Statement by Amit Narang, Counsellor, on Operational Activities for Development Segment at the 2016 Substantive Session of the  Economic and Social Council on February 24, 2016

Mr. President,
 

Thank you for giving me the floor.

Let me start by acknowledging your excellent personal stewardship of the session so far.

Let me also at the outset convey our appreciation to the panelists and participants who took part in the rich discussions in this segment over the past 2 days. 

I am pleased to share India's views on the operational activities of the UN System for development. 

We align ourselves with the statement delivered by the distinguished Permanent Representative of Thailand on behalf of the Group of 77.

Many speakers and Member States have rightly pointed to the special nature of this year's Operational Activities segment as well as its significance as a stepping stone to our substantive deliberations in the QCPR negotiations later this year.

We concur with this assessment.

In terms of the implementation of the new agenda for sustainable development, the discussion on operational activities of the UN system is where the proverbial rubber hits the road. 

This debate therefore is timely and important.

Mr. President,

From symptoms to drivers; from short-term fixes to long term solutions; and from silos to integration - the new agenda does make a decisive break from the past. 

As we transition from the MDGs to the SDGs, the 2030 Agenda presents a meta-template for development that has tangible implications for the 'delivery' of developmental interventions by the UN System.

There is therefore a clear imperative of undertaking a careful evaluation of the functions and activities of the UN system in light of the 2030 Agenda.

Several new features of the agenda have been pointed out by participants in the debate so far. These include universality, differentiation, leaving no one behind, integration, fit for purpose etc. 

We are not sure however that there exists a common understanding yet of what these features mean for the functioning of the UN System.

 
How can the system deliver on a universal agenda while being dominated by donor-centric issues? 

How can a broad strategic direction be reconciled with respecting national circumstances and priorities? 

While leaving no one behind, how does the system equally deliver on issues such consumption patterns in developed countries? 

How does integration become a reality without sacrificing domain competence and focused delivery? 

What would becoming 'fit' mean, and for what 'purpose'?

We hope we will be able to arrive at a better understanding on these and other such questions during the course of the ECOSOC Dialogues before putting them into practice in the upcoming QCPR.

Mr. President,

Even as the UN System prepares to rethink its role, it is of utmost importance that it does not slacken its focus on the needs of the poorest and the most deprived.

As the Prime Minister of India noted in his address to the special session of ECOSOC recently, 'While we have seen remarkable progress over the past 70 years, eradication of poverty remains the greatest unfinished business of the 20th century. It is also the most important unfulfilled objective of the United Nations'.

An unrelenting focus on poverty eradication as the central and primary objective should therefore remain at the heart of UN's operational activities for development. This indeed was the mandate of the previous QCPR and this strategic direction must be maintained.

The UN System must in fact sharpen its tools to attack the problem of poverty more directly. 

Mr. President,

While we appreciate the need of enhancing support to humanitarian activities, we are carefully assessing the proposals which favor a so-called bridging of the humanitarian-developmental divide. 

While we should indeed enhance support to urgent humanitarian activities, we are conscious, if not cautious, that this should not come at the cost of a redoubled focus on promoting growth and development and ending poverty; in other words in creating conditions that reduce the chances of humanitarian crises.

Mr. President,

A universal yet differentiated agenda should not mean a one-size-fits-all approach. As the 2030 Agenda itself mandates, the implementation of the SDGs must be acutely conscious of the different starting points and circumstances of countries.

The operational activities of the UN system must also be responsive to and closely aligned to national development plans. Externally imposed prescriptions should be avoided and national policy space respected.

Mr. President,

The need for better balance between core and non-core funding of the UN System has been raised by several delegations. In our view, this is an important and serious issue and merits careful consideration in the forthcoming QCPR.

We clearly cannot talk of balanced implementation of an integrated agenda and yet have fundingstructures and functional implementation that responds to selective donor priorities.

A related important issue is that of the governance structures of the funds and programmes where imbalance in the representation of developing and developed countries needs to be addressed.

Universality, in other words, must also translate into how the UN Development System is governed and administered.

In conclusion Mr. President, let me assure you of India's active engagement as we translate the new agenda into an implementation blueprint for the UN System.

I thank you.