I will deliver a short version of this joint statement and kindly ask UNDP and delegations to take note of the full version uploaded to Paper Smart.

Dear President,

I deliver this statement on behalf of Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, the Republic of Korea, the Republic of Moldova, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, the United Kingdom, and my own country, the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

The Corona virus sees no borders and its effect on developing countries is projected to be immense. We cannot take the progress we have made so far toward the SDGs for granted. We need to ensure that no one is left behind while, in line with as UNDP puts it, recovering and building a better and greener future.

The COVID-19 pandemic has emphasized the essential role core funding plays when it comes to the ability to quickly react and respond to unforeseen events. We welcome the efforts already made to improve visibility and recognition of donors providing core funding during the COVID-19 response and call upon further efforts in this regard. As member states, we underline our commitments of the Funding Compact.

We urge UNDP to assess which strategic plan outcomes will be most impacted by COVID-19, and provide regular updates to the Executive Board on the steps taken to mitigate these. We understand the need to maintain sustainable and predictable financing of UNDP’s Strategic Plan and we welcome your thoughts on the continued financing of UNDP within the next two years of the strategic plan.

I would also like to extend our appreciation for UNDP’s joint efforts with UNFPA, UN Women and UNICEF to improve the structured funding dialogues, strengthening reporting on Funding Compact implementation and engaging the Executive Boards on this matter. We anticipate that interactive dialogue with the Executive Board will inform and guide funding decisions, helping ensure that the budget is fully funded and that allocations are aligned with Strategic Plan priorities.

Allow me to share three questions from our part:

First, an important objective in order to reach more sustainable funding is expanding and diversifying the core donor base. In this regard, we are concerned that regular resources accounted for only 13 per cent of total funding to UNDP in 2019. We welcome your further reflections on efforts taken in increasing the number of donors to regular resources and challenges faced in this regard?

Second, we encourage UNDP to increase its share of development related expenditures through joint activities and to engage in active dialogue with other UNDS-entities, in particular the UNDCO, to further improve the definition of “development expenditures delivered through joint activities”. We are interested in hearing how UNDP plans further harmonization of this and other indicators of Funding Compact implementation? Additionally, we are keen to know when a definition of joint activities will be agreed upon and operational.

Third, we strongly welcome the costing for results exercise undertaken and the funding gap analysis based thereupon. The analysis is a strong leap in the right direction to respond to our requests for further information on the budget, available resources and eventual financial gaps. The information from the analysis is clear and we are interested to hear more on how UNDP makes sure that all areas of the strategic plan receive adequate funding, and are curious as to how you plan to move even further from project- towards more core, thematic and programmatic funding?

Lastly, meeting the commitments of the Funding Compact is as relevant as never before, both by the Member States as well as the UNDS-entities. We would like to reiterate the importance of ensuring CPDs are derived from UNSDCFs including through agencies’ close work with the Development Coordination Office.

Dear Mr. President, thanks again for giving me the floor today. As this is my first intervention in my new capacity, I sincerely look forward to work with all MS, the UN Funds & Programmes and other stakeholders to improve the work of the UN Development System generally and the work of UNDP more specifically in the years to come.

Thank you