(4th meeting) Executive Board of UNDP, UNFPA and UNOPS (First regular session 2025)

Excellencies, distinguished delegates, colleagues, I'm very pleased to welcome you to the first regular session of the UNOPS segment of the Executive Board. We will begin with the statement from the Executive Director, including a discussion on item 14 and responses to the recommendations of the 2 independent third-party reviews of UNOPS. This will be followed later this morning by item 15 on the report on the process for innovation and digitalization and program implementation. I am delighted to once again welcome the Executive Director of UNOPS, Mr. Jorge Moreira da Silva. I'm also pleased to welcome Mr. Rahul Malhotra, Director of the New York Board and External Relations Office. Mr. Malhotra will serve as Secretary for the UNOPS segment. Mr. Moreira da Silva is joined today by Ms. Sonia Nathan Cohen, Hillary Balbuena, Carl Ludwig Sohl, who are here with me today on the podium.

Distinguidos delegados, procederemos de la siguiente manera.

We will proceed in the following manner today. The Executive Director will deliver a statement under Agenda Item 14. In this address, the Executive Director will cover, amongst other elements, the following. Firstly, a UNOPS— an update on the comprehensive response plan for UNOPS in response to the recommendations of the 2 independent third-party reviews of UNOPS. Secondly, the revised calculation methodology and disclosures for liquid excess reserves. And thirdly, an update on the overhaul of the Speak Up and Whistleblower Protection Mechanism in response to Executive Board Decision 2022/24. Following the Executive Director's statement, I will open the floor for dialogue with and comments from members and observers of the Board. I now have the pleasure to invite Executive Director of UNOPS, Mr. Moreira da Silva, To deliver his statement, Mr. Moreira da Silva, you have the floor, sir.

Muchas gracias, señor presidente.

Quiero thank you. I'd like to thank you for your. Thank you for your kind words and for your leadership of this Executive Board.

Honourable members, allow me to extend a warm welcome in particular to the new President and Bureau members as well as the new members of the Executive Board. Obviously, today's session is, I would say, a bit more special than previous sessions, as this is the first time that I'll be addressing the Board after the implementation of the Comprehensive Response Plan that ended in December last year. So obviously I will go into detail in this accountability exercise through my speech, but I would like to, to start with the thing that we do best, that is delivering on the ground. I've noticed from several member states that is highly appreciated when in these sessions we provide some information on the way we deliver, how we deliver, and the impact of our delivery on the ground. So I would like to take the chance in today's session to start by that. We started 2025 with positive news of a ceasefire in Gaza, which is now being implemented. And after 15 months of conflict, devastation, human suffering. This is a critical first step. It's a first step. It's a moment of relief, of hope and optimism. In the face of the absolute humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, it is imperative that the ceasefire provides the conditions to ensure rapid and unhindered and safe humanitarian access to provide relief for all. UNRWA remains committed to supporting humanitarian operations in Gaza, as we have done since the start of this conflict, thanks to our colleagues who have worked relentlessly hard despite the impossible conditions. And obviously, I want in this moment to remember the terrible loss for us of our colleague Loal that lost his life while delivering in Gaza for those most in need. UNOPS Gaza response includes many aspects, and I have spoken to this in previous sessions of the Executive Board, but allow me to remind you of 3 key aspects of this work and provide some updates: our work on procurement, delivery and monitoring, and lately distribution of fuel; our work to manage the operation of the UN 2720 mechanism with the USG Sigrid Kaag, which aims to increase and speed up the delivery of life-saving humanitarian assistance to Gaza, and our work together with UN Mine Action to mitigate the dangers of landmines and unexploded ordnance. On fuel— starting with fuel. As you know, my colleagues on the ground have played a unique role in enabling the delivery and monitoring of fuel. These efforts have intensified since the ceasefire. We were delivering, procuring and delivering amounts on the average of 100,000 litres per day in the last year or so, and from one day to the other, once the ceasefire started, we managed to go from 100K, 100,000 litres, to 1.1 million and then 1.3 million.

Thank you.

3 million liters a day on delivery of fuel. This work is hugely significant. The scaling up of aid delivery is an important achievement by all parties, and in the absence of any other source of energy, fuel remains one of the most critical provisions for humanitarian response in Gaza. And UNOPS, along with the UN family, is committed to supporting the implementation of this ceasefire and providing relief alongside other humanitarian agencies. In parallel, we continue to manage the operations of the UN 2720 Mechanism and the Access Support Unit, which facilitates the movement of humanitarian and development personnel and goods. Through this mechanism, with its database for centralized requests of aid deliveries along with monitors on the ground. As of 20 January 2024, close to 50,000 metric tons of aid have been delivered to Gaza. The vast majority of this is food, but also shelter, water, sanitation and hygiene supplies. Most importantly, or as important, is the fact that over half of the approved requests tend to be approved within less than 24 hours, and one quarter between 3 and 7 days. So the relevance of the mechanism is not just providing transparency, predictability, but also agility on delivering the supplies in Gaza. Our hope is that the ceasefire will create the conditions to maximize the use of the mechanism. not only in this phase of humanitarian aid, but also in the next phase of early recovery and reconstruction. It's working. The scale of devastation in Gaza is immense, and it will take years to recover. Let me share some data on this. The UN satellite imagery last month showed that nearly 69% of all structures in Gaza have been destroyed or damaged. More than 95% of the schools have been destroyed. Only 16 out of the 36 hospitals remain partially operational, which is obviously insufficient for the overwhelming medical needs in Gaza. An estimated 50 million tons of debris and rubble generated by the conflict will take years to remove. To put things in perspective, this rubble, it's 13 times higher or larger than all the rubble that have been generated by conflicts in the world since 2008. So you can see the scale of the efforts that will be needed to remove this debris and the rubble, which is fundamental to health conditions in Gaza. Families returning to the remains of their homes are at high risk from unexploded weapons and contaminated rubble. UNOPS, on behalf of UNMAS, works to mitigate explosive device risks, ensuring high-risk humanitarian missions can go ahead. Our Explosive Ordnance Disposal officers conduct threat and risk assessments across Gaza, enabling critical humanitarian aid convoys and activities. To date, our team has completed more than 300 assessments and accompanied 249 high-risk convoys to vulnerable areas. We have also conducted extensive campaigns to provide information on explosive ordnance risk education to civilians. Over 250,000 civilians and nearly 1,000 humanitarian staff have engaged in these sessions. Gaza needs a comprehensive recovery and reconstruction plan. And UNOPS stands ready to do its part, obviously in collaboration with all protagonists from the humanitarian and development field. As we look back on 2024, amid raging conflicts and the looming climate crisis, UNOPS' commitment to providing practical solutions has remained constant. In Ukraine, my colleagues have continued their tireless work: rebuilding bridges, renovating schools, delivering rail repair, refurbishing homes, and helping to reduce the threat of explosive ordnance. Working with many partners, they support the joint efforts to respond to needs and restore hope so that communities affected by war can flourish again. One example of this work is through their efforts to rebuild schools. This is crucial work. The human toll of this conflict extends beyond our horizons. An entire generation of children are being deprived of proper education. My work— my colleagues have been working on the ground to repair damaged schools in Kyiv, Sumy, Chernihiv and Kharkiv. They also help to put in place shelters so that children are not exposed to threats. This work has already led to 34 schools being rehabilitated, which means the conditions are in place for around 14,000 children to go back to face-to-face education. Moving on to Afghanistan, amid intensifying needs and the increasingly constrained operating environment, a community resilience and livelihoods project is providing short-term employment for women and men in Afghanistan. This work offers a lifeline for vulnerable households, with the benefits extending to entire communities. This work, under the support of the World Bank and the Afghanistan Resilience Trust Fund, is working directly with more than 9,000 communities, benefiting more than 14.6 million Afghans across 10 cities, 29 provinces, and 98 rural districts. Additionally, managed by UNOPS, the AWAZ Afghanistan is the country's first nationwide humanitarian call center, established in May 2018 as a joint UN initiative. Since then, it has handled over half a million calls, reaching 3.5 million people, 20% of those from women, reflecting its role in inclusive and accountable humanitarian programming. In Myanmar, UNOPS is fully committed to supporting people and adapting how we work to respond to the challenges of conflict, political complexity and climate change. Here in Myanmar— and the Deputy Executive Director Christine Damkjær will go next week to Myanmar— we continue to deliver humanitarian support, restore essential services and help communities build resilience where it is needed most. Since 2009, we have reached around 47 million people with Most of our efforts focus on the country's most fragile areas. We have seen real impact through initiatives like the Livelihoods and Food Security Fund, which has invested nearly $700 million to improve livelihoods for over 13 million people, and the Access to Health Fund, which has helped more than 6 million people access better healthcare in hard-to-reach areas and conflict zones. Programmes in Myanmar, like the Nexus Response Mechanism, also provide vital support to displaced communities, focusing on local solutions. And we are not just addressing the immediate needs. We are helping to build long-term resilience by funding local organisations and promoting climate-smart agriculture, renewable energy, and green jobs. In Mozambique, years of conflict in the north, in Cabo Delgado, have interrupted education, destroyed crops and public infrastructure, impacted livelihoods and forced more than 1 million people to flee their homes. With the support of the World Bank, the government-led Northern Crisis Recovery Project, which is implemented by UNOPS, is supporting communities displaced by the conflict. Working with local implementing partners, project activities are encouraging social cohesion in communities impacted by the conflict, supporting sustainable livelihoods and economic opportunities, and increasing access to public services for internally displaced people and host communities. Elsewhere in Haiti, where political instability Widespread poverty and recurring natural disasters have left nearly half of the population in need of humanitarian aid. Our support extends across a range of sectors, including infrastructure, health, education, energy, and the environment. One recent part of this work focused on improving food security. We are working with the government to make agriculture systems more resilient, to climate-induced shocks and stresses by increasing communities' access to markets and food, including in earthquake-affected areas, and expanding land under irrigation and farming. In Yemen, years of ongoing conflict have led to a catastrophic humanitarian crisis, with almost 20 million people— half of the population— in need of assistance and Protection Services. Here, we work with our partners to restore public services for 3 million people, providing 3.5 million people with new, improved electricity. We work to improve waste management and clean access to water— access to clean water. We provide operational support to the UN-led peace process in the country, and we facilitate the unimpeded free flow of commercial items through the so-called UNVIM, the United Nations Verification and Inspection Mechanism for Yemen. This mechanism— and I had the chance to debrief the Security Council on this— since the beginning of its operation has helped to ensure the entry of over 34 million metric tonnes of food, over 17 million metric tonnes of fuel and 5 million metric tonnes of other cargo into Yemen. In another example, with funding from IDA, UNOPS is installing solar energy systems in schools, health facilities and water stations across the country. In Sudan, where over 11.5 million people are now estimated to be internally displaced, and I am visiting Sudan in 2 weeks from now. We support humanitarian recovery and sustainable development projects. In one example of this work, we have recently agreed with the government of Japan to help improve water access and health services to communities in Port Sudan and Kassala. It will benefit more than 2.2 million people. And finally, In the face of the unique challenges faced by Small Island Developing States, we continue supporting these countries in the Pacific, in the Caribbean, and in Africa in their pursuit of a sustainable, resilient, and prosperous future, particularly on the implementation of the ABAS, the Antigua and Barbuda Action Agenda. Let me now turn into our context in 2025. We see 2025 as a turning point. In the face of the global outlook that we see today, the need of practical solutions to the world's many immense and multiplying challenges has never been greater. This has been our purpose for over 30 years, to delivering practical solutions to responding to needs, turning needs and ideas into plans and actions, and turning actions into projects, making those projects happen. That's why 2025 is also a special year for us. We are celebrating the 30th anniversary of UNOPS, and in the words of the UN Secretary-General, for 3 decades, across development, peace, and humanitarian operations, UNOP has provided practical solutions to help ensure that the work of the United Nations is carried out efficiently, effectively, and sustainably. We are extremely proud of the impact of our work. I had some additional data to share with you for those 30 years, but I will, in the interest of time, I will not go through that. We have tomorrow celebration of the 30th anniversary of UNOPS, and at that occasion I can highlight some of the most important projects that we have developed in the last 30 years. So let me focus now on the reform agenda that has been, I would say, the main topic for the conversations in the last 2 years. We concluded in December 2004 the implementation of the comprehensive list of reforms included in the so-called Comprehensive Response Plan, except one action that is multi-year, which is the Process Innovation and Digitalization, the PID. This widespread reform started in May '22 following management failures related to the former Sustainable Infrastructure and Innovation initiative, the F3I. The Comprehensive Response Plan agreed with the Executive Board in 2000— in 2022 with my predecessor Jens Weindl guided our reforms efforts, which we have since extended. We deliver what was planned and we went beyond what was planned. We extended these reforms. Aiming to make, to make us more agile and a better partner in the service of peace, sustainable development, and climate action. It is impossible to provide detail today on all the 100 actions and 43 recommendations implemented in the last 3 years. As I mentioned, first year with Jens Weindl and the last 3 years under my tenure. But let me at least highlight just a few, because I think that those that I will highlight are probably the ones that are more aligned with the core objectives of our Member States. Among many aspects, it has included a focus on culture, where we developed our very first EUNOPS Integrated People Strategy, putting our people at the centre of all we do. You have heard extensively from my colleague Valerie Cusciata on this journey. It's a journey that is rewarding. It's providing results, but it's not concluded. We approved the reforms. We had put in place the basis for that structural reform to be developed, but culture needs to be nurtured on a daily basis, and that's why I do not confuse what is an approval of a reform, and what is the rolling out of a reform. This is valid not just for the culture reform, but for all the reforms. In these reforms, it also included a review of our financial regulations and rules, as well as a comprehensive review of our legislative framework at EUNOPS. It has also involved key steps to strengthen our risk management framework, embedded risk-informed decision-making, and proactively manage risks in our portfolios, which we will address in a closed session with members this week. And it included a strong focus on integrity. And I would like to go into a bit of detail on this element, as I think it's really core, taking into consideration what happened in the organization 3 years ago. What was at stake at that time was integrity. And if there is something that we have taken seriously in reforming the organization, is to make the organization more transparent and to reach the highest levels of integrity. We are quite proud about that. We think that we are even a case study that could be helpful in future deliberations in the multilateral setting.

