Executive Board of the United Nations Children's Fund
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E/2012/34/Rev.1 E/ICEF/2012/7/Rev.1 United Nations Executive Board of the United Nations Children’s Fund Report on the first and second regular sessions and annual session of 2012 Economic and Social Council Official Records, 2012 Supplement No. 14 Economic and Social Council Official Records, 2012 Supplement No. 14 Executive Board of the United Nations Children’s Fund Report on the first and second regular sessions and annual session of 2012 United Nations • New York, 2012 E/2012/34/Rev.1 E/ICEF/2012/7/Rev.1 Note Symbols of United Nations documents are composed of letters combined with figures. Mention of such a symbol indicates a reference to a United Nations document. [17 October 2012] Contents Page Part one First regular session of 2012 I. Organization of the session....................................................... 2 A. Election of officers of the Executive Board ..................................... 2 B. Opening statements by the President and Executive Director ....................... 2 C. Adoption of the agenda...................................................... 3 II. Deliberations of the Executive Board .............................................. 3 A. Annual report to the Economic and Social Council ............................... 3 B. Road map towards the medium-term strategic plan for 2014-2017 .................. 7 C. Oral report on UNICEF follow-up to recommendations and decisions of the UNAIDS Programme Coordinating Board meetings; and thematic discussion and lessons learned in the medium-term strategic plan focus area 3: HIV/AIDS and children ............. 9 D. Harnessing knowledge to achieve results for children ............................. 10 E. UNICEF programme cooperation ............................................. 11 F. Private fundraising: 2012 workplan and proposed budget.......................... 12 G. Oral briefing on challenges and progress in addressing the issue of high vacancy rates . 14 H. Pledging event ............................................................. 15 I. Oral update on the implementation of the International Public Sector Accounting Standards ................................................................. 16 J. Other matters .............................................................. 16 K. Adoption of draft decisions .................................................. 18 L. Closing statements by the Executive Director and the President .................... 18 III. Joint meeting of the Executive Boards of UNDP/UNFPA/UNOPS, UNICEF, UN-Women and WFP...................................................................... 18 A. Middle-income countries: the role and presence of the United Nations for the achievement of the internationally agreed development goals ...................... 18 B. Least developed countries: United Nations collaborative contribution to the implementation of the Istanbul Programme of Action ............................. 19 C. Making United Nations operational activity work for accelerated development: quadrennial comprehensive policy review (Delivering as one, results reporting) ....... 21 D. Transition................................................................. 22 iii Part two Annual session of 2012 I. Organization of the session....................................................... 25 A. Opening statements by the President and the Executive Director.................... 25 B. Adoption of the agenda...................................................... 26 II. Deliberations of the Executive Board .............................................. 27 A. Annual report of the Executive Director: progress and achievements against the medium-term strategic plan, 2006-2013 ........................................ 27 B. Report on the progress of gender equality work in UNICEF........................ 29 C. Proposals for UNICEF programme cooperation.................................. 30 D. Report of the Ethics Office................................................... 36 E. Annual report on the evaluation function and major evaluations .................... 36 F. Office of Internal Audit annual report for 2011 to the Executive Board .............. 37 G. Reports of the field visits of the Executive Board ................................ 38 H. Address by the Chairperson of the UNICEF Global Staff Association................ 40 I. Other matters .............................................................. 40 J. Adoption of draft decisions .................................................. 42 K. Closing statements by the Executive Director and the President .................... 42 Part three Second regular session of 2012 I. Organization of the session....................................................... 44 A. Opening statements......................................................... 44 B. Adoption of the agenda...................................................... 45 II. Deliberations of the Executive Board .............................................. 45 A. Proposed programme of work for the Executive Board sessions in 2013.............. 45 B. Report on the implementation of the strategic framework for partnerships and collaborative relationships ................................................... 45 C. Report on the implementation of the “modified system for allocation of regular resources for programmes” approved by the Executive Board in 1997 ............... 47 D. Programme cooperation ..................................................... 48 E. Medium-term strategic plan: planned financial estimates for the period 2012-2015..... 53 F. Private fundraising: financial report and statements for the year ended 31 December 2011 ......................................................... 54 iv G. Road map to an integrated budget: joint UNDP, UNFPA and UNICEF review on the impact of cost definitions and classifications of activities on harmonized cost-recovery rates ......................................................... 56 H. Other matters .............................................................. 57 I. Adoption of draft decisions .................................................. 61 J. Closing statements ......................................................... 61 Annex Decisions adopted by the Executive Board in 2012 ................................... 63 v E/2012/34/Rev.1 E/ICEF/2012/7/Rev.1 Part one First regular session of 2012 Held at United Nations Headquarters from 7 to 10 February 2012 12-55296 1 E/2012/34/Rev.1 E/ICEF/2012/7/Rev.1 I. Organization of the session A. Election of officers of the Executive Board 1. On 18 January 2012, the Executive Board elected as President H.E. Mr. John W. Ashe, Permanent Representative of Antigua and Barbuda to the United Nations; and as Vice-Presidents, H.E. Mrs. Byrganym Aitimova, Permanent Representative of Kazakhstan to the United Nations, H.E. Mr. Macharia Kamau, Permanent Representative of Kenya to the United Nations, Ms. Nina Nordström, Minister Counsellor at the Permanent Mission of Finland to the United Nations and Ms. Karin Kaup, Second Secretary at the Permanent Mission of Estonia to the United Nations. B. Opening statements by the President and Executive Director 2. The President of the Executive Board welcomed the participants. He exhorted the Executive Board members to ensure that the work during this year provided valuable guidance to UNICEF in its efforts to improve the well-being of all children, leaving no child out. He noted that the work of the Board in 2012 would benefit from discussions and new thinking surrounding some of the main global and United Nations conferences and initiatives, including the process for the quadrennial comprehensive policy review (QCPR) of operational activities for development of the United Nations system, and planning for post-2015. Fundamental to these discussions was the issue of sustainable development, which he said, required “big picture” thinking, emphasizing equity and addressing some challenging issues shaping children’s lives well into the future. He urged those present to work with Governments to achieve the Millennium Development Goals and impressed upon donors the strong need of UNICEF for contributions to regular resources. 3. In his opening remarks, the Executive Director highlighted several emergency operations supported by UNICEF, drawing attention to the dire conditions in the Horn of Africa and the nutrition crisis in the Sahel region. 4. The main theme of his remarks was innovation. This, he said, was critical to the strength of UNICEF, to the success of the equity strategy and to achieving greater results for children. Citing examples in each area, he noted that innovation was helping UNICEF to accelerate progress across the organization, in programmes, products, processes and partnerships. Examples ranged from the use of SMS technology, with the participation of children and youths, to the creation of innovative products to improve children’s health, to the organization-wide implementation of VISION (Virtual Integrated System of Information). 5. He said that in 2011, UNICEF had focused much of its attention on equity, especially on ways to identify and overcome bottlenecks to progress. This focus entailed advocating equitable social-sector investment for children, working closely with the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. 6. One innovation that would command significant attention in 2012, he said, was the new monitoring framework of UNICEF, the Monitoring Results for Equity System (MoRES), formerly known as the “Cup”. This tool