(6th meeting) Executive Board of UNDP, UNFPA and UNOPS (First regular session 2025)

Distinguished delegates, Excellencies, colleagues, please take a seat. We're going to reconvene the morning session. With a thematic interactive dialogue with the Administrator in the next few seconds. Please take your seats.

To the colleagues who are continuing to have bilateral conversations, thank you.

Thank you.

Good afternoon. As we just announced, we'll now resume our segment for this afternoon's meeting by giving the floor to delegations who requested it.

I give the floor to the distinguished representative of New Zealand.

Thank you, Mr. President. First, I would like to join others in expressing our condolences for those affected by the tragic air accident in Washington, D.C. last night. New Zealand was pleased to join the group statement delivered by Belgium earlier today. We also wish to make some brief remarks in a national capacity. Thank you, Mr. President. Mr. President, New Zealand places significant importance on the ongoing development of UNDP's next strategic plan. We hope and expect that UNDP's strategic planning process will include robust engagement with other entities within the UN development system to ensure that the development priorities that are set out in the QCPR resolution are rationally and efficiently distributed across agencies. In accordance with entity mandates. The effective functioning of the Resident Coordinator System is crucial if the UN development system is to optimize resources for development impact on the ground. One key way that UNDP can support this is to ensure that interagency cooperation at the country level is founded in coherent, jointly developed strategic plans. Otherwise, each hardworking country team will be obliged to reverse engineer a coherent way to implement these strategies, a time-consuming task that would distract from delivering tangible development outcomes. And lastly, to note, we welcome the timely joint briefings as part of the strategic plan development process. These help us to observe and to understand the broader strategic benefits of UN development system reform. Thank you.

Thank you for your statement. I now give the floor to the distinguished representative of Germany.

Thank you, Mr. President, distinguished members of the Board, dear Mr. Administrator. First, we would also like to express our sincere condolences to our valued colleagues of the US delegation for the tragedy occurred. On a more positive note, allow me to commend you on the 60th anniversary of UNDP and the organization's great achievements in its fight against poverty and inequality, as well as the successful promotion of sustainable development. I would also like to thank you personally, Mr. Steiner, Thank you, Mr. Secretary-General, for your vivid contribution to the transformation of UNDP, through which the organization is positioned so well as a robust and trustworthy multidimensional development partner. Germany not only values UNDP as a strong leading agency in the UN development system, but also as our trusted and reliable partner. We are determined to continue to be a reliable donor and strategic partner in the future and aspire to expand our partnership. In this vein, we look forward to the next iteration of the Hamburg Sustainability Conference in June. Also due to valuable contributions by UNEP, it will serve to strengthen activities, initiatives, and measures for sustainable and equitable development worldwide. The current development of UNDP's new Strategic Plan offers opportunity to sharpen thematic priorities, increase efficiency and avoid duplication within the UN development system. And we are confident that UNDP will further their efforts towards joint programming and enhanced inter-agency collaboration. To advance progress in achieving the SDGs, We need more intensive coordination and cooperation, as well as integrated solutions. Together, we must also ensure that disadvantaged and marginalized groups will not be left behind. In times when multilateralism is under pressure, it is important that we Member States come forward to secure predictable, flexible and non-earmarked funding. So that UNDP can adequately fulfill its mandate. Thematic funding mechanisms, such as the funding windows, are an adequate complement that can further help UNDP to implement the Strategic Plan and to react more flexibly to unforeseen events. Therefore, we would like to encourage our fellow Member States to strengthen their efforts for more flexible resources in their funding mix. To conclude, let me thank you and all personnel in the bureaus and country offices for your dedication and commitment towards the fulfillment of the 2030 Agenda. Thank you.

Thank you. I now give the floor to the distinguished representative of Nepal. Microphone for Nepal, please.

I think you need to press the—

Mr. President, distinguished members of the board, The UNDP Administrator, let me begin by expressing our deepest condolences to the United States and families affected by the tragic plane crash. My sincere congratulations to you, Mr. President, and the Vice Presidents on your election. We also extend our appreciation to UNDP Administrator Mr. Achim Steiner for his insightful statement and for UNDP's steadfast commitment to sustainable development. Excellencies, distinguished delegates, the progress and achievement of SDGs is off track. Heightening geopolitical tensions, climate catastrophe, and debt distress continue to severely impact the realization of Sustainable Development Goals. The next 5 years are therefore very important. As UNDP enters its 60th year, its role in advancing human development, responding to crises, and mobilizing resources have become even more critical. We commend the role of UNDP in supporting developing countries, in particular countries in special situations, and towards bridging the gap between global aspirations and local realities. In Nepal, UNDP has played a vital role in supporting good governance, strengthening institutional capacity, providing support in climate resilience, poverty reduction, gender equality, among others. UNDP's impactful work is visible in our community-led climate adaptation, disaster risk reduction, and economic empowerment that have strengthened our local resilience and improved livelihoods. As Nepal prepares for LDC graduation, We look forward to UNDP's continued support in ensuring a smooth transition ahead, in particular in energy transition and digital transformation. We're confident that UNDP, along with other UN agencies, will help us achieve the SDGs. We need strong support in implementing the Doha Programme of Action. We believe UNDP will help us pool private resources, concessional finance, and support us in adequately mobilizing the development cooperation. Increasing international financial support for climate adaptation and mitigation, strengthening global partnerships for research, innovation, and capacity building is essential to advancing equitable climate action. Bridging the digital divide requires targeted investments in digital public infrastructure, affordable access, and digital literacy. UNDP can help us by supporting capacity-building initiatives, developing inclusive digital policies, and helping countries with their digital readiness and AI readiness. We also call for increased core and flexible funding to ensure UNDP can effectively implement its Strategic Plan. Predictable and sustained financing is essential for UNDP to continue delivering impactful development solutions and responding to the evolving needs of the countries. Excellencies, the question is not whether change will come. It already has. Development should embrace change. In this evolving landscape, UNDP's role, therefore, is more critical than ever in guiding nations adapt to new realities with UNDP's diligence, drive, and development wisdom, ensuring that progress is both sustainable and inclusive. I thank you.

And I thank you for your statement.

The floor is to the distinguished Permanent Representative of Chad.

You have the floor, sir.

Mr. President, first of all, I would like to express our condolences to the U.S. delegation following the tragic air accident yesterday in Washington, D.C. I would also like to express our congratulations to you on your assumption of the presidency of the Board and all the members of the Bureau. I would also like to thank Mr. Achim Steiner, for his thorough and informative presentation, giving us the status of UNDP and the excellent work that is done. And also, we applaud his anniversary in the program. We are grateful for everything that UNDP has done and for the role that it plays within the UN system, within international development institutions, and working with developing countries and member states. As they progress towards development. UNDP, as the Administrator quite rightly said, represents unique added value and it has made itself an essential actor on the development cooperation stage. It is essential in providing support to developing countries and helping them to navigate all sorts of challenges. In Chad, we can never repeat this enough, UNDP has been a strategic partner, a constant ally that provides a vital contribution to the government, particularly at difficult times. For example, during the transition period that has just concluded, UNDP's support was critical throughout the process, from the inclusive and sovereign national dialogue to the efforts to organize elections. What's more, UNDP has supported the government in key areas of governance and strengthening democratic institutions, community resilience, inclusive growth, the fight against climate change and the preservation of ecosystems, access to clean energy, human capital development, and making the most of the potential of young people— all areas that are at the heart of the political program based on which the President of the Republic was elected.

Thank you.

At a time when the world is at a crossroads, faced with many complex challenges, tools such as UNDP are more essential than ever in helping developing countries to navigate these complex challenges with more innovative and adapted solutions that are adapted to each specific context. As several reports and several speakers have underscored, achieving the SDGs in 2030 is already looking increasingly uncertain given that the level of development financing is far below the commitments that have been made. In this context, we are counting on the rejuvenated multilateralism in the Pact for the Future with UNDP as an instrument for that multilateralism to together find appropriate solutions to the different challenges we face in order to reduce inequalities, including in the context of new technologies which are advancing at a rapid pace, and this so that we can make sure that no one is left behind. Thank you.

Thank you for your statement. I now give the floor to the distinguished Mr.

