Â鶹APP

Your Excellency, Vice-President of ECOSOC,

Excellencies,

As we bring this segment to a close, let me begin by thanking His Excellency Wellington Bencosme, Permanent Representative of the Dominican Republic for stewarding the discussions over the past three days. Your leadership of this segment has been critical in ensuring the dialogues were action-oriented - giving the system clear guidance.

I would also like to thank you, our Member States for your engagement, your insightful questions, and the constructive feedback. And civil society for your presence and reflections.

We will continue to work with you to address your legitimate concerns and priorities.

And to our Resident Coordinators and UNSDG entities, and colleagues across the system, who brought the evidence and the experience of the field into this Chamber: thank you for your engagement and for sharing your experiences.

Finally, I want to acknowledge DESA for leading the Secretariat efforts, and the support of DCO in ensuring strong Resident Coordinator and UNSDG engagement.

Over three days, our discussions have done justice to the theme ‘innovation to impact’. We have moved from the promise of reform to clear results and clarity on the road ahead.

The UN development system has shifted since 2018 – it is now closer aligned with host country needs more than ever before.

Yet, we must continue to improve on the capacities, connect partnerships – consolidating the achievements over the past eight years of reforms and building on them through the momentum of UN80.

The Secretary-General has offered his proposals to move in this direction. And we welcomed your feedback throughout this week.

You called for differentiated and tailored responses through UN country teams that are context-specific and grounded in national ownership and leadership.

This included ensuring the development system meets the different needs of LDCs, LLDCs, SIDS and MIC, and complex settings through strong synergies across UN interventions with the 2030 Agenda at the centre.

You made clear your expectations of the Resident Coordinator system and their leadership role, skills and set knowledge of context in supporting the coherence and alignment of country responses. I heard your support for its recalibration in recognizing its centrality in delivering tailored support.

We also heard the calls by many Member States for ensuring adequate, predictable and sustainable funding for Resident Coordinator system, including through the levy, the cost-sharing arrangement, the commitment authority, and voluntary contributions.

Implementing the funding compact will be key to ensuring the right outcomes.

You also reaffirmed that Cooperation Frameworks led by Resident Coordinators must remain the central planning instrument to reflect national priorities and guide which UN capacities are required to support them in their efforts to advance the 2030 Agenda.

You asked how key enablers of effective support like mechanisms for expertise on demand and joint knowledge hubs will complement the footprint of the UN in countries, including through Regional Platforms for Integration to better connect regional knowledge and expertise with demands from the ground.

You reminded us of the importance of continuing to build on the efficiencies we have achieved, for agile business operations and savings that can be redirected to programmatic delivery.

We must carry this momentum forward by expanding Common Back Offices, expanding Shared Services and other system-wide approaches to maximize resources for the people we serve.

And you also asked that data and innovation back our work. In this way we can build on the power of technology – including by strengthening national capacities – and ensure that your decisions are rooted in strong and clear evidence.

Excellencies,

Our task is to complete the unfinished business of the UN development system reforms and to raise our ambition to equip the system for the challenges of today and tomorrow.

To do that, we see the need for immediate, collective action in four areas:

First, we need to fully deliver on the new generation of teams with clear criteria for presence, expertise and composition, anchored in the Cooperation Framework.

We must move towards a model where specialized expertise is provided at scale and programming is driven by outcomes rather than projects.

This was a clear call of General Assembly resolution 72/279.

As we heard you set out this week, there is a clear expectation of alignment between the country programme documents, Cooperation Frameworks, and the programming implemented on the ground, strengthening mandated delivery of the 2030 Agenda.

The scale of the challenges before us requires the UN to become greater than the sum of its parts – delivering tailored, integrated support to countries. Resident Coordinators will continue to lead the UN development system on the ground, convening, coordinating and enabling UN Country Teams to deliver on national priorities.

Our recalibration of the Resident Coordinator system ensures that they have the right skills and capacities to guide this effort, including at DCO headquarters and in regional teams.

An implementation group has been set up with all UN Sustainable Development Group entities to guide the operationalization of better configured country teams across the system.

Second, we will better connect our expertise across the system to support countries. The regional reset builds on the RCPs and maximizes the impact of the Â鶹APP assets at the regional level, around three new shifts: (a) bringing together relevant expertise and tools across humanitarian, development, peace and human rights pillars; (b) strengthening the regional-country engagement; and (c) futureproofing the regional architecture.

Through this, the regional platforms for integration will serve as a light, responsive, problem-solving mechanism that convenes relevant actors and coordinates regional analysis, action and expertise across all pillars of the Â鶹APP system.

The ultimate goal is to provide timely and agile support to resident coordinators, Â鶹APP country teams and regional entities. At the same time, we aim to strengthen intergovernmental anchoring and collective accountability for results. This will be delivered without changing governance arrangements or mandates.

Third, we will continue to invest in system-wide efficiencies – common back-offices, shared services and common premises where these both lower costs and raise the effectiveness of the UN development system. UN80 also provides renewed momentum in this regard through the Unified Services Roadmap.

Fourth, no real transformation is possible unless we resource it.

Yet, ODA support is back at the levels of 2015.

Core funding for UN entities has faced the biggest cuts.

Voluntary contributions for the Resident Coordinator system have fallen to their lowest level since the RC system was created. It is clear that this funding stream will never operate as intended, and the levy continues to be a source of volatility.

This autumn, we will discuss the proposal to adequately and predictably fund the Resident Coordinator system in the Fifth Committee where we intend to resolve the persistent shortfall with your guidance. We count on your continued support of the recalibrated resident coordinator system in those discussions.

Excellencies,

To succeed and deliver with the scale and urgency needed, we are counting on your support of the areas of transformation that the Secretary-General and I have set out.

Many of you have asked how to ensure coherence. Let me share my thinking. So much of it comes down to clarity: being clear about what you expect of the system, and clear in how you respond to the issues I have set out this week, ensuring full use of the oversight role of ECOSOC OAS.

I look forward to a resolution from this segment that is clear and decisive. One that reaffirms the commitments you have made on reform, and shows the system how to deliver on the priorities you have set.

That resolution is what will carry these reforms forward, as the time we have to 2030 grows shorter. The opportunity in front of us is remarkable, and it is ours to take.

So let’s turn this moment of challenge into one of opportunity by acting now, together and by strengthening the UN support to those we serve.

Thank you.