United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization Executive Board

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1 ex United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization Executive Board Hundred and sixty-second Session 162 EX/40 PARIS, 22 August 2001 Original: French/English Item 8.1 of the provisional agenda UNESCO S CONTRIBUTION TO OPERATIONAL POLICIES AND ACTIVITIES FOR DEVELOPMENT COOPERATION WITHIN THE UNITED NATIONS SYSTEM SUMMARY This annual report describes UNESCO s contribution to the system s operational activities for development cooperation in pursuance of the resolutions of the General Assembly of the United Nations, thus, resolution 53/194 (adopted in 1999) states in paragraph 58 that: the governing bodies of the funds, programmes and specialized agencies of the United Nations system should take appropriate action for the full implementation of the present resolution, and requests the executive heads of those funds, programmes and specialized agencies to submit a yearly progress report to their governing bodies on measures taken and envisaged for the implementation of the present resolution, as well as appropriate recommendations. This statutory document reports on the reforms and policies implemented by the system with respect to development cooperation and then goes on to examine the main aspects of the collaboration between UNESCO and the funds, programmes and institutions of the system. In each instance, it outlines UNESCO s contribution and the prospects for collaboration. Detailed information on the extrabudgetary resources and on the types of contractual arrangement concluded between the donors and the Organization, which constituted Part II of the previous annual report, are now presented to the Executive Board at its spring session, in accordance with 159 EX/Decision and 161 EX/Decision 7.4. Decision required: paragraph 38.

2 162 EX/40 INTRODUCTION 1. In the context of its operational activities for development cooperation, the United Nations system must take account of many challenges, including the phenomenon of globalization, economic and social integration and a considerable increase in inequality. It is called upon to do so at a time when official development assistance, and in particular the assistance allocated to the organizations of the system, has shown an overall decrease. At the same time, for identical reasons linked to the decrease in regular resources, the agencies of the system have all carried out structural reforms, for the most part wide-ranging. 2. The Millennium Summit, like the world conferences, has defined the objectives to be achieved by 2015 for the system and all its partners. These objectives have been the subject of a declaration by the Development Assistance Committee (CAD/OCDE) and analysed in its annual report for The institutions of the system have now received a mandate to adapt their strategies so as to give effect to the Millennium Declaration: for UNESCO, the objective Enrol all children in primary school by 2015 remains a priority. This new approach requires that the institutions of the system work closely together at the national level and identify new partnerships among themselves. 3. This report outlines the main achievements over the past year with regard to reform of the operational activities of the system. The forms of UNESCO s cooperation with the various funds and programmes are instructive not only as regards their policies, but also as regards the prospects for the Organization s future cooperation with each of them. 4. The Annex contains all the bibliographical references of the documents or the decisions cited in this annual report. I. THE IMPLEMENTATION OF REFORMS IN THE UNITED NATIONS SYSTEM S OPERATIONAL ACTIVITIES FOR DEVELOPMENT COOPERATION 5. The General Assembly of the United Nations and ECOSOC have carefully monitored the implementation of the reforms launched in July 1997 by the Secretary-General. The various governing bodies of the United Nations funds and programmes have also been widely involved in this process, which increasingly concerns the specialized agencies of the system. 6. The results of the triennial policy review of operational activities for development of the United Nations system, which were examined by ECOSOC at its session last July, will be submitted to the General Assembly for discussion this autumn. This triennial review is a fullscale inventory of the implementation of the Secretary-General s reforms and may be summarized in terms of three major themes: (1) the decline of regular financial resources; (2) the introduction of programming instruments of the system such as CCA and UNDAF; (3) the strengthening of the resident coordinator system. 7. The decline in the resources allocated to the regular funding of the institutions of the system is a subject of increasing concern for the representatives of the developing countries. Despite the reforms introduced, this trend seems to be continuing. Some of them appear to make increased financial resources the precondition for acceptance by their governments of

