Ambassador Elisabeth Millard
Acting U.S. Representative to the Economic and Social Council
New York, New York
May 18, 2021
AS DELIVERED
Thank you, Mr. President.
Deputy Secretary-General Mohammed, thank you for your remarks and to you and the Development Coordination Office for an incredibly data-rich report.
Under the leadership of the Secretary-General and yourself, the UN’s efforts to implement development system reforms and its centerpiece, the Resident Coordinator system, have been largely successful over the past two years.
The United States is encouraged to see that the new RC system withstood what your report referred to as the “COVID-19 stress test” and received higher marks from program countries in 2020 than in previous years. We particularly appreciate UN country team agencies’ efforts to assist the international community in responding to the pandemic and address its socio-economic impact and recovery.
While the United States is encouraged by the data and anecdotal evidence elaborated in the reports, we still have an incomplete picture of in-country and aggregate RC system results. Moving forward, the United States believes it is critical for the UN to put in place an accountability mechanism to systematically track, evaluate, and report performance and results data. This would provide all of us with a way to better understand and assess our collective expectations for RC performance and accountability.
As we engage in the RC system review process, the United States believes it is important for our deliberations to respect the progress made in setting up the RC system’s structure, function, and funding model and focus on consolidating our collective achievements to date.
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