President, let me first of all join others in conveying my condolences to the U.S. Mission and the families of the victims of yesterday's tragic incident in Washington, D.C. I wish to thank the UNDP Administrator for his inspiring presentation. It is remarkable how UNDP has positioned itself at the forefront of global development work over the course of the last 6 decades. The Programme's longstanding contribution to prevention, peacebuilding, and preparedness is universally recognized, as is its clear focus on gender equality and climate resilience. It is fascinating to read and hear about UNDP's more recent pioneering work on digital transformation, and artificial intelligence that is setting the stage for the future. Rapid technological advancement holds the key to poverty eradication, sustainability, and resilience, and it is reassuring to hear that it is being treated as a priority. Bulgaria notes the efforts made by the organization to ensure transparency, accountability, and cost efficiency, and appreciates what UNDP is doing to ensure diversity, nurture talent, and give its staff the respect that they deserve. Mr. Administrator, we are aware of the challenges faced by your organization and approve of the steps you're taking to address them. Your drive for improvement in the way UNDP fulfills its Strategic Plan is commendable indeed. Looking ahead to the next 3 years and the discussions on the Strategic Plan for 2026-2029 that are gathering pace, I wish to thank you for providing a glimpse of the contours of that plan and for sharing your insights and aspirations. We look forward to the publication of the landscape paper that outlines global development trends and how they influence UNDP's work in future. Rest assured that Bulgaria will remain engaged, including in the discussions on the next strategic plan. In conclusion, I would like to express my country's appreciation of the work done by you, Mr. Administrator, and of your dedicated staff around the world who are working tirelessly for the good of humanity.

I thank you.

Thank you for those remarks. I now give the floor to the distinguished representative of Mexico. You have the floor.

Thank you, President. Mexico would like to extend its condolences to the United States following the tragic air accident which took place in Washington, D.C. I'd like to thank Mr. Steiner for his presentation. We recognize the invaluable contribution UNDP has made to sustainable development and its ability to adapt to global challenges. Thank you, Mr. President. For 6 decades, the program has demonstrated that it is a key partner offering holistic and innovative solutions which have transformed the lives of millions of people. We deeply appreciate partnership with UNDP to make progress in key areas such as effective governance, gender equality, economic and social development, environmental sustainability, and strengthening national capacities vis-à-vis recovery and resilience. Recent examples in Mexico include UNDP support in reconstruction efforts following Hurricane Otis, integrating a gender perspective and inclusive methodologies, as well as strengthening business capacities for enterprises affected by this to promote climate change resilience. Similarly, we would highlight the efforts made by UNDP jointly with other agencies of the system such as the UN Population Fund in developing innovative tools. One standout example was the methodology to calculate the Human Development Index focused on youth between the ages of 12 and 29 years of age, drawn up with support from Mexico's government institutions. My country is proud to be a trailblazer in the implementation of this instrument. Which has great potential to be rolled out and replicated in other countries. This tool strengthens evidence-based public policy design geared towards reducing inequality and assessing the impact of investment in youth. President, the 60th anniversary of UNDP doesn't just commemorate its global contributions, it also invites us to reflect on its role in a world which is in constant flux and to build a vision of the future so that we can achieve sustainable development. As we approach the drafting of the forthcoming strategic plan, Mexico believes it's essential to adopt an approach allowing for UNDP to effectively respond to emerging challenges. With that in mind, we would like to ask Administrator Saina, how do you envisage the transition towards this new strategic plan? Thank you, plan and what are the key lessons learned from the previous plan which could guide its design? Thank you.

Thank you for your statement. I now offer the floor to the distinguished representative of Nigeria. You have the floor.

Thank you, Mr. President, my delegation joins others in offering our deepest sympathy to the U.S. delegation on the tragic plane crash incident that happened in Washington, and our prayers are with the families of the victims at this dark moment. First, Nigeria associates itself with the statement delivered by the distinguished Permanent Representative of Ethiopia on behalf of the Africa Group and the Permanent Representative of Iraq on behalf of the Group of 77 and China. As a developing country, Nigeria continues to partner with the UNDP in implementing the SDGs and other development agenda. We hope that this partnership will continue to yield more positive outcomes in the years ahead. Second, we congratulate the UNDP on on its 60th anniversary. We believe that the commendations for UNDP's good work and development interventions in many countries are deserved. Let me also express my delegation's appreciation to Mr. Administrator for a comprehensive, well-detailed, but eloquently delivered presentation touching on the role of the UNDP in many areas, including the SDGs, poverty alleviation, digital transformation, and right to development. We have also taken note of your concern, especially on the dwindling donor contributions for UNDP programs, and echo your plea for more support to continue delivering on your important mandates. Among many achievements highlighted during your presentation is the issue of right to development. We cannot overemphasize the the importance of the issue of development in the actualization of the objectives of the UNDP, particularly in creating stronger obligations at the domestic level in addressing the core human development issues such as education, health, poverty alleviation, while strengthening international cooperation for greater impact. My delegation would like to We would like to have more insights into the contributions of the UNDP on the issue of right to development, especially the efforts regarding the elaboration of a global legal instrument on the right to development. We would like to know whether the UNDP sees any value in collaborating with the Human Rights Council on this important issue, and whether there will also be a collaborative role if perhaps we are able to have, um, a legal instrument in this regard. Finally, we would like to assure the UNDP of Nigeria's productive engagement as you make progress in achieving your strategic plan. Thank you very much.

Thank you for your statement. I now give the floor to the Special Representative of Lebanon.

Mr. President, Excellencies, distinguished members of the Board, Mr. Administrator, Lebanon associates itself with the statement delivered by Iraq on behalf of the G77 and China, and by Morocco on behalf of the Like-Minded Group of Middle-Income Countries. Let me start by highlighting the opportunity and the value of interacting today with the Administrator. As well, we thank him for this comprehensive overview of the UNDP ongoing efforts to deliver responsive solutions in a vulnerable world still dealing unfortunately with rising inequalities and several global challenges. We commend and value the work of the UNDP implementing a range of programs and innovative partnerships, including in crisis-affected countries and middle-income countries like Lebanon. UNDP has consistently been a strong partner for Lebanon, supporting reform and restructuring of the public sector through capacity-building programs and technical support in areas such as poverty eradication, renewable energy taxation, and digital transformation. It has also played a key role in fostering institutional capacities to support gender-responsive interventions while actively engaging civil society, women, and youth to work towards a sustainable future for a more powerful, by clean energy. Moreover, since October 2023, the Israeli aggressions and the latest war on Lebanon have generated an additional layer of complexity impacting key economic sectors with significant losses in GDP and the agricultural sector, which has reversed sustainable development acceleration with alarming consequences on the Lebanese economy, infrastructure, and the environment, as reflected in several reports by UNDP. Among the weapons, weapons used in Lebanon, white phosphorus ammunition causing significant environmental damage and harm to the ecosystem and threats to public health resulting in agricultural disasters, long-lasting consequences and economic losses, and contaminated water sources and soil. In the beginning of October 2024, the Resident Coordinator and the Lebanese government launched a flash appeal to mobilize urgent resources for civilians affected by the escalating conflict and resulting humanitarian crisis. We seize this opportunity to express our appreciation to the United Nations agencies and particularly to UNDP and the Friends of Lebanon for their support to the Lebanese government and the local authorities on service delivery. We welcome the report launched last week by UNDP Lebanon entitled From Crisis to Recovery: Local Authorities Confronting Post-War Realities in Lebanon, Rapid Impact Assessment. The report relies on data collected from municipalities and their unions, with support from disaster risk management units at the government level. It explores the impact of the Israeli aggressions and the latest war in Lebanon and the damages for a variety of assets, as 90,076 total assets were damaged in 135 surveyed areas. It focuses on displacement and many other topics also, like infrastructure damage, socioeconomic challenges. And I would like just to reflect on something, that more than 1.2 million civilians were displaced, and until now, after the cessation of hostilities agreement, some Lebanese civilians are returning to their homes, However, some damages and destruction are being reflected by many other studies done by the Lebanese government. Today, the keywords are immediate needs and reconstruction. With the Cessation of Hostilities Agreement in place since November 2024, and the election of a new president and the designation of a new prime minister to form a new government, we would like to call on UN agencies and the international community to support Lebanon and to help facilitate reconstruction.

