Inter Press Service, November 9, 2006
Panel Endorses New U.N. Women's Agency
By Haider Rizvi
UNITED NATIONS, Nov 9 (IPS) - Dissatisfied with the outcome of U.N. efforts to reduce poverty, gender inequality and environmental degradation, a high-level panel has called for drastic changes in the way the world body reaches out to many countries that need help in achieving development.
"The world is changing, so there is need for change in the U.N.," Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg said at a news conference called to distribute the panel's report, titled "Deliver as One".
Noting that various U.N. bodies engaged in development-related activities continue to lack mutual "coordination" and "coherence", he said it was time for "one budget, one leader, one U.N. in one country."
The 52-page report acknowledged the U.N. as an "indispensable force" in promoting development, addressing humanitarian issues and fighting environmental destruction, but said it was losing its ability to be as effective as it could be.
"Too often, authority and management responsibility is dispersed among individuals and across organisations, thus limiting accountability for performance and results," the report said, identifying "competition for funding, creeping missions and outdated business practices" as reasons for the inertia.
The panel pointed out that currently more than one-third of U.N. country teams include 10 or more agencies carrying out separate operations, and several teams include 20 or more.
The panel, comprising 15 eminent international figures, was established by Secretary-General Kofi Annan in February in response to a call by world leaders at their September 2005 summit for the U.N. to coordinate its various operations geared towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
The MDGs include a 50 percent reduction in extreme poverty and hunger, promotion of gender equality, ensuring environmental sustainability, and other health-related targets, all by 2015.
Stoltenberg and other members of the panel suggested a wide range of initiatives that the UN. needs to take in the areas of development, funding, humanitarian assistance, environment and gender equality.
Stressing the need for consolidation of all U.N. programme activities at the country level, they said the world body needs to create a "Sustainable Development Board" to ensure systemwide coherence and coordination.
The report recommends that the U.N. secretary-general, as well as heads of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), set up a process to review, update and conclude formal agreements on their roles at the global and country level.
Seeking changes in the management of donor funding at the national and international levels, the panel proposed a new MDG funding mechanism that would provide multi-year financing for the One U.N. Country Programme.
"The funding cycles of U.N. funds and programmes should be aligned to facilitate overall strategic coordination," it said.
The report said the U.N. Environment Programme (UNEP) needs to be upgraded, with enhanced efforts to help countries trying to integrate their environmental policies into development plans.
Considering women's role in sustainable development, the panel also recommended the creation of a new agency to strengthen the U.N. response to gender equality, something many women's groups have long been lobbying for.
All of these measures, according to the members of the panel, could be achieved at 20 percent less than the current cost of the U.N.-related development programmes and activities..
"Nobody is looking to cut," explained Shaukat Aziz, the Pakistani prime minister, who co-chairs the panel, along with Stoltenberg and Mozambique's Prime Minister Luisa Dias Diogo. "Any savings will go back for development."
International women's groups and environmental organisations that work closely with various U.N. bodies said they fully welcomed the panel's recommendations and urged the U.N. General Assembly to endorse them.
"We and our colleagues around the world are pleased with this boldest recommendation," said June Zeitlin, executive director of the Women's Environment and Development Organisation about the proposed women's agency.
If approved, the new entity will consolidate women's units within the U.N., including the Office of the Special Advisor to the Secretary-General, the Division for the Advancement of Women, and the U.N. Development Fund for Women. It will be headed by a new under-secretary general.
In a statement, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) International called the panel's proposals on the environment "a chance to walk the talk".
"The proposal to streamline programme delivery by the U.N. promises to put environment firmly at the centre of development decision-making," said James Leape, director general of WWF International.
"We believe this report, if adopted, will fundamentally change the way the U.N. operates at the country level, enabling consideration of environmental concerns in national development plans and projects," he added.
Since the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, several conferences on the environment have taken place and about 400 multilateral agreements signed, but environmentalists are dismayed that in many cases the progress towards implementation remains slow.
"It is time for all decision makers to get serious about protecting the environment for the long term," said Leape. "This report is a step in the right direction."
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