1. Implementing Agenda 2030: The Role of the UNDS
Mr. Lindores, distinguished delegates, and colleagues, thank you very much.
This panel presents an important opportunity for us to articulate our shared vision for coherent and integrated UN support to Member States to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. I would like to focus my remarks on three areas:
First: the unprecedented opportunity that the new QCPR, our forthcoming four-year strategic plans, and the new UNDAF guidance present to ensure that the UN development system delivers as an integrated system, moving forward.
Second: a common thread through all of these documents – gender equality – and the implications that this has, as both a fundamental right and a solution to achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
And third: the importance of ensuring that the UN system’s financing architecture is aligned with its objectives, including gender equality and women’s empowerment.
Yannick Glemarec
Assistant Secretary-General
Deputy Executive Director
UN Women

2. New Tools for Enhanced Coherence and Integration
QCPR
Strategic Plans
UNDAF Guidance
With the new QCPR, new strategic plans in development for 2018 to 2021, and new UNDAF guidance, the United Nations system has a unique opportunity to enhance our integration and collaboration, which will translate into tangible results on the ground for Agenda 2030.
The QCPR stresses that “the United Nations development system must be more efficient, transparent, accountable and responsive to Member States, and able to enhance coordination, coherence, effectiveness and efficiency of the operational activities for development.”
To act on this guidance, agencies are actively collaborating on the development of their strategic plans for the next four years. UN Women is actively co-steering interagency work, including to ensure harmonization of formats, processes, and results frameworks, and identifying shared or common indicators.
And last week, the UN Development Group adopted new guidance for the next generation of the United Nations Development Assistance Frameworks that reflect the 2030 Agenda. This guidance recognizes the importance of having a whole-of-UN-system approach, and identifies four integrated principles for UNCT programming: leave no one behind; human rights, gender equality and women’s empowerment; sustainability and resilience; and accountability.
Together, these documents strengthen the framework for working across agency mandates and across the humanitarian, development and peace nexus, to turn our collective strengths and diversity into ‘collaborative advantages’ for sustainable development.

3. Gender Equality: A Right and a Solution
“Promoting gender equality and empowerment of all women and girls is of fundamental importance and has a multiplier effect for achieving… sustainable development.”
QCPR
“The UNDAF integrates gender dimensions, such as gender-based violence and discrimination, and promotes gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls.”
UNDAF Guidance
Adopting a gender lens enables us to identify solutions for seemingly intractable development challenges.
At the current pace of progress, the world will not reach all SDG targets by 2030, including those relating to gender equality. Business as usual will not provide the solution. In order to accelerate progress of the SDGs, we need to break trends – and this is possible. Adopting a gender lens enables us to identify solutions for seemingly intractable development challenges. For example, addressing the gender gap in agriculture in access to land, finance, information and markets could increase the productivity of women farmers in sub-Saharan Africa by up to 25%, and contribute to the achievement of 11 of the 17 SDGs.
The QCPR and UNDAF guidance both reflect the understanding, embodied in the SDGs, that we will not achieve sustainable development if we leave women and girls behind. For this reason, gender equality, respect for women’s human rights, and women’s empowerment will also be a common thread throughout our organizations’ strategic plans.
Our collective strength is essential to achieving gender equality. As called for in the QCPR, UN-Women will continue to promote the accountability of the UN System. Work is underway to develop a new generation of the UN-SWAP, and to update the UNCTs gender scorecard. These tools will make explicit references to the SDGs, and promote strong alignment across entities.
Photo: UN Women/Ryan Brown

4. Programming for Gender Equality
90% of the 27 UNDAFs that were launched in 2016 feature at least one outcome level result to support gender equality and the empowerment of women
29% of 365 joint programmes focus on gender equality; this represents the highest concentration of joint programs implemented by UNCTs
In the field, we are also increasingly seeing gender equality as a focus of development programming:
90% of the 27 UNDAFs that were launched in 2016 feature at least one outcome level result to support gender equality and the empowerment of women.
29% of 365 joint programmes focus on gender equality; this represents the highest concentration of joint programs implemented by UNCTs.
We are updating the UNDG resource book to engender the new generation of UNDAFs and are confident that these efforts to deliver as one on gender equality and women’s empowerment will be sustained and scaled up in the coming years.

5. Gender Equality and the Coordination of Humanitarian/Development Efforts
Gender equality and women’s empowerment are integral to ensuring global development and prosperity for all, by breaking the cycle of poverty caused by conflict, recurring natural disasters and a lack of resilience and preparedness
The UN development system’s work in humanitarian response is an example of an area where there is increasing UN coordination and integration, with a focus on gender equality.
The QCPR calls on the UN development system to enhance coordination of development efforts with humanitarian assistance and peacebuilding efforts. UN Women is supporting other UN entities to ensure that gender equality and women’s empowerment are integrated into their crisis, preparedness and humanitarian response. UN-Women maintains its role as Co-Chair and Secretariat of the Gender in Humanitarian Action Reference Group within the Inter-Agency Standing Committee. In this capacity, we are also contributing to the update of the IASC Gender Policy to foster women engagement in humanitarian action, reduce the likelihood of crisis, increase the effectiveness of the response and accelerate socio-economic recovery.

6. Aligning our Finances to Our Shared Objectives
To be fit and funded for purpose, the UNDS must:
Become a smart investor
Build financial coalitions for transformative change
Influence larger financial flows
Use money as a unifier and vehicle for increased cohere
This requires timely, flexible and predictable sources of finance.
Financing is another extremely powerful instrument to break trends and achieve the 2030 Agenda. However, this requires that public and private financing flows be aligned with sustainable development, including ensuring that we leave no one behind.
How can we use the limited resources that are channeled through the UN development system to promote a bigger impact for sustainable development?
Moving forward, this means:
Become smart investors;
Access and blend new and different sources of finance;
Influence much larger financial flows to achieve the SDGs;
Use money as a unifier and vehicle for increased coherence;
The UNDS will require timely, flexible and predictable sources of finance to be able to effect this shift from funding to financing. The new QCPR will be a critical tool for achieving this transformation. The resolution recognizes the critical role of core resources to ensure the strategic integrity, effectiveness and efficiency of the UNDS. It also recognizes the need to mobilize multiple funding sources, deepen partnerships with other relevant stakeholders, and explore innovative funding approaches to catalyze additional resources. It supports joint resource mobilization within the UNDAF, highlighting the need for integrated funding approaches at the country level. This is the kind of tool that we need, to align our finances to our priorities and objectives.
Diversifying the existing UNCT model of country presence is another practical way of maximizing the use of the limited resource available. UN-Women is committed to leveraging other agencies’ presence and systems to avoid duplication of UN operational capacity, thereby allowing the Entity to calibrate its operational presence depending on its programming engagement at the country level.
Thank you, and I look forward to discussing this with all of you.