Thank you very much for your statement. We have 2 further speakers before I give the floor to Administrator Steiner. First, I'd like to give the floor to the distinguished representative of India, and then finally I will give the floor to the distinguished representative of the European Union. India, you have the floor.

Thank you, Mr. President, Mr. Administrator, and the distinguished board members. We express our deepest condolences to the U.S. delegation and the families of those who lost their lives in the tragic air crash yesterday in Washington. Mr. President, we align with the statement made by Iraq on behalf of the G77 and China. We take this opportunity to deliver the following remarks in national capacity. Allow us to also congratulate the UNDP team and the Secretariat of the Board for their tremendous and tireless efforts in conducting the session during the difficult times. We have no doubts that this session will contribute in improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the organization and to streamline better delivery of its mandate. We thank the Administrator Achim Steiner for his comprehensive statement and most importantly for his remarkable contribution to the management of this critical and complex organization and wish him continued success in his endeavors in addressing the future challenges. Mr. President, the statement highlights the challenges developing countries face, including conflicts, economic and environmental issues, and the digital divide, which hinder their recovery and progress. We emphasize the importance of multilateral efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals while stressing the responsibility to foster hope in 2024. We call global collaboration to achieve the SDGs, particularly in the remaining 5 years. With a crucial responsibility ahead, alongside the recent adoption of the Q CPR, the Global Digital Compact, the upcoming Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development, and the Social Summit, we are committed to making every effort over the next 5 years to fulfill the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. We urge our partners to join us in this endeavor and work towards achieving. the goals set in 2015 for the betterment of everyone. Mr. President, in India, we have demonstrated the transformation potential of digital technologies. The Digital India initiative demonstrates how digital public infrastructure can drive sustainable development and is today an example of what India can readily offer to the world. With over 1.3 billion digital identities and a globally recognized digital payments ecosystem, system driven by the Unified Payment Interface, India has made financial services accessible to millions, particularly in rural areas, fostering inclusion and reducing inequality. India is sharing India Stack and digital public infrastructure solutions and undertaking development projects in almost 80 countries, many of them as grants. The Social Impact Fund has been created to accelerate DPI in the developing world. UNDP has served as the knowledge partner of India on DPI during our G20 presidency. UNDP also supported the implementation of COVIND, a health-focused DPI that provided vaccination support to people in India during the COVID pandemic. Mr. President, we reaffirm our continued support in the UNDP's role in global sustainable development by addressing key challenges. We would like to highlight some of the key areas requiring urgent attention, such as unified, effective, and efficient UN system, stable and core financing, reforming the international financial architecture for greater participation of developing countries, urgent climate action with equity, and mobilizing investment in sustainable infrastructure, technology transfer, and resilient supply chains. Thank you, Mr. President.

Thank you for your statement. I now give the floor to the distinguished representative of the European Union.

Thank you very much. Dear Administrator, Excellencies, and members of the Executive Board, I am delivering this statement on behalf of the European Union as a donor and would like to start by expressing our sincere condolences to the U.S. delegation following yesterday's accident. To begin, we would like to thank the Administrator for his informative update and his insightful observations. We have 3 points to make and 1 question for the Administrator. First, the EU wishes to congratulate UNDP for reaching the milestone of 60 years of operation. The EU is dedicated to continuing its longstanding collaboration with UNDP to promote sustainable, inclusive, and equitable development worldwide in an ever-changing political landscape. We have a solid partnership with UNDP at country level as well as between headquarters. The EU and EU member states are the largest contributor of funds to UNDP, which emphasizes just how vital our partnership is. Last year, we marked 20 years since the signature of the Strategic Partnership Agreement with UNDP. To mark this period of cooperation, we convened for a high-level strategic dialogue to exchange views on the global development challenges and identify ways to expand the partnership. This brings me to my second point. Putting the SDGs back on track requires unprecedented mobilization and funding from both public and private sectors. We must shift from the traditional donor-recipient paradigm to instead cultivate partnerships of equals. UNDP and the EU need to be bold as development actors exploring new opportunities for cooperation and innovative ways to address international challenges. This is why the EU launched Global Gateway, to boost smart, clean, and secure links in digital, energy, and transport, and strengthen health, education, and research systems across the world. UNDP and the EU have aligned priorities in this regard, such as promoting digital connectivity and green solutions globally. My question to the Administrator would therefore be, what innovative financing models could be integrated in the next strategic plan, taking this into consideration. Finally, as highlighted in a joint statement delivered by Belgium, we stress the importance of an effective and efficient UN system, including at country level. In this regard, we support increased alignment, integration, and collaboration among UN entities in line with the One UN approach and under the leadership of the UN Resident Coordinator. As part of this, UNDP has been and remains indispensable in advancing sustainable development on the ground in developing countries. UNDP's country presence in 170 countries and territories is a unique strength which allows access to valuable entry points with national and local authorities. This presence is proven to deliver integrated development solutions tailored to specific country priorities. In conclusion, we look forward to strengthening our relations with UNDP for the people and the planet.

Thank you. Thank you for your statement. Administrator Steiner, I'd like to offer you the floor to allow you to respond to the comments and questions you received which we heard following this morning and just now. Could you also kindly give us a general conclusion? That would be very useful I think for all of us here.

