As prepared for delivery.

Mr. President,
Members of the Executive Board,
Colleagues and friends,

It is with great pleasure that I welcome you to this first regular session of the UNDP Executive Board.

Allow me to begin by sincerely congratulating H.E. Mr. Cho Tae-yul, Permanent Representative, Republic of Korea, on his election as the President of the Board.

At the same time, I warmly thank the outgoing President, H.E. Mr. Jagdish D. Koonjul, Permanent Representative, Republic of Mauritius, for his committed leadership of the Board in 2018.

I also thank all outgoing Bureau members for all their valuable support, and warmly welcome our new Bureau members for 2019 - I am pleased to note that for the first time, the UNDP Bureau is entirely at the level of Permanent Representatives.

Dear colleagues,

For UNDP, 2018 was a remarkable year - a year of UNDS reform and transition, of purpose-led reflection and transformation in line with our Strategic Plan; a year that marked the emergence of the next generation UNDP.

As we meet today, in January 2019 – at the start of this new and exciting chapter for UNDP, the focus of my statement is threefold:

-    First, to look back at 2018 – a year of immense work for UNDP in driving forward Strategic Plan implementation, improving our performance, and powering UN reform;

-    Second, to reflect on how we did this, and the building blocks of what I call “next generation UNDP”; and,

-    Third, to look to 2019, highlighting our undivided focus on achieving the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals.

Looking back: 2018

Looking back on 2018, we have a lot to be proud of.

On institutional performance, through financial discipline and numerous efficiency measures, we balanced our institutional budget for the second year in a row – a critical foundation for an organization to be able to invest and grow.

And whilst all our books are not yet closed, we are on track to:
•    exceed the 2018 planned delivery target of $4.6 billion. Latest figures suggest we may reach close to $4.7 billion, or 4% higher than the $4.5 billion in programme delivery reached in 2017. With increased delivery, we increased the amount of GMS to $240 million ($6 million higher compared to 2017 GMS of $234 million);

•    reduce the level of institutional budget expenditure by around 3% – from $596 million in 2017 to around $580 million. This is in line with our commitment to you in the Strategic Plan and Integrated Budget: tighter management of overheads frees up resources for the programme budget, which means we invest more in achieving development results;

•    hit 99 per cent of our core resources target [of $630m] – with UNDP’s core contribution growing for the first time in five years, from US$ 612 million in 2017 to US$ 624 million - a 2% increase;

•    mobilized $4.5 billion in non-core financing, or more than 4% above the target envisaged in the integrated Resources plan and Integrated Budget for 2018-2021; and,

•    increased by 49% the financing IFIs invested in partnership with UNDP, from $284mn in 2017, to $423 million in 2018.

Overall, our total contributions increased by 7% from 2017 - a testament to our partners’ confidence and support for the organization, and the accountability, transparency, and value for money we offer.

We are encouraged by the increase in our core contributions after several years of continuous decline.  However, we have a long way to go in terms of increasing the core funding share from the current 12% of our budget (2017). We count on the support of our partners to help us to reach a healthier balance, which is vital to deliver on our Strategic Plan results and outcomes.  

Allow me to take this opportunity to sincerely thank all our funding contributors, especially those who increased their core contributions:  Germany, Japan, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, the Republic of Korea, and Sweden; as well as first time or returning core contributors: Albania, Angola, the Czech Republic, Morocco and Romania.

I would also like to highlight that programme countries continue to provide steady non-core funding of around $1 billion to the organization, reflecting their strong partnership with UNDP as a development solution provider.

We are actively broadening our donor base, engaging well beyond the DAC partners, to better reflect the universal imperative that is the SDGs.  In this context, I had the pleasure of recently signing a Partnership Framework Agreement with the State of Qatar, including contributions to core on a multi-year basis.

As the Funding Dialogue on the Secretary General’s Funding Compact is nearing completion, I remain hopeful that it will lead to a notable shift in funding patterns. For our part, building on solid track record, and in close collaboration with our UN family UNDP stands ready to fulfill the Funding Compact’s commitments such as increased transparency, visibility, and efficiency and reporting on joint results.

Our strong institutional performance took place against the backdrop of UN reform, where UNDP was instrumental in ensuring the successful transition of the Resident Coordinator System to the UN Secretariat by 1 January 2019.

