DESA News

Volume 18, No.09 - September 2014

Global dialogue on development


United Nations General Assembly

The sixty-ninth session of the General Assembly will commence at United Nations Headquarters in New York on 16 September. Indigenous Issues, Population and Development will be the main topics on the agenda.

Following the opening on 16 September, a special session of the General Assembly on the follow-up to the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development will be held on 22 September. The high-level plenary meeting of the sixty-ninth session of the General Assembly, to be known as the World Conference on Indigenous Peoples will be held from 23 to 24 September.

The General Assembly is the main deliberative, policymaking and representative organ of the United Nations. Comprising all 193 Member States of the United Nations, it provides a unique forum for multilateral discussion of the full spectrum of international issues covered by the UN Charter. The Assembly meets in regular session intensively from September to December each year, and thereafter as required.

Second and Third Committees

The Economic and Financial Committee (Second Committee) and the Social, Humanitarian and Cultural Committee (Third Committee) will discuss the items on the agenda related to economic questions and social and humanitarian issues, respectively. The Committees seek where possible to harmonize the various approaches of States, and present their recommendations, usually in the form of draft resolutions and decisions, to a plenary meeting of the Assembly for its consideration.

The Assembly’s Second Committee deals with the economic and financial aspects of development and its Third Committee addresses social, humanitarian and cultural matters. Both the Second and Third Committees will convene in October.

For more information: United Nations General Assembly

Expert committee gives UN General Assembly options to finance future sustainable development agenda

The Intergovernmental Committee of Experts on Sustainable Development Financing (ICESDF) forwarded to the UN General Assembly its report that considers how to finance efforts to improve people’s lives and protect the planet for future generations at the conclusion of its fifth and final session at UN Headquarters on Friday, 8 August.

The report provides an analytical framework for financing sustainable development, proposes a basket of policy options for countries to choose and suggests areas for advancement of the global partnership for sustainable development.

Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs Wu Hongbo praised the work of the Committee and the leadership of its two co-chairs, Pertti Majanen of Finland and Mansur Muhtar of Nigeria, in guiding the group’s efforts.

“I have not the slightest doubt that the report you have adopted will provide a significant contribution to the post-2015 development agenda,” Mr. Wu said.

The Expert Committee’s report will be considered by the General Assembly as part of the broader post-2015 development agenda. The report provides a foundation for continued intergovernmental discussions in the lead up to the third International Conference on Financing for Development in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in July 2015, and the Summit in September 2015 in New York where world leaders are expected to adopt the post-2015 development agenda.

The Committee finds that the $22 trillion in annual global savings is sufficient to meet the large financing needs for sustainable development. However, most resources are not allocated where they are needed most, and even a small shift in the way resources are allocated would have an enormous impact.

To better meet different financial needs, the Committee suggests an approach built on a set of key principles, including: country ownership of sustainable development financing strategies; the central role of the public sector and the importance of official development assistance (ODA); the use of all financing sources – domestic and international, public, private and blended – in a holistic and efficient manner; and the mainstreaming of sustainable development criteria in financing strategies and implementation approaches.

Based on these principles, the Committee proposes a toolkit of policy options and financial instruments to be used within a cohesive national sustainable development strategy. With a wide range of options proposed, the report says that the choice of specific policy measures should be determined by domestic political considerations and other country-specific circumstances.

The report also emphasizes the need to revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development. It offers recommendations to boost the partnership in the area of global economic governance, trade, investment, the international financial system, taxation, debt, regional cooperation, and development cooperation.

The Committee was conceived by the outcome document of the 2012 Conference on Sustainable Development or Rio+20. In accordance with the  mandate of the Committee, as contained in the Rio+20 outcome document, its report proposes “options on an effective sustainable development financing strategy to facilitate the mobilization of resources and their effective use in achieving sustainable development objectives.”