3 162 EX/40 page 2 the CCA and UNDAF. All fear the bilateralization of certain funds and programmes and, more generally, the loss of neutrality of the system. It seems highly likely that the discussions of the triennial review at the General Assembly will focus on this issue, which is particularly sensitive for all the developing countries UNDP WFP Specialized agencies UNICEF 500 Other 0 UNFPA Figure 1 Contributions from Governments and other sources for operational activities of the United Nations system: overview (in millions of current US dollars) Source: Comprehensive statistical data on operational activities for development for Report of the Secretary- General (E/2001/58/Add.1), ECOSOC, July For three years, the decline in the regular budgets of the United Nations funds and programmes has remained a fact despite the many efforts made to safeguard their funding. Three trends are discernible: given that these funds and programmes receive only voluntary contributions, it is noteworthy that such contributions to regular programmes are tending to fall or remain stationary; moreover, these voluntary contributions are allocated by a small number of bilateral funding agencies (about 10); finally, earmarked voluntary contributions are steadily increasing. In addition, it is clear that two other factors also affect the financial allocations of these agencies: the regularity of the annual payments by bilateral funding sources and the high rate of exchange of the dollar, which cancels out the increase of some contributions not paid in United States dollars. It is important to understand that the United Nations secretariat and the specialized agencies receive mandatory contributions which, even if they are subject to zero nominal growth for their regular budget, guarantee a certain degree of security in the implementation of their activities. The funds and the programmes receive only voluntary, that is to say extrabudgetary, contributions. They are allocated either to activities decided upon by all the States (regular or core budget) or to activities chosen by the bilateral funding agencies (earmarked or non-core budget).

4 162 EX/40 page UNICEF UNFPA UNDP UNICEF UNFPA UNDP UNICEF UNFPA UNDP Core Non core 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% Figure 2 Contributions from Governments and other sources for operational activities of the United Nations system: overview Source: Comprehensive statistical data on operational activities for development for Report of the Secretary- General (E/2001/58/Add.1), ECOSOC, July As figures 3 and 4 show, all the agencies of the system are seeing a marked increase in earmarked, or extrabudgetary, contributions, particularly those from bilateral funding sources WHO 2 FAO 3 UNIDO 4 ILO 5 UNESCO 6 OTHER Figure 3 Extrabudgetary contributions for operational activities of specialized agencies and other organizations: overview by agency (in thousands of US dollars) Source: Comprehensive statistical data on operational activities for development for Report of the Secretary- General (E/2001/58/Add.1), ECOSOC, July 2001.

5 162 EX/40 page 4 Others UNESCO ILO UNIDO FAO WHO Multilateral and NGOs Bilateral Figure 4 Extrabudgetary contributions for operational activities by specialized and technical agencies, 1999 (in thousands of United States dollars) Source: Comprehensive statistical data on operational activities for development for 1999, Report of the Secretary-General (E/2001/58/Add.1), ECOSOC, July At the same time, funds for emergency and humanitarian assistance are growing faster than those earmarked for development. Thus 14% of the budget allocated to the World Food Programme (WFP) (regular and earmarked) goes to development matters, which is the lowest rate for 23 years. 11. At present, 28 United Nations Development Assistance Frameworks (UNDAFs) and 76 Common Country Assessments (CCAs) have been completed. Others are in progress (31 for UNDAFs and 38 for CCAs) or planned (29 for UNDAFs and eight for CCAs). In six countries, a second generation of UNDAFs has been produced, and nine countries have launched another CCA. The preparation of new CCAs/UNDAFs often corresponds to an updating to take account of changes in the national planning of governments. CCA/UNDAF: progress by region, as of 15 April 2001 Region Number of CCA UNDAF countries concerned Completed In progress Completed In progress Africa Asia & the Pacific Arab States Latin America & the Caribbean Europe and Commonwealth of Independent States Total Source: Progress in the Implementation of multi-year funding frameworks and evaluation of the United Nations Development Assistance Framework, Report of the Secretary-General (E/2001/58/), ECOSOC, July The assessment has highlighted the rapidity of execution of the CCA and the slow implementation of the UNDAF and shows that: CCA is extensively used, even in the case of countries in crisis-exit situations, to take stock of achievements and needs in all sectoral domains of development policies. CCA usually comes with the participation in its preparation of