Let me share some highlights:

•    We seconded 63 of our most senior staff to serve as UN Resident Coordinators (RCs);

•    We facilitated the transition of DOCO staff to the UN Secretariat, on a non-reimbursable loan agreement. We will continue to cover the salaries of the former staff complement of DOCO until June 2019, using accumulated reserves;

•    We committed to serve as the principal operational service provider to the RC system, based on a fee-for-service arrangement, as outlined in a Service Level Agreement with the UN Secretariat. This includes providing recruitment services for close to 720 RC system staff across 131 countries; administrating payroll for 129 RCs as well as RC Office staff; and providing other critical administrative services; and,

•    We were among the first agencies to double our agency cost-sharing contribution to the RC system, paid in December.
You will hear more on system-wide issues during the joint segment on UNDS reform update on Friday, but I would like to assure you of UNDP’s unwavering commitment – and my commitment as UNSDG Vice-Chair - to work closely with the Secretary-General and our sister agencies, funds and programmes, to make the reform a success.

At the same time, we made an extraordinary effort to re-staff UNDP’s leadership cadre at country level in minimal time:

•    Following a rigorous process with over 3500 internal and external applicants, we successfully assessed and selected an entirely new cohort of 140 candidates for Resident Representatives (RRs) to lead our teams and our development work worldwide. This brought the total pool of qualified candidates to 222;

•    Our RR Candidate pool is now 50/50 gender balanced and equally geographically diverse;

•    This exercise marked one of the largest and most complex leadership recruitments in UNDP’s history – for which UNDP’s Human Resources team was awarded the “Innovation in Recruitment Prize” by human resource professionals across international organizations – a testament to the great effort that went into ensuring a rigorous, transparent, and objective process; and,

•    To ensure business continuity while we await full accreditation and deployment of our RRs, RRs ad interim have been designated to fill temporary gaps in country office leadership.

Most importantly in 2018, though powering UN reform entailed significant effort and cost for the organization, UNDP continued to drive forward its Strategic Plan implementation.

While the Annual Report will provide detailed breakdown of results, I’m pleased to share with you some preliminary examples:

•    We supported over 65 countries to look at how inequalities are affecting the lives and prospects of their people, and identify key gaps in data, policies and capacities;
•    We supported 29 electoral processes, including in Afghanistan, Sierra Leone, and Lebanon;
•    Through our partnership with the Global Fund, we helped save 3.1 million lives and 2.2 million people accessed life-saving HIV treatment;
•    38 countries were supported through MAPS (Mainstreaming, Acceleration & Policy Support) engagements, working alongside 27 partners, both from across the UN, as well as OECD, World Bank, African Development Bank and the European Union;
•    over 60 countries were supported to strengthen national capacities on anti-corruption;
•    38 countries supported in development and implementation of conflict sensitive programmes; and,
•    nearly 20 million people are expected to benefit from five UNDP-supported projects that were approved by the Green Climate Fund Board in 2018.

All in all, 2018 was a remarkable year for UNDP and I would like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank our staff for all the hard work and commitment to the organization.

Next generation UNDP – already here

What we achieved in 2018 demonstrates that UNDP is an organization on the move - modern, results-oriented, and continuously improving the way it supports the countries it serves, while also fully embracing its UN roles and responsibilities.

Next generation UNDP is already here, disrupting – or pushing the boundaries - in the way we think, deliver, invest and manage to perform better and faster at scale.

Allow me to elaborate:

-    We are pushing the boundaries of the way we think, further reaffirming our position as a global development thought leader.

For example,

o    Under our flagship Human Development Report (HDR), we are embarking on a major effort to re-interpret human development in the current global context.

The HDR was first published at an inflection point of development, with the realization in the late 1980s that progress was not defined by income growth alone, but by the ability of people to live the lives they valued.

Today, we are living through another inflection point, with the SDGs representing an intellectual victory of the human development approach and can be seen both as a recognition, and as operationalization, of the concept of human development.

In this context, the 2019 HDR will focus on the critical issue of inequality in human development, and, on the celebration of the HDR in 2020, a major re-examination of the concept of human development will be published.

o    We are also collaborating with a wide range of partners to explore, analyze and provide policy solutions to critical development issues, For example,

Under the auspices of the biannual International Conference on Emergence in Africa – which UNDP co-organizers – we work with African Countries to share good practices of what works; and

With the World Economic Forum we have embarked on a new partnership to examine the disruption of global value-chains, identifying how public-private collaboration on policy responses, institutional structures, and business practices could make a difference;

o    Other partnerships include those with Thomas Piketty and the World Inequality Lab and Oxford’s Poverty and Human Development Initiative; and

o    our thought leadership is greatly enhanced by the work of UNDP’s global policy centers, such as the Oslo Governance Centre, the Global Center for Technology, Innovation, and Sustainable Development in Singapore, Istanbul International Centre for Private Sector in Development, and the Seoul Policy Centre for Global Development Partnerships – which advance global thinking, knowledge sharing, and broad partnerships around critical development issues.