Thank you, Mr. President. I just want to make up for something I forgot this morning. To our dear colleagues from China, a happy Lunar New Year. I meant to say this this morning. And I appreciate very much that we are able to organize our board meeting even though a lot of people have actually gone into New Year's celebrations around the world. Let me again briefly pick up on a number of questions. First of all, on the strategic plan, We welcome and have noted your directions. Also this morning I did not have a chance to respond to Belgium and to others. New Zealand just provided us also with a number of inputs. This is exactly what we are looking for from you and over the next few months to be able to engage with you. And our next briefing on the strategic plan will be towards the end of February. In the meantime, to those of you who wish to consult consult or read an attempt to describe, let's say, the context out of what we have seen from Futures and Strategies work, from our surveys, the many consultations, the so-called landscape paper is now on the UNDP website. It's written in a very concise way, so I think even if you're not interested in the strategic plan, you will find it, I think, of interest in interpreting what is happening around us. Now, there was an interesting point about the right to development. We have a so-called UN Declaration on the Right to Development. It was, as those of you who have studied a little bit of history, not an easy process of negotiating it, many compromises made, but nevertheless it forms part of the fundamental discourse around rights. And I think whether a Whether a new legal instrument to be negotiated is necessarily the way forward, I think this is something that I would not want to comment on from a UNDP perspective right now because it involves many different considerations. However, what I want to be very clear about, and we always have been, we view the Declaration on the Right to Development as integral to the way we interpret the mandate of a UN organization, working on development today. And whether you individualize those rights or whether you view them also as in the context of a nation-state and a society, to have a discourse in a world where inequality also defines the ability to fulfill that right or not, where the decisions of one country on mitigating and reducing its carbon footprint will compromise or protect the rights of another nation's right to development. You know, this is some of the most fundamental thinking in jurisprudence terms that I think jurists will do for us, but in the meantime we are in a race against time and I want to emphasize again that in the way we look, for example, on actions on climate change, they are not constraining development, they must enable development, and I think UNDP, with a community of practitioners around the world, is today an organization that is deeply committed to understanding not only the threat and the imperative to mitigate or indeed to adapt, but rather how to envisage a development pathway where climate becomes a driver for innovation, for energy security, for job creation, for— in the context of particularly many African economies, the foundation for industrialization, and again to the comments of Nigeria also, we can transact this discussion through a 2030 Agenda SDG lens, as you have also done. We can do it through a right to development discourse. We can do it through the Paris Agreement lens. I think again what UNDP represents to you, and here I want to go back to something that was said this morning, UNDP cannot be everything to everyone everywhere. But UNDP is the platform on which anyone, anywhere, can engage with where development decisions will actually determine the course of a nation, a community, or indeed of the family of nations. And I think this time and again takes me to what many of you have acknowledged this morning also and again in some of the comments this afternoon, and I thank also our distinguished delegate from Bulgaria, for reminding us the ability of UNDP to respond to contemporary challenges, to be part of an innovation-driven organization, but also to be able to pivot, as we heard from Bangladesh, from one day to the other, and to have— and this is sometimes what strikes me as so remarkable— we are an institution that is working for a country and its people, and even though there was literally an ousting of one leader and the next day another leader was leading the country, UNDP was never in question as being a trusted partner. There are not many organisations in our world that literally are able to be seen as credible partners even when there is an unconstitutional or otherwise change of government, from one elected government to another. And in that sense, I again, for this discussion about UNDP's role and the strategic plan, I hope that in the next few weeks and months we can interrogate some of these assets. They are the intangibles that define why even a Board of Auditors— and I thank France for raising this earlier today— in its remarks. When the Board of Auditors examined the presence model, as we call it, the presence of UNDP across the world in terms of its project and physical team's presence, but also its platform function for the UN as a whole, a group of auditors was surprised at how underrated the value of this infrastructure is, not only to UNDP's ability to you have a unique value proposition, but actually to the UN system and, by extension, to the international community. And I say this to you because, again, in some of the comments that have now been made, you quite rightly also pointed to the fact that how do we articulate this in a strategic plan so that there is some sense of where the institution is at the forefront, maybe where the institution is more a kind of last resort, but it is not its core business. If you go back to the situation in the Red Sea and off the coast of Yemen when an oil tanker was about to sink and cause a disastrous environmental impact, this was never written into a strategic plan of UNDP and frankly I hope we do not get into the business of dealing with stranded oil tankers, but the fact that UNDP in the end was an institution that could bring all of the different actors together and essentially de-risk this time bomb that we had there is illustrative, I think, of something that we need to get a clearer understanding. I want to mention another example that has been striking. Ambassador, you are sitting here and you know this better than I do. In Ethiopia right now, there is a major demobilization and reintegration and disarmament, or rather demobilization, disarmament, and reintegration process underway. And we have been proud partners to Colombia as part of the peace process there to be integral to the DDR process, not only by collecting weapons, etc., but in fact by beginning to invest in the ability to reintegrate excombatants. Ethiopia is planning to demobilize around 370,000 combatants. It has invited UNDP to be a key partner in this exercise to now begin the demobilization and reintegration of these ex-combatants. This is an extraordinary undertaking, vital to the foundations of peace ultimately returning And therefore, I again want to illustrate to you that what is UNDP's core competence in dealing with soldiers? Well, it's not the issue that they are soldiers; it is how do we make them from combatants or soldiers, enable them to become citizens again and people who are able to earn a livelihood and be peacebuilders in their own communities. So, Mr. President, I I wanted to touch on a few of these comments and remarks that were raised just now. I cannot, again, do justice to them, but I think particularly on the strategic plan, also our commitment around the whole— and you've heard it from virtually every country this morning— the technology development interface, we are very clearly listening to what you are saying and are factoring this into, let's say, the first draft of a strategic plan that will allow you, first of all, to calibrate how UNDP is focused on the demand that is out there, how this relates to the resources that may be available to it, and how it also leverages the fact that it is an integral part of the UN development system, and I would go beyond that, the UN family. With Tom Fletcher, the Emergency Relief Coordinator, and I as head of UNDP, and us together with Rosemary DiCarlo and others, We are continuously coordinating our response. When you look at a situation like Syria now, UNDP is one of the most present organizations on the ground. We are actively working, before what happened in the last few weeks, in 14 governorates. Our ability to be a stabilizing factor, but also together with UNHCR to look at the return of refugees, to quickly look at stabilizing a, let's say, government in turmoil and the ability to stabilize, the ability to function as a government are again integral elements of UNDP's ability to complement a political engagement on the part of the UN, a humanitarian engagement on the part of the UN, but ultimately, as we have put on the front doors of our building, there is no peace without development and there will be no development without peace. And that is where I close the circle, as you have asked me to, with human development and what it is that we represent within the United Nations family, first of all, but also in our presence in so many of your countries as more than just an aspiration, more than just a declaration, more than just a commitment to each other. We are a real-life expression of working together with one another on the development of each individual country and by that being able to achieve perhaps that aspirational right to development, the Paris Agreement and so many other milestones along the way. And I want to remember, in Brazil we began a journey on sustainable development in 1992. That journey continues to this day. And I think UNDP, as part of the UN development system, will be at the heart of that capacity of the UN to be relevant to where the world wants to work together, while holding up sometimes the principles of what the world should be doing but is not yet ready to do, and recognize why it matters. With that, I hope I have responded adequately to some of the overarching themes, and again, in my written responses to you, we will also speak more to the financing issue, to the questions of the relationship between the Resident Coordinator, the UN Country Team, and UNDP. But please take with you the very clear commitment from us. We are not some franchise operation. We are an integral part of the United Nations. We see ourselves as integral to the UN system, but we are also very conscious of the unique value and role that this institution represents to the international community, and being able to live up to that every day in what we do has to be our guiding yardstick.

Thank you.

And I think the applause says everything, Administrator Steiner. You and your team, sir, have shown work and commitment not with words but with deeds in each and every one of the actions You have undertaken. You have just mentioned the right to development and all of the implications of that. And if I'm not mistaken, if my memory serves me rightly, the first declaration on the right to development was made on the 4th of December 1968— no, '86, apologies. I had the numbers the wrong way around. Thank you for that correction. But that's not all. We have everything linked to the right to development which we could cover in this book which is almost a development bible, I think. Development as Freedom is the title. Looking at how you've made that link was very interesting.

Yes.

The almost 35, 36 speakers we've heard clarifies this link, this indissoluble, this inextricable link between peace and development and vice versa. I think this was a very enriching meeting. We have a lot of work to do with the Thank you very much. Thank you very much for this draft of the strategic plan, which I'm sure we'll read carefully very soon. And the next segment is on the question of human development. So that is an excellent segue as we continue to discuss this topic. I'd like to thank you very much once again, sir, and all of your team.

Thank you very much.

And I look forward to the Board and the bureaus continuing to support this strategic thinking so that everything can come together, as you said, as a family of nations. Thank you very much. So with that, we close this part of the segment of the meeting.

Thank you.

Colleagues, UNDP colleagues who are in the corridors, please. We're going to start the next segment.

Buenas tardes. Continuaremos con el segmento.

Good afternoon. We'll continue with the UNDP segment and turn to agenda item nine, the human rights. Human Development Report. Update on the Human Development Report consultations. Colleagues, we have now resumed the meeting. I would kindly ask you— Yes, as I was saying, we have now started agenda item 9, and I'm delighted to welcome Mr. Pedro Conceição, Director of the Human Development Report Office. You have the floor, Mr. Conceição, for your presentation.

Thank you, Mr. President. As you mentioned, the focus of the The presentation will be on the process of consultations that we undertake in preparation of every Human Development Report, but I wanted to address, before the process of consultations, 2 other points. First, to give you an update on the preparation of the Human Development Report that we are currently working on, and then secondly, before I go to the consultations, say a few words about the impact of our work. So we are currently working on a Human Development Report that is part of a trilogy of reports that seeks to address some of the challenges, the issues that are making our world more uncertain, or uncertain in new ways. So last year we launched a report around political polarization and the extent to which it's making decisions, political decisions, more difficult both within and across countries. Currently, we're working on a report on how to harness artificial intelligence to advance human development, and we are already preparing the 2026 Human Development Report, which will look at how to advance human development in a context in which we live in a planet that is changing very rapidly in multiple ways. In addition to the Human Development Reports, I've been briefing the Board around some of our other initiatives that include the publication of other documents. For instance, every year we've been publishing an update on the Multidimensional Poverty Index, but also some of the innovative work that our Office has been doing around data. And metrics of human development. You may be aware that, in addition to the report, our office is also known for the publication of metrics of human development. I mentioned the Multidimensional Poverty Index. We have the Human Development Index, but we are also investing in providing forward-looking information about prospects for human development, again, in a context in which our planet is changing very rapidly. Now, the second issue I wanted to briefly cover has to do with the impact and whether, in essence, anyone reads the reports that we put out. So we track this very carefully, and I should mention that our website has, or has had last year, around 8 million visits and almost 1 million downloads of data and some of our documents. Our Human Development Report, the latest edition that we launched in March of last year, was downloaded over 300,000 times. And just to give you a sense of the scale and what this represents compared to other reports that are very important in our work, for instance, compared to the World Bank's World Development Report. It's about 3 times the number of downloads of the World Development Report. In addition, we track the usage of our report and our work in media, in academic publications, in policy papers, and we have reached around 10 billion potential people every month. I mean, this is a metric that's called unique visitors per month of different outlets, media outlets and publications, that reach potentially 10 billion people. So that's how much we reach every month. On impact, the final point I wanted to make relates to the preparation of national Human Development Reports. Historically, in addition to the Global Human Development Report, there have been many national human development reports in the hundreds of thousands, and we've seen in recent years a greater interest again in publishing national human development reports. So, Mr. President, I come to the end with just a brief update on the consultations in preparation of human development reports. I would like to remind us all that as important as the document as such is the process that leads up to the preparation of the Human Development Report. So this process of consultation is extremely important, is something that is mandated by the General Assembly, and that's what I'm asked to report upon here today. And the process for the Human Development Report that we're currently working on started actually a year ago in India. And since then, we've had a number of consultations, dozens of consultations covering all 5 regions that correspond to the regional bureaus of UNDP in collaboration with our regional bureau colleagues, but also a number of consultations with leaders in industry working on AI, civil society, academic institutions, and also many colleagues from the UN system agencies like ITU, ILO, and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, amongst others. I'll conclude just with a word of, of thanks to the support that the Board is providing to our Office, primarily through core contributions but also through the supplementary funding that our Office receives from the governments of Portugal, Republic of Korea, and Japan. Thank you, Mr. President.

