States to Consider Co-Chairs’ Report on System-Wide Coherence and Options Paper on Gender Architecture

New York, 5 September 2008 – UN Member States will meet on Monday, 8 September to discuss the progress of System-wide Coherence in the 62nd Session. Member States will consider the 21 July report submitted by System-wide Coherence co-Chairs Ambassador Paul Kavanagh of Ireland and Ambassador Augustine Mahiga of Tanzania, with a goal of bringing the current Session’s considerations to a “substantive” decision by Friday, September 12. It is anticipated that such a decision may be in the form of a General Assembly Framework Resolution encompassing the recommendations submitted in the co-Chairs’ report.

In addition, the 8 September meeting will address the Secretary-General’s 23 July second Concept Note on gender, focusing on the institutional options for gender architecture reform at the UN. In consultations held during May and June, gender issues gained new momentum and support for moving forward, with Member States requesting specific action from the Secretary-General in the form of two concept notes shedding more light on the issues. Despite some civil society groups’ hopes for a separate General Assembly (GA) decision on the issue of gender during this Session, many Member States resisted “delinking” single issues. The co-Chairs’ report, then, recommends a “package decision” on all elements of System-wide Coherence (SWC).

The co-Chairs’ 3 September letter convening the meeting seemingly responds to some Member States’ concerns that gender is being delinked from the overall System-wide Coherence process. Although they “believe that member States should be in a position to have a focused discussion of the options paper on Gender in open forum,” the co-Chairs also promise to “maintain, through to the end of our mandate, the transparent, balanced and inclusive manner of work that we have observed from the outset. There will be no attempted faits accomplis on our part.” In other words, having taking action on the gender issue by asking the Secretary-General for concept notes does not now mean that Member States will be forced to agree on the next steps; the co-Chairs do not plan to impose a consensus on the proceedings.

The Co-Chairs’ Report

The 21 July report is based on consultations on the eight major themes of System-wide Coherence, which were drawn from the recommendations of High-level Panel (HLP) in November 2006.

To date, consultations on five of the eight thematic elements have taken place.

Theme	Consultation Dates
‘Delivering as One’	28 March 2008, 17 April 2008
Funding	7 April 2008
Governance	17 April 2008
Gender Equality	16 May 2008, 16 June 2008
Harmonization of Business Practices	13 June 2008
Environmental Governance	No consultations held
Humanitarian Assistance	No consultations held
Human Rights	No consultations held

The co-Chairs’ report summarizes the consultations on each theme as follows:

(1) ‘Delivering as One’

‘Delivering as One’ is an initiative recommended in the HLP report that seeks to address fragmentation of the UN’s work at country level. Eight pilot countries (Albania, Cape Verde, Mozambique, Pakistan, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uruguay and Vietnam) have been testing ‘Delivering as One’ since January 2007. The co-Chairs visited seven of the eight pilot countries and relevant UN funds, programmes and specialized agencies. (For details on their visits, see Latest Development Issue #260.)

The report notes that the pilot program has brought “significant and ground-breaking changes to traditional methods of work.” It describes the pilot countries’ experiences as “clearly and preponderantly positive.”

The report summarizes Member States’ initial perceptions of ‘Delivering as One’, noting that more time will be needed to definitively evaluate the initiative. The report concludes that Member States should continue with informal consultations in the 63rd Session with a focus on negotiating the methodology and conduct of evaluation. A formal evaluation is planned for the end of 2009.

 (2) Funding

The High-level Panel’s recommendations on funding addressed the need for sustained and predictable UN contributions from Member States, as well as how this funding should be put to use at country and headquarter levels.

On funding needs, a general consensus has emerged among Member States that sufficient, timely and predictable funding at the country level must be mirrored by sufficient, timely and predictable funding at the global level. Member States are already being urged to increase their voluntary contributions substantially under the General Assembly’s 2007 consensus Triennial Comprehensive Policy Review (TCPR) resolution. The March 2008 TCPR also makes recommendations for:

• Funding for Operational Activities of the UN Development System, and
• Transaction Costs and Efficiency at the UN.

