The UN Secretariat has published an overview of inter-agency cooperation within the framework of the UN System Chief Executives Board for Coordination (CEB) in 2023. The report highlights key activities of the Board that promote a coherent approach to policy and management and enhance UN system-wide coordination in support of intergovernmental mandates.
The annual overview report of the UN System Chief Executives Board for Coordination for 2023 (E/2024/11), dated 1 March 2024, was released to support the deliberations during the 2024 session of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).
According to the report, Board members reaffirmed their commitment to supporting Member States’ efforts to strengthen the multilateral system and “regain traction” in achieving the SDGs, including the roadmap set out in the Secretary-General’s report, ‘Our Common Agenda.’ The report notes that CEB and its High-level Committee on Programmes focused on three key topics: duties to the future; international data governance; and a fair and inclusive international financial architecture that delivers sustainable development for all.
To ensure people remained at the center of the work of the UN system, the Board addressed: international drug policy and human rights; the human rights of older persons; support for internally displaced persons (IDPs); and strengthening UN system impact and visibility with regard to reducing inequalities.
The report further highlights that the Board discussed ways to rally the UN system around raising ambitions for tackling climate change and implementing the Doha Programme of Action for the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) for the decade 2022-2031.
In addition, the report notes that the Board’s expanded international data governance efforts aim to balance data protection with inclusive access and include the development of principles for a fair and inclusive international data governance framework. The report also updates on the Board’s “renewed focus” on the governance and use of artificial intelligence (AI) and related frontier technologies for the common good, including opportunities and risks.
In addition, the report covers the Board’s continued efforts to innovate working methods of the UN system, seeking to ensure the reliability and timely availability of UN data, provide strategic foresight, drive behavioral change in the work culture of the system, and foster innovation and digital transformation of UN system organizations. [Publication: Annual overview report of the United Nations System Chief Executives Board for Coordination for 2023]