Thank you, Mr. Consisão. Now, if there are any comments or questions, now is the time. Seeing none, I will take it that the Executive Board takes note of the update on the Human Development Report consultations. It is so decided. We will have a few minutes of a break so that we can have a podium change.

Thank you.

Good afternoon. Yes, so I shifted seats to the podium now. We have a little less than 2 hours to cover both items.

So presentations—

there will be presentations, so we will have to really manage the discussion space, especially the discussion time, maybe 5, 6 participants from the floor. So the meeting is called to order now.

Thank you, Mr. President.

So it's Agenda Item 11, evaluation under the board, under which the board will consider—

It's correct.

Yeah, so evaluation, under which the board will consider the independent review of the evaluation policy, including the response from the Independent Evaluation Office, document DP/2025/6, and the management response from UNDP, document DP/2025 So I'm pleased to welcome to the podium Ms. Isabelle Mercier, Director, Independent Evaluation Office; Mr. Marcos Neto, Assistant Administrator and Director, Bureau for Policy and Programme Support, UNDP. So distinguished delegates, We have these 2 distinguished briefers today. We will proceed as follows. Ms. Isabelle Mercier, Director, Independent Evaluation Office, will introduce the independent review of the evaluation policy and present the IEO response.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. Marcos Neto, Assistant Administrator and Director, Bureau for Policy and Programme Support, will then present the UNDP management response to the independent review of the evaluation policy. Following these presentations, the floor will be open for discussion. So now I will give the floor to Ms. Mercier, for her presentation. You have the floor, Madam.

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and good afternoon, distinguished delegates. I'm pleased to present the response of the Independent Evaluation Office to the Evaluation Policy Review to you today. The IEO welcomes the overall positive assessment made by the review. The document highlighted the robustness of the UNDP evaluation architecture, and reaffirmed the relevance of the current policy as a framework for positioning evaluation within UNDP as a tool for both accountability and learning. The review also acknowledged that the IEO and UNDP at large put significant efforts in strengthening the quality and use of evaluations. Based on the review's findings, we expect that the next evaluation policy will not significantly differ differ from the current one. At the same time, we'd like the new policy to better reflect recent developments in the IEO's work and ways to further strengthen the credibility and utility of the UNDP evaluation function. The IEO agrees with the review that it's important to enhance the link between UNDP evaluations and strategic goals through a theory of change that better articulates the contribution of evaluations to decision-making. This isn't to say that the IEO evaluations and knowledge products are currently not aligned with UNDP's strategic priorities, which in fact they are. Through our thematic and country program evaluations, the IEO has continued assessing key areas of UNDP's work at both global and country levels. However, in response to the recommendation, the IEO, with UNDP management, will further explore ways to evaluate high-risk projects, particularly those involving significant resource investments or challenging contexts. The IEO will also intensify its ongoing efforts to enhance the strategic application of evaluative knowledge for organizational learning, first by continuing to strengthen engagement with UNDP management in the planning and uptake of evaluations for evaluations to be better integrated into decision-making, and secondly, by producing evidence syntheses to tap into existing knowledge to produce rigorous insights and lessons on what works and what doesn't, and in different contexts. As UNDP moves towards the adoption of portfolio approaches and increases its focus on impact measurement, the IEO will support the organization in integrating impact and portfolio evaluations into its processes, promoting tailored approaches and guidance to meet UNDP's specific needs. We also commit to incorporate explicit provisions for environmental sustainability, carbon footprint reduction, and inclusivity in the policy to align fully with UNDP's planning criteria. And finally, as regards decentralized evaluations, the IEO will continue supporting UNDP's efforts, including through our regional evaluation advisors. While we will revisit the financial threshold for decentralized evaluations in the guidelines, it's important to note that the vast majority of project-level evaluations are actually conducted to meet donor or vertical fund requirements. So a change in guidelines will not necessarily mean a change in the quantity of project-level evaluations. Despite this, ensuring high-quality decentralized evaluations is integrating insights into decision-making will remain crucial priorities for us. Over the past 4 years, fully satisfactory evaluations have risen by 7%, while unsatisfactory evaluations have dropped by 4%. Although there's always room for improvement, this marks a significant achievement worth highlighting. Mr. Chair, distinguished delegates, the Evaluation Policy Review made 2 other recommendations which I would like to bring to attention. The first one, the suggestion to extend the evaluation policy review cycle to 10 years, which the IEO does not support because it would reduce alignment with organizational priorities. The recommendation with which the IEO partly concurs to extend the IEO's director's tenure from 5 years to at least 6— this recommendation aligns with a recent audit of the evaluation function. which emphasized the need for a longer tenure to enable effective leadership of change processes. In developing the new evaluation policy, we'll consult and draw on the experiences from other UN evaluation offices and present a proposal for your consideration. Mr. Chair, distinguished delegates, allow me to conclude by thanking you for your consideration of the proposal from the IEO and management to present the revised evaluation policy to the Executive Board Second Regular Session— oh, sorry, that's changed. I believe it's the next session in January to ensure proper consultation with you and internally. Thank you for your attention.

Thank you, Ms. Mercier, for your presentation. I now give the floor to Mr. Netto to present the UNDP management response. You have the floor, sir.

Mr. President, thank you very much. Dear Isabelle, thank you, and distinguished delegates. On behalf of UNDP management, I thank Isabelle Mercier and her entire team for leading the process for the 4th Independent Review of UNDP's Evaluation Policy and recognize a great partnership between our offices in that sense. UNDP welcomes the review of the evaluation policy and the opportunity to further strengthen the credibility and utility of the UNDP evaluation function, promoting evidence-informed decision-making and learning. UNDP is pleased to note that, as per the findings of the review, the current evaluation policy has upheld the independence of the evaluation function. UNDP remains committed to fulfilling its obligation on financing the independent evaluation function at organizational level, aiming to achieve its target of 1% of combined programmatic, core and non-core resources allocated to the evaluation function on an annual basis, with 0.3% reserved for the Office of the Independent Evaluation Office. The policy review recommended extending the tenure of the IOO Director from 5 years to a term of at least 6 years, to deepen the institutional leadership memory at IEO. In response, management will undertake a review of similar roles in comparable organizations' and associations' accountability structures to arrive at an optimal solution in consultation with the IEO, as Isabelle just mentioned. As core resources decline, it is more necessary than ever to enhance the understanding of stakeholders of how evaluation activities contribute to the broader strategic goal of sustainable human development. By articulating a clear theory of change, as well as integrating broader cross-cutting themes such as environmental sustainability and carbon footprint, and by bringing greater coherence between the evaluation framework and UNDP programming quality standards, UNDP will attempt to bridge the divide between the criteria guiding program assessments and project quality at the design and implementation stages to those used for project evaluation. Distinguished delegates, UNDP management recognizes that some policy review recommendations require revision of the evaluation guidance and looks forward to working with IEO and regional bureaus to contribute to the redesign of the mandatory evaluation criteria and risk-informed evaluation planning towards more strategic, outcome-focused evaluation. As a learning organization, UNDP will convene with IEO a community of practice on monitoring and evaluation, capitalize on the skills and capabilities of monitoring evaluation specialists supported by the IEO's regional evaluation advisors and headquarters staff to curate, share, disseminate, and embrace best practices. Finally, management and the Independent Evaluation Office remain committed to ensuring a regular 5-year review of the evaluation policy, ensuring alignment with the UN system-wide evaluation policy 2025-2030 and the post-SDG discussions around 2029. In conclusion, for 2025, with support, UNDP will focus on 3 priorities: review the evaluation policy that embraces uncertainty, fosters strategic portfolio approaches, to assess results and UNDP contributions to impact. Continuous prioritizing efforts to lift decentralized evaluations' quality, and I'm delighted to hear Isabelle mention that indeed quality has improved, building on the investments by UNDP's regional bureaus and strengthening regional and country-level quality assurance systems in close collaboration with the IEO and the Bureau for Policy and Programme Support. Third, initiate the review and update of evaluation guidance and tools in line with the ambitions of UNDP's updated evaluation policy. These efforts will require the availability of predictable core resources to support the oversight and quality assurance functions in UNDP, including the evaluation function. I thank you and give the floor back to you, Mr. President.

