Enhanced UN Coherence, Effectiveness, and Relevance (CER): Frequently Asked Questions We are here to act. We are here to deliver results. We are agents of change. Our job is to change the UN system—and, through it, the world. —UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon This document is intended as a resource for answering questions from staff and stakeholders. It is fully expected that UN Country Teams and UN agencies will customize the answers for their own audiences. You may find it most useful to extract just a few questions and answers for different events or communications tools. NOTE: 1. This tool/guidance has been developed based on the experiences of the DaO Pilot countries. 2. This guidance note is directed at UNCT/RCO to support them in their communication with stakeholders. 1 December 2016 Draft SEPT 17 2008 Table of Contents 1 The Global Context ................................................................................................ 6 1.1 Why does the UN system need to change the way it provides support to developing countries? .............................................................................................................................. 6 1.2 What does the UN system need to do to remain a relevant source of support to developing countries? What is the vision? ............................................................................. 8 1.3 What is the difference between the current process of reform and previous ones? ... 10 1.4 What effect will these changes have on the UN bureaucracy? .................................. 11 2 Benefits of Working Together and Delivering more Effectively and Efficiently ...... 12 2.1 What are the benefits for UN staff of working together and delivering more? ............ 12 2.2 What are the benefits of CER for programme country governments?........................ 13 2.3 What are the benefits of CER for donors and partners? ............................................ 15 2.4 What are the benefits of CER for people in developing countries? ............................ 17 3 Delivering as One ................................................................................................ 19 3.1 Why are eight UN country teams piloting an initiative called “Delivering as One?” .... 19 3.2 What does it mean to “Deliver as One”? How is it different from business as usual? 20 3.3 What is the concept of “One Programme”? ............................................................... 20 3.4 What do “One Budgetary Framework” and “One Fund” mean? ................................. 21 3.5 What does “One Leader” mean? How does it change the role of the Resident Coordinator?........................................................................................................................ 23 3.6 What does “One Office” mean? ................................................................................. 24 3.7 Why are the pilots conducting capacity assessments? .............................................. 25 3.8 How are the capacity assessments being conducted? .............................................. 25 3.9 What are the results of the capacity and needs assessments? ................................. 25 3.10 How will the recommendations and agreements following the capacity assessments be rolled out?....................................................................................................................... 26 3.11 How does Delivering as One fit into UN Reform/CER? ............................................. 28 3.12 What have the eight pilot countries accomplished so far? ......................................... 29 3.13 What challenges have the pilots faced? .................................................................... 33 3.14 How is Delivering as One making the UN more effective? ........................................ 34 3.15 What are the pilot country governments saying about Delivering as One? ................ 36 3.16 What important lessons are we learning from the pilot exercise? .............................. 38 3.17 How is the pilot initiative to Deliver as One being evaluated? .................................... 39 Draft SEPT 17 2008 3.18 How will the pilot initiative continue? ......................................................................... 40 3.19 When will the pilot phase end?.................................................................................. 41 3.20 What happens next? Will there be more pilot countries? ........................................... 41 3.21 What do the pilots need from the rest of the UN system?.......................................... 41 3.22 What are UN organizations’ headquarters doing to support Delivering as One? ....... 42 4 Statements by Member States and UN Officials .................................................. 44 4.1 What are UN Member States saying about how the UN system should work together and deliver better? ............................................................................................................... 44 4.2 What are the senior officials of the UN system saying about uniting and delivering better support to countries? ................................................................................................. 47 5 The Way Forward: What We Will Do .................................................................... 54 5.1 ....................................................................................................................................... 54 5.2 What does the UN system need to do to unite and deliver more effective support to countries? What challenges do we need to overcome? ....................................................... 54 5.3 How and when will we work together and deliver better in other countries? .............. 56 5.4 What can UN Country Teams rolling out a new UNDAF or common programming tool do to improve their coherence, effectiveness and relevance? .............................................. 57 5.5 How can UN staff work together and deliver better? ................................................. 58 5.6 How can donors support CER? ................................................................................. 58 5.7 What can developing country governments do if they want their UNCT to work together better? ................................................................................................................... 59 6 Role and Views of the UNDG and other UN Coordination Mechanisms ............... 60 6.1 What does the UN Development Group do to support working together and delivering more? 60 6.2 What is the role of the UN Development Group in the new international aid architecture?........................................................................................................................ 62 6.3 What does the Development Operations Coordination Office do to support working together and delivering more? ............................................................................................. 63 6.4 What does the Chief Executives Board do to support working together and delivering more? 64 6.5 What is the mandate of the Regional Managers Teams in relation to UNCTs? What is their role in CER? ................................................................................................................ 65 7 Aid Effectiveness ................................................................................................. 66 7.1 What is the UN Development Group’s position on the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness? ..................................................................................................................... 66 Draft SEPT 17 2008 7.2 What is the UN Development Group’s position on the Accra Agenda for Action, agreed at the Third High-Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness? .............................................. 67 8 The Resident Coordinator System ....................................................................... 69 8.1 What is the Management and Accountability System of the UN development system and Resident Coordinator System? ..................................................................................... 69 9 Programming Issues ............................................................................................ 70 9.1 What is the difference between joint programmes and joint programming? ............... 70 9.2 Will the UN Development Assistance Framework remain the primary tool for developing the UN Country Team’s strategy? ...................................................................... 70 9.3 What is the real difference between the UN Development Assistance Framework and the UNDAF/common programming tool? ............................................................................. 70 9.4 Does One Programme mean that individual agencies can’t have other programmes related to their mandate? ..................................................................................................... 70 9.5 How can specialized agencies’ modes of operation and project cycles be aligned and synchronized with those of the funds and programmes? ..................................................... 70 10 Human Resources Issues .................................................................................... 71 10.1 How does CER affect staffing in UN Country Teams? .............................................. 71 10.2 Will the workload increase? ...................................................................................... 71 11 Funding Issues