(2nd meeting) UN-Women Executive Board, First Regular Session 2026

Excellencies and distinguished delegates, good afternoon and welcome Back to the 2026 first regular session of the UN executive board. This afternoon, under the first agenda item before us this afternoon, the Board will be briefed on the UN 80 initiative. Please allow me to acknowledge and welcome among us Amina Mohammed, the Deputy Secretary General of the United Nations. I'm also pleased to welcome the following UN colleagues who will be with us on the platform, the podium. Brother Sima Bohus and Secretary General and Executive Director Nyaradizai Gambo Zianda, Assistant Secretary General and Deputy Executive Director Kirst Imadi, Assistant Secretary General and Deputy Executive Director Mohammed Nisiri, Chief of Staff and of course Jalok Boris, the Secretary of the Executive Board.

Distinguished delegates, under this agenda item, I would first like to invite the Deputy Secretary General, Amina Mohammed, to make her remarks. I will now pass the floor to the un. I will then pass the floor to the UN Executive Director Sima Bahaus to deliver remarks of her own without much ado. Madam Secretary General Amina Mohammed, you have the floor, Madam. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. President. Madam Executive Director, Dr. Seema Bahus, distinguished members of the Executive Board. Excellencies, I would like to thank the Chair for this opportunity to exchange with the Executive board on the UN80 and the ongoing assessment of the benefits of a potential merger between UN Women and unfpa. Earlier this month we had our first interaction with Member States and at the executive board of UNDP, UNFPA and UNOPS. We heard support for the Secretary General's UN80 initiative and its ambition to ensure that the United nations remains fit for purpose and delivering on its mandates, efficient and effective in its use of resources and responsive to country needs and priorities.

We also heard consistent calls to ensure that changes to the UN development system build upon and advance the full implementation of past reform efforts. This includes the creation of UN Women itself, but also the reform measures under implementation since 2018. Several member states have also reminded us of the importance to stay laser focused on country delivery and avoid any disruption to the life saving support both organizations deliver to women, girls and young people. We also heard and echoed your strong support for the mandates that you have entrusted us to fulfil and protect, namely the Beijing Platform for Action, the International Conference on Population and Development and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, Women, Peace and Security. And these remain relevant and implementation must be accelerated.

Distinguished Board members, the work on the UNFPA UN Women assessment is advancing steadily. We have refined it further over the past two weeks by taking into account your valuable perspectives and feedback. Under my overall leadership, the two executive directors and their teams have been working closely to examine the institutional, programmatic, operational and financial dimensions of a possible integration. This work has involved a joint staff hall, a town hall and internal consultations engagement with civil society partners and other stakeholders technical analysis of the country presence, business models and governance implications and identification of potential opportunities and areas of risk that need to be carefully managed. Our findings so far give us confidence in the potential benefits of a single entity.

Our value proposition is a single entity that increases the scale and the coordination needed to deliver for women, girls and youth. A merger protecting existing mandates would increase the scale and coordination needed to realize a world where every woman, girl and young person counts and thrives, where she is in full command of her rights and agency and where she lives with equality, dignity, economic power and and unlimited potential. At a time when the pushback against gender equality is intensifying, fragmentation carries a high cost. The question therefore, is not about the effectiveness of either entity in isolation, but whether the current configuration is the strongest possible vehicle for defending agreed commitments and delivering consistent scalable impact across development, humanitarian and peace contexts. Our analysis shows that coordination alone is not sufficient to project the political weight, institutional coherence and delivery credibility that is required to safeguard progress and accelerate concrete results.

A single entity is best positioned to address those specific challenges, building on the strongest elements of both organisations. Such an entity could combine normative leadership, accountability and coordination with deep, deeper operational reach, refreshed governance and a more coherent delivery. This is about more, not less, not dilution of mandates. This in turn would enable greater consistency, mandate delivery and agility in a contested and resource constrained environment. It brings together the consolidated expertise and financial resources of two entities behind an aligned vision to deliver on the SDGs.

The entity would benefit from the deep connection of both entities with governments and community partners, including civil society, women rights, youth organizations and humanitarian actors. It would also help to drive impact at scale, mobilize resources and safeguard progress on women's rights, gender equality and sexual and reproductive health and rights. It is about increasing again the impact, not diluting it. Excellencies, at the Executive Board on UN Women you have accompanied the organization through a transition from four separate entities to become the lead entity on gender equality and women's empowerment. You provided the leadership, guidance and oversight that was needed for UN women to protect and advance normative frameworks, laws and policies that uphold the rights of all women and girls and strengthen institutions to drive accountability and support women's agency and access to quality services, resources and assets.

The integration you have driven is now moving to its next phase, consolidating and strengthening the support for women and girls. You have made clear your interest to be consulted throughout. And that is precisely why we have initiated this consultation process so that we can listen very carefully to your ideas, but also your concerns. And also to ensure that we can draw on your perspectives and knowledge of the respective organizations to inform the analysis put forward for the Secretary General. While we may not be able to answer all your questions today, I assure you that we are taking note of what we cannot address and seeking to remedy that as we move forward.

We remain on track to present our recommendations to the Secretary General in March. With you, Mr. President, and with the President of the Bureau of UNDP, UNFPA and UNOPS. I've also consulted my availability for any further engagement that you may find helpful. This could include, for example, a joint session of the Boards in March focused specifically on the mergers. It'll be a key moment to get further input with a view to refining the assessments before bringing final recommendations to the General Assembly.

Excellencies. As expected, in an exercise of this scale and opportunity, but also complexity, there are differing perspectives and legitimate concerns. This is both natural and necessary. Our responsibility is to ensure that all your views are heard and that the assessment is grounded in data, evidence, realism and and a clear focus on results for women and girls. That's what we commit to you today.

Let us use the UN 80 for what it is a moment to make the UN development system as effective as the world needs to be. Thank you.

I thank the Deputy Secretary General. I would like now to invite the Executive Director, Madame Seema Bahous. The floor is yours, madam.

Thank you, Mr. President, Excellencies, Deputy Secretary General, distinguished members of the Executive Board. My thanks to you, Deputy Secretary General Aweena Mohammed, for joining us and for your continued steadfast leadership to advance the rights of all women and girls.

This morning, Excellencies, we discussed the challenges of this moment of a coordinated pushback against women's rights, threatening hard won gains for gender equality, the active contesting of internationally agreed norms and standards for gender equality, the disproportionate impacts on women and girls of climate change crises and and the urgency of protection of the imperative of drawing upon the fullest talents of our human family, embracing women's leadership and economic contribution. The stakes, Excellencies, for multilateralism have rarely been higher. It is in this context that we discuss unity and the strengthening and reworking of our United nations under the auspices of its Charter. As the Secretary General has noted, Member States lead the United nations and lead UN 80. We, the UN system will offer our best ideas and advice, but you Member States will determine how the UN rises to our current challenges.

UN Women has been active across the UNAT work stream fulfilling our coordination mandate, placing gender equality at the heart of the process. In peace operations, we have called for the strengthening of alignment between missions and agencies, funds and programs, leveraging coherence for better implementation of women peace and security commitments. In the new Humanitarian Compact, we have called for gender equality to be at its heart with national actors, particularly women led and women's rights organizations central to humanitarian and recovery efforts in the work stream. On country configurations, we have called for country teams that are fully aligned with and responsive to national priorities. These teams must bring together expertise, convening power, programs and partnerships in a coherent way with gender equality embedded as a core institutional capacity, not treated as an underfunded afterthought.

We have stress, and I will stress here again, that we must not allow a regression that sidelines UN women from UN country teams. We are by mandate the system's anchor on gender equality and we must be at the table to do that. I believe we are here. We need to be in the process and assure you of UN Women's engagement and contribution to a successful UN 80 for gender equality Excellencies as we have just heard from the DSG, as part of the UN80 process, the Secretary General asked the Deputy Secretary General to lead an assessment of the benefits and risks of a potential merger of UN women and unfpa. That assessment is currently being finalized.

It addresses the context of the proposal, the overall goal and how the respective mandates might be brought together to create a stronger and more unified platform on gender equality and women's rights. The experts conducting the assessment comprise both independent experts and colleagues from UN women and unfpa. Their work is overseen by high level Steering Committee chaired by the DSG with the participation of both myself and my dear colleague Diane Keta ED of UNFPA. The evidence based assessment covers 1 mandates, governance, operational models, staffing and budgets 2 consultations with member states, UN entities and civil society 3 country level delivery, alignment with national priorities and system wide impact. The findings will be submitted to the Secretary General who will share them with you Member States for your decision on how you wish to proceed.

As a first step, a factual as is baseline has been produced to map the current status of both entities alongside the overlaps and complementarities mandate clarity and implications for normative support, including the risks and benefits of any potential merger. We will share this important document alongside a Frequently Asked Questions document with you all as a matter of priority and asap. Excellencies, let us recall, as we discussed UN Women and Unity, the shared history of this Board and this entity. Resolution 72279 on the repositioning of the UN development system made UN women its flagship for a new approach. It recognized that fragmented and underpowered approaches do not work, not least for gender equality.

The General assembly afforded UN women a triple mandate that truly models the spirit of reform, one that combines normative coordination and operational roles holistically, one that responds to the twin calls of the QCPR for a UN development system that delivers more upstream results and does so more coherently with greater impact in the lives of women and girls. That is why UN women has sought always to be not only the anchor of global efforts for gender equality, but to embody also the trajectory of UN reform to show what the future UN might look like. We must, however, look at this current moment with clear eyes and ask ourselves if the current institutional architecture is fully optimal. Fragmentation carries weighty costs, particularly given the realities of the organized and well funded backlash against gender equality and women's rights that is set to grow, not diminish in the coming years. How do we ensure the political weight and much needed institutional coherence and credibility to safeguard process in this tenuous future?

How can we ensure that the critical work on global norms, system wide accountability and policy reform are effectively bolstered by strong country level presence and operational leverage? Excellencies, we continue to welcome any and all consideration of what leads to those better results for women and girls. And we will continue to insist that whatever is decided under UN80, whether a merger or anything else, reinforce, not diminish the UN's leadership and work on gender equality? Gender equality is at the heart of the United nations and its gender architecture must be strong and its entity to drive that must emerge from unity even stronger. We have reiterated consistently four key principles to that end against which any proposal a merger included be judged.

First, it must ensure mandate integrity. The mandates of UN women and UNFPA are distinct but complementary. Our respective normative coordination and operational roles must be protected and strengthened. Second, it must be evidence based, grounded in operational realities and in particular lessons from the field. Third, any reform must guarantee that gender equality remains a system wide responsibility anchored by a strong and authoritative gender entity with the mandate capacity and presence to lead.

No proposal should blur or weaken the clear accountabilities of the wider UN system. At the same time, we know that coordination alone does not deliver accountability or results. Coordination is a technical tool. The barriers to gender equality are political and operational. Overcoming them political leadership, institutional authority, enforceable accountability and strong resource country presence to translate global commitments into national level action.

Fourth and finally, engagement with and ownership of Member states and other key stakeholders, including civil society, must be a prerequisite for whatever path forward we take. The UN plays its role in a global movement for gender equality which we catalyze and support, and our stakeholders are our strength. We owe that movement both transparency and genuine engagement. Like you, we see opportunities and risks in a merger. Our priority is that these are well understood and accurately assessed to allow you to make the most informed decision.

The opportunities include the establishment of a more coherent, powerful and authoritative platform on gender equality and women's rights that can provide end to end support to Member States, civil society and women and girls for normative standards to policy advice. Two country delivery present across all countries where the UN is working. The risks include real concerns about mandate, dilution, governance, complexity, operational feasibility, financing stability and transition costs. But Excellencies, be assured that UN Women will make its essential contribution to UN80. We look forward to your guidance as we do so.

While we await UN80's conclusions, we continue with our work. Supporting Member States in implementing national priorities, implementing our new strategic plan, championing women's rights in multilateral spaces, advancing the Sustainable Development Goals, peace and security, facilitating civil society's crucial role and making our entity the strongest it can be. In particular at the country level, I have consistently emphasized to you my ambition that UN women models excellent excellence in all it does. We owe that to the women and girls we serve and recognize our responsibilities for the resources you afford us. We have moved capacity closer to the field, as I told you this morning, deepened leadership in joint programming, sharpened our strategic focus all as we strive to become more agile, accountable and effective.