Thank you, Mr. Netto, for your presentation. I will open the floor for questions, comments. We have no—

no, we don't.

This is about the health check of the organization, so if you have questions, you can raise them. If everybody is okay with that— Norway, you have the floor, sir.

Thank you, Mr.

President, and I'm sorry we couldn't let you off so easily. No, I mean, first of all, thank you very much for your presentation. We just have a couple of very short comments from our side. First of all, we think, of course, evaluation is very important. We have mainly one question, and if you could enlighten us a little bit more on the collaboration you have with other evaluation functions in the UN system. We'd be grateful for that.

Thank you.

Thank you, Norway.

Any more? Okay, let's start with Norway and we shall see if there are any others.

Thank you for the question. We collaborate a lot with other functions. I happen to be the chair of the United Nations Evaluation Group, which groups together all the heads of evaluation of the UN agencies. And we do— together we work on building guidance, but also looking at how we can work together. Very recently, we're looking at doing some common syntheses and setting up our new website and database and using AI to be able to do synthesis of work across the UN, not just per institution. We of course do joint evaluations with other bodies depending on which projects or programs we're looking at. So we do do a lot of joint evaluations also, working with the system-wide evaluation office. And we're also— I'm also the chair of something called the SDG the Global SDG Synthesis Coalition. Again, a group of heads of evaluation, but also bilateral partners working together to enhance the evidence architecture for SDGs, particularly with evaluation. So, we have a lot of opportunities to work together, and certainly we see efficiencies in doing so.

Thank you. United States, you have the floor.

Thank you, Chair, and thank you to the IEO staff for your remarks. We appreciate UNDP's efforts to continuously improve your evaluation policy, and we welcome the recommendations in the We support the suggestion that the evaluation policy and the guidelines should focus on fewer but more strategically focused evaluations as UNDP transitions to a portfolio approach.

We have just a few questions.

How will UNDP leverage the portfolio approach to strengthen its alignment of the decentralized evaluations with the broader UNDP strategic priorities?

And second, we ask that UNDP continue to provide updates to the Executive Board on how the ongoing rollout of the portfolio approach impacts UNDP's evaluation policy.

And then lastly, we would like to commend the IEO's Evaluation Resource Center for its accessibility. This public resource demonstrates UNDP's commitment to transparency.

Thank you.

Those are, those are for me. Um, um, on your second question, right, as we roll out the portfolio approach, which is, you know, as you know, we've just created a new policy for it and a new module on quantum, and, um, and now we are really kind of systematizing beyond the prototype phase of a about 50 countries, and that is going to be more and more integrated with the recommendation and our conversation with IEO to really look at portfolio as the entry point going forward for evaluation as much as possible. So I think that is where the function of evaluation and the portfolio as how we operate comes close together going forward in that sense. On your first question, I think we still got some ways to go in terms of learning exactly how we're going to structure evaluations of the portfolio, and we look forward to work with Abel to learn on this together. But I think one— I don't know if it's a challenge, but one element that I think we all collectively, and I think the Board will be important in this, is to, as you've heard from Isabel, A lot of the quantity of evaluations that we do are actually coming from donor demands or the vertical funds demands, right? So the more we can open our conversation going forward with you as we revise the policy to have less project-based evaluation that are funded by individual donors but are part of portfolio, and create an agreement that we actually accepted a portfolio evaluation, to which a specific project is part of, the best it would be in rationalizing and creating that portfolio evaluation.

You go ahead.

I did want to mention that we have developed some guidance for portfolio evaluation, which is being circulated internally, so that should be forthcoming. I also think that we could be leveraging the data that we already have a lot better, which is why the IEO has invested in developing AIDA, which is our artificial intelligence tool that helps us draw insights from existing evaluations. So we recognize that doing a lot of evaluations does cause a research burden, and we want to remove that as much as possible, but still make sure that we're supporting the organization in being evidence-driven. So it's another way to get very good insights and evidence without having to do a brand new evaluation.

So, I don't see any— oh, Ireland. Yes, you are the last speaker on my list.

Thank you very much, and this is such an important topic, and just to put on record our strong support for the work, Isabella, of you and your team and the work you do. And well noted, um, underlining that to leverage data better. I just have 2 questions, if I may, and that's in terms of the strategic planning process that's upcoming for UNDP and how you may be engaging with that, and just to note any, um, key learnings, I think, for that. Um, and then the second point really is around ensuring that there's evaluation cover across the entire portfolio, rather than portfolio, as others have said. And just if, in terms of that, if there's anything in terms of gaps.

And there is one point around funding.

I think there's a target of 1%, and that's still open for reaching that or adjusting it. And just if you could comment briefly on that. And again, huge, huge thanks to you and the team and to UNDP colleagues.

Over.

Thank you for, for those questions. In terms of the strategic plan, we are currently— we've drafted our evaluation of the strategic plan, which we'll present at the next executive board. So stay tuned for that. The, the report will be in circulation shortly. In terms of how we cover, I mean, we do try to give full coverage, but of course we cannot cover everything via the IEO. We do our country program evaluations and our thematic evaluations where we cover the main priorities of UNDP. But with a new strategy coming up, we will also have a new work plan where we will revisit how we cover— how we give the best coverage of UNDP. And so we'll seek feedback, of course, from you in terms of if there are priorities that you want us to focus on. Recognizing that we have limits in terms of our capacity, of course, but we do intend on giving the best coverage and the most useful evaluative work possible. I'll let Marcos speak to the 1% target, perhaps.

We are committed to reach the 1% target, and we have shown a continuous increase towards the 1% target. Over the years, even though we recognize that we still got some way to go on that sense, but our commitment to it is very strong and last year was 0.76% on that sense. Perhaps just allow me to say that for us it is very important and we are using the early versions of the strategic plan evaluation That Isabel mentioned, you know, to feed directly into the current process for the next strategic plan, right? For us as an institution that must learn from evaluation, those are not just, you know, processes for us at UNDP of, you know, ticking the box and getting evaluation done. You know, we actually have a prescriptive content on our policy and program that mandates every business unit developing new projects or portfolios to capture the lessons learned of previous evaluations that have to deal with the new projects, the new portfolio that are being developed. Evaluations is only, you know, as I said in my statement, the utility of evaluations is to learn. and to do better going forward, and we are committed to that on the portfolio level and in the new strategic plan design as well. Thank you.

So we seem to have come to the end of this. In the absence of further requests for the floor, this concludes our discussion of the independent review of the UNDP evaluation policy and the management response. Then we will have— I wish to inform the Board that a draft decision on Agenda Item 11, On UNDP evaluation is being prepared and we will revert to this item later when we adopt the decision. So we are done with this segment. We will shift the podium and we will move to the UNFPA.

Thank you.

Thank you, Master.

You're welcome.

Distinguished delegates. May I ask you to take your seats, please? The meeting is being called to order. The second segment of our evaluation is with UNFPA, so that meeting is going to start. So it's called to order.

Thank you.

So we will now continue with this, with the UNFPA segment, with Agenda Item 12, UNFPA Evaluation. We have before us for discussion the formative evaluation of the UNFPA Strategic Plan 2022-2025, contained in document DP/FPA/2025-1.

