2009 OPERATIONAL ACTIVITIES SEGMENT | Economic and Social Council

The 2009 Operational Activities Segment took place on 15-17th July 2009 at the United Nations Headquarters in Geneva and provided an opportunity for the Economic and Social Council to follow up on the implementation of the policy recommendations of the General Assembly on UN system’s operational activities for development, particularly General Assembly resolution 62/208. It aimed to bolster the full implementation of the mandates of the Assembly and the Council in the field of operational activities by the UN system.

The segment comprised a series of interactive dialogues on operational activities for development of the United Nations system, including panel discussions on the UN system’s support to national efforts in the context of the current economic, food and climate change crises and their effects on the achievement of the MDGs; Strengthening UN country team’s coherent support to public health; a dialogue with the Executive Heads of the Funds and Programmes, a dialogue on funding as well as a general debate.

The Council had before it the following reports of the Secretary-General:

Report of the Secretary-General on results achieved and measures and process in the implementation of the General Assembly resolution 62/208 on the Triennial Comprehensive Policy Review (TCPR)
Report of the Secretary-General on functioning of the resident coordinator system, including costs and benefits
Report of the Secretary-General on Human resources challenges within the United Nations development system at the country level and recommendations for improvements
Report of the Secretary-General on comprehensive statistical analysis of the financing of operational activities for development of the United Nations system for 2007
Note by the Secretary-General: Review of trends and perspectives in funding for development cooperation
Report of the Secretary-General on Actions taken by the Executive Boards and Governing Bodies of the United Nations funds, programmes and specialized agencies in the area of simplification and harmonization of the United Nations development system

Draft resolution: Progress in the implementation of General Assembly resolution 62/208 on the triennial comprehensive policy review of operational activities for development of the United Nations system (E/2009/L.18)

The functions of the segment were defined by the General Assembly in its Resolution (A/RES/48/162)

Programme

Issues Notes

STATEMENTS

Wednesday, 15 July 2009

Opening of the segment

H.E. Mrs. Carmen Maria Gallardo Hernández, Vice-President of ECOSOC
Introduction on the work programme and key objectives of the segment
Mr. Sha Zukang, Under-Secretary-General, Department of Economic and Social Affairs
Keynote address and introduction of the reports of the Secretary-General - The UN system’s response to the guidance of the GA and ECOSOC on operational activities for development

Panel on "The current economic, food and climate change crises and their effects on the achievement of the MDGs: the role of UN system's support to national efforts":

Mr. Luis Reyes and Mr. Juan Monegro, Senior Economists, Dominican Republic (copy of statement not available)
Ms. Noeleen Heyzer, Under-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of ESCAP and Coordinator of the Regional Commissions
Mr. Staffan De Mistura, Deputy Executive Director, WFP
Mr. George Dragnich, Executive Director for Social Dialogue, ILO
Ms. Jessica Faieta, UN Resident Coordinator in El Salvador
Mr. Jim Butler, Director-General, FAO

Q&A

Statement of the Republic of Sudan

Dialogue on UN system funding:

Mr. Michel Goffin, Head UN and Bretton Woods Institutions, Belgium Federal Public Service Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation
Mr. Ramadhani M. Khijjah, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs of Tanzania & Chair of the Joint UN/Government Steering Committee - Experiences with innovative funding mechanisms and new aid modalities at country level

Thursday, 16 July 2009

Dialogue with Executive Heads of UN Funds and Programmes:

Ms. Helen Clark, Administrator of UNDP: Development challenges in the new aid environment
Ms. Thoraya Obaid, Executive Director of UNFPA: Data for development: challenges and opportunities in supporting national capacity building
Ms. Ann M. Veneman, Executive Director of UNICEF: Capacity building and innovations in technology
Mr. Staffan De Mistura, Deputy Executive Director of WFP: Social protection and safety nets for the most vulnerable in a time of crisis

Dialogue on themes of the TCPR:

Ms. Helen Clark, Administrator of UNDP as Chairperson of the UN Development Group – Challenges to the capacity of resident coordinators in the context of UN reform: system-wide support
Dr. Denis Aitken, Assistant Director-General, WHO as Vice-Chairperson of the High-Level Committee on Management – Simplification and harmonization: how far the UN system has gone (copy of statement not available)

