Statement by Mr. KIMURA Tetsuya, Ambassador, Permanent Mission of Japan to the United Nations, EOP of Japan after the adoption of A/76/L.4 on the “Review of the functioning of the reinvigorated resident coordinator system, including its funding arrangement”
2021/10/28
Mr. President,
Japan welcomes the adoption of the resolution A/76/L.4 on the “Review of the functioning of the reinvigorated resident coordinator system, including its funding arrangement” by consensus.
First of all, I would like to express my deep gratitude to the co-facilitators, Ambassador Mimouni and Ambassador Herman, for guiding the Member States through this process, and to all the Member States, for their positive engagement and constructive spirit throughout.
Japan is a strong supporter of the UN Development System Reform that aims to enhance the efficiency, effectiveness, coherence and accountability of the UN Development System, so that it can better support the efforts of the developing countries to implement the 2030 Agenda.
With this in mind, my delegation has stressed three points throughout the negotiation of the draft resolution.
First, a fundamental characteristic of UN operational activities for development has always been their voluntary nature and the ability to respond to the needs of the developing countries in a flexible manner. The respective capacities and configuration of the RC offices and DCO regional offices must be carefully designed based on the real needs on the ground, in a country/region specific manner. There is no “one-size fits all” solution, such as allocating same set of staffs in each country.
Second, the discussion on the reform of the RC system must be transparent and evidence-based, to ensure full accountability of the reformed system. RC system budget of 281 million USD must be scrutinized through a needs-based approach. The level of resources required for coordination should be commensurate to the size of the overall operational activities conducted by the UN country team in each country. Effective use of existing resources within each country team could be further explored, including making assets or experts of one agency available to the entire UN country team, which would also nurture the “One UN” mindset among its members.
Third, we stressed the need to thoroughly review whether all possible measures under the resolution A/RES/72/279 have been sought and tested to close the funding gap, if any, before considering any changes to the current funding model. In this regard, we welcome OP10 of the resolution just adopted, which requests the system to strengthen the reporting of efficiency gains. We look forward to seeing a more thorough measuring of the efficiency gains across the system, so that they can be redeployed to increase the output of the entire system, including strengthened coordination.
Mr. President,
“The proper functioning of the reinvigorated residence coordinator system” should be measured by the results delivered in each country and ultimately, to the people in need. In this context, we request the chair of the UN Sustainable Development Group to consult with the Member States in the process of developing the “results framework with multi-annual performance indicators and targets for the resident coordinator system, including its funding model,” mentioned in OP9 of the resolution , before its finalization.
To conclude, I wish to emphasize that coordination is not an objective in itself. At the end of the day, development results in a country can only be achieved through national ownership. Let us not forget that UN country teams, including the RC offices, are there to support each country. Japan, as one of the major contributors and supporters of the UN development and humanitarian agencies, will continue to actively engage in future discussion on the reform of the UN Development System.
Japan welcomes the adoption of the resolution A/76/L.4 on the “Review of the functioning of the reinvigorated resident coordinator system, including its funding arrangement” by consensus.
First of all, I would like to express my deep gratitude to the co-facilitators, Ambassador Mimouni and Ambassador Herman, for guiding the Member States through this process, and to all the Member States, for their positive engagement and constructive spirit throughout.
Japan is a strong supporter of the UN Development System Reform that aims to enhance the efficiency, effectiveness, coherence and accountability of the UN Development System, so that it can better support the efforts of the developing countries to implement the 2030 Agenda.
With this in mind, my delegation has stressed three points throughout the negotiation of the draft resolution.
First, a fundamental characteristic of UN operational activities for development has always been their voluntary nature and the ability to respond to the needs of the developing countries in a flexible manner. The respective capacities and configuration of the RC offices and DCO regional offices must be carefully designed based on the real needs on the ground, in a country/region specific manner. There is no “one-size fits all” solution, such as allocating same set of staffs in each country.
Second, the discussion on the reform of the RC system must be transparent and evidence-based, to ensure full accountability of the reformed system. RC system budget of 281 million USD must be scrutinized through a needs-based approach. The level of resources required for coordination should be commensurate to the size of the overall operational activities conducted by the UN country team in each country. Effective use of existing resources within each country team could be further explored, including making assets or experts of one agency available to the entire UN country team, which would also nurture the “One UN” mindset among its members.
Third, we stressed the need to thoroughly review whether all possible measures under the resolution A/RES/72/279 have been sought and tested to close the funding gap, if any, before considering any changes to the current funding model. In this regard, we welcome OP10 of the resolution just adopted, which requests the system to strengthen the reporting of efficiency gains. We look forward to seeing a more thorough measuring of the efficiency gains across the system, so that they can be redeployed to increase the output of the entire system, including strengthened coordination.
Mr. President,
“The proper functioning of the reinvigorated residence coordinator system” should be measured by the results delivered in each country and ultimately, to the people in need. In this context, we request the chair of the UN Sustainable Development Group to consult with the Member States in the process of developing the “results framework with multi-annual performance indicators and targets for the resident coordinator system, including its funding model,” mentioned in OP9 of the resolution , before its finalization.
To conclude, I wish to emphasize that coordination is not an objective in itself. At the end of the day, development results in a country can only be achieved through national ownership. Let us not forget that UN country teams, including the RC offices, are there to support each country. Japan, as one of the major contributors and supporters of the UN development and humanitarian agencies, will continue to actively engage in future discussion on the reform of the UN Development System.