6 162 EX/40 page 5 non-governmental actors (parliamentarians and civil society) and development partners other than those of the system. The document is generally accompanied by statistical indicators that still need to be improved. The system s participation is generally extensive and the specialized agencies find, in this exercise, an opportunity to supply their expertise in their sectoral domains, provide the recipient countries with support, and derive from the exercise enhanced knowledge of potential use to them in preparing their biennial programmes. Complementarity between the regular programmes of the specialized agencies and preparation of the CCA can readily be achieved. UNESCO must continue to take part in CCA identification in its fields of competence. UNDAF, which remains the national programming framework of the system agencies, whether or not present in the country, requires close collaboration within the system. For the funds and programmes, that document prescribes that in future the national programmes of each of the funds and programmes must derive from the UNDAF priorities, and not the reverse. A recent decision of the UNDP/UNFPA Executive Board confirmed this for these two agencies. For the specialized agencies, which do not have national programmes proper but rather an international (interregional, regional and national) remit, UNDAF execution calls for an approach that respects both the functions of those institutions and the will to achieve integrated programming, as desired in the national framework by the States. This requires in particular, for the entire system, an effort at harmonization and simplification of administrative and financial procedures in order to facilitate the implementation of joint projects. UNESCO has been appointed task manager, within the inter-agency machinery, to make proposals on the conditions for adoption by the system as a whole of the Note on joint programming, approved last year by the funds and programmes. The Note seeks to present administrative and financial options for the implementation of joint projects. UNESCO should include the Dakar follow-up by taking an active part in the thematic groups of the system that are directly responsible for preparing UNDAFs. This also goes for the follow-up to other programme priorities. Inter-agency collaboration is now taking shape, at the national level, and this means that UNESCO must, both at and away from Headquarters, work out a strategy of active presence within the teams of the Resident Coordinator system. Furthermore, CCA and UNDAF, as programming instruments for the United Nations system, also raise other types of question: compatibility with the government s national priorities; compatibility between the sectoral and transsectoral approaches; and compatibility between the priorities of global conferences and the objectives of the Millennium Declaration. So far, the replies given not only take account of the wishes of national governments but also demonstrate flexibility and openness. The complementarity between those two programming instruments of the system and those set in place by the Bretton Woods institutions also remains an important question. The last ECOSOC session showed that the two countries heard, United Republic of Tanzania and China, had managed to make the preparation of multilateral programming instruments benefit national policy, but also that the United Republic of Tanzania had been able to impose its own national poverty reduction plan both within the system and with the World Bank.

7 162 EX/40 page 6 National Programming Tools of the United Republic of Tanzania The Government has articulated national strategy priorities for poverty reduction in both the Tanzania Assistance Strategy (TAS) and the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP). The United Nations system and other development partners have worked very closely with Government in developing the TAS and PRSP, which were adopted as the Common Country Assessment (CCA) for the United Nations system in Tanzania. Government is very pleased that the United Nations system in Tanzania agreed to support the TAS and PRSP processes and use them as their CCA and as the basis for the United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAP). Source: Tanzania UNDAF All too often, the lack of any real national ownership means that it is left to the Resident Coordinator and the World Bank delegate to knit together the various programming documents and gauge their relevance. 13. The strengthening of the Resident Coordinator system comprises a series of measures all aimed at making the actions of representatives of system agencies efficient at the national level and at maximizing the different kinds of synergy between them. The United Nations Resident Coordinator is selected by an inter-agency committee, in which UNESCO participates, proposed to the Secretary-General by the UNDP Administrator and appointed by the Secretary-General with the consent of the country concerned. Candidates put forward by system agencies and having passed a Competency Assessment have for the last three years been eligible for appointment as United Nations Resident Coordinator. The Resident Coordinator is assessed every year by the system as a whole. This assessment is conducted at UNESCO with the close association of directors of field units, who take part in the work of the national team of the United Nations system under the direction of the Resident Coordinator. For over three years now, UNESCO has been the only agency to have assessed each year the Reports of the Resident Coordinators, which provide a good snapshot of what the system does and an understanding not only of the strategy and impact of the United Nations team but also of the successes and obstacles. This knowledge base will prove useful for UNESCO s programming exercises. The introduction of many common services (security, dispensary, etc.) by the national teams results, globally for the system, in economies of scale but now requires the specialized agencies, such as UNESCO, to share in their joint financing. This is done, on a case by case basis, under UNESCO s new decentralization policy. For reasons of cost, the specialized agencies have so far taken very little part in instituting a United Nations Common House. The great majority of specialized agencies have the use of national premises lent by the governments, which sometimes share the running costs of the offices. However, that movement, while slower than desired in the Secretary-General s reform, is nevertheless under way.