Now is a time for ambition. With UN80 as our vehicle. That ambition looks to the next 80 years, to an architecture for gender equality that truly and strongly delivers on the promises of the UN Charter. To crisis transformed into opportunities, to headwinds transformed to progress. I look forward to our discussion in this session, to your guidance and to your questions, and to our collaboration both today in this session and also going forward.

I thank you. I thank you very much, Madam Executive Director, for your remarks. Before opening the floor for your statements and remarks, I wish to gently remind delegations that each national statement will be allocated two minutes. While each group statement will be allocated three minutes, a 30 second grace period will be provided. A timer and microphone indicator will blink after two and three minutes respectively and will be cut off after the 32nd grace period.

Without further ado, I would like to give the floor to the first speaker on our list.

May I now give the floor to the representative of uganda.

Thank you, Mr. President, Deputy Secretary General, Executive Director, distinguished members of the Board. I have the honor to deliver this statement on behalf of the African Group Bureau Board Members. The African Group takes note of the UN80 initiative introduced by the Secretary General and recognizes its stated objective, enhancing the efficiency, effectiveness, coherency of the United nations and that the organization remains fit for purpose in responding to evolving global challenges. In this context, we commend UN women for the significant and measurable results it has delivered across Africa in advancing gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls on our continent, including areas of political participation, participation, economic empowerment, elimination of violence against women and girls, and the promotion of women's leadership in peace and security.

These achievements have been hard won, often under complex and resource constrained circumstances. Africa is deeply concerned that certain proposals could risk undermining or reversing the progress already made in our countries and region. In this regard, the Africa Group requests greater clarity on the scope of implication and anticipated outcomes of the proposed reforms. We further encourage the presentation of a range of options beyond structural measures, including that decisions are informed by evidence based assessments and inclusive consultations with Member States. The Group also underscores the importance of equitable geographical representation and staffing, effective risk mitigation measures and the safeguarding of institutional knowledge to protect and consolidate existing gains.

Particular attention must be given to preserving the integrity and mandate of of women peace and security agenda which remains central to sustainable peace and development in Africa. Finally, we stress the need for timely, transparent and comprehensive assessments to enable Member States to engage meaningfully in the progress. In the process, reform efforts must strengthen rather than dilute the capacity of UN women to deliver on its mandate and support Member States in achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls. I thank you, Mr. President.

I thank the distinguished delegate of Uganda for the statement.

The next speaker I have on the list is Bulgaria and be followed by Finland. Bulgaria, please, you have the floor.

Thank you, Mr. President. All protocols observed. I deliver this statement on behalf of Albania, Australia, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Japan, Kingdom of the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Mexico, Monaco, Montenegro, New Zealand, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Croatia, Republic of Korea, Republic of Moldova, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, United Kingdom, Uruguay and my own country Bulgaria.

With the UN Aid Initiative, the Secretary General has embarked in an ambitious path to create a more effective, cost efficient, coherent, accountable and future fit UN development system, a path that must build upon ongoing UNDS reforms across all pillars of the un. Reforms are necessary, but only if guided by a clear long term strategic direction that increases coherence, complementarity and impact while balancing transformation costs with reform gains. In short, reform must make the UN more accountable, transparent and more effective for the people they serve. Welcoming the UN80 initiative as a necessary reform effort we appreciate the update from the UN women on their efforts to implement the agency related work packages and wish to make few comments in our capacity as Member States. As the Executive Board, we have the responsibility to fulfill our governance role to ensure that the funds and programs continue to deliver on their mandates and strategic plans endorsed in 2025 for proper oversight, robust evaluation and informed decision making.

The Executive Board depends on timely, adequate and evidence based information. We underline the Executive Board's responsibility in considering and recommending within its remit any proposed structural changes of UN entities. Against this backdrop, we regret that no detailed and structured information on relevant discussions Under Work Stream 3 was made available for comment within the agreed timelines. This includes the assessments of potential mergers order, other agency related work packages, as well as relevant decision points. We therefore call for a more inclusive, timely and transparent consultation process with both Executive Boards and civil society.

A merger dividend needs to be grounded on comprehensive evidence based assessments of potential implications for mandates, governance structures, funding, staffing and operational delivery. We also request the Task Team to examine alternatives to the merger proposals, building upon already ongoing measures and reforms. It is key that the strengthened integrity of mandates, particularly related to gender equality, SRHR and demographic change, are fully preserved. We therefore request that all options be reviewed by OLA and discussed with the Executive Board. To conclude, we would like to reiterate our full Support for the UN80 initiative's objectives to deliver a more efficient and coherent multilateral system that delivers quality programming and results at country level.

The principles and values of the UN must not be diluted and the UN must continue to strive for a world where all human rights are universally upheld. If we are to meet our collective promise of leaving no one behind. We must seize this opportunity to shape a UN that is fit for future and capable of delivering tangible impact on the ground and I thank you.

I thank the distinct delegate of Algarje for the statement. I now give the floor to Finland for the Group statement followed by their national statement. Finland, you have the floor.

Thank you, Mr. President, Madam Deputy Secretary General, Madam Executive Director, I have the honor to deliver this statement on behalf of the Nordic countries, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden. We thank you for the Update on the UN80 initiative.

We appreciate the considerable work invested in this complex process and value the continued dialogue with the Executive Boards. We also extend sincere thanks to your teams, especially at country level, who deliver under increasingly difficult circumstances, facing rising expectations and shrinking resources. In this context, an efficient, effective and well coordinated UN development system is urgently needed. The Nordics firmly support the Secretary General's UN 80 initiative and expect all UN entities to engage fully with a clear focus on strengthened delivery at country level. Reform must enable the UN to operate as one coherent system with clearer leadership, fewer overlaps and stronger collective results.

We look forward to concrete, realistic and risk aware system wide proposals that enhance effectiveness and impact. Protecting programmatic work at country level is essential. With persistent financial constraints, reducing administrative costs is unavoidable. We therefore welcome ongoing efforts across funds and programs to adjust budgets, streamline structures and relocate staff to lower cost duty stations. Difficult but necessary steps.

At the same time, progress on the repositioning of the UN development system must accelerate. UN country team reconfiguration and the establishment of common back offices agreed years ago remain far behind as new initiatives emerge. Previously agreed commitments must be implemented without delay. To support this, we request clearer feedback on what is holding back implementation and what guidance from the boards could help remove these obstacles. Advancing joint administrative platforms at the global level must also become a higher priority.

Existing common back offices show that scalable models work, an assessment echoed by both the UN Board of Auditors and the Joint Inspection Unit. We expect renewed momentum on joint procurement, pooled logistics and shared service platforms. The integrated UN supply chain developed by unicef, WFP and the UN Secretariat is a promising model that should be expanded. Incentive structures also require attention. Incentives that favour individual mandates over collective outcomes risk reinforcing fragmentation and duplication.

We call on all entities and governing bodies to strengthen incentives for collaboration, respect comparative advantages and prioritize joint results. Rcs play a central convening role and should serve as the single entry point for coherent and targeted support to partner countries. Finally, the UN's normative mandates, including human rights, gender equality and sexual and reproductive health and rights, remain fundamental. We expect the ongoing assessments assessment of UNFPA and UN women to be transparent, evidence based and to consider a range of options for strengthening impact and delivery. The Nordics remain committed to advancing these long overdue reforms.

The UN's credibility depends on its ability to reform with urgency and coherence. Decisive system wide action is now required. Thank you.

National Statement finland Thank you, Mr. President, Madam Deputy Secretary General, Madam Executive Director Finland aligns itself with the Nordic statement. Additionally, I'd like to make the following remarks in my national capacity. First, allow me to express Finland's strong support to the Secretary General's UN reform. The United nations needs to be fit for purpose and ready to tackle the increasingly complex global challenges we are facing. As the reform work progresses, we would welcome greater clarity on the overall process, including a clear roadmap on how the work streams on sustainable development will come together.

Specifically, Finland would like to understand how processes such as the UN country team reconfiguration, RC system strengthening, expertise on demand and the regional reset are advancing and how we can contribute to them. We would like to understand how the ongoing restructuring and relocation of staff and functions by various UN entities, including UN women, is planned and synchronized with the proposed regional reset and expertise on demand model. The important mandates of UNFPA and UN women need to be protected, irrespective of what organizational setup will ultimately be pursued. We have been reassured that these mandates would not be opened. We still expect to hear how concretely this can be guaranteed for Finland.

It is critical that the UN 80 reform is conducted in a participatory and transparent manner. Reforming the UN development system should focus on results and reinforce the UN's ability to advance human rights and gender equality. I thank you.

I thank the STUGI delegates of Finland for their statement. I'll give the floor to the Russian Federation followed by Uruguay and Namibia, in that order.

Russian Federation, please give the floor.

Thank you, President, Madam Executive Director of UN Women, Madam dsg, thank you for the information provided on UN women's cooperation with the UN at reform initiatives and the analysis provided about the possible merge between UN women and unfpa. And we have the following to say on that front. First of all, we reiterate our position that any structural changes must be decided upon by states as part of the using the applicable procedures. It's important to understand how duplication of the the work between the two structures will be eradicated.

UN8 is a great opportunity to assess the usefulness and effectiveness of the work of both structures and understand how to ensure that they are properly independent, including independent from the interests of rich donors who have their own political priorities. Moreover, the work of UN women, whatever the outcomes of the study evaluation is, should remain within the framework of the budget process and be accountable before Member States. It's important also that any reform, proposed reform are developed and discussed transparently. We'd like to know specifically how and whether the future reforms will contain the Pivot to Countries and Regions initiative and how the work of UN women will carry out and provide secretariat services to the csw. Overall, we believe that UN women and the UNFPA aren't paying sufficient attention to assistance to families and we think the families a key part of work to improve the status of women.

In conclusion, we'd like to reiterate that any reform processes should be approved with intergovernmental negotiations. The inclusion of civil society representatives should only be to provide advice and should not have a determining input on the end result. Thank you very much.

I thank the distinguished delegate of Russian Federation for their statement and now give the floor to Uruguay.

I would like to say that Uruguay particularly welcomes the work of UN women in our country on the potential merger between UN women and unfpa. And given that the report is just being made available, we would like to make the following comments. We'd like to stress the fact that it's intergovernmental process. There has to be sufficient time and independent assessment and full transparency in the process that will allow us to assess all the available options, including alternatives to the aforementioned merger, so that we can take the best possible decision on how we should proceed. This should be in line with the recent decision adopted by the three executive boards.

We hope to have enough information on possible non structural reforms that could facilitate similar outcomes being achieved. Secondly, we know there is a clear commitment not to water down the mandates, but we would just like to point out that that any kind of reform will require negotiating a resolution from the ga. And so there's the risk of reopening or weakening mandates, particularly in the current context that should not be underestimated. We're particularly concerned that there may be undermining of progress made on sexual and reproductive rights and there is the risk of weakening these essential health services. We'd like to understand the impact that a merger could have on the current normative role of the csw. Finally, we need to have a forum for consultation between states and specialised civil services, a civil society rather who have a great deal of experience to share with us.

And that will mean that states can take well informed decisions so as to increase the effectiveness and impact of our work on the ground. Thank you.

I thank the district delegate of Uruguay for their statement and I'll give the floor to Namibia.

Mr. President, Namibia remains a state first champion of women, peace and security agenda, an agenda that has gained global traction and has continued to be mainstreamed into a global, regional and national peace and security architectures. Namibia is proud to have played a pivotal role in the adoption of Resolution 1325 during its presidency of the UN Security Council 25 years ago and believes in its full implementation.

At a time when multilateralism is under threat, the escalating conflicts and crises that continue to destabilize families, communities and heightened vulnerability of women and girls, the WPS agenda is more critical than ever to achieving sustainable peace and stability and thereby support development efforts. The Role of Women the role of UN women in advancing this agenda is indispensable. As such, Namibia underscores that any assessment of the proposed measure between UN women and UNFPA must carefully be considered and must carefully consider the need to uphold and further strengthen the implementation of the WPS agenda, including its mainstreaming. We support the proposal that the assessment should explicitly address implications for the continuity of the WPS agenda under the mandate of the UN Women. The related engagements and reporting thereof as the Secretariat continues to proceed with the assessment under the UN 80 initiative, Namibia would like to see adherence to the principles of geographical balance and equity between male and female staff.

