UNCTAD Working Party on the Strategic Framework and Programme Budget, 82nd session

Distinguished delegates,

Ladies and gentlemen,

This is our first meeting after UNCTAD15, and we have a broad agenda. In my opening remarks, I will address first the overall orientation of the 2023 progamme plan, and then outline the key issues of our work on technical cooperation and evaluation.

Programme plan and performance information

I would like to congratulate once more for adopting the Bridgetown Covenant which charters our workplan from here to our next conference. It sets out the areas where you want us to focus, or focus more.

The aim of this Working Party is precisely to discuss with you our vision on how to reflect the UNCTAD15 outcome document into our 2023 programme plan. This meeting is very important for us to receive your inputs and feedback so that we can draft and submit the 2023 programme plan for your review in February 2022.

As you know, the process for the 2022 plan is nearly finalized (it is now in the Fifth Committee), but rest assured that we will adjust activities where it is possible and necessary.

I also would like to point out that the 2023 programme budget document will be the last opportunity for New York delegates to adjust the format before it will be reviewed and voted by the General Assembly. We expect that adjustments and changes might still be forthcoming. Our colleagues in New York had already mentioned to us that there may be some changes to the format.  Adnan will elaborate on these during his intervention.

Turning to our 2023 programme plan, as you know, the document has an overall orientation which outlines the organizational strategy for the year, including cooperation and cross cutting issues. This part will also provide an indication of the work areas to highlight in line with the outcome document.

You have reconfirmed that the work of UNCTAD is universal in nature but gives priority to the needs and interests of developing countries, with special attention paid to the most vulnerable and those furthest behind. Let me assure you that this will remain our guiding principle for all the work we are doing and planning to do.

Given the current situation, our work in 2023 will continue addressing the COVID-19 pandemic-related challenges and supporting a better recovery. It will be guided by the four transformations outlined in the Bridgetown Covenant: Transforming economies through diversification; transforming to a more sustainable and more resilient economy; transforming how development is financed; and transforming multilateralism.

You have also pointed out that UNCTAD should play an important role as the focal point of the United Nations for the integrated treatment of trade and development and interrelated issues in the areas of finance, investment, technology and sustainable development.

We will also investigate how UNCTAD can contribute to the coordinated international dialogue on COVID-19 response and recovery measures to counter the negative impact of the pandemic on the global economy and trade, as indicated by you.

Let me now touch on some of the key lessons learned and substantive takeaways from 2021 which underpin our programme plan:

• The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated existing challenges and created new vulnerabilities, especially for developing countries. It also threatens to reverse the hard-fought progress on the three dimensions of sustainable development – economic, social and environmental. While the recovery is underway, it is highly uneven across countries and sectors. Developed countries will experience a relatively stronger rebound in GDP growth than developing countries. The uneven access to vaccines and the fact that many developing countries have much fewer resources for fiscal stimulus packages will likely deepen existing socioeconomic inequalities. Our planned activities will focus on tackling these concerns and provide policy solutions.
• Given the scale of the problem, we needed to mobilize the capacity of each of our pillars of work: research and analysis to understand the phenomena and identify policy options; our intergovernmental machinery to discuss and exchange on the most pressing issues and experiences; and technical cooperation to respond to needs on the ground. We will continue this approach in 2023.
• The pandemic led to increased demand from developing countries for UNCTAD support in a number of areas, such as digital trade, trade integration, investment, debt and building productive capacity for a sustainable recovery. We anticipate that this trend continues into 2023, and we will integrate the analysis of COVID-19 related-challenges and economic recovery into our programming and delivery of mandates. This will ensure that our activities respond to the needs of the member States.

Of course, our work programme will be guided by the areas which you have asked us to focus on. In line with the Bridgetown Covenant, we propose to highlight the following areas in the 2023 Programme plan: support for debt and financial sustainability; investment and enterprise policy frameworks; climate change through green initiatives in the AfCFTA; bridging the digital divide; and productive transformation and economic diversification. Later in this session, the Divisions will further elaborate on their ideas and provide more details on the thinking behind.

Finally on the programme plan, I want to highlight two cross cutting issues: climate change and gender mainstreaming.

The Bridgetown Covenant is explicit about the concern of climate change. It stresses that enhancing climate resilience and promoting sustainable development are indispensable to the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals. 