In light of the work being conducted under the TCPR agreement, Member States are keen to avoid the establishment of any new, overarching mechanisms at the risk of unduly complicating the funding process. The Report suggests continued consultations in the 63rd Session.

Additionally, Member States have agreed that any savings realized at country level must be “ploughed back” into programmatic development work in the countries where savings are realized.

(Funding consultations are described in detail here: Latest Development Issue # 248.)

(3) Governance

The HLP recommendations for governance reform included:

• The establishment of a Global Leaders Forum of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC);

• The establishment of a UN Sustainable Development Board to oversee the Delivering as One initiative and the performance of the Resident Coordinators in each country; and
• A review of the UN Chief Executives Board (CEB) established in 2000, with a view to improving its performance and accountability for System-wide Coherence.

Member States expressed concerned about the short-term feasibility of the HLP recommendations on governance. Specifically, they argued that the specific changes envisaged by the HLP could have substantial implications for existing UN bodies and agencies and would need careful consideration. Many Member States also believed that the establishment of any new structures could be duplicative.

Member States argued that “no one size fits all” in terms of governance reform, and that a “bottom-up” country-level approach was likely to fare better than a “top-down” approach. In essence, the UN must find an appropriate balance between providing adequate inter-governmental oversight and nationally-led initiatives.

The Report concludes that it would be impractical to re-draw institutional structures or inter-institutional relationships at this stage. Put bluntly, the co-Chairs “detected no palpable appetite” in the GA for establishing new bodies. Instead, the co-Chairs’ Report suggests, there is considerable potential for closer engagement between the UN system and the Bretton Woods financial institutions.

(The governance consultations are described in detail here: Latest Development Issue #248.)

(4) Gender Equality

Member States have reached consensus in recognizing that gaps exist between the norms of gender equality and the implementation of gender equality activities “on the ground”. The report notes that Member States and relevant UN funds and agencies have concerns about gaps in coherence, authority, accountability and resources.

At the beginning of the consultations on System-wide Coherence, some Member States were hesitant to proceed with a separate discussion on gender. To “delink” gender from System-wide Coherence was seen as a potential threat to other issues, and the Group of 77 (G77) and China as well as the Non-aligned Movement (NAM) have had a long-standing position that any agreement must cover the entire SWC agenda.

However, in the course of this year’s consultations Member States agreed to request specific action from the Secretary-General in the form of two concept notes.

The first concept note from the Secretary-General (5 June) described normative and operational challenges that the current UN system faces when addressing gender equality and gender mainstreaming. The note expressed similar concerns to Member States’ comments that the UN system is suffering from important gaps in the areas of “coordination and coherence, authority and positioning, accountability and human and financial resources.”

The second concept note by the Secretary-General – now being called the Options Paper – was meant to provide Member States with the possible advantages and disadvantages of any new structural models for gender mainstreaming and to provide an impetus for considering how the GA might move forward on the issue.

The co-Chairs also recommended that the GA “be invited to address the matter ... in informal plenary consultations” in early September. Before the end of the 62nd Session, they wrote, the GA “may be in a position ... to signal in general terms, but nevertheless clearly, which institutional option or combination of options ... it wishes to pursue.”

(Gender consultations are described in detail here: Latest Development Issue # 248.)

 (5) Harmonization of Business Practices

In April 2008, the Chief Executives Board (CEB) adopted a package of measures for the harmonization of business practices across the UN system. Member States were briefed on the CEB’s progress at consultations on 13 June. The co-Chairs’ report suggests that the General Assembly would benefit from further briefings from the CEB.

(A full background to the CEB’s “Plan of Action” for the coherence of business practices is available in Latest Development Issue # 260.)