In considering staff reductions and relocations, we emphasize the elimination or reduction of posts that would not unduly fall on junior posts. Africa's development agenda must remain a priority on the UN agenda, including support for the continent's programs on maternal health and empowerment of women and girls in their education and entrepreneurial development. Finally, Namibia congratulates you on your able chairship of the ongoing Board meetings and thank the DSG and the Executive Director for their updates on the UN Initiative. Thank you.

I thank the District Delegate of Namibia for their statement and I will give the floor to South Africa followed by Rwanda.

South Africa have the floor.

Thank you. Chairperson Executive Director Deputy Secretary General Members of the Executive Board South Africa aligns with a statement delivered on behalf of the African members of the Executive Board. Since its establishment, UN Women has demonstrated its sustained commitment to advancing gender equality, the empowerment of women and girls and the promotion and protection of of their rights in line with its mandate. We express our appreciation for the UN80 initiative as a whole and remain aligned with the group of 77 in China and the African Group in affirming its intergovernmental nature and the Executive Board oversight regarding the streamlining of entities.

We acknowledge that the status quo cannot remain and we need to ensure that UN women as a body is fit for purpose. However, we underscore the Importance that any structural changes should be considered and agreed to by the governing bodies and the broader UN membership assessments should clearly outline implications for mandates, governance structures, funding streams, normative functions, country programming, operational delivery, and examine alternative proposals for enhanced alignment and efficiency. UN women and UNFPA carry distinct complementary mandates entrusted by the General assembly with differentiated roles across development and humanitarian contexts. This includes the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls, as well as the elimination of violence against all women and girls. Their work responds to specific policy priorities and country level realities, especially on the African continent.

South Africa fully supports that reform under UN 80 should enhance effectiveness while at the same time preserving mandates and strengthening delivery and impact. Thank you very much.

I thank the District delegate of South Africa for the statement and I'll give the floor to Rwanda, followed by Egypt. Rwanda, you have the floor.

Thank you very much, Mr. President, Secretary General, Executive Director, thank you very much for your briefings and for your statement.

We align ourselves with the statement delivered by Uganda on behalf of the Group. We appreciate the updates, including in the context of relevance, General assembly resolutions, and we also recognize that reform of the United nations system is inevitable, but at the same time, ongoing efforts should accelerate, not overshadow, the full implementation of previous agreed reforms that need to be implemented by the agency. Mr. President, Rwanda is of the view that the process in this reform is as important as the outcome or objective of the reform itself. Therefore, confidence in the reform will depend on meaningful member state engagement and clarity of purpose. We believe that reform must be grounded in evidence and therefore any proposal of major or structured adjustments should be accompanied by transparent analysis of financial implication, efficiency gains and particularly on the ground.

We also believe that relevant mandates must be safeguarded. In the case of UN women, its unique triple mandate was established to address specific institutional gaps. Therefore, any restructuring must strengthen, not dilute, dedicated leadership and accountability for gender equality. Mr. President, reform must be translated into improved derivative of on the ground in our countries and therefore true measure of the UN8 initiative will be whether it simplifies engagement for member states, strengthens coordination within the UN country teams and channels efficiency towards programmatic work, particularly for women on girls in vulnerable situations and in program countries. Rwanda will continue to follow the UN18 initiative closely and engage constructively with an aim of achieving achieving the best of this organization that we aspire, given the current context.

Thank you very much.

I thank the District delegate of Rwanda for their statement. I now give the floor to Egypt, followed by Ireland. Egypt, you have the floor.

Thank you, Mr. President. And at the outset I would like to welcome Madame DSG to the meeting and thank her and as well as USG Missima Bahooth for the briefing that they have given us. And we are very grateful also that we're having this meeting and being given specific attention. And I'm glad also that speakers before me have raised more than once the issue of UN Women and how it was created and why it was created in itself. It was a quasi reform process and it was a merger.

So we've gone through a merger before. So I'm cutting the chase and going directly to the issue at hand. But we're supportive of UN reform in the sense that we are supportive of efficiency and effectiveness and synchronization in the delivery of mandates, because this is how the UN would make itself relevant and make the case that it is relevant in today's world and make visible also the work that it does in various areas that is not limited to specific issue areas. One of them is the agenda of the advancement of women. And the custodian is UN Women.

So when we're looking into this and as it relates to the discussion of the alignment between UN women and UN fpa, we need to caution that we need to look at the original mandates and not to adopt a reductionist approach and to see how this will impact the efficiency and the implementation of the mandate and the operations of UN Women. Given its distinct mandate, as opposed to that of unfpa, the field presence of UN Women, as opposed to that of unfpa, as well as the funding mechanisms and the programs that get funded in order for each of them those entities, UN Women is an entity. The UNFPA is a fund. There are differences between both as entities within the UN system. And this we are sure that the Secretariat, in providing us with the assessment that they are going through, they will bring us that into more discussion.

So we have to emphasize that the process has to remain consultative, transparent, firmly. Member State led. This is an intergovernmentally led discussion, as much as when we created UN Women, it was an intergovernmentally led discussion, and the States were fully on board in that discussion, and it was conducive to the result that we have now. So we take note of the work that has been done so far and which is being described as an assessment conducted under the leadership of Madame dsg, and it is intended to inform Member States with the deliberations. But we also look forward to more engagement with States and consultations with states.

And we shouldn't be rushing to premature conclusions or assumptions or outcomes as long as we make a proper and evidence based assessment. This has been raised also by speakers before me in the room and we stand ready to be of support and full engagement by Egypt in this process. Thank you.

I thank the distinguished delegate of Egypt for their remarks. I now give the floor to Ireland followed by Ireland have the floor.

Thank you President thank you Uganda for the job well done and thank you DSG Mohammed and Ed Barhus for the briefing here today which is very useful. Ireland aligns with the statement delivered by Bulgaria and makes the following remarks in our national capacity, Ireland is a strong supporter of UN80 and the imperative to strengthen the effectiveness, efficiency and the agility of the UN reform is essential to sustain confidence in the multilateral system. It must be purposeful and evidence led. It must be pursued with full transparency and accountability and grounded in robust data and analysis that prioritizes impact, especially for women and girls and especially for those who are farthest behind. The reforms must also protect critical mandates, including SHRH and important normative work.

I wish to highlight four elements as we collectively consider any potential merger between UNFP and UN women. First, on governance, we welcome the indicative timeline presented. However, uncertainty remains around how the Executive Boards will be consulted and engaged in the process. We look forward to the assessment being shared in full and would welcome clarity and the opportunity is envisaged for meaningful and structured Executive Board deliberation on the next phase. Second, we welcome the emphasis placed by the UN Secretary General on the protection of mandates.

However, procedural and legal clarity on how mandate process protection can be ensured is critically important, especially in the context of SRH hr. Third, on consultation, are there plans to engage relevant intergovernmental bodies such as CSW and the Security Council architecture relevant to wps? Further information on meaningful staff and civil society participation would also be welcome. And finally, we would welcome greater transparency in how the assessment is considering realistic funding scenarios. A clear analysis of potential funding impacts and risks, both during the transition and in the longer term, alongside mitigation measures, is needed to assess the feasibility and desirability of the different options.

President Ireland will continue to engage constructively and we wish to thank you again for the briefing here today.

I thank the distinguished Delegate of Ireland for their statement. I now give the floor to Le Toto followed by the United Kingdom. Le Toto, you have the floor.

Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you Deputy Secretary General and Executive Director for your briefings.

Distinguished members of the Executive Board the Kingdom of Lesotho is honored to participate in this important engagement between UN Women and Member States as part of the UN 80 initiative, the United nations marks its 80 as the United nations marks its 80th year, we are reminded of the enduring power of multilateralism and the indispensable role of gender equality in shaping a more peaceful, just and inclusive world. Lesotho reaffirms its unwavering commitment to advancing the rights and empowerment of women and girls. Our Participation in the UN Women Executive Board for the 20262028 term reflects an a determination to contribute meaningfully to global efforts that accelerate progress on gender equality, eliminate discrimination and strengthen the resilience of communities. Mr. President, the Unity Initiative offers a timely opportunity to reflect on achievements, address persistent gaps and re energize collective action. For Lesotho, this includes strengthening national frameworks that promote women's leadership, economic empowerment and protection from all forms of violence.

Investing in social protection systems that safeguard the most vulnerable, particularly women and girls in rural and hard to reach communities. Advancing gender responsive climate action recognizing that women and girls are disproportionately affected by climate induced shocks. Promoting digital inclusion to ensure that women and girls benefit fully from innovation, technology and emerging opportunities.

Lesotho values the partnership and technical support provided by UN women which continues to enhance national capacity and deepen alignment with global commitments including the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the African Union Agenda 2063. Mr. President, in light of ongoing discussions regarding the proposed merger of UN women and unfpa, Lesotho underscores the importance of a transparent member driven process that carefully assesses the implications for mandate delivery, operational effectiveness and support to countries. Any institutional reform that must strengthen the global commitment to gender equality, women's empowerment, sexual and reproductive health and rights. Lesotho therefore calls for inclusive consultations, robust analysis and assurances that the gains made over decades of dedicated work will be preserved and enhanced as we look forward. As we look toward the future of the United Nations, Lesotho calls for renewed solidarity, predictable financing for gender equality and strengthened accountability for commitments made.

We stand ready to work with UN women and all Member States to ensure that the Unity milestone becomes a turning point for transformative and sustainable progress. I thank you.

I thank the distinct delegate of Le Tutu for their statement. I now give the floor to the United Kingdom, followed by Switzerland. United Kingdom, you have the floor.

Thank you, Mr. President and thank you, Deputy Secretary General and Madam Executive Director for your briefings. Today, the United Kingdom remains strongly supportive of the Secretary General's reform ambitions. We welcome UN women's engagement across UNAT to help ensure a more coherent, efficient and impactful UN and at future sessions, we would welcome more detailed updates on specific work packages to which UN women has contributed and how this effort will improve the mainstreaming of the needs of women and girls. Mr. President, we have four requests regarding UN women's engagement on reform. First, on mandates.

Any proposal for a new entity must safeguard UN Women's triple mandate and before the next Executive Board meeting, we would welcome clarity on the pathways to ensure mandate integrity. Second, on delivery. As agencies and entities, including UN women, are already carrying out internal reforms and relocations, we ask that lessons learned be factored into any proposed realignments giving priority to delivery and results. We ask that merger assessments include country level continuity plans specifying safeguarding and financial controls and clear risk ownership, especially in fragile and high risk contexts. Third, on finance, organizational change is never resource neutral.

Any merger assessment should include financial implications detailing transition costs and potential efficiencies. Fourth, on governance, we agree UNAT should move at pace, but for mergers specifically, clear timelines and assurances that boards will be fully consulted are important. The merger assessment must be evidence based, transparent and consider non structural alternatives. Mr. President, women and girls across the world deserve to live free from violence, to make an equal contribution in their economy and societies and to make and shape the decisions that affect their lives. UNAT must strengthen these aims and our collective efforts to achieve SDG 5 thank you.

I thank the District Delegates of the United Kingdom for their statement. I now give the floor to Switzerland followed by Canada. Switzerland, you have the floor. Madame La Vista Madam Deputy Secretary General President Executive Director Dear Colleagues, Switzerland reaffirms its firm commitment to a strong, effective and determinedly forward looking United nations system. We share the aim of a more efficient and country specific focused un.

As a member of the Executive Boards of UN Women, we intend to do everything in our power to achieve this goal, starting while preserving the mandate of UN Women. Reforms must be launched on the basis of solid analysis, reducing duplication and bureaucracy, fostering shared operational platforms and also strengthening synergies, particularly between humanitarian aid and development. In this regard, we would like to highlight the following points. First, we recall the importance of transparent sharing of information on the different work packages and issues of reform. This information is crucial to allow the Executive Boards to carry out their governance and supervision and oversight roles adequately.

Current budgetary pressures must not define the future of the UN and it should not fragment the system through hasty relocations. Efficiency gains must serve as a broader purpose to enable the UN system to truly act as one UN and ensure its normative role. Finally, the effectiveness of the reform of UN80 will be measured at the country level. For this reason, Switzerland will continue to support an integrated system of resident coordinators with the necessary resources and clear delegated authority. Thank you.

