencies. In this regard, Sweden welcomes and support the methodology and approach outlined in the document presented to this agenda item as a step in the right direction. We look forward to continue this reform process with a view to have a fully integrated budget structure, with both the management and the programming resources, in conjunction with the next UNDP strategic plan in 2011. The introduction of IPSAS across all UN agencies should further serve to harmonize the classification of costs and make the financial reporting comparable.
In run up to the Copenhagen conference, we welcome UNDP’s greater focus on climate change. Much of the climate discourse the past year has focused on the need to increase the level of resources available for developing countries for climate change adaptation and mitigation. And indeed, the needs have been clearly documented. But there has been comparatively little debate around the delivery of resources. In parallel with an increase in resources available, there is a need to ensure resources can be used in a timely and effective fashion.
Bottlenecks and lack of capacity are already slowing down the disbursement of available funds from a wide range of financial mechanisms. The problem will only become greater and more apparent as resources increase. We believe that UNDP can play a pivotal roll here. One clear example of this is NAPAs, National Adaptation Plans of Action. The least developed countries receive full cost funding from GEF for development of NAPAs. And UNDP has been the lead implementing agency. It is a credit to UNDP that almost all LDCs now have a NAPA in place.
But for some reason there has not been a natural progression to the next step, actual implementation of the measures detailed in the NAPAs. Why is this? One answer is that more financial resources are needed. But that is not the only answer, because the resources currently available have not been programmed.
Therefore we would like to encourage UNDP to continue to be an active partner for least developed countries in implementing their NAPAs. We would also like to encourage UNDP to assist countries in accessing funds from the GEF and bilateral partners, as well as incorporating adaptation in their development strategies or PRSPs. Furthermore, UNDP should play a more active part in forging a coherent UN response at national level to governments’ requests for assistance towards building institutional capacity for adaptation to climate change.
UNDP’s role does not cease to be critical when a NAPA has been written and filed. UNDP engagement is required while adaptation measures are implemented and resilience is built in local communities. And we, donors, also have a responsibility to play our role more effectively, and provide adequate and predictable resources for adaptation.
There are as usual many issues on the UNDP agenda, we have touched upon only a few of them. During the course of this week, we will take the opportunity to elaborate further on some specific issues. In closing, let me once again reiterate my Government’s longstanding commitment to UNDP.
Thank you.