Thank you, Mr. President.

And the management response to that report contained in document DP/FPA/2025/CRP.1. All documents are available on the UNFPA website. So I'm pleased to welcome to the podium now Ms. Diane Keita, Deputy Executive Director for Program, she's to my right. Mr. Marco Segone, Director, Independent Evaluation Office.

Yes.

Ms. Julia Bunting, Director, Program Division. There you are. Ms. Shoko Arakaki, Director, Humanitarian Response Division. Mr. Shane Shales, Chief, Strategic Planning Branch. This is the lineup. Distinguished delegates, we shall proceed in the following manner. Mr. Marco Segone, Director of the Independent Evaluation Office, will introduce the formative evaluation of the UNFPA Strategic Plan 2022-2025. Following his presentation, the Deputy Executive Director, Programme, Ms. Deanne Keita, will present the UNFPA management response to the evaluation. Thank you, Mr. President. Following these presentations, I will open the floor for discussion. So I now invite Mr. Sogone to present the formative evaluation of the UNFPA Strategic Plan 2022-2025. Mr. Sogone, you have the floor.

Mr. President, distinguished members of the Executive Board, Good afternoon. It is my pleasure to present the main results of the independent evaluation of the UNFPA Strategic Plan, which incorporated innovative elements including coordinating with 6 concurrent regional program evaluations to avoid duplication, create synergies, and increase efficiency, and leveraging ethical and responsible artificial intelligence in the data collection, in addition to be very timely to inform the design of the next Strategic Plan. Mr. President, distinguished delegates, please allow me to present the 5 conclusions and recommendations from the evaluation. First, successive Strategic Plans aiming for the 3 transformative results provided continuity and focus but require adaptability, with acceleration remaining relevant yet potentially insufficient for countries facing setbacks. Despite some long-term improvements, recent data reveals uneven progress. Many countries require significant acceleration, while others need to prevent backsliding. The evaluation recommends, within the overarching framework of the 3 transformative results, ICPD Programme of Action and the SDGs; to focus the next Strategic Plan on further acceleration, rather than unfinished business; and ensure that efforts to protect the ICPD agenda are fully integrated into the approach. Second, the 3 transformative results effectively focus UNFPA resources on key priorities, but they do not fully encompass stakeholders' needs or the Organization's broader contribution to the SDGs and to the ICPD Programme of Action, particularly in areas such as population dynamics, gender equality, HIV, and youth. The Strategic Plan's theory of change doesn't capture these direct contributions. Instead, it shows them flowing solely through the Trilateral transformative results without recognizing the diverse pathways UNFPA utilized to achieve these results. The evaluation recommends the next Strategic Plan to clarify UNFPA's strategic positioning in population dynamics and other key areas, and their direct contribution to the ACPD and SDGs. Third, the Strategic Plan shifts demanded substantial organizational efforts. requiring clear guidance and consideration of internal capacity constraints, especially in smaller country offices. While largely achieved, some areas lacked coherence and clarity. Though considerable effort went into the plan's development, implementation takes time and advance planning. Therefore, the evaluation recommends UNFPA to operationalize acceleration by clarifying and strengthening linkages between concepts and programming approaches well before the next Strategic Plan's launch. Fourth, a clearer approach to acceleration in the next Strategic Plan and the Country Programs is needed to enhance coherence across UNFPA initiatives, align modes of engagement, and guide human resources priorities at the country level. While all strategic shifts are relevant, some, like normative work and ICBD financing, require new or improved strategies and capacity building due to their shifts in emphasis and direction. Therefore, the evaluation recommends strengthening capacities to support acceleration, especially in normative work, funding to finance, knowledge management, and strategic communication. Lastly, UNFPA has improved its humanitarian response capacity, but needs clearer guidance and strategic integration to implement resilience, humanitarian, development, and peace efforts within resource constraints. UNFPA also needs to review its skill set to ensure a capacity for both normative and advocacy work and humanitarian crisis response. Therefore, the evaluation recommends better integration of humanitarian, development and peace-responsive interventions, considering UNFPA's diverse and evolving operating context. Mr. President, distinguished delegates, I trust this evaluation evidence and insights will guide in adjusting the current Strategic Plan and developing the new one, accelerating the achievements towards the 3 transformative results. This concludes my presentation, Mr. President. I thank the Executive Board for its support and welcome any questions. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Mr. Sagone, for your presentation. I now give the floor to Ms. Diane Keita for the management response on the evaluation function. Ms. Keita, You have the floor.

Thank you, Mr. President. Distinguished members of the Executive Board, UNFPA management thanks the Director of the Evaluation— Independent Evaluation Office and welcomes the valuable insights gained from the evaluation of UNFPA Strategic Plan 2022-2025 and accepts all its recommendations. The evaluation has validated many of the findings of the midterm review of the strategic plan, reinforcing that the planned adjustments were appropriate. Now, let me elaborate further on how UNFPA intends to implement each of the 5 recommendations. First and foremost, management agrees that UNFPA needs to retain its focus in its next strategic plan on its core mandate and comparative advantage. This is more important than ever as we strive to accelerate progress toward the transformative results, the ICPD Programme of Action, and the Sustainable Development Goals, and ensure that efforts to protect the population and development agenda are fully integrated into the approach. To accomplish that, UNFPA will make every effort to clearly define the approaches to acceleration in all contexts, including in humanitarian contexts, and elaborate with greater specificity on the type of programming actions envisaged regarding gender transformative and the human rights-based approaches. Furthermore, UNFPA will ensure that the Strategic Plan 26-29 and the associated country-level guidance clarify the space that countries have to define their own acceleration approaches based on the specificities of their country context. Second, Management agrees that there is a need for UNFPA to clarify its strategic positioning in population dynamics and other key areas of work, and the direct contribution of these areas to the SDGs and the ICPD Programme of Action. As recommended, the Strategic Plan 26-29 and the associated Theory of Change will frame UNFPA's broader contribution to the SDGs and to the ICPD Programme of Action including in areas such as demographic change and population dynamics, and will establish outcome-level indicators and targets to measure progress in this area. In doing so, UNFPA will ensure that the support to the Population Development Agenda area enables acceleration towards the transformative results and SRHR. Third, management recognized the need to ensure the There are clearer linkages between the concept and language in the strategic plan and the concrete program guidance that we provide to our offices in terms of program approaches. Therefore, the next strategic plan will be more clear, streamlining and simplifying concepts and language in order to make it more easily actionable across all levels of the organization. In addition, UNFPA will strengthen its program guidance to further sharpen the organization's operational focus, increase efficiency, and facilitate more timely and contextualized support and guidance for the Strategic Plan implementation. Fourth, management is committed to strengthening its capacity to undertake the critical measures that will support acceleration. To facilitate this, UNFPA will strengthen the capacity of its staff in critical areas such as normative work, funding to funding and financing, knowledge management, strategic communication, and working in crises, including through partnership with private sector, civil society, and academia. Finally, management agrees that UNFPA should promote better integration of humanitarian, development, and peace responsive intervention while taking into account the different and changing context within the UNFPA works. To this end, UNFPA will ensure that the new Strategic Plan more clearly articulates UNFPA's programmatic offer in humanitarian contexts, framing it within the broader UN response, and will review its programming guidance as well as programming and financial processes and procedures as needed. UNFPA will also increase efforts aimed at identifying best practices in mainstreaming resilience, prevention, and early action approaches.

approaches.

Mr. President, distinguished members of the Board, allow me to close by reiterating UNFPA's commitment to leveraging evaluative evidence to strengthen our organization and our programming. We deeply value the partnership and guidance received from the Independent Evaluation Office and the Executive Board as we strive to meet our shared commitment to the people we serve. I look forward to today's discussion, and thank you for your

Thank you, Ms.

Keita, for your presentation. I will now open the floor for discussion, comments, questions. The floor will first be given to delegations that have requested it in advance. and then afterwards in order in which the requests are received. So the only advance request that I have received at this point is the distinguished representative of Norway. You have the floor.

Thank you, Mr. President.