In 2023, we will work on the ways to decouple economic growth from environmental degradation as well as to reduce global and climate vulnerabilities and increase adaptation strategies and funding.

The outcome document also clearly reaffirmed the importance of the gender dimension in trade and development and the disproportionate negative socioeconomic impact of the pandemic on women and girls.

Policies that look at structural transformation need to go beyond encompassing a gender perspective and to actively promote the inclusion and empowerment of women and youth.

We will thus continue integrating a gender perspective in all deliverables and results, in all our operational and capacity building activities, and in our research, data and statistics, to support more gender-responsive trade policies.

I will not separately elaborate on the importance of cooperation in the programme plan as this issue is an integral part of my next point on technical cooperation. 

Technical Cooperation

The Bridgetown Covenant highlights the importance for capacity building and technical assistance, and that in particular, UNCTAD should support countries in addressing the challenges exacerbated or revealed as a result of COVID-19 pandemic and build resilience to future economic shocks, by building productive capacities, and support sustainable development.

During this session we will review the performance of technical cooperation in 2020, including its achievements and challenges in delivery and funds mobilization. Let me start by highlighting some key trends in the technical cooperation activities of UNCTAD in 2020.

The year 2020 was marked by the COVID-19 pandemic and its immense impact on nearly all aspects of life. UNCTAD’s Technical Cooperation is no exception. The delivery of UNCTAD technical cooperation and the formulation of new projects encountered unprecedent challenges in 2020 due to the global health crisis, resulting lockdowns and, in particular, travel restrictions.

Overall voluntary contributions to UNCTAD’s trust funds, after hitting a historic high of 46 million US dollar in 2019, fell by 28% to 33.3 million US dollar in 2020. This is close to the level in 2018. The drop was mainly due to the significant decrease from two sources of funding: i) developing countries and countries with economies in transition, and ii) the United Nations system and other international organizations.

Despite the decrease in total extrabudgetary resources, we should not ignore two positive aspects within the overall trend. First, developed countries continued strengthening their support to UNCTAD technical cooperation despite the difficult socio-economic environment in their own countries. Indeed, developed country contributions to UNCTAD trust funds increased for the third year in a row to reach US$12.2 million in 2020, up 4% compared with 2019. Second, the funding base of UNCTAD technical cooperation was further broadened as witnessed by the rising amount and share of contributions from the private and public sectors (from 2% in 2019 to 5% in 2020).

During the first eight months of 2021, we have received US$23.1 million in extrabudgetary resources for our technical cooperation. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to all those who have made contributions.

Voluntary contributions, especially the less-earmarked multi-year contributions, are critical for UNCTAD to plan well and deliver its technical cooperation on a timely basis. I call on member States and development partners in a position to do so to further enhance funding support to UNCTAD technical cooperation. I trust multi-donor and multi-year approaches to fund and organize technical cooperation will become a priority in the near future for all of us.

In terms of delivery, the overall expenditures for UNCTAD technical cooperation activities amounted to US$35 million in 2020, dropping by 19% compared with 2019. ASYCUDA and DMFAS remained the top two technical cooperation products. The share of least developed countries in total technical cooperation expenditures fell to 45% in 2020.

In 2020, it was an exceptionally challenging to implement technical cooperation activities. To minimize the impact of the pandemic on proejct implementation and address the new requests from developing countries in a timely manner, we took several actions: First, we quickly adjusted our work programme to prioritize COVID-19 related technical assistance. Second, we swiftly adopted hybrid or online modes in delivering capacity building activities and advisory services. Third, we closely collaborated with other UN entities to deliver a “one UN” response to the COVID-19 crisis. These factors also led to UNCTAD playing an important role in the United Nations Development Account COVID-19 response.

We are fully committed to further enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of technical cooperation. I would like to mention three areas which are of high priority in the management of technical cooperation.

First, we adapt our technical cooperation in line with the UN development system. UN Resident Coordinator’s Offices become an increasingly important partner in the delivery of UNCTAD country-level activities. The joint letter of the DCO Office and UNCTAD on our engagement with RCOs has generated several requests for collaboration. Through the United Nations Inter-Agency Cluster on Trade and Productive Capacity and other partnership arrangements, UNCTAD has succeeded in mobilizing funds from the One UN Country Funds and the Joint SDG Fund.  

