UNDP AND UNFPA EXECUTIVE BOARD MEETING, SEPTEMBER

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 USUN NEW YORK 000930 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: UNDP UNFPA EAID SOCI SUBJECT: UNDP AND UNFPA EXECUTIVE BOARD MEETING, SEPTEMBER 8-12, 2008 - WRAP-UP REPORT ¶1. This cable reports on the Executive Board session of the UN Development Program (UNDP) and UN Population Fund (UNFPA), September 8-12, 2008 in New York. -------------- Summary -------------- ¶2. The Board accepted a management "roadmap" to discuss the resumption of UNDP operations in North Korea. The Board approved an accountability policy, which sought to enhance the independence of the internal oversight bodies of UNFPA and UNDP and to establish procedures for Board members to access UNDP and UNFPA internal audits. China initially blocked this decision during the formal Board session, but joined consensus a week later at an extended meeting. The Board approved the use of direct sector budget support and pooled funding on a pilot basis. Germany and France made a joint statement requesting the delay of UNDP's new Mauritania program, but declined a U.S. offer to join the statement. The Board raised the limit on management's "ex gratia" or discretionary spending to 75,000 USD per year, and removed the cap on paying emergency humanitarian relief for staff and family injured or killed while on duty, with an immediate reporting requirement. The Board discussed and approved several country programs. UNFPA Executive Director Thoraya Obaid announced that the UN had agreed that she continue in her position for an additional two years. -------------- -------------- North Korea Program - Requirements to Re-establish -------------- -------------- ¶3. UNDP's Asia and Pacific Regional Bureau Director presented a five-step roadmap to explore the possible resumption of a UNDP program in North Korea at the request of DPRK authorities: -- UNDP management undertakes dialogue with member states on the way forward; -- UNDP management begins preliminary discussions with DPRK government on the recommendations from the Nemeth report (external review panel of past UNDP operations in North Korea); -- UNDP sends a team to DPRK once the Board endorses the roadmap; -- UNDP management proposes a program of work at the January 2009 Board session (assuming talks with the DPRK proceed satisfactorily); -- If the Board approves a program, UNDP recruits staff and re-opens the DPRK country office. ¶4. USDEL supported management's proposal to review the conditions carefully, and consult with the Board before resuming operations. USDEL urged UNDP management, as it moves forward, to further address the findings and recommendations of the Independent Panel and the UN Board of Auditors who reviewed past UNDP activities in the DPRK. ¶5. Responding to this proposal, the North Korean delegation, while asking UNDP to re-open its Pyongyang office and resume the suspended program immediately, did not object to the roadmap per se. Several delegations, including Sweden, said UNDP was not moving fast enough, while others agreed with management that the January 2007 Board decision on management and programmatic criteria for UNDP operations in North Korea USUN NEW Y 00000930 002 OF 004 provided the basis for moving forward. In concluding the discussion, the President of the Board asked for and received the Board's endorsement (no member raised an objection) of the roadmap. -------------- -------------- Accountability Decision - China blocked, then joined consensus -------------- -------------- ¶6. The adopted decision, accepting with minor modifications management's draft Accountability Framework, achieved key U.S. objectives to enhance the independence of three UNDP internal oversight bodies, the Audit Advisory Committee (AAC),the Office of Audit and Investigation (OAI),and the Ethics Office (EO) by requiring: the Ethics Office to report directly to the Board (AAC and OAI already report directly to the Board) and; UNDP management to avoid conflicts of interest in the appointment of the directors of OAI and EO, and the members of the AAC, and to use previously defined criteria, including professional qualifications. ¶7. In a statement following the adoption of the decision, USDEL requested UNDP management to develop and share with the Board as soon as possible a process to avoid conflicts of interest in the appointment of key personnel for these three offices. ¶8. The decision also established criteria and a procedure for access by board members to UNDP, UNFPA and UNOPS internal audit reports: certain sensitive information may be withheld or redacted, no "retroactive" access to old (pre-January 2008) internal audits, and information gleaned from audit reports be treated as confidential. ¶9. In the negotiations, the Chinese delegation objected to allowing management to release internal audits to Board members upon request and pressed hard for the Board and "concerned government" to play a role, along with management, in making decisions on access for each internal audit request. According to some G77 delegations that caucused with China, the Chinese were concerned about U.S. accessing UNFPA internal audits of its China programs. UNFPA management had refused past U.S. requests for internal audits for the purpose of certifying whether UNFPA was engaged in activities that supported forced abortions and other coercive family planning policies and practices in China (Kemp-Kaston certification). ¶10. USUN and UNDP management engaged the Chinese Mission at the PermRep level to break the impasse. The Chinese finally joined consensus on September 19 during a special half-day resumed meeting, one week after the scheduled conclusion of the Board session. The adopted decision provided the "concerned government" with an opportunity to read and comment on the requested internal audit reports, but did not specify a role for member states in the