I thank the district delegate of Switzerland for their statement. I now give the floor to Canada, followed by Germany. Canada, you have the floor.

Merci.

Canada aligns itself with the joint statement made by Bulgaria and reaffirms its support for reforms that seek to improve results, increase operational effectiveness, consistency and accountability of the system, particularly in the current context of significant budgetary pressure. We'd recall that any assessment of structural reforms, including the idea proposed for a potential merger of UN women and the unfpa, should be carried out rigorously in a transparent and balanced way. The advantages, risks and options should all be presented clearly and analysed according to the best possible standards. Cannola understands the importance of preserving existing mandates. As everyone has said, any reform should guarantee the protection of mandates, governance mechanisms and accountability frameworks, given the different role that each entity plays.

We would also recall the essential role played by the Executive Board and the need to involve them early and a substantive way getting them on board in this process. Finally, Canada continued to ask for more clarity on the legal and procedural frameworks that would be related to how these options are considered so that they to ensure it is fully in line with the governance rules for the United Nations. Thank you very much.

I thank the digital gate of Canada for the statement and I'll give the floor to Germany followed by the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Germany have the floor.

Thank you very much. Mr. President, Madam Deputy Secretary General, Madam Executive Director of UN Women. First of all, thank you, Madam Deputy Secretary General for joining us today. Your presence in this session is highly appreciated. Germany aligns itself with the joint statement delivered by Bulgaria and makes the following remarks in its national capacity.

A key aim of the UN 80 initiative must be to strengthen the UN system ability to support support countries in achieving the SDGs. Saying that we understand that many of the UN 80 proposals as a continuation of the UNDS reforms of 2018. Beyond the merger discussions, we must not forget that UNAT entails many other important work packages for enhancing the agency's delivery and impact on the ground.

In particular, work on the configuration of country teams and on the role of resident coordinators is crucial. Structural reforms will only be credible if they result in stronger, more coherent UN country teams operating with fewer silos, led by empowered and well capacitated RCs guided by one cooperation framework aligned with national priorities. Germany also regards the regional reset as well as the plans for expertise on demand as critical enablers of success. Going forward, we would appreciate more information on how UN Women is contributing to these work packages. In closing, I would like to reiterate the importance of core and pooled funding and better aligning financial incentives with system wide results.

This requires also ensuring that pool funds have a governance system that makes them attractive to donors. With the majority of resources tightly earmarked, coordination and flexibility at country level will remain constrained. Thank you very much.

I thank the delegate of Germany for the statement. I now give the floor to the the Kingdom of the Netherlands followed by India

the NETHERLANDS thank you Mr. President and thank you Madam Dhg and Ed for your insightful interventions.

Just now, the Kingdom of the Netherlands aligns itself with the joint statement delivered by Bulgaria and we would like to add the following in our national capacity, we welcome the UN 80 initiative and the Secretary General's ambition to build a more coherent, efficient and future proof UN development system. Please allow me to make two points. First, recognizing that today's interconnected challenges require more coherent responses at the country level, we strongly support the focus on system wide UNDS reforms. In this context, could UN women share how it views the organization's role in the UN country team reconfiguration work package? In our view, a strong resident coordinator system is essential to ensure strategic leadership, reduce fragmentation across entities and enable integrated UN responses that deliver tangible results.

We therefore call on UN women to continue to contribute to strengthening the RC system. Second, as many others before me have alluded to, reforms must safeguard existing mandates and ensure their effective implementation. In this regard, while supporting ambitious reform through UN80, we need to weigh the outcomes of the assessment on a potential UNFPA UN Women merger to understand how this would potentially affect UN Women's unique triple mandate. This information is crucial for this board to be able to make informed decisions. Reform is important, but hard won gains in the area of gender equality and women's rights must not suffer as a result of it.

We cannot support any mergers or structural changes that would weaken the existing mandates or undermine the ability of entities to deliver on their core functions. Mr. President, in closing, the Kingdom of the Netherlands remains fully committed to the UN 80 initiative. If reforms contribute to a UN that delivers more, better and faster for those who rely on it most. Thank you.

I thank the distant delegates of the Kingdom of Netherlands for their statement and I'll give the floor to India followed by Brazil.

India, you have the floor. Mr. President, we take this opportunity to congratulate you on your election as a president of UN Women Executive Board Bureau for 2026 and assure you of India's full support and constructive engagement as a member of the Board. We also appreciate the presence of DSG and ED Executive Director, UN Women at this meeting. As the United nations advances the UN 80 initiative with its emphasis on renewal, efficiency and results driven multilateralism, India will look into the assessment once made available to examine the mandate review of UN women in a constructive and forward looking spirit. Our shared objective under UN80 must be to ensure that UN women emerges as a more impact oriented entity, delivering tangible results, thereby empowering the lives of women and girls, particularly in developing countries.

Going by the spirit of UNAT's call to move from process to performance, India believes that UN women's work must be firmly anchored in ground level implementation. While normative frameworks and policy dialogues are helpful, the balance must tilt towards action oriented programs in the field that translate commitments into measurable and tangible outcomes. Reducing over reliance on conferences, seminars, consultative processes. UN women should prioritize capacity building, skill development, service delivery resulting in tangible gains in health, education, nutrition, digital access and women's economic participation. The Executive Board has a critical role in guiding UN women toward results based delivery at scale.

India's own experience from women led self help groups to nationwide initiatives and financial inclusion, health insurance, sanitation, digital empowerment and entrepreneurship demonstrates that transformative change occurs when programs are locally adapted, nationally owned and implemented at scale. In an era of global liquidity constraints and shrinking development finance, UN80 calls for a disciplined focus on core mandates. India therefore stresses that UN women must avoid dilution of resources across peripheral or tangential issues. Strategic prioritization is essential to ensure efficiency, credibility and tangible impact. Programs must be demand driven, responding to nationally identified needs and priorities rather than shaped predominantly by donor preferences.

UN women must deliver what developing countries genuinely require, consistent with the unity objective of restoring trust and relevance in multilateral action. Thank you, Mr. President.

I thank the district delegates of India for their remarks. I now give the floor to Brazil followed by China. Brazil have the floor.

Thank you Madam DSG, Madam Executive Director, Mr. President, distinguished board members and observers. Brazil and UN Women share a long standing partnership and we remain committed to working closely. From Brazil's perspective, efforts to enhance administrative efficiency in the context of UN 80 are both legitimate and necessary. Such efforts, however, must not result in the redefinition, dilution or abandonment of mandates approved by Member States, nor should they undermine the operational capacity of entities such as UN women. With regard to a potential merger between UN women and unfpa, Brazil highlights the need for a transparent, evidence based and comprehensive assessment accompanied by by broad and consistent consultations with Member States and relevant stakeholders, including civil society.

Such an assessment must be grounded in compelling justification and consider a full range of options, including strengthened coordination mechanisms, expanded joint programming and other non merger solutions that could enhance efficiency while safeguarding existing mandates. It must include an analysis of risks involved, alternative options as well as implications for governance, funding, field presence and operational delivery. Such an assessment cannot be meaningfully undertaken under compressed timelines, nor should it disregard the significant risks associated with major institutional restructuring and particularly in the current global context. This process must under no circumstance weaken the UN's capacity to effectively support Member States in the area of population dynamics, sexual and reproductive health and rights and gender equality. UN, women's and UNFPA's mandates have been developed over many years.

They are complex, highly specialized and grounded in distinct normative and operational frameworks that must be preserved. Brazil remains committed to engaging constructively in these discussions. I thank you

I thank the District Delegate of Brazil for the statement. I now give the floor to China followed by the Republic of Korea. China, you have the floor, President.

I thank DSG Amina and the Executive Director Barhus for their briefings in the face of turbid international landscape Upholding materialism, Strengthening the UN Reforming and improving global governance represent the shared aspiration of all nations and the ultimate goal of the UN 80 reform initiative. China encouraged young women to actively participate in the reform process, making the 80th anniversary of the UN strengthening overall coordination and systematic planning and achieve genuine improvement in quality, efficiency and efficacy through reform to help address the risk and challenges facing the advancement of women globally. China, which stands by following three points. First, young women should advance its triple mandate in a balanced manner, prioritize the promotion of gender equality and empowerment of women. It should leverage its strengths and expertise item in duplication, enhance efficiency and resilience.

Second, the reform process should remain open and transparent, ensuring equal and effective participation of all Member States to build the broadest possible consensus. We hope the President will continue to foster cooperation through among Member States to adopt relevant documents by consensus and achieve pragmatic and effective reform outcomes. Third, the concept of emerging UN women and UNFPA should clarify its direction and objectives, uphold core mandates and ensure that reform outcomes benefit the long term development of the agencies and serve the common interest of Member States. We hope UN women will submit its assessment report and reform proposals to the Executive Board at the least opportunity for Member States to deliberate and make decisions. China sends right to continue participant constructively in discussions on reform process and working together with the broad membership, the UN and UN Women Executive Board Secretariat the ban's positive progress in reforms thank you, President.

I thank the District Delegate of China for their statement and now give the floor to the Republic of Korea, followed by France. Korea, you have the floor.

Thank you, Mr. President. The Republic of Korea fully recognizes that the current financial and geopolitical environment demands innovative thinking about how the UN system can better service its mandates. And we support the Secretary General's new vision for a more effective, coherent and efficient United Nations.

Having said that, as discussions advance, including on the potential integration of UN women and unfpa, my delegation wishes to register three clear expectations. First, any evaluation must be transparent, thorough and grounded in solid evidence demonstrating how proposed changes would enhance, not compromise, delivery for women and girls. Second, UN women's distinctive treatment mandates must be fully preserved. These are not administrative functions. They are the IRreplaceable foundation for UN Women's impact.

Third, the executive board must be engaged meaningfully throughout this process. Member States must be concerted only and substantively. We are encouraged by the Deputy Secretary General's participation today, and we believe this reflects a genuine commitment to inclusive and transparent governance going forward. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I thank the District Delegates of the Republic of Korea for the statement. I now give the floor to France, followed by Chuba. France, you have the floor.

Thank you, President Adami. To thank you, Madam DSG and Madam Executive Director, for your constant commitment. For 15 years now, UN Women, with its triple mandate, has embodied our collective will to act together for gender equality and women's empowerment. Today, in a particularly demanding context, we have no other choice but to transform. France would like to welcome the efforts of the UN women and its teams in carrying out often difficult internal reforms.

France encourages the agency to share more regularly an overall look at the efforts undertaken on budget functioning and human resources. UN80 is an opportunity to reinvent our multilateral system and to strengthen the impact of UN on the ground. France reaffirms its full support with for the wish of the Secretary General to build a system that is more legible and more effective for more impact. The envisaged merging of the agencies could contribute to this streamlining as long as it strengthens its leverage to service our ambition, our commitments, particularly in terms of gender equality, rather than doing the opposite. If the UNFPA and UN women are brought closer together, their mandates must be fully preserved so that we do not deconstruct what we've built over the last decades in order to take substantiated decisions.

It's crucial to have clear and objective analysis of the pros and cons of the different options. It is finally crucial that Member States be fully involved in the reflections led by the Secretariat, working with the agencies and their executive boards. The four conditions that. Madam dsg, you presented is very in line with France's vision. So you have our full support on this basis and at this time of far reaching reforms.

Thank you very much.

I thank the District Representative of France for the their statement and I'll give the floor to Chuba.

Madam dsg Executive Director. President. The Cuban delegation believes that it is very useful.

Cuba has always said that any reform process must fully respect the mandates agreed upon by Member States, ensuring the equal participation of developing countries in decision making, preserving the intergovernmental nature of the organization, and striking an appropriate balance between the organization's three pillars. Efficiency cannot be gained at the expense of representiveness or rationalization, nor can rationalization be achieved by weakening fundamental mandates. The UN80 initiative cannot just mean a race to the bottom. We must continue to ensure that the Agency achieves the outcomes we desire. Cuba notes that this is an ongoing process and we need to receive more information from the Secretariat so that we can achieve the best possible decisions.

