Statement by the Republic of Maldives
on behalf of the Alliance of Small Island States
ECOSOC Operational Activities Segment
23 February 2016
Panel 4: Organisational Arrangements: How to strengthen inter-agency collaboration in organizational presence at country, sub-regional and regional levels?
Mr. Chairman, Excellencies, Distinguished Colleagues,
1. I am honoured to speak on behalf of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS). We align our statement with those delivered by the Permanent Representative of Thailand on behalf of the Group of 77 and China.
2. I would like to start by thanking Her Excellency, Ms. Rossana Guevara, for her remarks, and further welcome the ideas presented by the moderator and esteemed panel. Effective inter-agency collaboration at the country, sub-regional and regional levels is critical to implementing the 2030 Agenda, as well as our other agreed frameworks, including the SAMOA Pathway.
3. The SAMOA Pathway, explicitly asked the UN system to improve inter and intra-regional cooperation and collaboration among SIDS, including in the context of institutional mechanisms and capacity building. Resident Coordinators in different regions and within regions must in our view talk to each other, so that lessons could be learnt and best practices studied. As put to the panel of Heads of Funds and Programmes yesterday, we would like to hear how current models of service delivery in SIDS deliver on this mandate. And what institutional mechanisms have been put in place to improve coordination.
4. Coordination between different UN entities, particularly from the perspective of country level operation, is an ongoing challenge. Many small states experience uncoordinated efforts from the different UN entities. SIDS report examples of experiencing multiple visits from different organizations who could perhaps be coordinated in the future, both to better direct funding and to improve coherence in implementation and reporting.
5. As we mentioned yesterday in the dialogue with the Heads of Funds and Programmes, SIDS countries have presented unique opportunities for service delivery. Firstly, SIDS are often served through multi-country offices. However, local offices are staffed with those that are unfamiliar with the UN system. In this context we continue to highlight the need for capacity building at the national level. Secondly, SIDS are testing grounds for single multi-country UNDAFs. However, it is reported that programme counries and the entities of the UN system perceive them to be less useful. We need to reflect on this model of service delivery, and once again ask for the panel's perspectives int his regard, especially in the context of increased mandates to the national level.
6. In conclusion, the UN development system can more effectively and efficiently deliver support to programme countries through more impactful and actionable coordination and improved communication between the different entities and the country and regional level offices.
With these brief remarks from the SIDS experience on the ground, I thank you.