Administrator's decision to release internal audit results. -------------- UNDP to Pilot Direct Sector Budget Support -------------- ¶11. The UNDP Board approved the launch of a pilot period to test a mechanism to fund country programs through direct sector budget support and pooled funding. Although this general approach had been accepted by the U.S. under the Paris Declaration process, we and others were not convinced that UNDP should be a part of this funding mechanism or that USUN NEW Y 00000930 003 OF 004 UNDP had the systems in place to do it right. Although other Executive Board members were not willing to support additional delay of the pilot while UNDP further elaborated procedures and how results would be measured and evaluated, we did convince the Board to require UNDP Management to provide this information to the Board (by posting it on the UNDP website) before any money is released to programs through this new mechanism. -------------- -------------- Franco-German Statement on Mauritania - U.S. Excluded -------------- -------------- ¶12. Germany and France made a joint statement expressing concerns about the post-coup situation in Mauritania. The statement cited the August EU statement calling for the return to constitutional order and for the military authorities to work with the African Union to restore democracy at the earliest opportunity. ¶13. Germany and France called for a delay in discussing the UNDP country program in Mauritania, stating that the post-coup conditions will, at a minimum, require adjustment to the program. ¶14. After calling for countries to join the statement in a donor group coordination meeting, Germany declined a U.S. offer to sign up to the statement. Germany told the USDEL that they did not want to "politicize the Board" - recalling the January 2007 DPRK episode, where many developing countries criticized the successful U.S. effort to delay the approval of the North Korea program as "politicizing the Board." -------------- U.S. Statement -------------- ¶15. The head of the U.S. delegation, Ambassador McMahan, delivered a statement during the opening session of the Board. He again urged UNDP to focus its programs and resources on helping African countries on crisis prevention and recovery and the creation of an enabling environment in countries to promote sustained growth. ¶16. He acknowledged the progress that UNDP had made in improving the organization's transparency and accountability. He commented on the Accountability Framework, stressing the importance of ensuring the independence of the two newly established bodies - the Audit Advisory Committee (AAC, established last year) and the Ethics Office (established this year). The U.S. statement can be found at: www.usunnewyork,usmission,gov/press_releases/ 20080909_236.html. -------------- UNDP Administrator Dervis' Statement -------------- ¶17. Dervis began his statement with a lengthy assessment of the global economy, forecasting that growth will be weak through 2009. He accused donors of shuffling resources and re-packaging them for "new initiatives," while overall ODA resources declined. In such an environment, he argued for meeting commitments to support development programs. ¶18. He urged member states to accept the proposed system of accountability and transparency and the need for change in UNDP - making country program information available and giving countries access to internal audits. ¶19. He stated that the UNDP total operating resource level USUN NEW Y 00000930 004 OF 004 had reached 5.2 billion USD, with "core resources" at nearly one billion USD. He noted that the 4:1 ratio between "non-core" and "core" is an imbalance, and that he would like to see it reach 3:1. ¶20. Note: the U.S. provides over 100 million USD per year in "core resources" (non-earmarked funding that UNDP uses for administration and entitlement programming),supplementing this with roughly 150 million USD in program-specific resources, a non-core to core ratio of 1.5:1. -------------- UNDP Country Programs Discussed/Approved -------------- ¶21. The Board discussed country program documents of: Angola, Cote D'Ivoire, Congo-Brazzaville, Haiti, Kenya, Mauritania, Niger, Timor-Leste, and Venezuela. The Board will approve these documents at the next meeting in January 2009, unless five or more Board members raise objections. ¶22. The Board approved the program documents for: Benin, Mauritius, Nigeria, and Sudan. -------------- UNFPA Actions and Country Programs -------------- ¶23. In her statement to the Board, UNFPA Executive Director Thoraya Obaid introduced the new Director of the Asia Pacific Regional Office, Nokubo Horibe. Obaid stressed the relevance of the agenda of the International Conference on Population and Development, progress on the Millennium Development Goals, and the management of demographic dynamics through just and equitable social and economic policies. To better address population and development issues, UNFPA, WHO, UNICEF, and the World Bank have agreed to a clearer division of labor about their roles in maternal health. She addressed UNFPA's role in combating HIV/AIDS and the prevention of violence against women. Obaid described extensive management and administrative improvements. She concluded her remarks with the announcement that the Secretary General had decided to extend her term of office for two additional years. ¶24. UNFPA presented draft country programs for Angola, Cote D'Ivoire, Haiti, Kenya, Mauritania, Timor-Leste, and Venezuela. USDEL made technical comments on several programs that were well-received by UNFPA staff and country delegations and that should be reflected in the final programs. UNFPA also approved country programs for Benin, Niger, Nigeria, the Republic of the Congo, and Sudan and agreed to extend existing programs in Lebanon and Burundi. ¶25. The Department thanks those desks/posts that provided comments on their countries' programs. Khalilzad