Any merger must fully respect the mandates of the entities involved and it must be carried out through inclusive intergovernmental process. It must be fully transparent and participatory. In the current global context, the United nations must maximize its efficiency and impact, including through greater contribution to national, regional and international efforts to achieve gender equality and the empowerment of women. And you can certainly count on Cuba's support in that endeavour. Thank you.

I thank the District Delegates of Chuba for their statement. With that, we have had the last speaker on the list. I'll now invite Madam Amina Mohammed, the Deputy Secretary General, for her remarks and response. Madam Secretary. Deputy Secretary General.

Thank you very much. President. Let me begin first of all by deeply appreciating the response that we've had from the floor. Each and every one of you have given exactly what we were expecting, which is your concerns, but also your support for UN80. And as I've listened, I've heard France talk about the transformation and the reinvention that is required.

But I've also heard about the call across the board for transparency, for evidence based, for timely, for an intergovernmental process, for full engagement and more. And for this we're very grateful. But I know that you all know this, but let me just say it again. We are in a crisis. A Very deep crisis of confidence of the multilateral system.

The financing has demonstrated that in the deep cuts that we have seen that have affected women and children, girls and young people, and a real step back from solidarity for women's rights. So the disruption is already happening. And I think even as we speak, our UN offices are weakened to a point that it's very difficult with the best will in the world to push back against the pushback. And nowhere are we on track for goal five, let alone the other goals that affect us. Every other One of the 16 goals affect women and girls.

And the very commitments that we have made over the decades to the mandates are also fraying. And so we are facing existentially an attack on the values, on the principles and on the commitments we've made to frameworks through the decades.

The ambition that the SG has put on the table through not just the mergers, the UN 80 in the shifting paradigms, is to try to protect what we see disappearing very fast. And it's not just the cuts. It is the attack against the values and the principles. And you asked us for ambition. You asked us for less fragmentation.

We're building on reforms that we set nine years ago, for which boards and many of the member states who tried to push could not make happen. Our agencies are not doing the things that you talk about in other options, of working better together, of doing the big inefficiencies. They're not doing them. And that's in spite of what the boards have said. It's in spite of what the SG urges them to do, whether it's the CEB or myself or the unsdg, we are in a time of crisis where internally, if we do not save this space to serve humanity and more than half of it with women, girls and youth, then we won't have the agencies or the jobs to keep.

We have to make the case, because when we go out there, and I'm just coming back from the African Union summit, there is no doubt that the UN is something that is deeply respected and everyone wants to protect this space. But if we're asking for ambition, then we've also got to have a little bit of an excuse, excuse the expression. And you know, to the Dutch, we've got to have some Dutch courage. We really have to have courage. We have to have the courage of our convictions and we have to take the risks, because if we just sit and do nothing about it, it's going to be really horrendous.

I know that for my country, we are 242 million people, that's over 120 million people, women and girls. And when I go back at the end of this year, what am I going to say when I look at this building, that's the UN and I'm trying to make sure that what we have is reinforced country level response. Exactly what India said. That's where we need it. That's where we've felt the best on our humanitarian, on our development, even on our peace missions.

That unfortunately, without the investment we needed in development, there's no peace to keep. So while all else is collapsing in some pillars, this is the one that we can do something about. And that's really why we're putting this merger, these mergers both forward for your consideration. It's not a merger that we are negotiating. We're putting for consideration what is the potential of that happening?

If we take all the evidence, all the data that we have and we put it forward, the intention right at the very top is to protect the mandates. There's nothing wrong with the mandates except that we're in an environment that we can no longer deliver them effectively. And the data and the statistic tells you year in, year out, whether it's the high level political forum or it is the reports we do on the SDGs, we are 15, 17% towards the SDGs. If that's not failure, I don't know what is. We have five years to go and some are telling us, can we talk about the next set of goals?

We haven't even laid the foundation for the first set. But I believe what we're putting forward in all 31 packages is something that will strengthen us. It will help us to stay there, to serve humanity, the most vulnerable. And every one of you here is stressed one way or another, whether it is the resources you no longer have or the resources you're no longer getting. And so therefore your competing demands in domestic budgets are really, really high.

And that's a 24, 7 thing we all have to deal with. And so for us, it is about delivering these mandates better, protecting them to deliver. I can't give you assurances not to reopen mandates. SG doesn't reopen mandates, Member states do. So you need to talk to each other.

There's nothing wrong with these mandates. And so first things first, even in this difficult geopolitical climate, we can talk to each other across the aisles because women and girls matter. The mandates are okay. And so for me, it's for member states. How do you fight to protect them to make sure that that doesn't happen?

We Know you've done it before because that's what happened when we merged UN Women. So it was done. It's there. So whether we ask for a legal opinion or not a legal opinion, you did it before. This is a political commitment to say first things first.

Mandates at the very beginning are protected. They're okay. We're looking at a merger on how to deliver them better, how to put two mandates into one vehicle from the norms and the policy response that is required to the program delivery. And you know, that will be better because the fuel that we're putting in that vehicle is less. And I hope that the merger doesn't mean that we're going to get less resources.

The resources we have now we have to protect. And if we do better with the mergers, I'm sure that we're going to get more funding. It'll be an easier case to make when you see the impact of a vehicle that is going broader and deeper into the issues that we want to protect women and girls rights. So this is a process, a process to inform the SG's report. And we're hoping that, you know, we go to every constituents.

We've already been to civil society, we have been to the town hall of our staff. We have talked to you individually, collectively, PGA briefs. We've done it all and we will continue to do it because I is not enough. And as the information evolves and it's very difficult to get. This is the first time we've seen how difficult it is to get the data out of the system.

But as we give it to you transparently, we will give it to you. We will give you analysis. We did it with the footprints on the regional reset and the country configurations. So I hope that by the end of today at least you will have a frequently asked questions so that consistently you can go to that as a reference point for here for capitals. We hope that we will be able to give you the AS is assessment this week.

And we are constantly trying to do the best we can with it. It will always have to be revised because we're getting information and we're getting data on a daily basis. So we'll give you what we have and expect it to be revised from your input, but also from the data that we continue to try to, to try to do. The work of the executive board is already being done in terms of efficiencies because cuts are happening. So you're having to respond to that.

UN Women is already doing that. They're already right sizing themselves with what is happening. So we're not waiting for what the SG proposes. What the SG proposes is looking forward to saying we really need to protect this space. But already the disruption, already the cuts are happening.

So the executive boards and UN women with the strategy are working towards that. We know that with other agencies that have received big cuts. So the reforms as you address that is separate. But these what we are offering here in the 31 packages, we will continue to do that so that we are more efficient, we are more effective, we're responding to today's needs. We are building on the existing reforms.

We're not putting them aside. They were important reforms that difficult to achieve, as I have said. But we're looking at a better approach of how to get the job done with that. I think that the ambition that we've set out, I hope that we will meet this in due course. There are a number of questions that were asked in terms of how are these interlinkages, what's happening with the other work packages that affect the agenda of women's rights?

Well, the country configuration, absolutely. And what we're thinking here is reducing that footprint to the minimum that is required for the priorities of a state. And we see through the work that we've got that there are probably six or seven agencies that will always remain undp, unicef. And we do see that this merger of UN women and UNFPA would be one of those agencies that would be the core. We have the expertise on demand to say that specialized agencies are incredibly important.

Not always can they afford the overheads of being in countries. So they're often non resident. But we're saying if we need that expertise, how can we bring that demand to the country, co host it in one of the big agencies that are there and then have that response in a corporation framework and the support to government be better articulated? I think that this doesn't happen today because there are many issues around interoperability with the best will in the world. Some of our agencies cannot take the expertise from others.

It's very expensive and it takes almost impossible to get an agreement quicker to go to A. McKinsey. And that's what we're trying to stop to say, look, let's go to us first. Let's have the first refusal on the expertise across our system. And if we need to go out thereafter, then we go out. But let's actually use what we have best.

This is on the country configuration. We'll continue to work. We see that entry point there with the rest and coordinator that coordinates and convenes and facilitates and has a cooperation framework to guide, which is informed by a common country assessment. We need to find better ways to make sure that if that is the entry point for the configuration of countries, that there's a check and balance to make sure that all issues are addressed for the country. We have a regional reset in which we say, demand driven.

How do we make use of our footprint? But as we look at that footprint, we know it needs some alignment. We know that we've got to do something about 241 entities that are at the regional level, 88 of which are in Africa. We have to do something about that. Not diluting, not less, but making them work together more efficiently.

The overhead costs for every single agency and its presence are really high. So how do we consolidate that? And we will share it with you as we go along. The other aspects are, I would say we're looking at the resident coordinator and the humanitarian coordinator working more closely together. And that is within the context of the humanitarian reset.

That has worked well, but not well enough. And so we're trying to see how that can better be supported within the UN country team. Acknowledging, of course, the humanitarian response is one that has to be protected under international humanitarian law. On other aspects of it, there are what we are saying, the data commons, the knowledge piece, where we need to share that, and quite frankly, it's quite hard to do. Again, we're looking at the interoperability and the technology.

Today. Technology is perhaps one of the best things that has happened to us in that we are able to connect more efficiently and effectively where possible. But we have to make that work across the system. So we are looking at system wide at the headquarters level, but also at the regional and the country level. I think this is exciting times.

I think what we're putting on the table here is against all odds with this incredibly toxic environment that is so unpredictable that everywhere I go, everybody says to me, oh, we're so sorry. Oh, we're so sorry. I'm not sorry. I think that we can stand up to this, we can do this. But collectively, we need to do it as member states, as the UN system, as those who support us on the outside, who have been working with us as partners for decades.

And that's the narrative we need to get out there, is that we're ready to navigate these storms together and we will find the pathways. And I am, you know, really, I do appreciate the responses that you've given us, and we will try to get this information out to you as soon as we can. And I have to say that people are so concerned, they always have been to give you perfect. So crossing the T's and dotting the I's, because this family is diverse. How you read it on one side of the aisle is completely different from the other side.

And we have to give something that engages you and that doesn't become a distraction of, no, we can't do this. It has to be something that you feel excited about. And I can say that at the very beginning, when Seema and Dien were facing this, it was almost impossible for the first. We couldn't have a joint town hall meeting with the staff. Eventually we did, and it was one of the best town hall meetings that I have ever attended.

And we will have more of them speaking to civil society. Quite frankly, we just put our hands on our head because we knew we were going to come under a lot of pressure, and so we did. But what we got from that interaction with civil society has helped to inform some of the responses we've given to the questions that we have. It will continue to come through the door all the way until we give you a report that you will consider and you will decide. But let me be clear that what the SG has offered is the potential of a merger.

And if you see what is in what will, I'm sure there will be no surprises by the time you get that report. And that's what we hope through these consultations. But that potential of a merger, if you decide it's not good enough, you can come back and ask us for other options. But right now we are focused on a potential merger. And we will give you everything that we possibly can for you to make those decisions, to inform those decisions the best way that we know how.

You may take all of it, you may take half of it, you may actually chuck it all out. That's up to you. Our job right now is to have you accompany what we put into that report that comes to you. No surprises, but a reality check that there is a crisis and there's a crisis that will affect women and girls first. And that's what we have to protect.

And this is what we're trying to put on the table. So thank you and I very much look forward to the next opportunity that we will have in smaller groups and bigger groups. You know that the PGA will have a briefing that will take on more packages and maybe a specific focus on some. But this for me has been really important and I'm deeply appreciative. Thank you.

We thank the Deputy Secretary General for her response. May I now invite the Executive Director for any remarks? Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. President. And thank you all ambassadors and delegates here for your steadfast support to UN Women, which I heard this morning and also this afternoon.

My thanks also to the Deputy Secretary General for being with us here today and for your leadership also and guidance and for answering actually all the questions perhaps that were put on the table today in front of both of us. However, I think all these answers, whether we like them or not, whether you like them or not, are grounded in advancing the rights of all women and girls and in the commitment of the Secretary General, the Deputy Secretary General and ourselves to continue to look for the best options and for the best ways to achieve better impact on the ground for women and girls. This is the initial drive of all this issue. I also want to say that although it seems like this initiative or this potential merger or this potential report of an assessment is coming out because of problems of financing or efficiencies, no, as far as we are concerned, it is about impact, better impact for women and girls. Also, there are other issues that are related to finances and efficiencies that we have to look at as well.