8 162 EX/40 page Last April, UNESCO and FAO decided to be part of the United Nations Development Group (UNDG) and joined not only the funds, programmes and departments of the United Nations but also WHO. Since then, UNESCO has been participating in various working groups of UNDG and, as required, the Director-General attends its Executive Committee. 1 Such participation makes it possible not only to strengthen collaborative ties with those agencies in the implementation of operational activities for development cooperation, but also to influence their substance by emphasizing the skills and priorities of the Organization. II. COOPERATION BETWEEN UNESCO AND THE MAIN UNITED NATIONS FUNDS AND PROGRAMMES 15. This part consists of a presentation of the new policies and priorities of the funds and programmes, together with a report on past and prospective collaboration with these bodies. II.1 United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) 16. For two years, following the arrival of a new Administrator, UNDP has been carrying out far-reaching reforms. Taking note of the decline in its regular budget, which seems to be a reality despite the setting up of multi-year funding frameworks (MYFF) and the resultsoriented annual report (ROAR), Mr M. Brown wishes UNDP to abandon project funding and to position itself more as an agency providing support for the policies of developing countries. UNDP has adopted thematic priorities (governance, poverty eradication, new information technologies, sustainable environment, AIDS, and women) and is trying to increase both its networks of expertise and its financial resources through the creation of funds-in-trust. 17. UNDP is to open negotiations with the agencies of the system in order to review its partnerships and support cost agreements (SPPD/STS and AOS). These negotiations, which will last over a year, are set against a background of a decline in the funds allocated to UNDP regular programmes and in the context of a reform that will give UNDP a function oriented more towards the provision of support for national policies. Moreover, the development of the SURFs (subregional resource facilities) also involves the risk of overlap with the agencies of the United Nations system. As regards these subregional networks, UNESCO has always argued the case for close coordination with its regional offices so as to avoid duplication. Hence, the agencies are very attentive to the question of the division of labour between UNDP, as the coordinator and integrator of United Nations system expertise, and the specialized agencies. UNESCO has made some proposals concerning these new agreements, which have been supported by the agencies of the system and take account both of the reforms launched in 1997 by the Secretary-General and of the necessary division of labour within the United Nations system. As regards the substance of these negotiations, the specialized agencies hope for a constructive and open dialogue with the different services of the UNDP secretariat, the resident representatives and members of the Executive Board of UNDP. 18. Over the past year, collaboration between UNDP and UNESCO amounted to $22.5 million, or an increase of about 7%. Cooperation with UNDP always involves upstream studies or technical support to UNESCO for national projects. Finally, governments continue to delegate to UNESCO part of the UNDP financed projects that they are responsible for executing. It should be noted that, from this year, the specialized agencies such as UNESCO must reimburse the UNDP national office for the services requested of it in order to set up the activities they finance. This generally applies to countries where UNESCO is not represented. 1 As well as those of WHO, FAO and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.

