UNFPA SEGMENT OF THE 2007 FIRST REGULAR SESSION OF

UNCLAS USUN NEW YORK 000157

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: EAID KUNR KWMN UNDP UNFPA
SUBJECT: UNFPA SEGMENT OF THE 2007 FIRST REGULAR SESSION OF
THE UNDP/UNFPA EXECUTIVE BOARD

REF: USUN 106


1. Summary: The UNDP/UNFPA Joint Executive Board First
Regular Session for 2007 took place on January 23-26.
Opening the UNFPA segment, UNFPA Executive Director Thoraya
Obaid announced that UNFPA,s financial situation had
achieved record highs in total core income, number of donor
countries, and number of multiyear funding pledges. The
segment included an informal discussion of UNFPA,s 2008-2011
draft Strategic Plan and an oral presentation on UNFPA,s
role in emergency preparedness. UNFPA also explained its
role in implementing the cluster approach. The Board
approved UNFPA,s 33 country program proposals (including one
for North Korea) and adopted a resolution on UNFPA,s
proposed Strategic Plan. End Summary.

Executive Director Statement
--------------


2. In her opening statement to the Board, UNFPA Exec. Dir.
Obaid discussed the status of UNFPA,s regionalization plan.
The proposed plan would move UNFPA,s geographical divisions
from its headquarters in New York to their respective
regions, expand the functions of existing UNFPA country
technical services teams, and strengthen existing area
offices to ensure a more strategic, timely, integrated,
efficient and flexible response to the needs of countries and
UNFPA country offices. However, many Board Members as well
as the UN Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budget

Questions had expressed strong concerns about the proposal.
UNFPA has heard those concerns, she said. In order to be
responsive, UNFPA postponed formal consideration of its
regionalization plan, originally scheduled for the January
Board meeting, until September. Instead, UNFPA would hold an
informal discussion of its proposed 2008-2011 Strategic Plan
during the Board meeting, she stated.


3. Obaid asserted that a new Millennium Development Goal
(MDG) target, universal access to reproductive health, had
been added to the MDG matrix. (Mission note. This is just
an assertion. Former SYG Annan proposed such a target in his
last report on the MDGs, but the U.S. objected formally in
the UNGA Plenary and the report was simply "noted." We are
also watching carefully in the Statistical Commission to
ensure that no "matrix" or other product related to the MDGs
is approved with such a target included.) Gender
mainstreaming, gender equality, women,s empowerment, and
eliminating all forms of violence against women and girls are
central to UNFPA,s focus, she stressed. Youth are also key
to UNFPA,s strategic plan, especially their sexual and
reproductive health, Obaid said. UNFPA uses culturally
sensitive approaches to promote human rights, create
alliances, build capacity, promote South-South cooperation,
and work with parliamentarians and civil society to advance
the International Conference on Population and Development
(ICPD) agenda, she said.

UN Reform/Accountability
--------------


4. UNFPA officials emphasized their commitment to
strengthening program accountability and oversight. ExDir
Obaid said UNFPA fully supports UN reform, including the
report of the High Level Panel on UN System-Wide Coherence.
UNFPA is implementing a system of checks and balances to
enhance accountability and to prevent and detect fraud.
UNFPA has also instituted an Audit Advisory Committee,
established a whistleblower hotline, is conducting anti-fraud
workshops for staff members, and is working to improve
monitoring and evaluation, according to Obaid.

Funding
--------------


5. UNFPA,s financial situation in 2006 exceeded 2005 in
three areas, Obaid reported: number of donors, total core
income, and multi-year pledges. A record high 180 countries
pledged financial support in 2006 - eight more than in 2005 -
including all countries in Latin America, the Caribbean, and
sub-Saharan Africa. The top ten contributors to UNFPA were
the Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, United Kingdom, Japan,
Denmark, Germany, Finland, Canada, and Switzerland. Total
core income was $362 million, slightly more than in 2005;
non-core income remained the same at slightly below $162
million, for a total of $524 million. In addition, 73
countries made multi-year pledges, up from 55 in 2005.

Country Programs and Resolutions
--------------


6. The Executive Board approved UNFPA,s proposed country
programs for Central African Republic, Eritrea, Ethiopia,
Gabon, Gambia, Guinea, Mozambique, Sao Tome & Principe,
Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Algeria,
Egypt, Morocco, Moldova, Syria, Tunisia, Yemen, Democratic
People,s Republic of Korea, Laos, Mongolia, Myanmar,
Thailand, Brazil, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, English-
and Dutch-speaking Caribbean countries, Honduras, Panama,
Paraguay, and Uruguay.


7. Several delegations made statements regarding UNFPA,s
program for the DPRK after the country programs were
approved. Although the Joint Board had reached agreement the
previous day to suspend the launch of the new UNDP DPRK
program, Member States felt that the UNFPA program which is
smaller scale and more closely monitored, did not raise the
same level of concern. The U.S. delegation stressed the need
for strong oversight of UNFPA,s DPRK program, as did Japan.