This is one point I really wanted to make. One, two. I want to say that we are totally committed to transparency and as DSG just said, we will provide the information as we get it, as we finalize it, as we maybe in her own words, as we perfect it, because we did not want to share something that is still not perfect in ways and means of the write ups, how it is written, how it was thought about, what came from the assessment, what came from the interviews that have been done, etc. Etc. I outlined in my opening this afternoon what the assessment was about and how it went through.

So we will continue to be transparent. We will continue to want to engage with you transparently on these issues. And you, you know, as I said, you are our board. The decision, the final decision is yours. But our responsibility is to present to you whatever we are finding on the ground through this assessment and other work as well.

I also want to echo your concern as I also shared this morning on the need to protect the mandates. That is key for us as well. And you just heard from the DSG as well, mandates of both UN Women and unfpa. I assure you that mandate protection has been treated as a red line throughout this whole analysis. Any pathway, and we've said it many times, dsg, myself and Diane, but more importantly the Secretary General himself, he said that any pathway would that would imply dilution of mandates or reopening or weakening of commitments under the ICPD or under Beijing or under the Charter or under the mandate itself.

Both of them that came will not be acceptable and will be of the highest risks as we move forward. And this is how we are going to flag it. So safeguarding the existing mandates is key for us, including their legal basis, their substantive integrity, also central to the assessment framework that we are working on. And as I said, the Secretary General has been categorical mandates must not be renegotiated or diluted. So if we proceed with a potential merger or any other, also because other options also might include looking at the mandates and so on and so forth, we will need member states to stand with us if we want this commitment realized that mandates will not be reopened, will not actually be opened and will not be diluted.

I think this is as was mentioned also I feel that I'm repeating, but I will repeat, this is also possible. We have seen it happen. When UN Women was created 15 years ago, four entities came together, I think seamlessly and without any issue and without opening the mandates, which is the most important part of that. And that was done by the General assembly, by member states themselves. So let us be just.

I would advise that let us be open once you see the report, which I think will be presented in draft form end of February. So we will share that report also with you. We still don't have it. I don't have it. I don't know if DSG has it.

I don't think so. But we don't have. We will share and we will share whatever we also have. DSG will also we will share tonight the Frequently Asked questions. We do have the AS IS document ready, but it's still a few things here and there that need to be perfected again, as I said, but we will share it this week, if not even maybe tomorrow asap.

I heard some of my colleagues behind me saying tomorrow, tomorrow we will share it. I also heard your concerns about country level work. And this too is something we are considering very carefully. When we discuss and when we look at this assessment, we will not recommend anything, and I repeat, we will not recommend anything that may in any way harm the critical work of both UNFPA and UN Women that we are delivering at country level on the ground for women and girls. After all, whatever is being done here in this reform or in this assessment is for women and girls on the ground in their country.

So this is something that is a core principle for us and the core principle also of the assessment to safeguard country level delivery and to ensure continuity of life saving and essential services, particularly in the humanitarian, in the fragile situations, in conflict affected areas. And also as you have, many of you have highlighted WPS as well. Women, Peace and Security I was, how shall I say, we need to continue. We will. We are looking at that.

Women, Peace and Security Our friend, I think from, I don't remember who said it. What will happen to csw, CSW and ICPD and others will continue to be if any option is taken and if the potential merger happens, it will be one entity that is taking care of all these things, CSW and other issues. So this is something. But again, I think we will continue to need your support support. We will continue to need your looking with us on the best options available or on the best option for a merger.

And also we will continue, we will continue to need your funding and your support as we move forward. And I think that a strong entity for women and girls regardless is going to also need more of your support and more of your of your financing as we move forward into this crisis that we are facing. We spoke this morning a lot about the many crises that women and girls are facing around the world. So any future configuration, whatever you decide, must strengthen, not disrupt country level operations and it must also strengthen our collaboration in line with national priorities. You have asked for legal guidance from the Office of the Legal affairs on potential merger pathways available and to be made available.

So we will ensure that we will provide that once we provide some of the thinkings in the report, in the draft report and then we will also try to offer as soon as possible to inform your deliberations. And I echo the DSG also in making myself fully available for any consultation, any answering questions. I am sure the frequently asked questions maybe have left off one or two or three questions that are still on your mind. Happy to answer if, if I have the answer. And also I am happy to meet with you, our board, with civil society, broader constituencies of your member states who are also critical to our work.

I also want to say that I will take the opportunity of CSW 70 that is coming up to meet and to discuss and to present and to hear also from all your delegations on what we are doing and how we are going to continue to move forward with this. So my dear Excellencies, I know it's been a long afternoon and a long day also, but as ED of UN women, I want to assure you that my only and my first priority is to deliver for women and girls. And I think it is your priority as well as what we have heard also from DSG. And it is also the SG's priority. So as you have mandated us to do, so if through a merger we can do more effectively, we can be more efficient with greater impact and reach, then we must give it our best consideration at this point.

And I will stop here and thank you again for being here with us, for being our board, for being our guidance, and also for being our thought process. Because the more you talk to us, the more we talk to each other, the more thinking we do on what really is best for women and girls around the world. So thank you again very much.

I thank the Executive Director for the comprehensive response. I think we have come to the conclusion of this item.

Our next agenda item will be 3 on audit matters. Under this item, the Board will be briefed on the UN Women financial report and audited financial statements. The report and the report of the Board of Directors. Auditors, rather, Board of Auditors, in addition to the executive.

Let's allow them to leave the podium. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you, Madam. Thank you.

Okay. Okay. Yeah. Thank you.

Yeah. So let's proceed. Sorry for that interlude. Agenda item three, audit matters.

The Board will be briefed on the UN Women Financial report and audited financial statements and the report of the Board of Auditors. In addition to the Executive Director, Deputy Executive Directors and the Board Secretary. I'm pleased to welcome the following colleagues on the podium. The first one being Mauricio Wanderle, Director of External Audit, UN Board of Auditors. We also honored to have Anna Karin Jatforce, Director of the Strategy, Planning, Planning, Results and Effectiveness Division, and Johanna Clark, the Chief Finance Officer, Director and Interim of the Finance and Administration Division.

I would now like to invite Deputy Executive Director Kisi Madi for her introductory remarks without much ado. Madam Deputy Executive Director, please, the floor is yours.

Thank you very much, Mr. President, distinguished delegates and Director of the UN Board of of Auditor and esteemed colleagues who are here also from UMBWA team. I'm honored to be able to open this agenda item on audit matters. I wish to recognize and appreciate the UN Board of Auditors for their ongoing constructive partnership with UN Women.

It's very much appreciated. Despite the challenges, and we have been this morning, this afternoon, talking about the challenges that is facing the system, facing women and girls and gender equality and realizations of women's rights. Despite all those challenges, including the resource challenges, UN Women remains firmly committed to strong accountability and disciplined operations. Our 14th consecutive unqualified audit opinion, which many of you mentioned and appreciated this morning and the five years without any long outstanding audit recommendations speak to UN Women's dedication to rigorous oversight. And I really want to appreciate all of my colleagues and the teams across the organization for this.

This sustained performance strengthens UN Women's credibility as a reliable partner to all of you, to the Executive Board, to member States at large, civil society, private sector and the entire UN system in advancing the rights and opportunities of women and girls globally. As we have discussed in previous Board sessions during the previous years, we are dedicated to continuous improvement in accountability and performance. In this regard, we are strategically enhancing our systems, streamlining business processes to maximize efficiency and reinforcing second line oversight and capacity. We have continued to enhance our enterprise risk management maturity anchored in the three lines model to embed risk informed decision making at all levels of the organization.

The recommendations of the UN Board of Auditors provide us with invaluable guidance to further strengthen our internal governance, our risk management and operational effectiveness. These efforts ensure that fiduciary responsibility and integrity remain central to all of our work. This afternoon, my colleague, Ms. Johanna Clark, Chief Finance Officer and Director at Interim in the Division of Finance and administration, and Ms. Anna Karin Yadfors, Director of Strategy, Planning, Results and Effectiveness Division, will present the 2024 financial statements. They provide an update on the revision of the UN Women's financial regulations and rules and will share an updated management response to the recommendations of the Board of auditors. Thank you, Mr. President.

Thank you very much. Madam Deputy Executive Director, distinguished delegates, we shall now hear a presentation, the report of the Board of Auditors on the financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2024 by Mr. Mauricio Wanderley, followed by a presentation on UN Women Management Highlights of Financial Performance by Johanna Clark. Ms. Clark will also use that opportunity to to brief the Board on the revised financial regulations and rules. Mr. Mauricio, Wonderland give you the floor. Thank you, Mr. President.

Madam Executive Director. Madam Deputy Executive Director, It's a pleasure to be here again to this formal meeting on behalf of the Board of Auditors. I will present the results of the External audit of UN Women's financial statement to the year ended 31 December 2024. Today's presentation will focus on three the audit opinion, the main findings and the status of implementations of audit recommendations, highlighting the points that I believe are the most relevant to your governance and oversight role. Next, please.

For the financial year ended 31 December 2024, the Board of Auditors issued an unqualified audit opinion on UN Women's financial statements. This means that the financial statements present fairly in all material respects UN women's financial position, performance and cash flows in accordance with international public sector accounting standards. The unqualified opinion reflects audit work performed across headquarters and selected country and regional offices and confirms that no material misstatements were identified. Next please. The audit was conducted as a global risk based audit focusing on areas of higher risk materiality and relevance to UN women's operations.

Our approach combined interim and final audit work including substantive testing of transactions, assessment of internal controls and review of accounting policies and key estimates. Next please. As I mentioned, audit missions were carried out at headquarters in New York where key financial and operational processes are centralized. In addition, the audit included visas to Kenya's country office and two regional offices in Africa. In these offices, the audit focused on implementing partner selection monitoring given the importance to program delivery and financial management.

Next please. Based on the scope and audit procedures performed, the Board identified no significant errors, omissions or misstatements in UN women's financial statements. However, the Board identified room for improvement in two key program partners and financial management.

I start presenting findings related to program partners. Next please. The first main finding relates to assurance activity processes. The objective of assurance activities is to confirm that resources transferred to implementing partners are utilized for their intended purposes and in compliance with the terms of the agreements. Despite the improvements made in recent years in the application of the new framework, the Board observed delays in finalizing work plans and a reduction in audit coverage which may compromise the timely detection of non compliance.

Next please. Another main findings relates to the second line of defense. The audit revealed deficiencies in the second line's role in program partner selection and monitoring, marked by unclear guidance and ad hoc oversight and insufficient support leading to gaps in accountability and adherence to norms. In this regard, we recommend UN women clarify the second line responsibilities. Next please.

The third key finding that I would like to bring to your attention relates to the partners management. The Board identified that the management system does not provide a comprehensive review of each partner's engagement history, considering that the Strategic Plan position partners as essential to achieving its objectives. This raised concerns that systemic risks, recurring issues and long term partner development cannot be effectively tracked, reducing transparency and accountability. Next please. The four main findings concern to the operational reserve.

Specifically that UN women has not updated the reserve level defined by the executive board since 2018. Given the role of the operational reserve in addressing resource shortfalls, cash flow, volatility, cost overruns and other contingencies, there are concerns that the disclosed amount may not adequately reflect current operational needs and financial risks. Next please. As at 31 December 2023, there were 14 outstanding recommendations from the 2022 and 2023 audits. Of these, 43% had been fully implemented and 27% were under implementation.

It remains to be implemented. Eight recommendations in 2024 report A total of 30 recommendations were issued bringing the total number of recommendations to 38. Next please. I would like to thank UN Women Management and staff for their cooperation and collaborative environment that was created with us and the Executive Board for its engagement. We are pleased to answer any question you may have.

Thank you, Mr. President. I thank Mr. Wanderley for his presentation and I'll give the floor to Ms. Johanna Clark. Johanna Clark thank you so much, Mr. President, Mr. President, Executive Director, Deputy Executive Director, Distinguished Ambassadors, Delegates and colleagues. Today it is my pleasure and privilege to present to you and share the highlights of UN Women's financial statements for the year ended 31st of December 2024 prepared in full compliance with the International Public Sector Accounting Standards. Next slide please.