-    We are pushing the boundaries in how we deliver by responding to your call to provide integrated support to sustainable development.

For example:

o    Through our country platforms, UNDP will help the UN work in a more holistic way on both the ‘what’ and the ‘how’ of development. Our country platforms will support external partners and other UN agencies looking across mandates for integrated solutions to complex challenges of public policy and development pathways.

In 2018, the focus was on the design of country platforms – including with several rounds of valuable inputs from the UN family. We have also opened up our TRAC2 core funding line to support platforms, are well advanced in completing a learning package that could be adapted for System-wide use, and are also planning to have a cadre of trainers in place to support country offices.

A number of platforms are emerging already, covering issues from sustainable development in the Amazon in Peru to revitalization of cities in Georgia, famine prevention in Somalia, sustainable water management in Pakistan and Islamic financing in Indonesia using impact bonds.  

o    Our UNDP Country platforms are backed by our new Global Policy Network (GPN) of thinkers and doers mobilized through connecting all our professional staff and expertise across the organization. Imagine the potential of being able to better connect and channel the policy and programme expertise of over 17,000 UNDP personnel across the globe. This is a critical element of ‘next generation’ UNDP, driving and leveraging global policy and knowledge capacities across the organization.

The GPN will also help codify and share lessons from our country platforms, our Mainstreaming, Acceleration and Policy Support (MAPS) engagements, and other integrated SDG services so that we improve faster at scale; and,

o    The Accelerator Labs network, which is currently being launched, is made of 60 Country Accelerator Labs that will become the world’s largest and fastest learning network on development challenges. The Labs are pioneering an approach to development that accelerates our ability to make progress by building on grassroots solutions and creating portfolios of experiments to quickly learn about which solutions create impact and have the potential to scale.

We are hopeful that the outcomes of the forthcoming second High-level UN Conference on South-South Cooperation (BAPA + 40) will provide further impetus to help advance the integral role of South-South cooperation in UNDP’s work and the implementation of the 2030 Agenda, including through country platforms.

UNDP remains committed to continue hosting the UN Office for South-South Cooperation (UNOSSC), whose normative and system-wide mandates complement UNDP’s operational and programmatic outreach and capabilities.

-    We are pushing the boundaries on how we invest and encourage investment.

For example:

o    We are pursuing innovative partnerships with the private sector, such the Lion’s Share Fund for conservation with Finch, Mars Incorporated, BBDO, Nielsen, and the Economist Group;

o    We are mobilizing Islamic Finance for the SDGs with national and private sector partners in Indonesia and Bahrain;

o    We are helping to promote impact investment, for example in Sri Lanka, where in 2018, UNDP joined political and corporate leaders, including the Lanka Impact Investing Network and Tempest PE to launch Sri Lanka’s first impact funds. Similar initiatives are underway in China, India and Indonesia;

o    We are working to increase private investment towards the SDGs through SDG Impact, which will produce investor data, insight and tools to encourage, connect, and certify SDG investments. In 2019, SDG Impact will be initiated in 11 countries, with the Brazil Country Intelligence Report set to be the first; and,

o    Through financial incentives in 2018, we encouraged Country Offices to target catalytic investments in areas of growth, business development, and innovation, through our Country Investment Facility. In the coming months we will take stock on what has been achieved and potential for scale-up.

-    We are pushing the boundaries in the way we manage as we adapt our business model for a more innovative, effective and efficient UNDP.
For example:

o    we are already realizing 3.6 million savings in rent at headquarters in NY over 2018 – 2019 and streamlining of operation and programming processes are saving 33 days per year per programming staff in the organization.

An overall containment of costs across the organization, enabled UNDP to double its cost-sharing contribution to the reinvigorated RC system from $5.14 million to $10.3 million;

o    to support more effective country operations, over 80 business processes were streamlined and simplified in 2018. This work will continue in 2019;

o    a new draft UNDP digital strategy will be available for consultation over the next few weeks. It focuses on building capability within UNDP to scan existing and emerging digital technologies, assess them for transformative impact on how we conduct the full scope of our work, and test and scale them as relevant.

