UNFPA SEGMENT OF THE SECOND REGULAR SESSION OF THE

UNCLAS USUN NEW YORK 001920 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: SOCI PREF PREL UNFPA SUBJECT: UNFPA SEGMENT OF THE SECOND REGULAR SESSION OF THE 2006 UNDP/UNFPA EXECUTIVE BOARD REF: STATE 140666 ¶1. Summary: At the UNDP/UNFPA Executive Board meeting in New York on September 11-13, UNFPA Executive Director Obaid stressed the importance of equity and human rights for the world's poorest and most disadvantaged people. She said reproductive health, women's empowerment, and gender equality remain UNFPA's priority concerns. Obaid presented UNFPA's annual budgetary review for 2005, noting that total income rose 12.5% to $565 million, including $365 million in regular resources. Obaid also briefed the Board on UNFPA's $28 million draft proposal for regionalization, in which UNFPA seeks to increase its impact and effectiveness by placing more of its staff overseas in regional centers, with less emphasis on country missions. UNFPA Deputy Director Waki presented UNFPA's draft strategy for increased participation in emergency preparedness, humanitarian response, and transition and recovery. Finally, UNFPA presented draft country programs for 22 countries. End Summary Executive Director Statement ¶2. United Nations Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA) Executive Director Dr. Thoraya Obaid told the UNFPA Executive Board at its Second Regular Session for 2006 that there is apprehension about the implications of UN reform for the development agenda. UN reform is essential, she stressed, but it should produce tangible benefits for the poorest and most disadvantaged people on earth and improve prospects for the least developed countries. According to Obaid, putting people first and focusing on human rights - including the "right" to sexual and reproductive health - will help meet international development goals and contribute to achieving peace and security. Developing national and local capacity, unleashing the talents of people, slowing the spread of sexually transmitted diseases including HIV/AIDS, improving reproductive and maternal health, and reducing social conflict and poverty require progress in equity and human rights. ¶3. Universal access to reproductive health, women's empowerment, and gender equality remain UNFPA's priority concerns, Obaid stated. Strengthening gender mainstreaming and addressing the specific needs of women will help reduce the gender based violence (GBV) that continues in many countries, she said. Obaid noted other recent or impending international efforts to improve the situation of women, including: the Brussels International Symposium on Sexual Violence in Conflict and Beyond - held in June to enhance efforts to reduce GBV; UNFPA's Global Campaign to End Fistula; upcoming conferences in Maputo (September) and Bangkok (November) that would focus on expanding access to sexual and reproductive health; the UN General Assembly's September 14-15 High Level Dialogue on Migration; and UNFPA's just-released annual State of the World Population report that focused on women in international migration. ¶4. Obaid also spoke at length about UNFPA's draft proposal for regionalization (discussed in paras 9-10 below) and reviewed UNFPA's recent cooperative efforts with other international organizations and UN bodies, including the World Bank, UNICEF, and WHO. She noted that UNFPA is seeking funds for the Global Programme to Enhance Reproductive Health Commodity Security, which would ensure the availability of life-saving supplies. Funding ¶5. Obaid presented UNFPA's Annual Financial Review to the Board. UNFPA total income in 2004-2005 increased by $62.8 million (or 12.5%) to $565 million, including $365.8 million in regular resources. UNFPA hopes to increase funding from regular resources to $400 million in the very near future. Total expenditures increased by $71.9 million (or 15.9%) to $523.3 million in 2005. Program activities accounted for $68.1 million (or 95%) of the increase. Unexpended regular resources carried forward from 2005 to 2006 totaled $48.6 million, or 13.3% of income for the year. Two new donors (Monaco and San Marino) contributed to UNFPA in 2006, bringing the total number of donors to 172 - a record high for UNFPA. Emergency Preparedness, Humanitarian Response, Transition and Recovery ¶6. UNFPA Deputy Executive Director Kunio Waki introduced UNFPA's three year draft strategy for integrating the Programme of Action (POA) of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) into emergency preparedness, humanitarian response, and transition and recovery. The strategy would incorporate the ICPD POA into all relief and transition programming of UNFPA's partners. UNFPA believes it would strengthen - not duplicate or replace - existing tools such as the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) and the Consolidated Appeals Process (CAP) to build a leveraged and mainstreamed approach to crises. It would also, according to UNFPA, build national capacity and encourage