1 September 2015: The UN Development Programme (UNDP) Executive Board discussed UNDP’s support for the post-2015 and financing for development (FfD) processes and for the climate negotiations, with UNDP Administrator Helen Clark stressing the need for development to be resilience-based and sustainable, and for finding synergies between development and environment finance and between humanitarian and development finance.
“UNDP is deeply involved in all processes around the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) roll-out,” said Clark at the Board’s Second Regular Session, which took place on 30 August-4 September 2015, in New York, US. Clark said UNDP is: providing support to governments to reflect the post-2015 development agenda in national development plans and policies; supporting countries to accelerate progress on SDG targets; making the UN’s policy expertise on sustainable development and governance available to governments at all stages of implementation; and leading the preparation of Guidelines for National SDG Reports.
On FfD, she highlighted UNDP’s work on capacity building for domestic resource mobilization, including through a recently launched partnership with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), ‘Tax Inspectors Without Borders,’ which will place international tax audit experts alongside national tax authorities to help build their capacity to assess and collect the tax that should be paid to them by international companies. She said UNDP is supporting national partners, especially in the least developed countries (LDCs) and small island developing States (SIDS), by mapping complex resource flows and designing integrated national financing frameworks.
On the 21st session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 21) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), Clark said UNDP will continue to support the “Road to Paris” through: sharing expertise and experiences from UNDP’s US$1.3 billion portfolio of climate change mitigation and adaptation projects in over 140 countries; strengthening capacities of negotiators from LDCs and SIDS; supporting countries to amend policies and regulations to create environments conducive to private sector investment in renewable energy and other areas of adaptation and/or mitigation; and partnering with the COP Presidencies from Peru and France.
She said UNDP has hosted seven regional dialogues on the technical elements of Intended Nationally-Determined Contributions (INDCs) and is organizing three more in Morocco, Uganda and Samoa. Clark added that UNDP has developed the first guidance note to support countries as they make choices on their INDCs, which is now distributed among experts, government officials and institutions in 150 countries.
Clark also noted that UNDP is finalizing its South-South Cooperation Strategy in order to strengthen UNDP’s contribution to this modality.
Other issues discussed by the Executive Board included: UNDP’s role in response to crises and disasters; UNDP’s work on response and recovery from natural disasters; resourcing UNDP; UNDP country programmes; internal reorganization; transparency and accountability; and promoting UN coherence.
The UNDP Executive Board is comprised of representatives from 36 countries, serving on a rotating basis. Through its Bureau, consisting of representatives from five regional groups, the Board oversees and supports the activities of UNDP, the UN Office for Project Services (UNOPS) and the UN Population Fund (UNFPA). [UNDP Press Release] [UNDP Administrator Remarks] [Webpage for Second Regular Session]