An example: we are using LinkedIn as a platform for engagement and communication, as well as a way to attract potential employees. Almost 100,000 followers have been added since September 2018, demonstrating significant interest in our work and in UNDP as an employer;

o    we are finalizing a business case to expand the range, scope and quality of operational services UNDP provides from shared service centers. Rather than having multiple country offices providing the same service across many locations, we can consolidate them and thereby improve quality, reduce costs, and free up country office’s time to focus on development programming;

We are also making our operational services more customer-centric. For instance, the Djibouti Country Office is using a service tracking and client satisfaction system using some simple IT tools. A corporate effort in this area is also underway;

o    through a new resource allocation model for 2019 we are improving the way we develop our institutional budget. Now revenue projections shape the total budget envelope and allocation decisions are based on a corporately agreed distribution model. This ensures a balanced institutional budget, and provides performance incentives to Country Offices by allowing them to retain a portion of the revenue they generate to invest in their future programme of support; and,

o    in line with our overall, objective to make UNDP an employer of choice in the development field, we are about to finalize our new People Strategy. It takes a holistic approach to attracting, developing and retaining the best available talent.

As a part of these efforts, we are piloting - jointly with UNV - a new talent programme for young professionals with disabilities that provides job opportunities in several Country Offices. Work is also on-going to improve the accessibility of UNDP’s recruitment systems and learning for personnel on disability inclusion.

In this context I am very pleased to share with you some of the results from our Global Staff Survey, carried out in 2018 with the participation of over 8,000 employees from UNDP, UNCDF, and UNV.

The results show that overwhelming majority of UNDP employees remain highly engaged – an impressive 92% are proud to work for UNDP- they derive meaning from their work and are inspired to do their best. This is a great strength of UNDP and a foundation of our success.

The survey also confirmed that UNDP is a highly aligned organization: the work of our offices, teams and individuals are closely linked to our strategic objectives and we are working together towards the same, shared goals.

On the more challenging side, UNDP is an uneven organization. For example, when it comes to experience of personnel working in different offices varies quite significantly, and so does the culture of innovation, and empowerment. Addressing this will be one of the priorities going forward.

Similarly, we continue to see a divide in the workplace experience of women and men. The new Gender Parity Strategy, 2018-2021 sets out a solid plan to address this challenge and the first round of concrete policy measures related to making UNDP a more inclusive flexible family-friendly organization will soon be rolled-out in the context of the People Strategy.

Meanwhile, I am proud to note that UNDP's senior leadership team is now fully gender-balanced, as is our pool of newly selected Resident Representatives. Looking forward, a priority in 2019 will be to achieve the same parity among our Deputy Resident Representatives.

I have made it clear that we are an organization with no tolerance for sexual harassment or sexual exploitation and abuse and have appointed my Deputy Chief of Staff to lead a UNDP-wide task force to improve our policies on prevention and response.

As the Chair of the UNDP Gender Steering and Implementation Committee, I will closely monitor our progress in each of these areas as well as progress on our Gender Equality Strategy which focused on the importance of removing structural barriers to women’s empowerment, addressing gender-based violence, and strengthening gender response in crisis contexts.

2019 – a new and exciting chapter

These are times of significant pressure on multilateralism -- the very essence of what the UN stands for. Fueled by growing inequality, divisive discourses are stimulating radicalization and isolationism.

In this context, it becomes ever more critical to reinvigorate political momentum around a shared vision for humanity – one that is practical and can be implemented. This is what we have with Agenda 2030 and its Sustainable Development Goals.

2019 offers critical moments to demonstrate the importance and value of multilateralism, and its capacity to prevent conflicts, mitigate risks, and advance development progress: The High-Level Political Forum (HLPF) and SDG Summit, the SG’s Climate Summit, the Review of the SIDS – SAMOA pathway, the High-level Dialogue on Financing for Development, and the High-Level Meeting on Universal Health Coverage.

UNDP will be actively contributing to these events –promoting the vision of humanity that we share and accelerating practical action to achieve it.  

I will approach my own UN responsibilities similarly– including as Co-Chair along with USG Liu of DESA of the Task Team to advance substantive preparations for the HLPF and the SDG Summit, as well as Co-Chairing the SG’s Taskforce on Digital Financing alongside Maria Ramos, Chief Executive Officer of the Absa Group Ltd, working closely with UNCDF as the Secretariat of the Task Force.

