UNOG Library Talk: “Post-2015 UN Development: Making Change Happen”

Distinguished Panellists and Guests
Dear Friends:

A very warm welcome to you all for today’s UNOG Library Talk. It is a pleasure to see you all here during such a busy week here at the Palais. This clearly reflects both the very high quality of the speakers today and also the strong interest here in Geneva and at the Palais des Nations in the post-2015 development agenda discussions.

We like to pride ourselves on our Library Talks and other events being timely. But very few are as timely as today’s discussion. Less than a week ago, the Synthesis Report of the Secretary-General on the Post-2015 Agenda - “The Road to Dignity by 2030: Ending Poverty, Transforming All Lives and Protecting the Planet” - was released, as we just heard. And Member States in the General Assembly are now in the process of finalizing the modalities for the negotiations on the agenda, which are to start at the end of January. The opening paragraph of the Synthesis Report says it clearly: “We are at a historic crossroads, and the directions we take will determine whether we will succeed or fail on our promises.”

In the midst of such profound and far-reaching policy debates, it is not only useful but it is essential to take a step back to examine critically the role and functions of the United Nations development system, based on research, data and rigorous analysis rather than anecdotal evidence or personal preferences. And this is what this book does, all compiled by a veritable “who’s who” of development practice and policy, as we see on the panel here today.

A significant part of the book is devoted to how to reform the United Nations development system. I actually believe that reform is insufficient. What we really need is restructuring. Not just of our development system but more broadly. Our institutional structures were framed in a radically different geopolitical and socioeconomic reality, and they have been adapted in a piecemeal and organic fashion over the past 70 years. It is of course unrealistic to think that we can completely re-do our system. But I hope that this historic cross-roads that we are now at - not just with the post-2015 development agenda but also in the fight against climate change and other key agendas - can provide the necessary impetus for a deeper and more strategic look at our system and how to make it deliver - not just deliver better but deliver differently in today’s world and with today’s challenges.

In his foreword to the book, Mark Malloch Brown refers to the United Nations being “outgunned” by development agencies but also increasingly by many new privately supported initiatives. In my view that may not necessarily be a negative trend in and of itself. I am convinced that, across the board, we need to move towards a new generation of partnerships, which will also involve to a much larger extent the private sector and other partners, and in new constellations. We are not there yet, but it is a trend that we need to address and we need to do so in a strategic manner - and also here the thorough analysis of what has worked and what has not will help to guide us.

I particularly like the sub-title of the book - “Making Change Happen”. There is no question as to whether change is necessary or desirable. This book has a purpose and that is to generate action, to encourage change. And it is up to all of us to make that change happen. The right structures can enable action but it is people who make change happen within those structures.

I welcome not just the analysis but very much the clear call to action, and I look forward to hearing from all the panellists and to our discussion.

Thank you very much.