This is the 14th unqualified audit opinion on the UN Women's Financial Statements and I would like to acknowledge the contribution of every UN Women country, office, Regional office and Headquarters section to achieve this significant annual result. Next slide please. The total revenue decreased by 16% to $520 million mainly due to 95 million reduction in net contribution revenue to other resources. UN Women closed the year with an accounting deficit of 100 million compared to a 79 million surplus in 2023 resulting in a corresponding reduction in net assets. The deficit should not be interpreted as an indication of negative financial performance, rather it reflects the timing differences inherent in UN Women's accounting treatment of revenue and expenses.

Contribution revenue is recognized in full at the time of donor agreements are signed including for multi year contributions, while related expenses are incurred over subsequent years as funds are received and actively designed immediately implemented. Accordingly, expenses in 2024 largely relate to resources mobilized and recognized in revenue in prior years and were incurred in accordance with approved work plans and donor agreements.

UN Women monitors contributions performance using two revenue recognized in compliance with IPSAs, closely approximating the value of contribution agreement signed and actual cash received from donors referred to as contribution received or income. Contribution revenue to regular resources declined by 10% to $98 million 2023. This reflects both real reductions and cyclical nature of contributions to regular resources as multi year agreements with biggest funding partners are frequently negotiated and signed at the start of the strategic plan cycle causing contributions revenue to pick up in those years, followed by decline in the subsequent years. Cash received for regular resources decreased by 8% to $152 million. This was due to a combination of both reduction in amounts received and the strengthening of US dollar, which decreased the value of contributions received in other currencies.

Contributions Revenue to other resources declined by 20% to $381 million. The decrease is partially attributable to amendments to contributions signed in prior years, including those resulting from scope of selected program activities as well as adverse foreign exchange movements. By contrast, cash received for other resources increased to $430 million, up from $338 million in 2023, largely reflecting the receipt of funds committed under agreements signed in previous years. In addition to contributions, UN women also has other revenue comprised primarily of investment income and miscellaneous revenue. In 2024, investment revenue increased by 38% to 29 million, reflecting the favorable market conditions and higher interest rate environment.

Next slide, please. UN women's funding continues to rely overwhelming on voluntary contributions, primarily from governments, UN system organizations, including interagency pooled funds, multilateral organizations, and the private sector. In 2024, voluntary contributions represented 92% of the total revenue. This is similar to 2023, when voluntary contributions accounted for 95% of the total revenue. The remaining 8% came from assessed resources contributed by member states, the United nations investment revenue and miscellaneous revenue governments remained UN women's largest donor group, contributing 61% of the total contributions in 2024.

However, this is lower than in 2023, when government contributions accounted for 68% of the total. UN organizations became stronger funding partner in 2024, increasing their share of total contributions to 25%, up from 19% in 2023. UN organizations was also the only donor group with the year on year increases in revenue recognized in 2024 of $13 million. This trend highlights UN Women's strong alignment with UN reform principles, particularly the emphasis on deeper interagency collaboration to advance the Sustainable Development Goals. Next slide please.

Expenses funded from regular resources increased by 18% to 256 million in 2024, up from 216 million in 2023. This increase reflect the use of prior year carry forward balances to scale up program delivery and implement priority corporate initiatives by country vehicle offices and headquarter units. Expenses funded from other resources increased by 12% to $400 million compared to $358 million in 2023. This increase was driven mainly by implementation of program activities funded with resources from agreements signed in prior years. Program partner expenses accounted for nearly half of the increase, highlighting the continued emphasis by UN women on partner led delivery.

Next slide please. UN Women's assets comprise primarily cash and cash equivalents, investments and contributions receivable. Total liabilities consist some accounts payable and mainly post employment benefit obligations. UN women has no loans or borrowings. The post employment benefit obligations are fully funded as of 31st December 2024.

Next slide please. Now turning into the segment on updates on the UN Women financial rules and regulations. As discussed in the second regular session last year, a key objective of the review was to ensure the regulations adequately reflect any organizational changes, particularly in how UN women has evolved from a project based approach to more programme orientated structure. The proposed revisions will modify references throughout the regulations to acknowledge this shift in focus. This existing language regarding UN women receives from UN regular budget has been updated to ensure consistency across the document.

Specifically, references to assessed contributions have been replaced with funding from regular budget of the United Nations. In line with the mechanisms available to UN women, new regulations have been proposed to define authority, reporting structures and responsibilities of independent evaluation, audit and investigation services. Aligning the regulations and rules governing internal audit and evaluation functions with other funds and programs. This amendment reflects the growing importance of internal evaluation, audit and investigation services in safeguarding the financial integrity of UN women's operations that these new regulations will subject to modification only by the Executive Board, Ensuring high level oversight and accountability Accountability in order to enhance the clarity of trust fund administration, two new regulations are proposed to standardize the process for creating and managing trust funds. This is consistent with the practices adopted by other UN entities and will streamline the operational procedures for managing these resources.

Reflecting UN Women's evolving approach to programming, the revisions introduce more precise language to distinguish between program and project, ensuring that the organization's focus on sustainable long term programming is adequately captured in the financial regulations. The language related to procurement has been revised to reflect contemporary practices and replaced outdated references. Additionally, regulation governing the management and disposal of assets have been separated from procurement to improve clarity and aligned with best practices in other UN organizations.

New regulations have been proposed specifically to address the use of financial assistance or grants in program and project activities as this was identified as a cap in the existing regulations. These regulations acknowledges the growing role of grants in both UN Women's programme divvilli and trust fund management. Finally, given that no UN women specific pledging concerns have taken place for several years and that UN women now participate in the ECOSOC Pledging conference, the regulation related to pledging conferences is proposed for deletion as an obsolete regulation. The revised financial regulations and rules are presented to aim enhanced transparency, efficiency and accountability of UN Women's financial operations by aligning with the border UN system and responding to the evolving needs of the organizations. These changes will help to ensure that UN Women remains agile and effective in its mission to advance gender equality and empowerment of women.

These updates reflect a commitment to continuous improvement and integration of best practices across the UN System. Since the previous session, the proposed revised regulations were shared with the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions with the silent hearing held on 1 December 2025. The report of the advisory committee was received on 2 February 2026 and its recommendations that have been carefully reviewed and addressed. Thank you, Mr. President, distinguished members, this concludes our update. Thank you, Johanna, for that wonderful presentation.

I would now like to invite Anna Karen Jatfors to brief the Board on the updated status of UN Women management actions to address outstanding audit recommendations. Anna, the floor is yours. Thank you, Mr. President, Excellencies, distinguished delegates, directors from the UN Board of Auditors. Dear colleagues, good afternoon to all of you and on behalf of UN Women, it's my pleasure to present our management response to the 2024 report of the Board of Auditors. Next slide please.

So today I will just provide a brief overview of the Board of Auditors report, UN Women's efforts to implement the Board's recommendations, and perhaps most importantly, the positive impacts we have observed across the organization from doing so. So allow me to begin by saying that we are very proud to have received our 14th consecutive audit opinion from the UNBOA. And as our Executive Director mentioned earlier, this also marks our fifth consecutive year without having any long outstanding recommendations. And this is really reflective of management's strong commitment to ensuring full and timely implementation of all audit recommendations and having effective oversight. Out of the recommendations issued, three have already been assessed as implemented by the Board.

We now as of today, have actions for eight more that have been completed and one has been overtaken by it. So with regards to the remaining recommendations, these largely focus on entity wide initiatives such as system enhancements, internal policy revisions and strengthening of a second line oversight. And these often require faced and well coordinated investments and in some cases dedicated resources, but also alignment with broader organizational system investments and governance reforms. So, turning now to the impact of implementing the Board's recommendations, which has led to measurable improvements across UN Women. First, we have enhanced accountability and performance by having rigorous risk based partner selection, introducing standardized documentation for project level oversight and periodic remote monitoring.

Second, we've strengthened internal controls with improved payment reconciliations and advancements in risk management that includes explicitly tracking partner related risks. Third, with our upgraded transparency portal, we now have access to resource allocation and expenditure data linked to results directly, as well as meaningful data visualizations for enhanced transparency. Fourth, we continue to strengthen our collaboration with external partners, revised partner agreements with national committees and program partners, align our reporting standards and embed clear environmental targets for mutual accountability. Fifth, under business transformation, the consolidation of management data in our ERP system Quantum ensures rigorous oversight and helps us to optimize resource allocation here. We've also benefited from the introduction of real time dashboards to support timely data driven management decision making.

And last but not least, we continue to invest in systems, operational guidelines and targeted capacity building for our staff and partners to drive program effectiveness. A key achievement here is our new results management system, prism. It's grounded in our corporate results framework which integrates planning, monitoring and reporting to drive evidence based delivery of results. So put together, these measures have enabled us to take timely and data informed decisions to make sure that we uphold the highest standards of integrity, internal governance and financial stewardship. So, in conclusion, we can go back.

Thank you. In conclusion, our 14th consecutive unqualified opinion, unqualified audit opinion and five years of no long outstanding recommendations reflect our continued drive for operational excellence and enhanced oversight. We will continue to strengthen our management systems and practices to ensure audit and risk informed decision making. For us, this is not just critical to continue to improve our organizational effectiveness, but also to ensure that we remain well equipped to meet emerging challenges to deliver measurable and sustainable impact in support of our triple mandate for women and girls. Mr. President, this includes our presentation.

I want to thank the Executive Board for your continued guidance and support and looking forward to answering any questions you may have. Back to you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Anna, for your comprehensive and informative presentation. At this juncture, I open the floor for Member States interventions.

Those wishing to intervene, please press the button on the microphone. My first speaker. No way. Please. We have the floor.

Mr. President, I have the honor of delivering this statement on behalf of Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Luxembourg, the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom and my own country, Norway. We would like to thank the UN Board of Auditors for their insightful recommendations which provide valuable guidance for UN women to further strengthen its structures and systems as well as informing Executive Board decisions, overall governance and providing assurance to the wider community of stakeholders. We welcome the 14th unqualified opinion that UN Women received on this financial statement for 2024. We note that UN Women reports a deficit of US$100million in 2024 caused by increased costs and declining revenues. This requires continued close monitoring of the organization's financial situation going ahead.

We also note that the Board of Auditors identified scopes for improvement in certain areas. First, UN Board of Auditors recommends UN Women to update its procedures for calculating and approving the annual operational reserves. We appreciate that UN Women prioritizes this and has reported that the procedure is under development with expected completion in the first quarter of 2026. Second, the UN Board of Auditors observed weaknesses in the design and application of the procedure for the assurance of program partners affecting reliability or expenditure reporting, which again increases the risk of potential irregularities going undetected. Could you provide us with an update on the progress of implementation of UN Board of Auditors recommendations on this topic?

Third, we find it worrisome that UN Board of Auditors finds a lack of clarity and structure regarding the role of the second line with respect to the selection and monitoring of program partners as well as the absence of an integrated and comprehensive partner profile within the management system. Establishing centralized record of partner profiles is essential to ensure that important data such as historical performance, risk based capacity assessments, risk registers and evaluations is shared and made accessible across the entire organization. This will strengthen the decision making process for partner selection and make the process more transparent. Furthermore, it would reinforce the organization's risk management system. We urge UN Women to implement UN Board of Auditory's recommendations in a timely manner.

Fourth, the UN Board of Auditors observes insufficient integration of partner risk information into the organizational risk management framework. The lack of integration of risk related information represents a weakness that limits the systematic use of partner risk data within the overall risk management framework. This may result in incomplete risk assessments which in turn may prevent appropriate mitigation measures from being identified, potentially affecting program delivery. We appreciate UN Women's work in addressing these shortcomings. Lastly, we recall UN Board of Auditors recommendation to evaluate the methodology used for the distribution rates of core resources at all governance levels and furthermore the recommendation to establish criteria for the distribution of core support from regions to country offices.

We would appreciate an update on the implementation of these recommendations. We thank UN Women for his continued work for improvement, for his management response and for the updates on the status of the implementation of recommendations. I thank you President.

I thank the District Delegate of Norway for her comments. I now give the floor to Australia.

Thank you, Australia.

She didn't go on the floor. Okay, sorry about that.

No more comments. May I now request the Secretariat for.