UNDP will also continue to be highly committed to working with the whole UN family in carrying out our mandate. We signed three MoU’s with UN sister agencies in 2018 – UN Women, WHO, and the UN Office of Counter Terrorism. These mark important milestones in stepping up our collaboration.

In keeping a firm focus on implementing our Strategic Plan, we will keep three international priorities at the forefront of our thinking and action in 2019: Inequality, climate change, and migration – and its drivers and root causes.

Inequality

Inequalities – between and within countries – are on the rise. High levels of inequality are detrimental to economic growth, undermine poverty reduction, increase political and social tensions, and drive instability and conflicts.

The imperative of reducing inequalities is enshrined in the 2030 Agenda and its central pledge of leaving no one behind. It is also at the center of all of UNDP’s work, embedded with our efforts on poverty eradication SDG implementation.

We support countries design and implement policies to empower the furthest behind to ‘catch up’ and promote economic and social inclusion of all, regardless of sex, race, age, disability, ethnicity or other factors. We embed equity-enhancing measures – such as job creation, social protection and women’s empowerment – across all our work – be it addressing deforestation or supporting Parliaments.

We also support countries to strengthen governance systems to better respond to the needs of the poorest and most marginalized and help foster civic engagement so that the voices of the disadvantaged and marginalized are heard.

To curb inequalities, targeted action is also needed. Last December, UNDP released a comprehensive Disability Guidance Note, and, in collaboration with Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative, we have advanced our work on the Multidimensional Poverty Index to identify those population groups facing severe and intersecting deprivations.  Beyond being an official poverty statistic and improving our understanding of poverty, the Multidimensional Poverty Index is an instrument for enhancing governance, by acting as a policy coordination tool, helping to improve national information systems, and fostering accountability of governments.

The recently launched UN Operational Guide on Leaving No One Behind - in which UNDP played a big role– provides a concrete framework that countries can use to make inequalities visible and actionable across the SDGs. In 2019 UNDP will actively support its rollout.

Climate Change

The implications of climate change impacts on poverty reduction and sustainable development are immense. Curbing climate change is crucial, while preparing for its effects is a matter of human survival.

The Katowice Climate Package, agreed to at COP24 in Poland, marked an important milestone in efforts to implement the 2015 Paris Agreement. It is critical to build on that momentum and increase ambition – as the SGs’ Climate Summit in September will surely do.

To achieve this – and to advance the systemic change so urgently needed – we must elevate understanding of the economic and social opportunities climate change presents.

This is where UNDP’s voice and action are so important.

As the largest implementer of climate action in the UN system, we are working to double our support for the integrated implementation of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), which are at the heart of meeting the Paris Agreement. Our work on NDCs builds on hundreds of projects already being undertaken in over 140 countries around the world that reduce emissions, increase resilience and help our country partners to chart better futures

I announced this commitment last September, and I am pleased to inform you today that we are already set to expand our support from 30 to 48 countries this year.  I remain committed to reaching our target of 60 as quickly as possible.

Migration

Migration and displacement will continue to be a major international phenomenon in 2019.

Delivering on the promise made by Governments in the New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants in 2016, two milestone UN agreements were achieved last year: the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly, and Regular Migration and the Global Compact on Refugees. This year must be about implementation.

UNDP brings a central perspective and approach to the issue of migration: that of sustainable development. Our main focus is on tackling the drivers and root causes which lead people to leave their home countries, be it poverty, inequalities, climate change, violent conflicts or governance-related – all under the overall framework of the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs.

These efforts also closely tied with the way we work with humanitarian partners to the bridge urgent, life-saving response with recovery and development needs to strengthen resilience and longer-term prospect. Our work on the 3RP in countries affected by the Syria Crises are a testament to this.

In 2019, UNDP will launch a new report on irregular migration, focusing on African migrants who travel to Europe. It offers unique and timely analysis compiling perspectives of 3,027 individuals who have migrated from 43 African countries, and who were interviewed across 40 cities in 13 European destination countries, to which they had primarily arrived by sea.  We expect that this report, which follows the 2017 Journeys to Extremism in Africa report, will challenge many commonly held assumptions about migrants and why they move.

In all these efforts, partnerships are of the essence. UNDP is an Executive Member of the UN Migration Network, along with IOM, UNHCR, the World Bank and others, and we are also key member of the GP20 – the 20th Anniversary of the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement.

Poverty eradication – at the center of everything we do

As UNDP works to contribute to these three challenges of inequality, climate change, and migration, we do so from a multidimensional perspective, ensuring that poverty eradication is at the center of everything we do.