Emergency Preparedness
--------------


8. UNFPA Humanitarian Response Group Chief Pam DeLargy gave
an oral presentation on UNFPA,s role in emergency
preparedness, humanitarian response, and transition and
recovery. UNFPA has a three-year plan with two components,
she said. First, UNFPA must build a knowledge base and
commitment regarding the importance of gender and
reproductive health issues in situations of crisis and
transition. This would be achieved by intensified advocacy
to sensitize partners; mapping, collating, and sharing of
existing tools and resources; developing additional tools and
resources; and expanding partnerships for knowledge sharing
and applied research to build evidence-based programs.


9. Second, UNFPA will improve technical and institutional
capacities to incorporate ICPD into overall emergency
preparedness, response, and recovery. This would be achieved
by building national capacity; establishing technical expert
networks and mechanisms for rapid deployment; training of
practitioners; and ensuring data/reproductive health
expertise as part of overall UN mechanisms.


10. DeLargy explained that in the Inter Agency Standing
Committee (IASC - the UN,s primary mechanism for interagency
coordination of humanitarian assistance),UNFPA has the lead
for the reproductive health subcluster within the Health
cluster, for the sexual- and gender-based violence subcluster
within the Protection cluster, and for the gender subcluster
within the Early Recovery cluster. In addition, IASC has
asked UNFPA to take the lead on mainstreaming gender (one of
the identified cross-cutting issues) into all nine IASC
clusters; UNFPA will accomplish this task through the IASC
Sub-Working Group (SWG) on Gender and Humanitarian Action,
which UNFPA co-chairs with WHO. UNFPA also chairs a task
force within the gender SWG that focuses specifically on
gender-based violence (GBV); this task force, which has
existed for three years, developed the IASC Guidelines in
Addressing GBV in Humanitarian Settings. Finally, UNHCR and
OCHA have recently asked UNFPA to coordinate improving age
and sex disaggregated data collection and analysis within the
cluster system as a whole; UNFPA is working to determine how
best to take on this cross-cutting issue.

Strategic Plan
--------------


11. Obaid launched informal discussion of a draft outline of
UNFPA,s 2008-2011 proposed Strategic Plan, which UNFPA had
posted on its website just a few days previously. UNFPA was
now focusing on youth because of the demographic bulge and
its effects, she remarked. UNFPA did not want mission creep
and was not trying to encroach on UNICEF,s authority, she
assured the Board, but the sharp increase in the number of
young women with HIV/AIDS has linked UNFPA,s reproductive
health and HIV/AIDS responsibilities with the issue of youth.
UNFPA is trying to focus on ICPD priorities and would seek a
comprehensive decision from the Board in September on the
Plan, she noted.


12. UNFPA Strategic Planning Office Chief Brendan O,Brien
said UNFPA had made an effort in the Plan to focus on goals
that represent UNFPA,s mandate and niche within the UN
system. There is a need for clarity to maintain consistency,
he stressed. O,Brien also emphasized the importance of
having goals reinforced as cross-cutting issues. For
example, the issue of women and gender mainstreaming center
around reproductive health and demography but are also a part
of a larger framework in the Millennium Development Goals.
Young people are another such issue: young people are clearly
core to what UNFPA does, he said, but should UNFPA have a
specific youth goal in its Strategic Plan stating this, and
if so, what? He invited input from the Board during the next
several months.


13. Several Board members welcomed the proposed Strategic
Plan but complained that its release just a few days before
the Session left insufficient time to study it adequately.
Many requested another informal meeting soon. A sampling of
remarks from Member delegations:
- Switzerland praised the Plan,s criteria for evaluating
reform options, and said there should be safeguards to ensure
effectiveness, transparency, and cost-effectiveness.
- Sweden encouraged UNFPA to work closely with other UN
agencies to harmonize approaches to strategic planning.
Sweden also said that before UNFPA decides whether gender and
youth constitute focus areas for the Plan, it should consider
how to establish targets and indicators in these areas to
ensure results.
- The Netherlands said discussion of the Plan should lead to
a clear conclusion on the preferred organizational structure.
A decision on the structure should be made on the basis of a
clear analysis of the current strengths and weaknesses of the
organization, especially at the country level. In the
process of realizing one integrated UN at the country level,
UNFPA must improve its performance at the field level. The
Netherlands expressed doubt about whether gender needed to be
its focal area in the Plan or should be mainstreamed in other
areas.
- Belgium said UNFPA should strive for evidence-based
measures in the Plan, and requested more clarity on UNFPA,s
interaction with other UN agencies on gender equality.


14. The Board adopted 12 resolutions on the final day of the
First Regular Session, including one on UNFPA,s proposed
Strategic Plan that requested UNFPA to:
- consult widely with Member States and UN partner
organizations;
- reflect on lessons and challenges from implementing
UNFPA,s 2004-2007 funding framework;
- take the Board,s comments into account when drafting the
Strategic Plan; and
- harmonize terminology, definitions, and formats whenever
possible using UN Development Group-harmonized terminology as
a basis.
WOLFF