It—

and an early and important step to strengthen integrity in the reforms was ensuring that the Internal Audit and Investigation Group, led by my colleague Abdul, which is for sure in the room, and the Ethics Office, led by my colleague Birkin, had direct and independent relationships with the Executive Board. They report to you. This independence was then assessed by a third-party contractor recruited under the guidance of the Board to review and provide assurance of independence of those functions. Within one year, by the end of 2022, IAG implemented all 11 recommendations approved by the Executive Board to strengthen its independence. This included a comprehensive and strong audit charter, unrestricted and regular meetings with the Executive Board, and bilateral meetings with the Member States. Our approach to strengthening the independence of oversight units for stronger transparency has been commended by the Executive Board in previous sessions. And this January, we are rolling out across the organisation the overhaul of our whistleblowing system. Which has been a significant undertaking and it was a core element of the Comprehensive Response Plan. The new whistleblowing mechanism called the Integrity Portal replaces the previous platform and is the result of comprehensive review and reform process initiated by the Executive Board in 2022 as part of the Comprehensive Response Plan. The new whistleblowing mechanism is designed with our personnel in mind to create a space where people feel safe to speak up and raise concerns through the right channels. To accompany this major reform, I've also ensured that we have a code of ethics that was not in the comprehensive resource plan. It's One example of something that we have done by our own initiative, going beyond what was planned: this code of ethics that strengthens our commitment to ethics, integrity, and accountability. It offers practical guidance to help personnel navigate everyday situations and reinforces our commitment to fostering a culture of ethics and trust. Another example. Previously, the executive director could stop an investigation for senior management. One of the first decisions I took when— once I joined UNOPS was removing that prerogative. The executive director can no longer decide to ask IAG to stop an investigation for senior management. That was possible before. It's no longer possible. I don't want to waste your time with a long list, but you can see how significantly we have addressed the issue of integrity in the organization. Over the past 3 years, we are proud to have completed to plan scope all recommendations in the Comprehensive Response Plan, as I mentioned, except the one that is multi-year, the Process Innovation and Digitalization Program. This program will ensure the PID, that our processes and information systems are fit for purpose, integrated, and digitalized. Independence assessments of these actions have been commissioned to provide assurance to you of the substantive nature of our response. The point is the following: we have concluded the Comprehensive Response Plan, but a different thing is the validation of that accomplishment that will come from a third-party review that will be assessed by member states. So obviously I do not confuse what is from our side the conclusion of that implementation from what is from member states the validation of that accomplishment. That will come soon through the third-party review. In addition, member states may recall that in February '22 the Board urged UNOPS to undertake all possible measures to recover the overdue repayments from these investments in E3I initiative projects. The United Nations Office of Legal Affairs has been working closely with external counsel with the necessary capacity and expertise to assess legal avenues aimed to recovering the E3I funds. UNOPS covers the costs associated with these efforts which are expected to continue in 2025 and beyond. Member States have the chance this morning to have a closed session where I extensively debrief Member States on these aspects of the recovery of funds, but also our restless commitment to ensure accountability is completely addressed. We have carried out our reforms with full commitment, with transparency and accountability, but also continue delivering our operations on the ground. I remember quite well first time I addressed the board. I started in April '23 when I shared with the board that we shouldn't choose between reforming or delivering. Taking into consideration the immense needs that people face, UNOPS must reform, but UNOPS must continue delivering more than 1,000 projects in more than 100 countries. And I think that we have managed to keep these 2 dimensions— reforming and delivering. And I want to thank member states for the guidance provided, but also for the support you provided both on the reforms but also on the implementation on the ground. We have provided monthly updates to the Executive Board. Probably you are already a bit tired of hearing from me every month. In the last 2 years, we have had sessions, monthly sessions. You know everything about UNOPS. I wonder if there is any other organisation in the world, in the multilateral system, that has this kind of scrutiny. From the member states. And I think it was part of the success, the fact that member states have been with us, highly scrutinizing us, but also supporting us through these monthly updates on the comprehensive response plans. All reforms actions have been documented. Everything is documented, and this information is publicly available. We have reported and will continue to provide Member States with financial reporting on how UNOPS has spent the tranches released so far by the Executive Board of the approved allocation of $35.4 million to implement the Comprehensive Response Plan. We have been completely transparent on the pace of progress of reforms and on spending by providing Members with access to an online monitoring platform. Everything is available, everything is under scrutiny, all information has been provided to member states. As we come to the end of this chapter, and we will not forget that chapter— one thing is turning the page, the other thing is forgetting what happened— we will not forget what happened in the organisation because that cannot happen again in the future. I want to give an assurance to the Executive Board and to our partners: we remain deeply committed to our journey of reforms and transformation. Not because you are asking, but because we think it is a sine qua non condition for the Organization to be fit for the future. We delivered on the Comprehensive Response Plan and will continue reforming beyond the Comprehensive Response Plan. namely through the so-called 6 Transformation Initiatives. We have already shared information about it in previous occasions. But how can you measure trust? Trust was the thing that was eroded. In 2022, it was trust that was eroded. So trust doesn't come just ticking the box of 100 actions of 30 or 43 recommendations. The trust is measured by concrete evidence provided by partners and by personnel. We saw a clear improvement on the engagement of UNOPS personnel and adherence to the transformation journey. This is documented through the third-party reviews, but also through the Pulse survey and other surveys. We see the trend, which is a positive trend restoring trust within the organization with the best we have, which is our almost 6,000 colleagues both on the ground and in headquarters. But we also saw trust being restored by partners.

Why?

Because partners not only stayed with us, we kept delivery despite the crisis, but also partners that have put us in the suspension list returned. They are back. We also saw from the partner survey that the quality of our work has increased from '22 to '23, '23 to '24. This is documented. There are facts that document that both the quality and the willingness to work with us has improved. And we have signed last year a record high on engagements, record high for the last 5 or 6 years. What does it mean? It means that even if delivery remained stable despite the crisis, the willingness to work with us increased, which means that the future delivery will increase because we signed more in '24 than we have signed in '23, '22, '21, '20, and so on. So I really want again to thank member states for your trust. Lesson learned. We will continue reforming beyond what was planned, and one of the elements here is our— has to do with continued funds to enable our innovation and digitalization efforts. So let me just highlight something on, on this, on this topic. The board allocated $35.4 million to implement the Comprehensive Response Plan to be disbursed in tranches. So far we have received 2 tranches of $11.8 million on the basis of the expenditure incurred by the end of 2024. And we are now requesting the release of a 3rd and final tranche to allow us to continue implementing the multi-year Process Innovation and Digitalisation Programme, which is the most significant component in terms of funding. I want to assure Member States again, as my colleague Sonja Leijonkorn, the DD for Policy and Management had the chance to share with you that we are not just trying to get a new ERP; we are trying to reform the way we work. That's why this is about process innovation; this is not just about getting a new software or a new ERP. That's why this takes more time than just buying an ERP. Another has to do with our efforts to distribute excess reserves. I am happy to confirm that UNOPS has now concluded the exercise to refund excess reserves accumulated as at the end of 2021. You remember this was a key element to restore trust, was giving the money back. So the reserves, the excess of reserves that were accumulated in the organization had to be refunded to Member States. We managed to settle 99.3% of the $124 million with more than 200 partners, and we now await the final decision by the Board to close the 2021 process. As we move forward, the UN Board of Auditors has recommended that UNOPS present to the Executive Board a revised methodology for calculating its excess reserves. So it's not about refunding the previous reserves, it's how will we do with future reserves?