9 162 EX/40 page 8 Ukraine Support to incorporation of environmental aspects to sustainable development of Ukraine (SPPD (Support for Policy and Programme Development)) Budget: US $20,000 Objectives: UNDP signed a SPPD with UNESCO in order to secure UNESCO s expertise in the elaboration of a natural environmental programme. This programme will be funded by the Global Environmental Facility (GEF). Azerbaijan Regional Academy for Online Network Governance and System Administration Budget: US $169,000 (UNESCO cost-sharing: US $67,000) Objectives: The project is designed to build a strategic and operational networking academy in Azerbaijan to train government officials in online network, governance and produce systems administrators with a view to promoting the improved introduction of information networking technologies. Guatemala Apoyo a la promoción cultural y deportiva en Guatemala Budget: US $1,065,183 (government cost-sharing) Objectives: The objective of this preparatory assistance is to initiate actions that foster understanding, tolerance and solidarity among all the peoples and to emphasize cultural diversity in all its various expressions. Kuwait Restoration and display of selected artefacts from the DAI collection at the Kuwait National Museum Complex Budget: US $597,300 Objectives: The project will assist in the relocation of the collection of Dar al-athar al-islamiyyah to the premises of the Kuwait National Museum (KNM). Madagascar Promotion of basic education for all Madagascan children ( ) Budget: US $7,851,199 The segment executed by UNESCO amounts to some US $2,500,000. Within UNDAF, the Joint Programme in Support of Basic Education has been devised and will be executed by the Government with the help of seven United Nations agencies (ILO, UNDP, UNESCO, UNICEF, UNFPA, WFP and WHO). II.2 Funds or programmes associated with UNDP United Nations Volunteers Programme (UNV) 19. Ms Sharon Capeling Alakija, Executive Coordinator of UNV, held talks with the Director-General last March in order to strengthen collaboration between UNV and UNESCO s cultural heritage programme. The Organization also contributed to the report by the Secretary-General on voluntary service and the United Nations system, which UNV is responsible for coordinating. United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) 20. This Fund, associated with UNDP, has a double function: setting up, in a limited number of developing countries, projects for decentralized governance with local communities; and establishing sustainable micro-credit programmes in the developing countries. This twin objective forms part of the priorities linked to poverty reduction. The secretariat is engaged in talks aimed at harnessing, in specific situations, the expertise of the Fund to operations undertaken by UNESCO, or vice versa.

10 162 EX/40 page 9 II.3 United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) 21. On 1 January 2001, Ms T. Obaid was appointed Executive Director of UNFPA by the Secretary-General. UNFPA immediately undertook internal reforms and entered into negotiations with the United Nations system as a whole to review its cooperation agreements. 22. In this context, many technical meetings have been organized over the last year to adopt new guidelines for this cooperation. UNFPA and particularly its senior officials were concerned to open a genuine dialogue with the agencies of the system, which made it possible to take into account not only the decisions of the Executive Board of UNFPA but also the past experience of cooperation with the specialized agencies. The final document will be presented to the Executive Board of UNFPA at its January 2002 session and will be prepared in close cooperation with the agencies of the United Nations system. It has already been decided that UNFPA will not make its staff available in such large numbers to the specialized agencies. Moreover, as part of the follow-up to the International Conference on Population and Development (IPDC+5), each specialized agency is called upon, within its fields of competence and with the support of UNFPA, to increase its advocacy and programme actions over the whole range of population questions. This refocusing and reinforcement of concrete partnership actions with UNFPA should involve for UNESCO not only education programmes but also social science, communication and statistics programmes. 23. Cooperation between UNFPA and UNESCO in 2000 took two forms: the secondment of ten programme specialists, at and away from Headquarters, and the funding over the past year of specific projects in an amount of US $2.6 million. II.4 Cooperation with the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) 24. Cooperation with UNOPS is continuing satisfactorily. The Office s Executive Director, Mr Reinhardt Helmke, paid a working visit in October 2000 since when discussions have taken place between the UNOPS Division for the Environment and the Natural Sciences Sector with a view to establishing a cooperation framework in the field of environmental management. Preliminary proposals were presented with regard to the Latin America, Central Asia and Arab States regions. 25. In April 2001 UNESCO took part in the evaluation of UNOPS-UNDP relations carried out by the United Nations Joint Inspection Unit at the request of the Secretary-General. II.5 Cooperation with the United Nations Fund for International Partnerships (UNFIP) and the United Nations Foundation (UNF) 26. Cooperation between UNESCO and UNF/UNFIP has grown considerably over the past two years. UNESCO is executing 11 projects approved by UNF/UNFIP with a value of around $14 million, exclusively concerning the world natural heritage. The projects are submitted to UNFIP either by UNESCO Headquarters or by the United Nations country teams, within the resident coordinator system. In the latter case, field units help to elaborate joint projects and execute part of them once approved in close cooperation with their colleagues at other institutions present in the field.