Friday, 17 July 2009

Dialogue with UN country teams: “Strengthening UN country team’s coherent support to public health”Niger:

H.E. Mr. Adani Illo, Permanent Representative of Niger to the United Nations, Geneva
Dr. Souley Rabi Maitournam , Director of Statistics, Monitoring and Epidemics Readiness, Niger (copy of statement not available)
Mrs. Aissata Ali Diallo, Chief, Division for Cooperation of Health for Studies and Planning, Niger (copy of statement not available)
Mrs. Khardiata Lo N’Diaye, Resident Coordinator, Niger
Mr. Yacine Diallo, Resident Representative, UNFPA, Niger (copy of statement not available)
Dr. Tarande Constant Manzila, Resident Representative, WHO, Niger (copy of statement not available)
Mr. Khushnood Lashari, Secretary of Health, Ministry of Health, Pakistan
Dr. Khalif Bile Mohamud, WHO Representative, Pakistan
Dr. Juan Manuel Sotelo, PAHO Area Manager of External Relations, Resource Mobilization and Partnerships, Latin America Regional Directors Team, Panama

INFORMAL SUMMARIES

DOCUMENTATION

Report of the Joint Inspection Unit on the National Execution of Technical Cooperation Projects (JIU/REP/2008/4)

(a) Follow-up to policy recommendations of the General Assembly and the Council

Report of the Secretary-General on the comprehensive statistical analysis of the financing of operational activities for development of the United Nations system for 2007 (A/64/75-E/2009/59)
Report of the Secretary-General on actions taken by the executive boards and governing bodies of the United Nations funds, programmes and specialized agencies in the area of simplification and harmonization of the United Nations development system (E/2009/61)
Report of the Secretary-General on results achieved and measures and processes implemented in follow-up to General Assembly resolution 62/208 on the triennial comprehensive policy review of operational activities for development of the United Nations system (E/2009/68)
Report of the Secretary-General on the human resources challenges within the United Nations development system at the country level (E/2009/75)
Report of the Secretary-General on the functioning of the resident coordinator system, including costs and benefits (E/2009/76)
Note by the Secretary-General: Review of trends and perspectives in funding for development cooperation (E/2009/85)
Conference room paper: Consolidated list of issues related to the coordination of operational activities

(b) Reports of the Executive Boards of the United Nations Development Programme/United Nations Population Fund, the United Nations Children’s Fund and the World Food Programme

Report of the Executive Board of the United Nations Children’s Fund on its first, second and annual sessions of 2008 (E/2008/34/Rev.1-E/ICEF/2008/7/Rev.1, Supp. No. 14)
Report of the Executive Board of the United Nations Development Programme/United Nations Population Fund on its work during 2008 (E/2008/35, Supp. No. 15) and its first regular session (DP/2009/9) and annual session of 2009 (DP/2009/22)
Report of the Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme and the Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund on its first regular session of 2009 (E/2009/5)
Annual report of the Executive Board of the United Nations Children’s Fund on its first regular session of 2009 (E/2009/6-E/ICEF/2009/3)
Annual report of the World Food Programme for 2008 (E/2009/14)
Report of the Executive Board of the United Nations Children’s Fund on the work of its 2009 first regular session (E/2009/34 (Part I)-E/ICEF/2009/7 (Part I))
Report of the Executive Board of the United Nations Children’s Fund on the work of its first regular session of 2009: Addendum: Joint meeting of the Executive Boards of the UNDP/UNFPA, UNICEF and WFP (E/2009/34 (Part I)/Add.1-E/ICEF/2009/7 (Part I)/Add.1)
Report of the Executive Board of the World Food Programme on its first and second regular sessions and annual session of 2008 (E/2009/36, Supp. No. 16)

(c) South-South cooperation for development

Report of the High-level Committee on South-South Cooperation on its sixteenth session (A/63/39)

For more information, please contact Development Cooperation Policy Branch/DESA (ecosocinfo@un.org)