Why?

Because we are now operating, under your guidance, on a net-zero basis, so any excess of reserves needs to be refunded and this methodology obviously needs to be agreed. With this in mind, we are seeking your endorsement of a revised approach to the calculation of excess reserves based on well-defined annual disclosure presented with the financial statements, and my colleague Carl, the CFO, has been discussing this extensively with the distinguished member states. I promise that I'm getting to the end. Apologies today, I know that I've been a bit longer than usual, but it's a critical moment of accountability, probably even more than in previous sessions. As we look to the future, and you are discussing with UNDP, with UNFPA, in the Board, also within OPS, the strategic plan, so this is a key element for the future deliberations of the Board. As we look to the future, we need to continue to be responsive in a world that is facing multiple and compounding challenges. We all know that, as the DSG has been emphasizing and obviously the Secretary-General, the SDGs are in serious peril. We are not only lagging behind in many occasions or in some of the SDGs, we are even going in reverse mode. Our multilateral system needs to respond to the challenges of our uncertain times. And the impact on people's lives is real. You know the figures. The fact that you have at least half of the people on the planet not covered by essential health services, more than 700 million people without access to electricity, 2.4 billion people without access to sanitation, 3 billion people without access to hygiene facilities. This element outlines the immense people needs. The extreme poverty and inequalities are compounding. In the face of this volume of needs, the question is, what shall UNOPS do? What's the role of UNOPS, an agency, an organization that is non-operational, is non-programmatic, is operational, and with focus on implementation. Everyone needs to step up urgently. All agencies, all institutions in the UN system need to step up. The same applies also to UNOPS. This is the context against which we are envisaging the discussion on the strategic plan. 26-29, our role is implementation, just implementation. The action and practical solutions that are essential to bridge the implementation gaps that stand between ambitions and the reality of people's lives around the world. So we need that, we need to scale up and speed up, scale up and speed up to respond to escalating needs. And this is about taking determined action for people and the planet, Action that is focused on solutions, driven by clear missions, and dedicated to creating impact for the people we serve. With our implementation mandate, we are probably the only organization in the system that is just implementation. Many other agencies also do implementation, but we are probably the only one that is just implementation, just implementation, nothing else than implementation. With this core focus on implementation, we want to support countries in the task of implementing the Pact for the Future. We want to support the UN Development System in the collective effort to accelerate progress towards the SDGs, guided by the QCPR, and benefiting from the Resident Coordinator System and from the strengthening of the UN country teams. As you know, I'm a strong believer in the strengthening of the Resident Coordinator System. For UNOPS, it's probably even more important. Why? Because as we are just demand-driven, our presence on the ground is determined by the existence or the willingness to deliver projects, and therefore we rely on the Resident Coordinator System not only for the origination of projects, but also, most importantly, for the arbitrage that is needed between agencies to ensure that we collaborate and we do not compete. So again and again, you will hear from me strong support to the Resident Coordinator System and to the UN Development System reform. And we want to support the reforms that strengthen our collective collective impact to help make the UN 2.0 vision a reality. Too often, UN agencies' mandates tend to be used to define lines of separation. Mandates are very often instrumentalized in conversations as lines of separation. Let's see mandates not as lines of separation, but lines of complementarity. For a more holistic response to our interconnected global challenges, we need to better integrate in the system across all areas of work, whether they are programmatic or financing, which is not our case, it's the case of other organizations, or implementation, which is obviously our case. In short, rather than competing, rather than competing, we are committed in finding alignment Complementarity and collaboration. UNOPS, with our focus on implementation, stands ready under the Member States' guidance to work with all sister agencies and entities with a normative function, which is not our case, to bridge implementation gaps and deliver peace and stability, sustained development, and climate action. As we implement in even the most challenging and constraining of context, we are committed to human rights for all and dedicated to gender equality and social inclusion so that everyone, everyone can live a peaceful and dignified life and communities are on a path to sustainable development. Additionally, the commitment to climate action runs through all aspects of UNOPS' work, and this is my last message. Our ambitious climate agenda sets out how we can reduce emissions in our internal operations, account for our emissions through our suppliers, and importantly, work with partners— being governments, communities, international organizations, MDBs— around the world to promote climate-resilient development. Our commitments are threefold. First, reduce corporate emissions by 45% by 2030 and then to reach net zero before 2050. This is the target that we are pursuing. This includes reducing emissions generated from our internal operations around the world, including air travel and electricity consumption. This is part of the climate action program that UNOPS recently approved. Second, second commitment is to account for emissions in our supply chains, so we go beyond corporate emissions. We want to address supply chains and our infrastructure work. This includes expanding our accounting for the emissions we are indirectly responsive for through tracking emissions and supporting suppliers in their efforts to reduce emissions. It's the so-called Scope Three. And our third commitment is to drive climate resilience in our projects. This includes working to drive climate-resilient development through our projects in collaboration with our partners. In conclusion, finally, as we come to the end of one chapter of UNOPS— and again, we don't forget the previous chapter— but as we come to the end of this chapter. We turn the page to the next chapter. We are ready to take our lessons forward and embark on the next, always committed to principles of transparency and accountability. As we step into 2025 and beyond, this will be a chapter dedicated to action and the practical solutions the world needs to address the critical issues it faces. Allow me to take today's opportunity to thank you, esteemed members of the Executive Board, the present and the past, for your unwavering support of UNOPS. I'm speaking on behalf of all UNOPS. All UNOPS colleagues want to thank you for your restless support and guidance, which was crucial in this journey. Rescuing, rescuing a situation like the one that this organisation faced could only be possible with 3 elements. One was clear guidance from member states. The second was alignment among member states and between member states and the management. And the third was being able to compatibilize our willingness to reform and our willingness to deliver. So I want again to thank you for guiding us and helping us navigating challenging times and to emerge stronger together with you, our partners, and my amazing, amazing UNOPS team. I've been extensively visiting my colleagues on the ground. I always get moved with the bravery, the courage, the servant leadership from those that despite the risks deliver. We have built a more robust and agile UNOPS ready to address the challenges of today and tomorrow, ready to offer practical solutions to help people build a more peaceful, fair, and green world. And I promise that in the next session I will be a bit briefer in my statement. Thank you for your patience. Muchísimas gracias, señor.

Thank you very, very much, Mr. Moreira da Silva, for this statement. Before I open the floor, allow me to remind the distinguished members of the Board and observer delegations about the protocol for the order of speakers. We will begin with statements from Bureau members. This will be followed by group and cross-regional interventions. After the group interventions, the floor will be given to permanent representatives who have requested in writing to be inscribed on the list of speakers. The permanent representatives previously inscribed will be followed by permanent representatives who are requesting the floor during the meeting according to the order in which requests are made and received. Following the permanent representatives, the floor will be given to the deputy permanent representatives. Again, first those who had requested to be inscribed in writing, followed by Deputy Permanent Representatives requesting the floor during the meeting. Finally, the floor will be given to all other delegations who have requested to be inscribed on the list of speakers in advance, and then they will be followed by all other delegations requesting the floor during the meeting in the order that they have requested the floor. Please note that questions and interventions will be strictly limited to 3 minutes for individual interventions and 5 minutes for group interventions. A grace period of 30 seconds will be allowed for interventions that exceed these time limits. I now give the floor to the Bureau members who wish to speak. I give the floor to the distinguished Permanent Representative of Romania. Vice Chair, you have the floor.

Thank you very much, Mr. President. And before I address this issue, I think there is something that we probably, the Board, will have to be looking into, how to balance this interactive dialogue with the executive heads of the agencies, because I think I myself, I will not be able to factor in, in 3 minutes what I'm about to say. And being an interactive dialogue, I think we'll have— we'll need to have the chance to react beyond the, let's say, formalities and the institutional arrangements that we have. I think the Executive Director, he made a very strong pitch and, you know, very good comments, and I welcome. The objective should be actually not to shorten this intervention and this input from the Executive Director. The objective for the Bureau and for the Board would be to identify the best way to facilitate this interaction. So I think I heard quite clearly, Executive Director, about your plans and how to look at the UNOPS at 30. I welcome the fact that you are not looking at it from a celebratory point of view. It's more of an opportunity actually to look back at what went right, looking at chapters. You talked about chapters. Let's see how many chapters will you be writing in in this history, but I think it's important not to look at the UNOPS at 30 just as a slogan. It's also the promise for a better and more structured, let's say, UN department that delivers meaningfully on its mandate, and I think UNOPS provides important support and delivers important work on the ground for many of the activities that we develop as member states in different formats. So that's why I think UNOPS@30, and as we are here today and we'll be listening more in detail tomorrow, this should be a very meaningful and forward-looking approach involving everything. I mean, we talk about resources, sometimes too much about financial resources, but we talk less about the human capacity that we all have. We need both human resources and financial resources to implement our mission is not only valid for the UNOPS, it's also valid for member states and governments, and we know it very well. And that's why I think we do welcome your decision to organize webinars with the staff. I also— what caught my eye is how do you plan to involve the artificial intelligence in, you know, making— putting it to a good use for the UNOPS activities? And maybe you have some you know, we could expand on this. I think it would be quite, quite important. Um, having said, um, that about the staff, I think it is also important to look at how we motivate and how we enable staff to do its work. And as a Bureau member, I think we'll be encouraging a balanced approach on treating fairly, let's say, existing and outgoing staff members. Which is very much important. There is always due process, and of course we would be encouraging you to look very closely at that. For the past year, I want to strongly welcome your engagement in Gaza in building the database for the supplying of the humanitarian aid. That's critical work that encompasses our activities in a number of areas, not only related to the UNOPS, so I want to congratulate you. I also want to, as you look to—

I'm afraid the sound has been turned off on your microphone in accordance with protocol. As the allotted time has elapsed, please can I request a few more minutes to the vice for the vice chair so he can conclude his statement? Thank you.