incorporation of ICPD into national policies and frameworks. Finally, the strategy would build UNFPA's institutional capacity to offer support in crises. UNFPA requested that the Board authorize $8 million for core resource requirements for 2007-2009, encourage co-financing contributions of $13.6 million, and maintain the emergency fund level at $3 million. ¶7. UNFPA Humanitarian Response Chief Pam Delargy stressed that support for the most marginalized people in the world is critical for meeting the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs),including reducing maternal mortality and increasing child survival. Paying special attention to women during post-conflict recovery is critical for sustainable development, she noted. There is a serious need for improved cooperation at the international level for reproductive health and gender needs, she said. UNFPA is very small and has few resources, so it is critical that its partners understand these issues. UNFPA strategy is therefore to build awareness and capacity for preparedness at the local level. It is cheaper and more effective to plan and prepare than to react to emergencies, she declared. ¶8. Board members expressed concern that UNFPA activities in this area could duplicate existing programs, tools, mechanisms, and efforts by other UN bodies and international organizations, especially in light of the new UN cluster approach. The United Kingdom inquired how UNFPA planned to increase cooperation with other agencies. Several members requested further clarity on funding, and wondered if the funds requested would be sufficient to accomplish the basic UNFPA goal of gender mainstreaming. Others inquired about monitoring and evaluation mechanisms. The UNFPA agreed to present further information at the next Executive Board meeting. Regionalization ¶9. Obaid spoke twice to the Board about UNFPA's Regionalization plan. At an informal briefing the evening before her formal opening statement to the Board, Obaid said that UNFPA's staff (210 employees worldwide) is too small to meet member needs or cooperate successfully in UN Country Team programs or with other partners overseas where the need is greatest. UNFPA hopes to better meet those needs by repositioning more of its staff in regional, sub-regional, area, and country offices while still maintaining critical mass in UNFPA's New York headquarters. UNFPA will seek to minimize costs by co-locating as many of these offices as possible with other UN agencies already in place. UNFPA anticipates four main regional offices, one each in Addis Ababa, Bangkok, Panama, and (possibly) Beirut that would be responsible for broad areas covering many countries. For example, one regional office would cover Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and South Asia. UNFPA estimates that regionalization will cost $28 million, which Obaid said would come from "external sources", not core funds. ¶10. Several Board members, including UNFPA's strongest supporters and largest donors, expressed deep concern about the costs involved and questioned UNFPA's decision to focus at the regional rather than country level. Some demanded to know why UNFPA had selected certain countries as the location for regional offices and expressed strong doubt that regional offices could cover such large and diverse areas. Others queried whether UNFPA had adequately considered other UN bodies' regionalization models. The Netherlands and Canada accused UNFPA of presenting the regionalization proposal as a fait accompli without adequately consulting the Board beforehand. Obaid rejected the latter accusation. She promised that UNFPA would hold several informal briefings on regionalization for the Board before the end of October. During her formal opening statement the following day, Obaid spoke at length about the regionalization program, and promised to keep the Board informed and engaged. Country Programs ¶11. UNFPA presented 22 draft country programs (available in advance of the Board meeting on the UNFPA website) to the Board for consideration, including for Algeria, Central African Republic, Eritrea, Gabon, Gambia, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Laos, Mongolia, Myanmar, Brazil, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, English- and Dutch-speaking Caribbean, Honduras, Panama, Paraguay, and Uruguay. Deputy Executive Director Waki stressed that UNFPA country level efforts emphasize and support national ownership of the programs, reflect national plans and priorities (including on HIV/AIDS),and reflect international agreements and directions set by Member States. ¶12. Board members were invited to present comments or questions on the country programs at the Board meeting. Several members made comments on country programs of interest to them. Based on information provided by posts in advance of the meeting, the U.S. delegation read prepared statements on eight country programs - Gabon, Zambia, Laos, Mongolia, El Salvador, English- and Dutch-speaking Caribbean, and Paraguay. BOLTON