Poverty is one of the greatest challenges facing humanity.

About 700 million people live below the international poverty line, about 8% of the global population, while another 800 million people hover just above the threshold. If we consider the multiple deprivations people face, the number of multidimensionally poor people in the world jumps to 1.3 billion.

For UNDP, eradicating poverty is both about escaping poverty and, critically, staying out of poverty. Our work on fragility, crises and resilience for example helps to prevent countries from derailing from achieving the SDGs. Eradicating poverty is also not just about income; it is multidimensional.

UNDP’s approach and offer on poverty eradication will be the topic of this morning’s interactive dialogue. I am excited about discussing this critical issue in greater depth with you. I also look forward to discussing our prevention work during the interactive dialogue on the humanitarian development nexus in the afternoon.

Let me note here, and as you are aware, in 2018, the Independent Evaluation Office (IEO) carried out an evaluation of UNDP’s support to poverty reduction in the least developed countries (LDCs) for the period 2014-2017.

The findings and recommendations of the evaluation provides an opportunity to reflect on our work, results achieved, lessons learnt, and where more thinking and additional investments are needed. We look forward to discussing these in more detail with you at our Annual Meeting in June.

Firm continued commitment to UNDS reform

UNDS reform of course remains a top priority for all of us in 2019. But we are shifting gears: the changes envisioned in the reforms need to now be translated into changing behaviors. Key for this are a set of new policy parameters that define how the RC and agencies work together, and how we as a system deliver a more integrated policy offer at country level.

As the vice-chair of the UNSDG, I am working closely with the DSG on ensuring we have solid new protocols in place that help to empower the independent RC but also optimally leverage the operational strengths of all UNCT members.

As the UNDP Administrator, I am equally making sure that UNDP is prepared to make the needed programmatic and operational adjustments.

We have already aligned reporting protocols in the new RR job description to recognize the new RC role; we will make further changes as needed. And our Country Programme Documents are fully derived from UNDAF priorities, and we are ready to make further adjustment if required by the new UNDAF guidance.

Audit

At this session, you will review UNDP’s and UNCDF’s report on the implementation of the recommendations of the United Nations Board of Auditors (UNBOA) for 2017.

I am pleased to inform you that UNDP and UNCDF received an unqualified (clean) audit opinion from UNBOA for the 31 December 2017 financial statements. This marks the 13th consecutive clean audit opinion for UNDP.

These achievements underline our commitment to continuous improvement in financial management, transparency and accountability.

The report also reviews the organization’s efforts to address the top seven audit-related management priorities. Significant progress has been achieved in this regard, and we are suggesting retaining the same seven priorities for the biennium 2018-2019.

We are closely monitoring and actively following up on the implementation of audit recommendations from both UNBOA, and our internal auditors - OAI. Some of the issues flagged by the UNBOA are recurring and systemic. A root cause analysis, including appropriate remedial measures, will be conducted in 2019.

I thank UNBOA, the Independent Audit and Evaluation Advisory Committee, and the Executive Board for their constructive engagement on these issues. I also thank our personnel around the world who have worked tirelessly to maintain high standards on audit and related fiduciary management matters.

As you know, the term of the National Audit Office of Tanzania on the UNBOA expired on 30 June 2018.  I sincerely thank them for the good cooperation.

For the next four years, UNDP’s and UNCDF’s financial statements will be audited by the German Supreme Audit Institution. We look forward to continuing, excellent cooperation with the UNBOA.

Country programme documents

Tabled for your approval are six new Country Programme Documents (CPDs) – for Burundi, Niger, Togo, Cambodia, Chile, and Ecuador.  

CPDs articulate the strategy for high level results to which UNDP will contribute in each country, responding to country demands.  A quality CPD, therefore, is an important first enabler of development effectiveness and of UNDP’s support to national development priorities.  

As per practice, the six new country programme documents have undergone a thorough quality assurance process to ensure that they are relevant to national priorities; that they are in line with the Strategic Plan; and that they emphasize effectiveness and efficiency, synergies with partners, and credibility of monitoring and evaluation arrangements.

Conclusion

What a new year brings, depends a lot on what you bring to it and - as I have outlined – next generation UNDP brings a lot.

I look forward to working with Executive Board Members to ensure that UNDP lives up to its fullest potential as a driving force for sustainable development around the world and that we can serve our programme countries in a responsive and strategic manner.