Most recently, in preparing for UNCTAD15 and with the generous financial support of Canada, UNCTAD reached out to Resident Coordinator Offices in 24 LDC countries, seeking their support in mobilizing high-level participation in the Conference, organizing country-level events, and communicating UNCTAD15 events. This initiative has increased UNCTAD’s visibility in the field and enhanced communication and cooperation between UNCTAD and RCOs. To further enhance staff’s capacity in engaging with RCOs, an in-house training on UN Reform and its implications for UNCTAD technical cooperation is planned towards the end of this year.

Second, on results-based management, we saw the roll-out of the Umoja Integrated Planning, Management, and Reporting (IPMR) solution. This IT-based solution empowers project managers to better plan, monitor and report project results, and also supports senior management in overseeing project performance. Following online training to all UNCTAD project managers, the IPMR started its operation in May 2021.

In addition, Divisions have been exploring how to embed results-based management in their technical cooperation work. I would like to share with you two examples: DIAE has developed a Live Implementation Matrix to track progress in the implementation of the recommendations of investment policy reviews by beneficiary countries; DTL has launched the Reform Tracker to monitor the implementation of national trade facilitation reforms and obligations of international and regional agreements. These innovative instruments are very helpful for results monitoring and reporting.

Lastly, I would like to mention that in the coming months, and on the basis of the outcome of UNCTAD15, the UNCTAD secretariat will finalize its new technical cooperation strategy. The secretariat will do so in consultation with Regional Group Coordinators. Some of the important points it will address are: i) the synergy between UNCTAD’s research and its technical cooperation: this iterative process is a great value addition of UNCTAD, meaning that research informs technical cooperation, and technical cooperation feeds research; ii) the cooperation and coordination with partners and stakeholders; iii) mainstreaming of cross-cutting issues such as gender and climate change; and iv) a strong focus on results. And this brings me to the third and final point of my intervention.

Evaluation

You have for your consideration the report “Evaluation of UNCTAD activities: Overview”. The report presents findings from evaluations conducted over the last year and provides an update on UNCTAD’s evaluation function.

Evaluation synthesis reports, such as the Overview, are prepared primarily to promote learning and collective reflection. The objective is to contribute to improving results.

Between April 2020 and April 2021, four independent evaluations of projects were completed. Three projects were supported by the United Nations Development Account, and one project was supported by the West African Economic and Monetary Union.

Owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of evaluations completed was lower than planned. The crisis led to delays and to a number of projects being granted extensions. As a consequence, their evaluations were postponed. But we could pick up on the evaluation process, with completing six evaluations since the report was drafted this year.

I am pleased to highlight that all evaluations found that the projects have enhanced awareness, technical knowledge, and strengthened capacity of policymakers and practitioners regarding the issues covered, including voluntary sustainability standards, statistics on trade in services, or cross-border trading.

All projects demonstrated high degrees of efficiency in the timely and cost-effective utilization of resources despite some internal and external constraints, such as changes in members of the project team or with national counterparts.

UNCTAD’s Development Account projects can be also useful means to test new ideas and pilot approaches to capacity building. The evaluation found that the project on empowering women cross-border traders in Eastern and Southern Africa utilize UNCTAD’s core strength (policy engagement) to generate impact around a group of economic actors traditionally overlooked in UN programming and by government authorities more generally.

However, several projects would benefit from greater emphasis on results-based management in the project design and management. This would help guide more effective project implementation and results.  Further, given the short time frame and limited reach of the projects, ensuring sustainability of results remains a challenge.

We have been working to better incorporate such lessons into the design and implementation of our technical cooperation. For instance, in September, we conducted a workshop for project officers who were preparing project proposals for the 15th tranche of the Development Account.

We are also preparing additional guidance and training to better address the human rights dimensions in UNCTAD’s projects. The importance of this subject continues to grow across the UN System.

Finally, I like to mention that over the next year, we will have twelve evaluations, including the evaluation of Subprogramme 1 and eight projects funded through the Development Account.

I am looking forward to introducing this agenda item in more detail on Wednesday, and to know listen to your statements and feedback.