C'est la palabra.

I give you the floor.

So thank you, and actually that's a strong reason to look into how we. You know, conduct our deliberations because I don't think it's—it serves the purpose of the of the of the entire work. I will be finishing anyway. So as we look to 2025, and we've been visiting some of us, we've been visiting Moldova recently. I want to highlight this important work that you are planning for the you know it's in in support of the implementation of the SDG 16 human rights, especially the construction of this modern facility. that improves the conditions of detention and creates new standards for safety and security. And lastly, Executive Director, I would have a question. Given that the projects that you have planned to implement into the future, I want to have your take on your engagement with the private sector in ensuring the financial support as well, and not only the financial support but also engaging them in the implementation. I think that's a part of the work that we have to be looking probably more into that, and I want to thank you, Mr. President.

I thank the distinguished Permanent Representative of Romania for his intervention as Vice Chair of the Bureau. Let me just recall that I read out a very long explanation of the protocol because this is how we operate. This is perhaps something that we need to discuss, but until then I would request that you comply with the protocol that allows us to conclude our work in this session. I will now give the floor to the Distinguished Permanent Representative of Ethiopia and other Vice Chair of the Bureau, you have the floor.

Thank you. Sorry. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for giving me the floor. And as I take the floor for the first time since this board meeting started, let me congratulate you on assuming the presidency. For 2025. I also would like to thank Mr. Moreira for a very comprehensive presentation, and UNOPS for the presentation and for the pivotal role of the agency in enabling and advancing sustainable development and humanitarian action. UNOPS has demonstrated commitment to supporting African countries to achieve their development objectives and their collective ambition of Agenda 2063. We are mindful of the notable accomplishments, including the provision of critical humanitarian assistance, as well as infrastructure development and economic development initiatives in several African countries, including my own. These endeavors show UNOPS' capacity to deliver tangible results within the context of daunting challenges. In Ethiopia, UNOPS has been an important partner in supporting recovery efforts from the COVID-19 pandemic to humanitarian response alongside We appreciate the technical assistance and capacity-building initiatives aimed at rehabilitating essential infrastructure and augmenting agricultural programs, particularly in enhancing the capacity of research laboratories. We commend UNOPS for the regular and real-time briefing provided to the Board throughout the Comprehensive Response Plan.

Implementation. As we move forward, we encourage UNOPS to consolidate its reform agenda, and we anticipate the allocation of appropriate funds for the implementation of the multi-year process innovation and digitalization program in the coming few years. In conclusion, Ethiopia reaffirms its commitment to continue fostering robust partnership with UNOPS, ensuring in the process contributing to the delivery of its mandate. We look forward to our collaboration beyond 2025, particularly in supporting the development of its next Strategic Plan. We anticipate this plan cycle will be crucial in bringing about more efficiency and effectiveness in accelerating progress towards the achievement of the SDGs as we enter the final stretch of Agenda 23. I thank you, Mr. Chairman. Muchas gracias.

I thank the Permanent Representative of Ethiopia and Vice Chair of the Bureau. Let me now give the floor to the distinguished Permanent Representative of Tunisia, who is speaking on behalf of the African Group of States. You have the floor.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Your Excellency Ambassador André. Afran Montalvo Sousa, President of the Executive Board. Mr. Jorge Moreira da Silva, Executive Director of UNOPS. Distinguished members of the Executive Board. Excellency, ladies and gentlemen, I have the honor to deliver this statement on behalf of the African members of the Executive board, namely Chad, Côte d'Ivoire, Ethiopia, Madagascar, Mozambique, Nigeria, Zambia, and my own country, Tunisia. We thank the Executive Director, Mr. Moreira da Silva, for the insightful intervention and appreciate the dedication of UNOPS in harnessing innovation, digitalization, and sustainable practices to address the continent's development challenges towards the SDGs and Agenda 2063. The African Group commends UNOPS for implementing the recommendations made by a third-party review on its internal control systems, risk management, and overall governance structures. We appreciate the leadership of UNOPS in drawing up a comprehensive response plan fit for purpose thereby identifying overarching actions. We also acknowledge the progress update on refunding excess reserves and the ongoing efforts and progress towards distributing the remaining excess reserves as per the Executive Board's decision. We urge ENOPS to continue to address outstanding recommendations related to the multi-year process innovation and digitalization program focusing on modernizing UNOPS through process simplification and digitalization. We commend the progress of this board's broader UNOPS reform efforts, which aim to strengthen its ability to deliver quality services, improve efficiency, and increase its impact for the people of Africa. We further request the administration to tailor its innovation and digitalization efforts to the continent's unique needs of bridging the digital divide, focusing on technology transfer and job creation for the youth. The African Group commands UNOPS partnership with the Accelerated Partnership for Renewable Energy in Africa, an initiative to accelerate renewable energy adoption across the continent. This collaborative initiative between African governments and international stakeholders is critical to accelerate renewable energy adoption, must target expanding access to renewable energy. This in turn reinforces sustainable development and resilience against the impacts of climate change. In Africa, this shift is essential to improve energy accessibility, stimulate green industries, and promote economic stability. We look forward to the next chapter beyond 2025 and the engagement with the organization as it shapes its future vision. This includes its next strategic plan for 2026-2029, emphasizing on the commitment of UNOPS to contributing to the achievement of the SDGs. The African Group recognizes the functions of the agency in Africa, particularly in enabling life-saving and life-sustaining humanitarian assistance, construction of schools and healthcare facilities, rehabilitation of roads, bridges, and other essential infrastructures. We believe that UNOPS' role of expanding implementation capacity is vital to advancing the 2030 Agenda and bridging the implementation gap for the goals. The African Group urges UNOPS to take appropriate measures to continue to ensure transparency, accountability, and integrity in the implementation of its mandate. In conclusion, the African members of the Board urge UNOPS to develop and implement effective strategies to address the pressing needs of developing countries. We encourage UNOPS to innovative ways to mobilize private capital for infrastructure development in the most vulnerable countries. Furthermore, we call for the enhanced collaboration between UNOPS and other UN agencies to bridge Africa's significant infrastructure gap. Finally, we look forward to deepening our collaboration and strengthening our partnership with UNOPS to achieve meaningful impact and sustainable development in Africa. I thank you, Mr. Chair.

Grazie a usted, signor— I thank the Permanent Representative of Tunisia speaking on behalf of a group of states. I now give the floor to the distinguished Deputy Permanent Representative of Ireland, also speaking on behalf of a group of states.

You have the floor.

Thank you, Mr. President, Executive Director, ladies and gentlemen. I deliver this statement on behalf of the following member states: Austria, Australia, Belgium, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Canada, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Iceland, Israel, Kingdom of the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Latvia, New Zealand, Norway, Mexico, Montenegro, Republic of Moldova, Romania, Sweden, Switzerland, Türkiye, the United Kingdom, and my own country, Ireland. You can start my clock now. We stand at a critical juncture, 5 years from 2030, with only 17% of the SDG targets on track. The urgency for collective action has never been clearer. The 2024 Quadrennial Comprehensive Policy Review provides the UN Development System with a vital framework to accelerate SDG progress. Alongside the guidance from the SDG Summit Political Declaration and the Pact for the Future, the QCPR must now inform strategic planning, ensuring aligned mandates and further consolidating UNDS reforms. A fully coherent and effective UN development system is critical for implementation of the cooperation frameworks at the country level, under the leadership of the Resident Coordinators, and in coordination and collaboration with both resident and non-resident entities of the UN country teams throughout the cooperation framework cycle. The QCPR reaffirms Member States' priorities poverty reduction, humanitarian-development-peace collaboration, climate and biodiversity, food security, digital transformation, disability inclusion, addressing the needs of displaced persons, and combating violence against girls and women, all while adopting a rights-based approach and embedding the needs of future generations. Translating these priorities into impactful joint programming is critical. We therefore call upon entities to include a chapter in their strategic plans that defines their comparative advantages within the UNDS based on their mandates. The QCPR reinforces the leadership role and responsibilities of the Resident Coordinators within UN country teams. Full support for the RC system is key. In this regard, we welcome the recent decision of the UN General Assembly to provide assessed contributions to the system. This decision not only injects financial stability into the system but ensures collective ownership and confidence in its work. Entities must empower RCs to foster cohesive and effective system-wide efforts. We call on UNOPS to support the RC's efforts to lead and coordinate the country teams through their mandate. Long-standing partnerships and presence in countries, and we welcome your remarks, Executive Director, in that regard. While the QCPR acknowledges progress on UNDS reform, outstanding goals require urgent attention. We call on UNDS entities to recommit to these reforms, with system-wide coherence, coordination, and impact for development set as a priority objective in their strategic plans. We thank UNOPS for starting the use of the checklist at last year's Annual Session, and we look forward to evidence-based and analytical reporting from all UNDS entities at their respective relevant board sessions. In addition, we call on UNDS entities to harmonize their reporting practices, including on giant endeavors at global, regional, and country levels, and to support efforts aimed to towards improving joint and system-wide evaluation. Efficiency gains, improved identification of synergies, and harmonized business practices must remain a priority as entities advance internal business transformation processes. We emphasize that enhancing UNDS entities' capabilities in innovation, data analytics, digital transformation, strategic oversight, and behavioral science is a core commitment of the Pact for the future. These advancements are crucial for effectively supporting Member States and enabling UNDS entities to fulfil their mandates. The QCPR also emphasizes gender equality, inclusivity, and resilience as integral to UN programming. We call on entities to adopt and implement system-wide strategies for disability inclusion, gender equality, and youth empowerment, incorporating measurable indicators for progress. Efforts to prevent sexual exploitation, abuse, and harassment are non-negotiable. UN entities must strengthen prevention, response, and workplace protections to ensure safe and respectful environments. The 2024 QCPR provides a clear roadmap to address these challenges. Let us act with urgency, leveraging the guidance to accelerate progress and fulfill our commitment, our collective commitment to leave no one behind. Thank you very much.

I thank the Deputy Permanent Representative of Ireland for their statement, and I now give the floor to the Permanent Representative of Bangladesh. You have the floor.