11 162 EX/40 page 10 Control of Invasive Species: A necessary condition for conserving the endemic biodiversity of the Galapagos World Heritage Site (US $3,999,850) The aim of this project is to preserve the biodiversity of the Galapagos Islands, to experiment with certain conservation techniques and principles and to eliminate those harmful species posing a threat to the islands equilibrium. A further aim is to help to enforce the [Ecuadorian] Government s special legislation for protecting the islands. This project is being executed by UNESCO in conjunction with the Charles Darwin Research Centre and the Galapagos National Parks Service. 27. UNESCO and UNF/UNFIP also decided jointly to mobilize additional resources for projects executed by the World Heritage Centre, given that one of the conditions for granting UNFIP funding is the mobilization of supplementary funds by the agency concerned. For example the project Partnership for World Heritage Conservation, approved in March 2001 and granted $647,000, takes this requirement into account in the form of financial support for strengthening the World Heritage Centre s technical and administrative capacity. The numerous consultation meetings between UNF/UNFIP and UNESCO have proved constructive, resulting in greater cooperation and enabling working methods to be tailored to both agencies needs. II.6 United Nations Children s Fund (UNICEF) 28. The drop since 1996, in real terms, in contributions by governments to UNICEF s regular resources remains a concern. The latter fell from $364 million in 1996 to $344 million in 1999 and UNICEF expected them to decline further in As with UNDP, earmarked contributions rose in 1999 (to $343 million, up from $243 million in 1996) and were set to rise even more markedly in Contributions of both kinds allow UNICEF to implement 161 national programmes targeting children in development or emergency situations. 29. Throughout the year UNICEF prepared the second World Summit on Children (Special United Nations Session on Children), to be held in New York from 19 to 21 September Its purpose will be to assess the results of the plan of action adopted at the previous Summit, in 1990, and to pinpoint new strategies for protecting children. UNESCO took part in various preparatory meetings, and there has been close cooperation with UNICEF as between the goals of the Summit and the Dakar follow-up. 30. The partnership between UNICEF and UNESCO has subsequently focused on the follow-up to these two major global conferences, the Dakar World Education Forum and the Special United Nations Session on Children. Nevertheless, since September 2000, UNICEF has contributed $350,000 to UNESCO activities. It should be noted that the Director-General will present the Executive Board with another document summarizing the findings of the UNESCO/UNICEF Joint Committee on Education and the main aspects of cooperation between the UNESCO and UNICEF Secretariats. II.7 The World Food Programme (WFP) 31. In 2000 the resources received by WFP were 12% higher than in the previous year, reaching a total of $1.75 billion. Contributions for emergency and rescue operations came to $1.38 billion whereas contributions for development activities continued their decline, falling to $226 million in 2000.