Thank you, President. First, allow me to express our condolences to the U.S. delegation in relation to the tragic incident last night. President, Norway highly appreciates the thorough work of the UNFPA Independent Evaluation Office and the comprehensive overview delivered today. Assessing the independent evaluation of the Strategic Plan 2022-2025, We would like to highlight a few points. Increased resistance to the ICPD agenda has slowed progress towards key outcomes requiring acceleration in many countries. However, in contexts with stagnation and regression, preventing setbacks is critical. Norway would therefore like to stress the importance of balancing acceleration and setback prevention in UNFPA's new strategic plan for 2026-2029. We would also like to emphasize that addressing internal capacity constraints and supporting capacity building in areas such as normative work, funding, and strategic communication to strengthen UNFPA's efforts is critical in the new strategic plan. Norway notes that UNFPA's management has accepted all recommendations presented in the evaluation report, and we look forward to seeing these recommendations reflected in the new plan. Norway is a strong supporter of UNFPA's humanitarian efforts. Therefore, please allow me to use this opportunity to address some of the UN Board of Auditor findings. We note with concern the audit findings and recommendations connected to the establishment of the Division of Humanitarian Response. Addressing these issues is essential for the success of UNFPA's humanitarian response in emergency situations. We would like to ask UNFPA to provide an update on the steps taken to this end at the, at the First Regular Session 2026. We also note UNBOA's findings regarding weaknesses in UNFPA's risk management systems in country offices and headquarters. These may undermine UNFPA's contingency planning and humanitarian response capacity when a crisis hits. We ask UNFPA to urgently implement recommendations to address this. Finally, we also ask UNFPA to urgently implement the recommendations related to the Quantum findings. I thank you.

Thank you, Norway. I now give the floor to the distinguished representative of the Netherlands.

Thank you, Mr. President, and good afternoon. We would like also to thank the Independent Evaluation Office for this excellent and formative evaluation and its rich insights, which can be of great value for the development of the new Strategic Plan. We appreciate also UNFPA's efforts and willingness to accept all the recommendations. We would like to pose a few questions. First, the evaluation recommends to strengthen capacities to undertake the critical measures that will support acceleration, including in normative work. Could the Independent Evaluation Office elaborate on where it sees areas for improvement when it comes to UNFPA's normative capacities and work? And how will the new Strategic Plan specifically address this point? Second, we are aware of UNFPA's intention to add a 4th outcome to the Strategic Plan focused on population dynamics and demographic change. However, the evaluation does also highlight that the 3 transformative results have effectively focused UNFPA's resources on key priorities, and that acceleration is needed in order to achieve the 3 transformative results by 2030. So our question would be, how will the 4th outcome support the achievement of the 3 transformative results and UNFPA's core mandate? We encourage UNFPA to ensure that the human rights based approach and SRHR will be ingrained in this 4th outcome. We look forward to further seeing how the findings of the evaluation are utilized in the new Strategic Plan. I thank you.

Thank you, distinguished representative of the Netherlands. So I don't see any further requests for the floor. So let's give our presenters the opportunity to respond to the 2 questions, the 2 interventions. One of you should go first. Mr. Sogone.

Thank you very much, Mr. President. Perhaps I just address the comments and questions related to the evaluation, and then of course I will leave management to address all other questions. First of all, I would like really to thank the distinguished delegates for the word of appreciation for this evaluation, not only about the relevance but also about the timeliness of the evaluation. I think this is really an excellent example where an evaluation has really really inform current management discussions on key top strategic decisions, namely the design of the next strategic plan. There was one question for the evaluation from the distinguished delegates from Netherlands, and it's really about how normative work can be improve and strengthen. First of all, let me clarify, the evaluation says that UNFPA is already obviously working in the normative arena, but the evaluation finds that there is room to strengthen even further these capacities, because normative work happens not only at headquarters level, but also at regional and at country level. So it's very important that the capacities for working in normative work and also in financing is strengthened at all levels of the organization, specifically also at country level. This can be done obviously through training and capacity development, but also through review of the skill sets that is already existing in the organization, really to see how to better balance the skills that are needed for normative work and financing, etc., as well as the needs that are needed for humanitarian response, and that's related to the 5th conclusion and the 5th recommendation. So it's really to look at UNFP UNFPA in a holistic manner, so that UNFPA can have the skills and capacities really to work from normative to humanitarian. I think this was the question directly related to evaluation, and then management can address the other one. Thank you very much for your attention.

Mr. President, I thank the distinguished delegate from Norway, and we deeply appreciate your constant support. With respect to the comments, UNFPA welcomes the intervention on balancing acceleration and setback prevention in UNFPA's new strategic plan 2026-2029 in the context of pushbacks and increased UNFPA remains committed to strengthening its institutional capacity to deliver on the mandate effectively and is designing the new strategic plan with a view to ensuring the organization has critical entry points and corresponding results to both accelerate progress and safeguard against threats to the progress made. As highlighted in both the independent evaluation and the midterm review of the Strategic Plan 2022-2025, we recognize the need to address internal capacity constraints and will take concrete steps to enhance organizational effectiveness, efficiency, and resilience as we develop our new Strategic Plan for 2026-2029. We take note of the comment on the implementation of the Board of Auditors' recommendation and would like to underline UNFPA's commitment to ensure swift implementation of outstanding recommendations as communicated on Monday under item number 2 on recommendations of the Board of Auditors. With respect to the Humanitarian Response Division, while the implementation of some recommendations is still in progress, I would like to underline some key achievements, as that in 2024, UNFPA provided over 10 million people with reproductive health services that since the establishment of the Humanitarian Response Division, contributions to UNFPA's humanitarian work have significantly grown and now represent 41% of overall contributions to UNFPA. As we continue to strengthen our humanitarian capacity, UNFPA is now finalizing the Minimum Preparedness Action and aims to finalize the Advanced Preparedness action for 2025. With respect to the implementation of Quantum, UNFP has enhanced internal controls, updated resources management policy, and are developing additional reports and management dashboards, as well as tools for field offices to monitor data quality. We are integrating financial management checklists into the results and resource planning tools to launch last year. In supply chain management, following the adoption of the new organizational structure, we have adopted a new strategy for '24 to '29, focusing especially on efficiency and effectiveness. To address the Board of Audit recommendation on risk management in humanitarian, we have introduced the new emergency policy and procedures which foresee the establishment of structured mechanisms for risk assessment and risk monitoring. UNFPA looks forward to reporting on progress made. Once again, President, this was the answer for Norway, but I would like to reiterate to Norway our commitment to implement both the findings of the independent evaluation as well as the recommendations of the Board of Auditors. I would like now to thank the distinguished delegate from the Netherlands and appreciate yourself as well for your continuous support. The question for us on how we make sure that the 4th outcome continues to support the 3 transformative results, I think that was the first question, and the second one, how we remain human rights-based, the human rights-based approach, and SRHR remain at the centre of what we do. Thank you for those very important questions. As we work and consult with all member states, that's exactly what we are going to do. The 4th outcome is absolutely critical for the development agenda as it is present, and within the discussion with member states, it allows member states to even further focus on the 3 transformative results because it can integrate their overall development plan of their country, country plan. Whether you take middle-income country or LDC country, it's important for them to have the bigger picture to be able to focus for those country who needs on SRHR. SRHR and the 3 transformative results, especially the 3rd one, need acceleration in every part of this planet. So for us, rest assured that we will continue to do both, make sure that we remain a rights-based approach organization and that SRHR remains at the centre of the Programme of Action. But population dynamic, population change is absolutely critical for any upcoming programme development. That's why this reflection is being made at this stage. I hope this answers your question and thank you for your question. Thank you, Mr. President.

Thank you.

So it appears that the Netherlands is our last speaker from the floor. Yeah, so that's good. We'll make room for our experts. Who are working on decision negotiations, more time for them, and save some time for ourselves as well. Thank you very much indeed. So in the absence of any further requests for the floor, May I take it that the Board wishes to take note of this formative evaluation of the UNFPA Strategic Plan 2022-2025? It's just taking note of. It shouldn't be a problem. So I see no objection. It's so decided.

Thank you.

We come to the conclusion of this afternoon. Thank you very much for your cooperation and support. The meeting stands adjourned.

Thank you, Mr.

President.

Distinguished delegates, a practical announcement. The negotiations will resume at 5:30 at the Permanent Mission of Ecuador at 801 Second Avenue, as you know by now, 9th floor. Thank you very much.

Thank you.