Thank you, Mr. President. Excellencies, distinguished delegates, from Bangladesh, we appreciate the work of the organization and Executive Director Mr. Moreira da Silva for presenting the progress report of the organization in implementing the Comprehensive Response Plan. We also recognize the efforts of the organization in implementing the critical reforms despite multiple challenges in the global landscape. Bangladesh has always supported UNOPS in fulfilling its mandate, emphasizing its core competencies in infrastructure procurement and project management services. Last year, during Bangladesh's presidency of the Board, the adoption of the decision of implementing the recommendations of the Joint Inspection Unit has helped in restoring trust and also in guiding towards a path of integrity and credibility. We also appreciate the work of the organization in supporting the humanitarian operations of the other sister organizations in places like Gaza and Ukraine and other hotspots of conflict. Distinguished colleagues, No organization works without challenges. UNOPS is also not an exception. We would encourage more efforts to shift towards inclusive decision-making, accountability, and transparency. It was heartening to know about the strengthening of the integrity of the organization. UNOPS can utilize its online monitoring tool for real-time progress tracking and ensuring continuous communication with the Executive Board. Excellencies, Bangladesh emphasizes the critical issue of aligning UNOPS programs with national priorities. As one of the 15 countries nearing LDC graduation, we urge UNOPS to prioritize capacity building and infrastructure support for countries in the transition phase. UNOPS' role in addressing climate challenges is vital. We appreciate the climate action plans taken by the organization. As one of the most climatically vulnerable countries, we expect continued innovation in delivering affordable and sustainable solutions for the marginalized societies in developing countries. Distinguished colleagues, to conclude, Bangladesh reaffirms its commitment to working closely with UNOPS and the Bureau to ensure that the organization fulfills its mandate. Together, we can transform challenges into opportunities. As we celebrate the 30th anniversary, we assure all cooperation in strengthening our efforts to build a sustainable, resilient, and prosperous future for the world. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I thank the Permanent Representative of Bangladesh for their statement. I now give the floor to the Ambassador of the Netherlands to ECOSOC. Netherlands, you have the floor.

Is it working? Okay, thank you. Sorry about that. Mr. President, we thank the Executive Director for his presentation and congratulate him on 30 years of UNOPS. We would also like to extend a heartfelt thanks for your close cooperation and support for Under-Secretary-General Kaag in her important mission in Gaza. UNOPS' 30th anniversary comes at a point that lends itself for reflection. Firstly, to look ahead. The new Strategic Plan will be crucial in this regard. We ask UNOPS to do what UNOPS does best. And that is to focus on its core mandate, on its expertise, and on its unique role as a demand-driven, non-programmatic operational motor behind other agencies and Member States. While looking to the future is important, there is no time for complacency. UNOPS stands at a pivotal point in the process of recovering trust and further cementing its reforms. The outcomes of the independent review of the Comprehensive Response Plan to determine if measures taken were adequate and sufficient are crucial in this regard. The demand for UNOPS' services is clear. We urge UNOPS to continue to add value, efficiency, and impact to the wider UN system. In that vein, we would welcome a complementarity chapter in the new Strategic Plan specifying those areas where UNOPS has comparative advantage within the wider UN development system as the operational backbone for programmatic agencies. Implementing a new strategic plan, especially in today's turbulent times, requires a robust organization. The Kingdom of the Netherlands reiterates the importance of transparency and accountability, solid risk management systems, open and honest dialogue with the Executive Board, a safe inclusive organizational culture, confidential whistleblower mechanisms, and adequate protection against sexual exploitation, abuse, and harassment. Restoring trust to the membership, but especially internally to UNOPS' hardworking staff, will require time and continuous effort. Let me reassure you of the continuous support of the Kingdom of the Netherlands on UNOPS' journey to remain a reliable and effective operational enabler of the UN in delivering the SDGs. Thank you.

I thank the distinguished Ambassador to ECOSOC of the Netherlands. As I said at the beginning, following the standard practice for these segments and as per protocol, I will now give the floor back to our Executive Director, Mr. Moreira da Silva, and his fellow administrators so that they can respond to the questions and comments raised in this first round. Thank you.

You have the floor.

Thank you very much, Mr. President. I will try to, to, to cover all the questions, but in the interest of time, trying to be succinct. And starting with the, with the ambassador, the permanent representative from Romania. Indeed, the artificial intelligence has been one of the, of the elements integrated in the process innovation and digitalization. We have a tool called Bob that is an AI tool that we use internally to make our processes more efficient and agile. We are in a learning stage, as is happening with all organizations. And in recent— in a recent meeting that included— led by the Secretary-General and included other heads of agency, I realized that many, many agencies are precisely developing their own AI tools. So it would be interesting for member states to have some sort of comparability and cross-fertilization among us on how are we developing these tools and what are the lessons learned. For the time being, this has been a very successful exercise internally, and we'll be very happy in case the Board decides one day to have a separate discussion on this, including other agencies or just UNOPS. be very happy to share information. Point that was made about the staff and how to motivate staff— a clear call on this, and I couldn't agree more on that point. That's why I have very candid and open conversations with my colleagues, and I encourage all UNOPS leadership to have this approach. I think it's part of the cultural change. Probably I'm not best placed, obviously, to talk about, about what has been my profile or my leadership style, but I would say that clearly colleagues can approach, can speak up can influence the sense of direction of the organization regardless of their seniority. And there is a spirit of collegiality and mutual accountability that I'm quite proud of. But still, much more must be done, and in an organization of 6,000 colleagues, present in multiple contexts, obviously it's difficult to have total alignment of the best practices, but the journey has been successful, fruitful, and I believe that it's part of the reason why I see the trust being restored and the In the forest did something wrong, the entire forest was immediately perceived as being toxic, or at least not being as relevant as it was. It took a while, it took a while, as you imagine, to clearly differentiate what was something that went wrong in one place and clearly avoiding confusing mismanagement, misconduct, unacceptable behaviour that took place in one place under limited circumstances with the entire organisation. And Valerie knows this better than me because she's overseeing the People and Culture Group, so I would let her, if she can, say something about how she sees the wellbeing of the colleagues, this cultural change happening, because from my side I see clearly a sense of pride, engagement that is higher, and it's the key element for the organization. About the private sector. One of the reasons I think many of you, many of your governments approach UNOPS, it's because we are project managers. Basically, we do not replace the private sector and we do not replace governments. What basically we do is, based on the demand, as very rightly the Ambassador from Netherlands said, based on the demand and on the specific demand, not in our agenda, We provide a response relying on local capacities. One of the good figures that I always like to share is the fact that more than 50% of our suppliers on procurement are coming from developing countries, so we do not enter into an exercise of exporting goods from the north to the south. By contrary, our work on procurement and also on infrastructure relies on local capabilities and strengthen local capabilities. This is applicable both to the personnel, and most of our personnel are precisely local, and it is applicable also to the, to the suppliers, uh, on, on procurement. The question from the distinguished Ambassador from Ethiopia, and I really want to thank you because we are very proud of supporting your government and your people in Ethiopia. I'm going to Ethiopia in the next few days, particularly in Tigray, and not only the work that we have done in supporting the efforts of the of the country on COVID, but also the health systems integrate, which is, as you know much better than I do, quite challenging context. And with the government, strong involvement of the local communities, we have been developing infrastructure and procurement systems on health. I hear you and I completely agree on the point about the consolidation of reforms. I heard from other distinguished members this idea that we must remain committed to reform, and I think that the word consolidation is very appropriate to this new phase— no longer approving reforms, but implementing and consolidating reforms and learning from the evidence. So what have we learned from the reform agenda and then providing information to member states. I imagine— I've been serving, as you know, in different capacities in the past, and I imagine that trying to put myself in our member states' role, you are probably interested in understanding what was the impact, the outputs, but especially the outcomes of the reform, because this has been a unique case in the UN system. Yes. After a significant crisis, probably one of the largest crises, if not the largest crisis, that happened in a UN organization, the member states managed with the UNOPS a way to rescue the organization, so I imagine that this is a case study and the case study requires evidence, facts and lessons learned. So I would say that it will be very important to make sure that while the reform agenda on the Comprehensive Response Plan is over, the outcomes of that— only now probably we'll see the results, and I'm committed to continue engaging with member states on those reflections and on the outcomes of that reform, of those reforms. From the ambassador from Tunisia on behalf of the African group. Important points made on the PIV, the process innovation and digitalization, on renewable energy, but if in the interest of time I will pick one topic that is the financing for development agenda. And one of the issues I remember quite well that intrigued or at least was part of the interest expressed by member states when I joined, knowing that I have a background from my previous role at OECD leading the DAC Secretariat, what is UNOPS' role on FFD, on the Financing for Development agenda, knowing that we have a $4 trillion gap? We have a $4 trillion gap on the implementation of the SDGs. Is there a role for UNOPS or not, especially because UNOPS crisis was related with our involvement wrongly, wrongly outside our mandate in an activity that was related with financing for development. So I know that from the very beginning many of you are trying to understand is there a role for UNOPS on FFD? And from the very beginning I've been expressing this in a I hope consistent manner, but also with all the guardrails, which is yes, but just on the demand side. We have no role, no role, and we don't want to play any role on the supply side of financing for development, being public finance or innovative finance. No way. That's not our role. That's not our expertise. That's not our mandate. However, what's the role of UNOPS as an implementation agency on FFT? And I think it's precisely on the enabling context. We know very well that supply alone won't fix the problem. We know by experience. We can list many, many countries where the financing may be available, but member states are missing the enabling context, namely through capacity building, The policy-enabling context— we don't work on that— but also the bottlenecks on implementation, which is our role. I can tell you why some of the projects don't work, even when the financing might be available. We are short of financing in that system, but even when the financing is available, we still struggle with some bottlenecks on implementation, namely technical assistance and capacity building. That's a role for UNOPS. not just for UNOPS, but also for UNOPS. So I am taking the opportunity, as this point was made, and asking where do I see UNOPS on FFD, particularly because we have in Sevilla in the next few months an important meeting, probably the most important meeting since Addis, on financing for sustainable development. And my point, my call for member states, humbly, is saying that just mobilizing and aligning finance won't work. It's important also to work on the demand side, enabling the context to make projects more bankable and to ensure that we remove the bottlenecks on implementation, and this is part of the UNOPS role on project design, technical assistance, and capacity building. Long story short, we have no role and we don't want to play any role on FFD on the supply side, but definitely we think that we can, we shall play a role on the demand side, supporting member states' efforts, being donors or being developing countries. And indeed, the infrastructure gap is a key issue, and if you allow me, I would like to link this question tabled by the Ambassador of Tunisia with a point made by the distinguished representative of Bangladesh, but also Ireland, and then I will go deep into other points, which is about the infrastructure gap and the implementation gap, and how can we collaborate with other agencies. And I will give you one example, because I think that you want practical solutions and practical responses, so let me be practical. In the transition to the— in the key transitions, in the way to rescue the SDGs and to accelerate Agency by agency. No, experience shows that the degree of the demand and the needs are so immense that no agency alone, no partner alone can fix the issue. So the question is, how can you ensure that we collaborate, being non-programmatic, non-normative, non-thematic, we can work through our strengths on implementation with other agencies? And I really think that Energy is a good example. For instance, if a country needs— and I've been discussing this extensively with my colleague Christine— if a country needs support to design a climate strategy, an energy strategy, it shouldn't come to us. Please, don't waste your time. We are not the experts on energy strategy or a programme of energy. Probably UNDP is best placed and a few others, UNEP, maybe others, not UNOPS. But if you need someone to implement your project because you know what you want to do on energy, to do solarization of hospitals, build transmission lines, build renewable energy infrastructure, refurnish and renewal energy providing energy efficiency in buildings? Ah, yes, you should come to UNOPS because we have good practices. So I think that it will be very important to, as part of the QCPR and following your marching orders, so member states' willingness to ensure that we work across the system on those objectives, I think it's fundamental to make sure that UN agencies collaborate. And you'll find in me a champion on that, definitely. You will never hear from us any kind of attitude that is about competition or using the mandate lines of separation. I rely completely on the other agencies and on member states' strategies because we cannot work in a programmatic manner. So, so it's just demand. Just demand. So if it is just demand, I think that we definitely need that demand to be framed from national priorities with the support of the agencies that have a programmatic and thematic role. And unless we do that, we won't succeed. I'm sorry, I'm being a bit outspoken, but I don't believe that we will succeed on the SDGs, taking into consideration that 3 billion people are offline. Thematic financing, we won't succeed. So I really would like to get all the incentives to deliver more at scale under the guidance of member states in this area. And this allows me to go to your point, if I may, from Ireland on the QCPR. I also agree that as part of the Comprehensive Response Plan— of the Strategic Plan 26-29, and I'm planning to bring this tomorrow in the informal discussion we'll have on the Strategic Plan— I think it will be important to ensure that the key element of the Strategic Plan is precisely our contribution to the priorities defined by Member States under the QCPR. So we must align, we must align the strategic plan with the, with the QCPR. And for us, I think we are best— better placed now to do so than we were maybe 2 years ago because we reformed the organization and we created what we call the mission hubs. We don't have a department on energy, we don't have a department on education, we don't have a department on, on health because we can't, because that would give the impression that we are becoming programmatic. However, how can we ensure that we have consistency across the organization, regardless of the place we work, to deliver in those areas? So we created hubs, mission hubs. Those mission hubs align quite well with the QCPR, which is a way not to frame a programme, but by contrary, to get ready to the demand that will come from member states on those missions that are by the— more or less the same of the QCPR. So I think it's an excellent element to ensure alignment of UNOPS strategic plan with the QCPR. And the same I would say with the strengthening of the UN Development System reform, and particularly what can we do as UNOPS to better support the efficiency agenda of member states. We are just operations, we are just implementation. That can be quite valuable, I would say, as part of the UN country teams on common back offices, shared services, all this efficiency agenda that is fundamental. Important point from Bangladesh on climate resilience and infrastructure particularly: I think that one of the best moments we had last year was the interactive dialogue led by Bangladesh on resilient infrastructure, and definitely based on our experience on loss and damage and hosting the Santiago Network on Loss and Damage, I think that definitely it's an important area for collaboration across agencies under the leadership of the Board. Final point, if I may, for the Ambassador of of Netherlands, again, completely aligned with this idea of demand-driven, non-programmatic— I would say solutions-based, demand-driven, impact-oriented organisation. I am committed to remain— we are committed to remain— stick to our mandate, and we also see advantages on the point you made about complementarity. By the way, it would be quite interesting if all agencies could do the same, so I hope that you are not just asking ENOPS to do that. I think it's a very humble but very efficient exercise if all agencies with different mandates can outline to member states how they see the complementarity with other agencies. I'm ready to do so. I can provide you already tomorrow, if needed, a list of the collaboration we have with the other UN agencies, but also how I see, how we see, if we pursue this alignment with the CCPR in area by area, the complementarity. I just gave one example. UNDP could do, and they do fantastic and amazing work on the strategy, on the programmes, on energy, but we can definitely do what probably we are better positioned, which is doing the implementation on infrastructure, on energy. And we can go one by one— WHO, UNOPS on health, UNEP and UNOPS on waste management, sanitation. It will be a quite interesting exercise and I count on us for that exercise, as well as all the points that you have made. Ambassador and other ambassadors and distinguished representatives on the idea of continuous efforts on integrity and transparency. Mr. President, I know that it was quite long, but still, I don't know if I can give the floor to my colleague Valérie Couchat on this topic about culture and people.