Thank you very much Norway for the excellent questions in relation to the operational Reserve. We have drafted a procedure which is currently undergoing the review procedures to be finalized before the year end audit for 2025 financial statements and we have updated the calculation for 2025 as well and that is undergoing review processes as we speak as part of the 2025 financial statement finalisation processes. So we do understand the importance of this topic. I would like to highlight that in the time that we have had the operational reserve, we have never needed to withdraw funds from it. If we were to do so we would need to update the Executive Board and advise accordingly as to what it was used for.

But it was obviously important that we do have the adequate reserves and we do monitor it every year and formal procedures being put in place place. Thank you so much and I'll hand back over to E. Thank you. Hannah, please can have the floor. Thank you very much to the distinguished delegates from Norway on behalf of a group of countries. Yes.

So allow me to respond to some of the questions, particularly with regards to the standardized approach to the second line of defense. I want to begin by saying that this is an area where we've made a lot of progress and achievements more broadly, specifically in making sure that across all of our procedures and internal policies, not only linked partner management but across the board, we have clearly defined roles and responsibilities between the first and the second line of defence. And you will see that also articulated in the recent procedures on partner management. We just had a procedure last week promulgated on the assurance cycle for partners which also had clearly defined roles and responsibilities. We further look to strengthen the actual monitoring of how those roles are being fulfilled by embedding second line roles into our quarterly business review.

That's our QBR process and in fact we have now rolled out the QBR also to the regional level. Similarly with the risk management committees, we are also rolling that out with regional risk management committees that will have a more systematic periodic monitoring of risks. That's in addition to the strengthening of important regional capacities in the regional office level, including with regards to strategic planning, program partner management, procurement and other areas, as well as capacity building for offices to make sure that they can exercise those secondhand roles. With regards specifically to the integration of risk related partner risk related data into products and programs. In fact action has been completed on that and that's one of the recommendations that have already been closed by the unboa.

And very concretely what that means into our ERM framework is that we both have now mandatory risk based partner assessments which inform Product level risk registers and product level risk registers in turn inform our program, that's our strategic note or country program risk registers, and we have embedded that erm, process, those risk registers as part of the planning process. So it's not a standalone risk management process, but it's now part and parcel of our planning in line with our PMR policy there. I think there's some work that we have yet to fully complete, particularly when it comes to the system and making sure that we also have the singular partner profiles. But that's on track and will be completed in the coming months. Specifically, with regards to the questions on core resources, both between regions and within regions, we of course recall the recommendation from the UN Board of Auditors with regards to the former between regions.

We of course recognize that only the Executive Board has the authority to make any changes to the said formula. That said, internally, as UN management, we have committed to reviewing risks, possibilities, various options and provide some internal analysis. So that work is underway and we expect to close that recommendation ahead of the BoA deadline, which is. Which is in Q2 of this year. With regards to the distribution of resources from the regions to the country level.

This is also work, in fact, that has been completed, I believe, pending assessment, foreclosure. But we have a tool called the Core Resource Allocation Tool that As of the 2026, 27 biannual work plans is now embedded and mandatory as part of the work, of course, the Regional Director's delegation to take ultimate decisions. But any deviation from the tool needs to be duly documented and justified. So I believe I have responded to all the remaining questions. Thank you.

Thank you. Anna Karin, dsd. Thank you. Please have the floor.

Thank you so much, Mr. President.

I just wanted to take the floor. I mean, I think Joe and AK covered the questions. I really want to appreciate Norway and all the, the delegations who associated with the statement. I just wanted to very shortly say, in UN women, we are really embracing the culture of continuous improvement. We are also very humble, noting where the shortcomings are, which are the areas that we need to address and work on.

But you know, it's continuous working in progress. One of the areas is the second line of defence. In general, we have already worked, we have already reinforced the capacity. So clarity on the accountabilities, clarity on the capacities, ensuring that those who have the second line of defence, that they have the adequate capacity in place, these are all priorities for us. So I just want to assure you, I think the mechanisms that we put in place from the transparency portal, from the Quarterly Business Review that now also follows in the Business Review Committee, but also follows with bilateral discussions that my colleague Naraza and myself are holding with the Regional Directors to look at the progress and look at the challenges and find ways to remedy those.

So these are all elements on our path to continuously improve how the organization is working. And obviously we will be implementing, as always, the recommendations of the Board of Auditors and giving them the highest priority in implementation. And I just want to also conclude by thanking Mauricio Vandeley, the Director Board of Auditors, as well as to recognize the two colleagues, Tiago Dutra and Anna Paola Sampaio, both of them Deputy Directors. The collaboration and your partnership is very important. It is a continuous learning, learning and improvement for all of us.

Thank you. Thank you, Kissy, for the response. And I thank the Secretariat for your response. Let us now turn to unitem 4. This is on JIU.

Review of governance and Oversight of the Executive Boards of the undp, unfpa, UN ops, UNICEF and UN Women. Under this agenda item, the Board will receive an update on the progress made so far. In addition to the Executive Director, the Deputy Executive Directors and the Secretary, I'd like to invite the following Mohammed Nasiri, Chief of Staff and Lorena Maria Ferruti, Member of the JIU Working Group and Minister Councillor with the Permanent Mission of Romania. I'm pleased to invite a representative of Jiu Working Group, the District Delegate of Romania, Ms. Lorena Maria Veruta, to provide us with an update on the progress made so far. After the update, I will open the floor for your questions and comments.

Ms. Lorena Maria Ferruta, the floor is yours.

Thank you so much, Mr. President, distinguished members of the Executive Board. Next slide, please. Allow me to begin by recalling that the Joint Working Group Group was mandated to study and report on the recommendations contained in the Joint Inspection Unit Report and to develop actionable strategies for their implementation where appropriate and necessary, with a view to strengthening governance and oversight across the participating Executive boards. At the second regular session of 2025, the executive boards further requested the Joint Working Group to deliver on its Monday date in accordance with the approved roadmap and without delay, and to present timely and concrete proposals for the consideration of the Boards as appropriate. The Boards also also encourage the Working Group to take into account developments and reform proposals emanating from the UN Initiative, with a view to ensuring synergies.

Next slide, please.

Since the previous update, the Joint Working Group has entered an active and substantive phase of its work. During this period, the Group has continued its analysis of both the formal and informal recommendations contained in the GIU report. In particular with regard to Recommendation four on Standing committees, the Group conducted this research on existing practices in multilateral organizations with a specific focus on the UN system, where the establishment of subcommittees were explicitly referenced in the GIU report. Based on this analytical work, the Joint Working Group circulated two batches of questionnaires to the agencies. The first batch focused specifically on the recommendations related to standing committees, while the second batch covered the remaining recommendations.

Next slide please. With regard to the questionnaire, the Joint Working Group received responses from 12 units across UNDP, UNFPA, UNOBS, UNICEF and UN WOMAN. The responses were detailed, thoughtful and substantive, and the Group would like to express its appreciation to the Agency for their constructive engagement. The Group has begun analyzing these responses to inform its further deliberations while the analysis is ongoing. The preliminary assessment indicates a number of common themes emerging from the agency inputs in general agencies knowledge that in principle, the establishment of subcommittees could allow for a more expensive experts detailed and thoughtful examination of audit risk, finance and budget matters at Board level.

At the same time, agencies consistently underline important concerns and constraints, including the risk of duplication with existing oversight mechanism, the need for clear mandates and appropriate sequencing, as well as resource and services implications. The potential added value of any such arrangement is therefore widely seen as contingent on careful design and alignment with existing frameworks. To further inform its work, the Joint Working Group intends to hold targeted interviews with specific units within the agencies as well as with the word full Program Executive Board, which operates with Standing Committee arrangements. These exchanges with aim to explore practical ways to address concerns and bottlenecks identified in the responses before the Group formulates any proposals for the consideration of the Executive Boards. Next slide please.

Turning to the second batch of questionnaires, these were addressed to the Secretariat of the Executive Boards and circulated on 12.12.20 with an initial deadline of 15.01.2026. The Secretariat subsequently informed the Group that they would be unable to meet this timeline due to their intensive engagement in the UN at process as well as preparations for the first regular session of the Boards. In this context, the Joint Working Group agreed to the proposal that responses to the second batch of questionnaires be submitted by 28 February 2026. The group noted the importance of strict adherence to this revised deadline in order to allow the ORG plan to proceed as scheduled. Next slide, please.

As regards the work plan for 2026, the Joint Working Group intends to present initial preliminary observations and possible directions as the annual session of 2026 for consultation and feedback from the Executive Boards. The Group then aims to submit its report at the second regular sessions of 2026 for the board's consideration and any subsequent action as deemed appropriate. Should any adjustment to this timeline become necessary, the Joint Working Group will inform the Boards accordingly and in a timely manner. Mr. President, President, distinguished members, the Joint Working Group remains fully committed to delivering on its mandate in a transparent, inclusive and tiny manner and looks forward to continue engagement with Executive Boards as the work progresses. Thank you.

I thank Dorina for that comprehensive update. I now open the floor for Member States interventions with respect to the aforementioned agenda item by pressing the button on your microphone.

I give the floor to the representative of the United Kingdom.

Thank you, Mr. President. And thank you, members of the JRU Working Group and distinguished members of the Executive Board. I am presenting this statement on behalf of Albania, Australia, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Georgia, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Japan, the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Montenegro, New Zealand, Norway, Republic of Bulgaria, Republic of Croatia, Republic of Korea, Slovakia, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine and my own country, the United Kingdom. We thank the Joint Working Group for the update and would like to express our appreciation to all its members for the time and commitment they continue to invest in advancing this important process on behalf of the Executive Boards. The implementation of the JRU recommendations remains a critical endeavour to strengthen governance and oversight across our Executive Board and in doing so enhance the effectiveness and credibility of our work.

Our shared objective is to make Board processes and working methods as efficient and harmonized as possible, while fully preserving robust oversight and accountability mechanisms. Over the past year, much of the Working Group's efforts focused on establishing itself, defining its working methods as well as other supporting documents. Against this background, we particularly welcome the progress made since the second regular session 2025, notably the preparation and circulation of questionnaires to all five funds and programmes which mark the start of the implementation phase. We recognise that the Working Group undertaking a thorough assessment of the relevance and feasibility of the JRU's individual recommendations is an essential intermediate step to improve the future functioning of the Executive Boards. This process is especially important as it complements the UN80 initiative with processes guided by common objectives such as increased efficiency, more clearly defined responsibilities and strengthened governance structures as outlined in the roadmap.

We subscribe to an approach that allows for the early implementation of those recommendations that can be realised with limited effort or only require minor adjustments. This approach would create the necessary space and time to engage more deeply with recommendations that warrant further discussion and analys in order to identify the best way forward. In our view, it is important the Executive Board see clear outcomes emerging in a timely manner, ideally already by the Annual Session 2026. We therefore implore the Working Group to move decisively towards delivering first concrete results. This would help maintain momentum and provide confidence that the process is translating into practical improvements in our governance and oversight functions.

We remain committed to supporting this process in a constructive and forward looking spirit and look forward to continued engagement with the Joint Working Group as it advances its work. Thank you.

I thank the distinct delegate of the United Kingdom for her comments.

Any other comment? If none, I invite the Working Group representative to respond.

So the Working Group, it was quite a long process, so we. We had several meetings and we tried to accommodate all kind of. All kind of comments. We will keep a strong tie with the representative of the agencies. As I said, we are waiting for some comments from them.

So. And thank you for your comments. Indeed, the starting of the works of the Working Group was a bit slow, but we in between, we concentrate ourselves on deliverables and as I said, we managed to come up with some results and we are looking forward to respond to all the questions and to implement all the decision and evaluations.

Thank you for the response. If there are no further comments or statements, I think we can conclude discussions on this item. May I now invite the Secretary for a quick reminder?

Thank you very much, Mr. President, distinguished delegate. Just a quick reminder that now that we have exhausted the agenda for this afternoon, we will start the negotiation again in about 30 minutes. So that gives you the time to reach UN Women headquarters, because that's where that's going to happen. The headquarters is located at 220 E. 42nd St. And the conference room where we will have the negotiation is Conference Room 1925 on the 19th floor. The plenary session for the session will resume tomorrow morning at 10:00am in this room.

Thank you very much, Mr. President. Thank you, Mr. Secretary and I thank you all. Wish to see you tomorrow morning for the second day of the regular session. The session is now adjourned.