12 162 EX/40 page In 2000 WFP chose school feeding as its priority and successfully mobilized supplementary funds to implement activities affecting almost 12 million children in 54 countries. To execute this school feeding programme WFP entered into partnerships with other system agencies such as FAO, WHO, UNESCO and the United Nations University. UNESCO is working with WFP to ensure that these issues are adequately addressed in the framework of the follow-up to the Dakar World Education Forum, particularly during preparation of national EFA Action Plans and in the context of larger school health programmes through the inter-agency programme FRESH (Focusing Resources on Effective School Health). UNESCO is also assisting WFP in the implementation of the initiative with regard to improvements in the monitoring and evaluation of school feeding programmes. II.8 The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) 33. Cooperation with UNHCR has been gradually strengthening for some years. In 2000 several projects, limited financially but of considerable social scope, were entrusted to UNESCO by UNHCR for execution; their total value was $540,000. There may be further opportunities for cooperation with UNHCR in the future. II.9 Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) 34. Fighting IDS is central to development and AIDS is now on the top of the world s political agenda. In view of the coordination of the United Nations system, a new Strategy Framework on AIDS was agreed by the UNAIDS Programme Coordinating Board last December. The unprecedented United Nations Strategic Plan, coordinated by UNAIDS as urged by ECOSOC in 1999, covers the AIDS-related work of 29 United Nations agencies. Within this overall division of labour, UNESCO has been designated to education. The UNAIDS Unified Budget and Workplan (UBW) brings together the UNAIDS Cosponsors and Secretariat at an operational level. 35. For the current year, UNESCO mobilized US $1,170,000 through UNAIDS. With the new strategic focus of the Organization on preventive education and better coordination within UNESCO and among United Nations agencies, there is much expectation that a greater volume of resources will be mobilized. 36. The Strategy for HIV/AIDS on Preventive Education will be the primary part of UNESCO s contribution to the United Nations Strategic Plan for HIV/AIDS for and will focus on five core tasks: advocacy at all levels; customizing the message; changing risk behaviour and vulnerability; caring for the infected and affected; coping with the institutional impacts. 37. The recent General Assembly Special Session on HIV/AIDS in June 2001 generated an unprecedented level of political commitment to tackle the pandemic particularly in Africa. The Secretary-General issued a Call to Action building upon the Millennium Declaration and including a proposal for a Global AIDS and Health Fund, for which initial contributions totalling over US $400 million have been pledged for According to the latest estimates US $1.4 billion are so far expected for the period As a cosponsor of UNAIDS, UNESCO is actively involved in preparing the launch of the Global Fund and will continue to participate in the process of defining how the Fund should function and be governed.

13 162 EX/40 page Draft decision In view of the foregoing, the Executive Board may wish to adopt the following decision: TheExecutiveBoard, 1. Having examined document 162 EX/40 containing the Director-General s annual report on UNESCO s contribution to operational activities for development cooperation of the United Nations system, takes note with interest of the information contained in that document, 2. Requests the Director-General to continue to take part in the current reforms within the system with regard to operational activities for development cooperation, whether in a national, regional or global setting, pursuant to the resolutions of the United Nations General Assembly; 3. Further invites the Director-General to strengthen the new partnerships with the United Nations funds and programmes, bearing in mind the Organization s mandate and the search for greater complementarities and synergies with those agencies.

14 162 EX/40 Annex ANNEX Development Cooperation Report 2000 The DAC Journal (DAC Development Aid Committee, OECD), Volume 2, No. 1. This report analyses in detail, for the year 2000, global financial contributions (public and private) and the total amount of aid to multilateral bodies, broken down by sector and geographical area. In particular: Partnership for Poverty Alleviation: from commitment to implementation, Statement issued at high level DAC meeting, Paris, 11 and 12 May See also: Progress towards the international development goals. 2. Education: quality is important, DAC Report, pp Triennial comprehensive policy review of operational activities of the United Nations system for development, ECOSOC Session, Geneva, July 2001, Report of the United Nations Secretary-General (E/2001/66). Progress in the implementation of the multi-year funding frameworks and evaluation of the United Nations Development Assistance Framework, Report of the Secretary-General (E/2001/58), ECOSOC, July 2001; Princeton II on the assessment of CCA and UNDAF, Pennsylvania, United States (1-3 March 2001). UNDP/UNFPA programming process. Decision 2001/11, Annual session of the Executive Board of UNDP/UNFPA, June Guidance Note: preparing joint programmes projects, June 2000, adopted by UNDP, UNFPA, UNICEF and WFP.