Please, go ahead.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. President, and thank you, Mr. Executive Director. I will not take too long because yesterday we did share a joint statement on how we're doing on organizational culture, and I think on the 14th of December we also had an informal where we shared a lot of information on what we're doing. I could then ask probably our director for the New York Board and Executive Relations to share those statements. But of importance in terms of one quick thing, it is about recognizing that out of the recent organizational culture and engagement survey, both engagement and satisfaction levels have now steadily gone back to 2021 levels. Are they anything to celebrate? Are they where we want them to be? Maybe not, but it is a continuous journey. It definitely shows that the initiatives, the reforms that we are putting in place, they're starting to have some traction and starting to show some progress. I think it is important to also let you know that accountability is high on the agenda. We are having KPIs on people management and KPIs on increasing team engagements, you know, all our people managers and, you know, our leaders as of this year. So we are hoping that that will be— the integration of that will help us in making sure that leaders have got the tools that they need to manage people and also be held accountable for that. I will not go much into the revamp of the whistleblowing policy launched this month. Which took quite a while to put in place, but it is about streamlining how we confidentially and with respect handle any colleagues that come up and speak out about issues. So I think it's best to circulate those. They are very rich because it could be another— probably I'll probably take longer than the Executive Director's opening statement if we go into the culture because it has been a journey. It has been a journey. Journey, but we are making slow progress and I wouldn't be naive to say there are no challenges. There are still challenges and we are away and we continue to progress as we deal with them as we progress and move forward. Thank you, Mr. President.

Thank you for this initial reaction. We will now proceed with a second round of comments and/or questions. I give the floor to the representative of the United States at ECOSOC. You have the floor.

Thank you, Mr. President, and thank you also to the Executive Director, Mr. Moreira da Silva, for his remarks. And improved food security in Haiti, healthcare in Sudan, and safety in Ukraine. By leveraging your own expertise and connections and the comparative advantages of your partners, you are saving and improving lives in some of the most difficult places on Earth. More work lies ahead. In the context of the Comprehensive Response Plan, UNOPS has strengthened and improved some essential tools, such as risk assessment and management and digital transformation. A continued focus on partnership engagement, particularly in Africa and Asia, will continue to reinforce donor and client confidence. We see some key challenges that UNOPS needs to address. We look forward to the long-awaited implementation of the new whistleblower policy. A strong whistleblower protection policy instills confidence and a sense of safety for your talent who choose to speak up about perceived wrongdoing. We also understand that there are significant staff concerns regarding the rollout of a number of staff reductions in December, with the timing, strategic purpose, and the possibilities of further reductions all unclear to most staff. We once again encourage UNOPS to improve its communication with staff and trust you can provide the Board with further details on this matter in the context of today's meeting. Thank you again, Mr. Executive Director, for your work and the efforts of your committed staff. We all have work to do. Let's do it together.

I thank the distinguished representative of the United States. I now give the floor to the Swedish Ambassador to ECOSOC. You have the floor, Madam.

Thank you, Mr. President, and thank you, Executive Director, for your statement and, and responses. Sweden joined the statement delivered by Ireland earlier but would like to to make a few points on international capacity. We appreciate the dedicated efforts of UNOPS to address organizational weaknesses and restore confidence after the major irregularities identified in 2022. The implementation of the Comprehensive Response Plan has been key in this regard. While we recognize the need for UNOPS to move forward, it's crucial to ensure that lessons are learned. It is the responsibility of the current management to ensure significant changes in the organizational culture, ethics, and transparency at all levels. To fully restore confidence, we need to know that every effort has been made to investigate all wrongdoings that paved the way for the S3I irregularities. Those responsible need to be held accountable. We also need to see further efforts to recover the lost funds. It is timely that we're discussing organizational culture and risk management at this board meeting. It is deeply worrying to read the allegations in the anonymous letter from EUNOP staff dated on the 22nd of January. Some of the points raised in the letter are also matters raised in the agenda item on organizational culture. We expect EUNOP's management to take any allegations seriously and and provide transparent updates to the Executive Board on actions taken to address key issues. Let me also take this opportunity to say a few words on the process of developing a new Strategic Plan for the period 2026-2029. UNOPS is a demand-driven and self-financed service organization to the UN, Member States, and other actors. The next Strategic Plan needs to reflect this. The strategic plan must also align with UNOPS' core mandate and defining its operational boundaries. Targets should focus on UNOPS' capacity to implement projects upon request rather than setting targets for the projects themselves.

Thank you.

I thank the Swedish Ambassador Ekesok for her statement. I now give the floor To the distinguished representative of Brazil.

Gracias, señor presidente. Thank you, President. To thank the Executive Director for his comprehensive update on UNOPS operations and achievements in 2024, as well as its outlook for 2025. Brazil commends UNOPS for its invaluable contributions to addressing global challenges, including emergency responses in conflict-affected regions, natural disasters. Disasters and complex crises. And I would like to take this opportunity, Mr. President, to express Brazil's appreciation for NOPS engagement with the Brazilian G20 presidency in 2024. Your collaboration was instrumental in advancing shared priorities of sustainability, equity, and global resiliency. We look forward to continue our partnership with NOPS to foster impactful initiatives throughout the year. That said, Brazil needs to address governance and oversight challenges. Governance lapses and associated management issues are concerning, particularly for an organization that manages substantial resources and delivers critical results for vulnerable communities. We welcome the measures taken to address these challenges, including reforms to enhance transparency and accountability, We encourage UNOPS to sustain and strengthen its efforts to improve governance structures, enhance internal controls, and rebuild trust among stakeholders, both internally and externally. Brazil remains a supporter of UNOPS and its mission. We are committed to collaborating with you to ensure the organization continues to deliver effectively while upholding the highest standards of governance, accountability, and transparency. Thank you.