For more information: www.un.org/esa/ffd and http://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/index.php?menu=1558

United Nations calls for nominations for the 2015 United Nations Public Service Awards

The UN Public Service Awards (UNPSA) is an international contest designed to promote and support innovations in public service delivery worldwide. The award is open to all public organizations, including governments and public-private partnerships involved in delivering services to citizens.

The UNPSA is an annual event which takes places every year on 23 June, United Nations Public Service Day.

The United Nations Public Service Day was established by the Economic and Social Council in 2003 to promote better delivery of services by governments and to encourage excellence in the public service.

The United Nations Secretary-General, Mr. Ban Ki-moon, stated that “at a time of complex and interdependent global challenges, effective governance and efficient public administration are central to meeting our development goals. They will also be vital for implementing the post-2015 development agenda”. He also stated that the “winners and finalists have overcome complex challenges through innovative public service. They have revitalized education for the marginalized, enhanced transparency and accountability, supported environmental protection and deployed technology to increase the efficiency of health and water services. These trail-blazing efforts have resulted in greater equity and inclusion in the delivery of public services in their communities”.

The 2015 UNPSA will be given to those public institutions that have distinguished themselves in one of the following categories: i) Improving the Delivery of Public Services; ii) Fostering Participation in Policy-making Decisions through Innovative Mechanisms; iii) Promoting Whole-of-Government Approaches in the Information Age, and iv) Promoting Gender-Responsive Delivery of Public Services. The award highlights cutting edge innovations and recognizes that democracy and effective governance are built on a competent civil service.

As Mr. Wu Hongbo, the Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, emphasized during the 2014 United Nations Public Service Awards ceremony held in the city of Goyang, Republic of Korea, “The awards competition process helps us uncover and share many innovations that are going on all over the world in public sector institutions – innovations that make the lives of many people better”.

The UNPSA is organized by the Division of Public Administration and Development Management (DPADM) of the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA), in partnership with the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women).

Nominations must be submitted online at: http://www.unpan.org/applyunpsa2015 between August and the end of October 2014.

Nominations have to be made by another entity other than the institution being nominated. Self-nominations will not be accepted. Interested institutions deemed to have designed and implemented innovations in any one of the prize categories can have their names put forward by governments or civil society organizations.

To learn more about the UNPSA and past winners, please visit: http://www.unpan.org/unpsa. All winning cases from previous years are also available as iPad and iPhone applications through the Apple App Store, as well as in a PDF format which can be downloaded at:

http://unpan1.un.org/intradoc/groups/public/documents/un/unpan046119.pdf

For more information on the 2015 UNPSA, please contact Mr. John-Mary Kauzya, Chief, Public Administration Capacity Branch, DPADM, UNDESA, kauzya@un.org or Ms. Stefania Senese, Coordinator of the UNPSA Programme, DPADM, UNDESA at senese@un.org.

Share your water for life voice

On the occasion of the conclusion of the “Water for Life” decade, UN will host an exhibition to reflect on the success of the campaign.

The ’Water for Life’ Decade ends in 2015. It has seen the recognition of the human right to water and sanitation and the achievement of the Millennium Development Goal target of halving the number of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water well in advance of the 2015 deadline.

But what does this mean at ground level? Have these advancements improved your daily life? Did your water and sanitation situation improve? Have you benefited from the successes of the Decade?

We welcome your thoughts, messages, photographs, videos and audio related to your water and sanitation situation.

To celebrate the end of the Decade, the United Nations Headquarters in New York will welcome these global voices. Taking place on World Water Day, 22 March 2015, an exhibition is planned to reflect on the successes of the ’Water for Life’ Decade, especially in relation to the Millennium Development Goals, while also looking to the post-2015 development agenda.

Your voices will speak directly to UN delegates and guests. We’d like as many voices as possible to reach the delegates who will attend World Water Day in New York.

The International Decade for Action ‘Water for Life’ 2005-2015, was officially launched on World Water Day in 2005, with the primary goal to promote efforts to fulfill international commitments made on water and water-related issues by 2015.

For more information: http://www.un.org/waterforlifedecade/waterforlifevoices.shtml