(6) Environmental Governance, (7) Humanitarian Assistance, and (8) Human Rights

The co-Chairs’ Report notes that there has been “little appetite or interest” in prioritizing these issues, based on their being addressed already in other areas of UN activity.

The Co-Chairs’ Recommendations

The Report recommends that five elements of System-wide Coherence – ‘Delivering as One’, the Harmonization of Business Practices, Funding, Governance and Gender – be presented to the upcoming 63rd Session of the General Assembly in a draft Resolution as a “package decision”.

It further suggests that the General Assembly engage in continuing “open and genuine discussion” on the Secretary-General’s institutional options for gender reform. The report also suggests that the decision exclude the elements of Environmental Governance, Humanitarian Assistance and Human Rights, on which consultations have not yet taken place. It also could recommend moving forward with one of the options for institutional reform of gender suggested by the Secretary-General.

The co-Chairs’ report emphasizes that Member States should look towards creating a single draft Resolution covering all aspects of System-wide Coherence, and that there can be no separate decision taken on any of the elements at this stage.

The annex to the report includes recommendations for the pilot countries of the Delivering as One program.

Secretary-General’s Second Concept Note on Gender Equality

The Secretary-General’s 23 July second concept note on gender was produced after significant collaboration with the Office of the Special Adviser on Gender Issues and the Advancement of Women (OSAGI). Although the drafting process was closed, the civil society campaign for Gender Equality Architecture Reform (GEAR) submitted input.

The resulting report presents four institutional options for gender reform, as follows:

Option A – Status Quo	No structural changes to existing institutional arrangements
Option B – Autonomous Fund / Programme	Consolidate four existing entities – OSAGI the Division for the Advancement of Women (DAW), the UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) and the International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women (INSTRAW) – into one autonomous fund / programme.
Option C – Department	Create a new Department, to be headed by an Under-Secretary-General, within the UN Secretariat to oversee incorporation of a gender perspective into the work of UN peace support missions.
Option D – Composite Entity	To combine normative and operational work on gender equality in a “composite” entity and to act as a policy driver for gender equality in the UN system. It would be headed by an Under-Secretary-General and act in line with other UN entities and national strategies.

Next Steps

Reportedly one or more groups of Member States may be preparing language for inclusion in a possible Framework Resolution to be discussed on Monday. Such a Resolution would set up a process for moving forward with implementing SWC recommendations, currently contained in paragraphs 142 to 162 of the co-Chairs’ Report.

One way to move forward on the gender equality track is to ask the Secretary-General to further develop one option and report back to the General Assembly. Another way is to ask the Secretary-General for his opinion on the options and to endorse one of them. In order for the GA to make a decision on any of the options in the coming GA Session (63rd), it will be necessary for States to build consensus in favor of separating the gender track from the rest of the SWC process.

Members of the GEAR campaign hope that Member States will decide to discuss Option D of the paper’s four options (see GEAR August submission). They also hope that the status quo option will be ruled out.

Following a decision to consider a particular option, Member States would embark on a longer-term process, spanning at least until December 2008, of deciding on the best structure. This discussion would need to include the General Assembly’s Fifth Committee (administration and budget) and Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ), which likely would determine the logistics and number of new posts.

Documents

Letter from System-wide Coherence Co-Chairs Convening 8 September Plenary Session (3 September 2008)

Global Campaign for Gender Equality Architecture Reform — GEAR Campaign Submission to Co-Chairs on Models (August 2008)

Center for UN Reform Education — Improving System-wide Coherence: An Albanian Perspective on "Delivering as One" (24 July 2008)

Secretary-General’s Second Concept Note on Gender Equality (23 July 2008)

Co-Chairs’ Report on System-wide Coherence (21 July 2008)

Global Campaign for Gender Equality Architecture Reform — GEAR Campaign Submission to Co-Chairs on Options Paper (3 July 2008)

Report of the High-level Panel on System-wide Coherence (November 2006)

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