I thank the distinguished representative of Brazil. I now give the floor to the distinguished representative of Germany.

Thank you, Mr. President. Distinguished Executive Director, dear members of the Executive In a world increasingly marked by crises and fragile contexts, we appreciate the dedication and resilience of UNOPS and its staff, who have continued to work tirelessly to implement meaningful and impactful projects. The examples presented today by the Executive Director are testimony to that. We take note of the progress made in implementing the Comprehensive Response Plan and acknowledged that UNOPS management considers the plan, with the exception of the process innovation and digitalization program, implemented. While we recognize these efforts, we must emphasize that there is still work to be done to fully address the challenges at hand. Recent information brought to our attention appeared to align with certain observations in the Board of Auditors' findings, suggesting that some irregularities such as financial mismanagement and operational deficiencies may still persist. As a member of this executive board, Germany takes these ongoing shortcomings and new allegations very seriously. The deficiencies in communication about the closure of CRP recommendations and the persistence of insufficiencies undermine the trust we are striving to rebuild from both sides. Therefore, we await the findings of the independent assessment, as requested by the Executive Board, to evaluate the quality and impact of these measures. Only with independent assurance that the recommendations have been adequately implemented will we consider the CRP completed. Allow me one more comment that is of importance for my delegation with regards to the discussions on UNOPS' new Strategic Plan. Thank you very much for already mentioning it. UNOPS must remain a service provider focused on delivering projects commissioned by UN organizations and other partners, avoiding any shifts towards programmatic activities. This is UNOPS' unique selling point, and the increased engagement with partners you just mentioned speaks to this as well. Clear criteria for accepting or declining projects may help maintain alignment with its current and broadly appreciated core mandate. Finally, we nevertheless want to strongly reaffirm our commitment to supporting EUNOPS in rebuilding trust with its stakeholders, which can only be a long-term effort. This support, however, is conditional on open, transparent, and honest communication, the foundation for the effective exercise of the Board's oversight responsibilities. Accountability, transparency, currency, proactive communication, and a credible commitment to profoundly changing the organizational culture are essential for rebuilding trust in the organization. I thank you.

I thank the distinguished representative of Germany, and I now give the floor to the distinguished representative of Finland. You have the floor.

Thank you, Mr. President. In addition to the joint statement presented by Ireland, we would have We'd like to make a statement by our national capacity. First of all, Finland commends the progress made in organizational structures. Finland underscores the importance of implementing fully the Comprehensive Response Plan. However, it is crucial to see the changes in practice. As the hosts for the S3I office, it has been an exceptionally challenging journey, a journey which is not over yet.

Thank you.

Yesterday we had highly relevant discussions on risk management, oversight, and governance, as well as organizational culture. These are all interlinked and must be working effectively. As a lesson learned from the previous events, we must have fully independent functions of whistleblower mechanisms, audit and investigations, as well as ethics. This is a high priority for Finland. In this regard, we would like to ask from the UNOPS management what needs to be done to ensure the investments made to reorganize UNOPS will be sustainable and long-lasting, and what can the Executive Board do in this respect. This is especially the case on organizational culture. Finland reiterates our commitment to support the needed reforms in order to enhance a robust, professional and effective UNOPS. in the years to come. Mr. President, the reforms UNOPS is undergoing are certainly the right messages at this critical stage. We expect to see these reforms being implemented at each and every one of UNOPS' offices around the globe. You have our full support in this. Thank you.

I thank the distinguished representative of Finland Thank you, Mr. Silva, for his statement, and I now give the floor to the distinguished representative of China.

Mr. Chair, thank you, the Executive Director Silva, for his presentation. China acknowledges UNOPS' efforts in keeping the reform process open and transparent, actively implementing reform and overhaul recommendations, improving oversight and accountability mechanisms, and rebuilding its culture of integrity. At the same time, the demand for UNOPS' services has held steady and the number of future-proof projects has increased, helping vulnerable communities in developing countries navigate development challenges, and they are aspiring to and the UN Women High Commissioner see a greater role of UNOPS in implementing SDGs, and this is highly encouraging, and this is a solid foundation for the work of UNOPS in the future. We consistently support UNOPS in implementing its core mandates and play its unique role in the process. We hope that in the future, we can have more details on the core content of the strategic plan, and we hope that UNOPS, in implementing its mandates, will execute its reforms and deliver its projects and follow the direction of the Comprehensive Response Plan and strengthen communication with the members of the board and increase the efficiency and agility of the project execution and strengthen coordination with other development entities in support of other developing countries in achieving SDGs. Thank you.

I thank the distinguished representative of China, and I now give the floor to the representative of the European Union.

Mr.

President, Mr. Executive Director, Excellencies, dear colleagues, I'm delivering this statement on behalf of the European Union as a donor. First of all, the EU congratulates UNOPS on its 30th anniversary and welcomes the efforts made by UNOPS since the financial issues that arose in 2021. In particular, the widespread reforms undertaken under the Comprehensive Response Plan. Beyond the specific case that triggered this, we see this undertaking as very much fitting the wider UN reform, including the new UN 2.0 Action Plan. We hope that some of the lessons from the UNOPS experience can be mainstreamed across the system. The ongoing reforms constitute a positive foundation on which to keep building our partnership and trust. A long-standing partnership based on the joint endeavor to support partner countries in achieving the SDGs. We hope to see further steps in this direction, as accountability and transparency are the core values for EU financial rules. Collectively, we are not on track to achieve the SDGs. The UNOPS mandate to expand implementation capacity on the ground is therefore key. We appreciate the flexibility and wide range of settings where we collaborate and the lean multi-country office model of UNOPS. There are 2 areas where we see an important role for the future of UNOPS, which matches also EU priorities. First, a focus on sustainable infrastructure and the enabling environment, which for the EU is synonymous with Global Gateway. The recent signing of the EU-UNOPS Collaboration on Strategic Corridors in South Sudan is thus very positive. In the same logic, we encourage UNOPS to continue to enhance its advisory services capacity and collaboration with the European Investment Bank and other Team Europe DFIs. Having a neutral broker that facilitates important operations and public procurement that helps partnerships between donors, governments, DFIs, and the private sector is increasingly a must. Second, focus on increased capacity in addressing fragility, conflict, and political complexity, all of which are unfortunately on the rise. Our collaboration, along with other Team Europe and UN partners in Myanmar and in Afghanistan, are very good examples of constructive ways to operate in such environments. In the same vein, we appreciate UNOPS's work on delicate and very complex operations, as in Gaza, Yemen, or Ukraine. We recognize UNOPS's experience as an important asset in supporting smart investments in complicated contexts, particularly in climate and energy. transport, and health, while respecting the highest social and environmental standards. It is essential for the EU and UNOPS to keep combining forces, which requires continued coordination and collaboration at country level between UNOPS, UN country teams, and EU delegations, in order to share analysis, information on investment opportunities, and solutions. Mr. President, Mr. Executive Director, We hope that the new UNOPS can provide even more scale, more solutions in partnership with the rest of the United Nations, and more value for money. And we look forward to the UNOPS Strategic Plan 2026-2029. Let me take this opportunity to reaffirm the EU's support to UNOPS in its indispensable effort to reform the Office, and to welcome this new phase of our partnership. Thank you.

Le agradezco a la distinta.

I thank the distinguished representative of the European Union, and I will now give the floor back to the Executive Director, Mr. Moreira da Silva, and his colleagues on the podium to respond to the second round of questions and comments. You have the floor.

President, and this time, to avoid being too long on the responses, And while we took note of many points raised, I would like to focus on a few that seem to still worry some delegations. And I confess that I'm a bit surprised with the comments provided by some delegations, and probably I will need to better understand the rationale. And still, if there is something that still needs to be responded, as I've noticed in the recent monthly updates that we even have difficulties in using the 1-hour conversations because obviously we have been covering so much that there was not much to be covered. But still, I remain totally available, Mr. President, even if we are no longer having monthly updates. If member states still want to have any ad hoc conversation on any specific topic, I'm totally available. But I cannot listen without reacting to some of the comments made because, in my opinion, are not consistent with the facts and with the evidence. We do not deviate from our mandate and that's why we refused more than $252 million of projects last year. We could have accepted, but because those projects were not aligned with our mandate or didn't pass the risk assessment test, we just refused it. So you can see that an organization that refuses $250 million project is really taking duly attention to its core mandate. And this is something that obviously it's here to stay and will remain in the future. At the same time, we are not setting any targets. I'm a bit surprised with this point made by Sweden. Obviously, UNOPS is not going to set any target regarding its future activities. We are demand-driven. We are just demand-driven. We just need to be equipped for that demand. So you shouldn't expect any kind of moonshot exercises. Moonshot exercises are consistent with programmatic agencies. No, EUNOPS will not do any moonshot exercise. We are not talking about moonshot activities. By contrary, we just follow demand and getting ready for that demand. Nothing more, nothing less, just implementation. So there is no reason to be worried. And by the way, the Executive Board is sovereign, so it's the Executive Board that will continue providing the marching orders and will take the— obviously the full ownership of the Strategic Plan 2026-2029. So I kindly ask you to embarking this journey with us. I— we don't have any interest in becoming like others because where we really can provide an added value is being unique. That is an organization that is quite unique in the system that is just implementation. Regarding the letter, there are 2 delegations that mentioned a letter, an anonymous letter. I don't know if you have seen my response I shared with member states, even if the letter was anonymous, I shared with the Bureau, and I know that the Bureau shared with member states, a response. And this is a quite important exercise because that letter that I don't know how representative it is because an anonymous letter is anonymous letter, it can be one, it can be 1 million persons, so I don't know, but that letter was obviously revealing something that I think it's quite pedagogical to bring here. That is the financial sustainability of the organization. I will never put this organization at risk spending more than we earn and not respecting taxpayers' money. Will this make me popular every day? No. What happened? I had to let 47 colleagues go. Out of 6,000. But what would be the alternative? It's to generate a deficit. I work with your taxpayers' money. We work with your taxpayers' money. So what we have done is something that we always do on the ground, which is when we scale up because there is more demand, we hire. When we scale down in a specific geography, we let people go. It's why we are demand-driven and we don't work with core funding. We don't go for core funding. We are earmarking in asteroids, which means that we just work with demand, with the specific projects. And that's why you think that EUNOPS is agile and flexible, because we adjust the labor force, the talent force, to the demand. which ensures that no deficit is being generated. But this cannot be valid only in— on the field. It should be valid also in headquarters. So what happened was, as preparing the budget for next year and to ensure net zero, we had to adjust the the size of the organization, affecting 0.8% of the organization. So it's 47 positions out of 6,000. And this was done in a very transparent manner. Of course, this affects people and their families, and I have all the empathy and sympathy about that. There is nothing worse for someone than obviously had to leave an organization and lose the job. But let's not confuse the circumstance of this adjustment to any strategic endeavor of the organization. It's to ensure that we are fully respecting Martian orders that you provided, which is being net zero. Same time, we guarantee that these colleagues that had to leave the organization most of them in headquarters, would get priority in future opportunities, and some of them were already recruited on the ground, they are on the field. They moved from Copenhagen to other parts, to Guatemala, to Mozambique, wherever, where there is the need. This is UNOPS. Is this making everyone happy? No, but I'm not in the in an operation of being the most popular person. I'm just delivering what I've been asked to deliver, which is delivering on the ground and ensuring financial sustainability of the organization. And I had the conversation exactly like this with colleagues, and I even provided explanations on why this happened. And if member states are interested, I was not planning to bring this. I brought this morning in a closed session, but Yes. Now that the question was raised and it's livestreamed, I'm sorry, I need to answer to this question. The organization managed to deliver the same, the same, more or less the same despite the crisis. What would be normal is the organization to contract immediately after the crisis. When we have a reputational crisis, you contract. That didn't happen. And I pay tribute to my colleagues on the ground, in headquarters, and I pay tribute to member states to ensure that we could deliver the same, more or less the same, despite the crisis. So it was counterintuitive, because what would be normal is to contract. That didn't happen. However, 2 other elements were new. First, First, you told us very rightly in '22, before I joined, that the organization needs to invest in itself. Segregation of functions, control systems, compliance, oversight, more investment in the organization, namely in headquarters. You have also told you told us, very rightly, that we shouldn't have any kind of segregation in the UNOPS system between colleagues that are fixed-term and colleagues that are HICA contracts that work with flexible arrangements, with less assurance in terms of stability of their projects. So we have enhanced those contracts. It's the e-Modality enhancements. Those contracts became more aligned with the other contracts, still with some flexibility, but there was a cost. And you told us to do that, and I think that we did the right thing, strengthening those contracts, ensuring that there are no segregation of— no kind of segregation depending on the contracts. This represented additional cost. So you can see, same delivery, additional cost. And then, not you shareholders, but some of you as partners, has told us, we will only work with you if you lower a bit the fee. And that was agreed with my predecessor, not with me. And he took the right decision. To make sure that we could keep the same delivery, there was a discount. So some of the partners The only way to remain was saying that I will only work with UNOPS if the management fee is lower. So you can see the circumstance. Financial sustainability was ensured, but I'm managing this with the CFO and with my colleagues, DEDs, very closely, very closely. in a monthly basis. And when I see any kind of deviation, we front-load decisions to avoid affecting people. That is happening since '23 when I joined with Ops. First time I saw— first month I joined and I saw that something would need to be done, I've done it. Not affecting people, but affecting non-personal costs, reducing costs, being more frugal. Then in '24, first time I saw that again we needed to take actions, we took it and we delivered on net zero, no deficit. Why? Front-loading again some measures to avoid future costs, not letting people go but avoiding contracting new people, cutting on non-personal costs, and we managed, we delivered. And in 2025, we need to do something that we have not done before, was for the first time adjusting the size in headquarters, especially in headquarters. But why are we getting emotional when we have this kind of cuts in headquarters and not when we let people go in IT or in Afghanistan or in other locations because the demand is going down. And this is the kind of conversation that I'm having with my colleagues. It's only one EUNOPS, and we have to do whatever we can to serve the people on the ground and obviously to protect our personnel. Again, I'm working under huge scrutiny and guidance from you. I work under the taxpayers' money, and if measures are needed to adjust, we adjust. However, I'm very, very, very optimistic about the future. How can we measure the optimism? Because we are signing more. So now the delivery will grow because we signed more in '24 than in the last 6 or 7 years, and now the management fee is also being reviewed. So this adjustment was an adjustment that was needed to get us fit for scaling up and speeding up. And apologies if I took a while on this topic, but by the way, I think it's a particularly important topic. I just challenge a bit the the issue or the way that, that we were discussing this, this issue. And I have to strongly state that there are no allegations, there are no allegations, at least that are coming to my knowledge. So, I have just heard from the distinguished delegate of Germany about allegations. If the allegations are the information on the letter, the letter is related with precisely with this resize of the organization. But you have full access to the head of IAG and the head of ethics, and therefore in closed sessions or bilaterally, I kindly ask member states to do so. And Mr. President, I would like to thank all the comments from the US, from Sweden, from Finland, from China, from Brazil, from Germany, from the EU, both on the points to retain in the future, things that we need to strengthen and to reinforce, but also on the acknowledgement of the process of the progress achieved. And again, I think that the Strategic Plan 26-29 will be a promising exercise turning the page but not forgetting the previous page. And we count on you on both, on always remembering us about the previous page but also staying with us in the next page. Thank you very much.

I thank you, uh, sir Executive Director. I would like to make a few brief comments. Obviously, there has been a reference here to an anonymous letter that was circulated and brought to the attention of all members. A response was also received from Executive Director Moreira da Silva that also has been circulated. This is a matter that was planned. It is something that is extremely important to the board and that can also be addressed later on in the appropriate fora. There is quite a lot of openness to rigorous oversight and zero tolerance. And indeed, this is precisely the role of this Executive Board. So having said that, once again, this is a matter that can be addressed from next week onwards. I think that there is room on the agenda for that. So thank you again. Once again, Executive Director and— Thank you. Your colleagues. This has been a very insightful meeting. I would like to inform the board that we are preparing a draft decision under item 14 of the agenda relating to the comprehensive response plan in response to the recommendations of the 2 independent third-party reviews of UNOPS, and we shall return to this item later to adopt the decision. We are just going to take a couple of minutes to rearrange the podium for the remainder of this session.

Could you announce that—

Distinguished delegates, we are resuming our session now for the last half an hour. Thank you.

Excellencies, distinguished delegates, colleagues, let us now move to item 15 on the agenda. I'm pleased to welcome the same members who are here on the We're here now on the report on the process for innovation and digitalization and the report on the implementation of the process on innovation and digitalization. Delegates, please be seated as we hear from Ms. Hillary Balbuena. You have the floor.

Thank you, President. I wish members of the Executive Board It's an honor to address you today and provide an update on the progress of our Process Innovation and Digitalization Program. I will be brief. You did receive an annual report in the lead-up and the preparation for this meeting, so I won't repeat what's in there. And we also provide you with, and will continue to provide you with, quarterly updates on this multi-year program. So this program is a critical component of UNOPS reform, our broader reform effort which aims to strengthen our ability to deliver quality services, improve efficiency and agility, optimize value for money, and ultimately increase our impact for the people we serve. Our approach to achieving these goals is comprehensive. We are streamlining our policies and processes, making them simpler and more efficient. We are investing in advanced systems and data analytics to improve decision-making and accountability. We are strengthening our project management and service delivery to ensure maximum efficiency, and we are empowering our frontline teams in the field to make decisions while also reinforcing our accountability mechanisms. Ultimately, our efforts are aimed at achieving maximum impact. Turning to progress and achievements of this program, this multi-year program. During the first year, we focused on building a strong foundation. We built the team, established the governance structures, and charted our course with a clear roadmap. We shared this roadmap with you last year and had an opportunity to discuss it at the 2nd regular session. We have done so while actively seeking feedback and input from colleagues at all levels, from country offices to regional hubs, frontline colleagues who need more efficient processes, systems, and tools. And yes, we are embracing AI in all of these solutions. Regarding the ERP, or the Enterprise Resource Planning system, and an update on that and its implementation, this is a critical component of our system enhancement efforts. as the ERP will provide essential transactional support and help improve our operational efficiency and effectiveness. In Decision 2024/2028, the Internal Audit and Investigation Group was requested to commission an external formative evaluation of the Process Innovation and Digitalization Program. This evaluation is expected to be completed in April 2025. And we— so we have paused the selection of our enterprise risk planning system until the executive board has had the opportunity to opine on the evaluation. And therefore, we've pushed the go-live date back by some time until the board has had time to look at that evaluation. So what's to come in 2025? I won't go into a lot of detail. Again, a lot of this included in the report that we provided to you. But just to cite a few examples, and I just want to say that we are really dedicated to making our policies and processes as clear and accessible as possible through continuous updates in an online portal that we have. This will benefit all personnel, I think, will make their work more efficient. In the area of project management, we are introducing artificial intelligence in the project setup, which we call Opportunity to signing phase. This will allow us to manage projects more effectively from the initial idea through to the final contract that we sign with partners. In the area of human resources, we will also launch a new recruitment and onboarding system, and then later a talent marketplace platform. And of course, in relation to how we manage finance, the selection of a new ERP is a major focus, focus. And we'll be going out to study the market later this year once you've had an opportunity to opine on the evaluation. But the Process Innovation Digitalization Program is much more than the sum of its parts. The program looks holistically at how the organization is approaching its work, how data is collected, shared, and analyzed, and how processes and policies are integrated and simplified. It looks at how to marry Strong controls with flexibility, appropriate levels of risk-taking, and an unrelenting focus on practical solutions. So from our point of view, this is a very exciting project, and we look forward to continuing our conversation with you on this. Thank you.

Muchísimas gracias.

Thank you very, very much, Ms. Thank you, Bill Wenner, for these words, a very important presentation on the innovation and digitalization and the details contained in the document DP/OPS/2025/3.

Thank you.

I do not see any requests for the floor to intervene under this agenda item. And so, if there are no objections, I will take it that the Executive Board wishes to take note of the report on the process Innovation and Digitalization Program Implementation. It is so decided. The morning meeting is adjourned.