What are Regional Consultations?

An important component of the UN Secretary-General’s reform agenda is the need to achieve improved coherence in the activities of the various UN agencies at the regional level. Building on the reform agenda launched by the Secretary-General in 1999, the ECOSOC in resolution 1998/46 urged the establishment of regional consultative meetings among UN agencies working in each region. The overall purpose of these regional consultative meetings is to promote synergy and coordination among the agencies and organizations of the UN system, so as to improve the collective response by the UN system in addressing priority needs of each of the five regions.

The first series of consultative meetings were held in 1999 in the five regions of the world, under the chairmanship of the Deputy Secretary-General. Subsequently, the Executive Secretaries of the Regional Commissions were asked to lead the effort. Hence beginning in 2000, the Executive Secretaries assumed chairmanship of the Regional Consultative Meetings.

Recent years have witnessed a significant expansion in the operations of UN entities in Africa. This growth of UN involvement represents the most tangible expression of international solidarity with a region that has experienced recurrent crises during the past two decades. The depth and diversity of that involvement is reflected in the fact that UN operations in Africa now encompass the gamut of activities - - preventive diplomatic actions including electoral assistance; peacekeeping; humanitarian and emergency relief; human rights and refugee protection; assistance and involvement in African Peer Review Mechanism, including Democracy and Political Governance; Economic Governance and Management; Corporate Governance; Socio-Economic Development and a wide spectrum of development assistance, including technical cooperation, analytical, advocacy, and policy support.

The UN as a system has attempted to coordinate its role on the continent through a succession of system-wide initiatives - - the United Nations Programme of Action for African Economic Recovery and Development (UN-PAAERD, 1986 – 90) the United Nations New Agenda for Development of Africa (UN-NADAF, 1991 –2000), the UN System-wide Special Initiative on Africa (SIA, 1996 – 2005) among others. The response by UN agencies to the continent’s plight has, by and large, been progressively guided by the developmental priorities of the continent. Through the UN initiatives referred to above, the UN system has demonstrated its commitment to support African countries. Indeed, the 1999 African regional consultative meeting held in Nairobi agreed that the vision for the UN’s work in Africa must be shaped and determined by Africa’s priorities, and identified UN-SIA provisionally as constituting the appropriate mechanism for coordination of UN system work in Africa.

Since the annual consultative meeting of 2000, several important developments occurred that would influence the way that the regional consultations are managed.

The third Regional Consultations of UN organizations working in Africa was held on 29 and 30 October 2001 in Addis Ababa, against the backdrop of several significant policy developments that influenced the way the regional consultations are managed: African Heads of State and Government had adopted the New African Initiative, which was later renamed the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD); the Group of eight industrialized countries (G8) had adopted the Genoa Plan for Africa in which they had committed themselves to an effective partnership in implementing the key priorities of NEPAD; and the High Level Segment of the United Nations Economic and Social Council devoted to the theme of “the role of the United Nations in support of the efforts of the African countries to achieve Sustainable Development, had strongly supported the NEPAD.

The meeting agreed that the NEPAD constituted a framework and vision for UN system to improve their collective response in addressing the challenges facing Africa in its efforts to achieve sustainable development; and examined the lessons learnt from previous initiatives such as UN-SIA for implementing the NEPAD. Common issues, cross-cutting and priority areas for joint action at the regional and subregional levels were identified. Several thematic areas were identified and cluster groups established around these areas. These were: Infrastructure development; human resources development: health, education, including reversing the brain drain; macroeconomic policies, trade and diversification; information and communication technologies; agriculture and environment; population and employment; and humanitarian and human rights issues and their link to development. Lead agencies were also identified to coordinate the work of the clusters.

Following the adoption of the NEPAD Action Plan by the AU Summit in July 2002 in Durban, South Africa; and the independent evaluation of the United Nations New Agenda for the Development of Africa in the 1990s (A/57/156), the Committee for Programme and Coordination at its 42nd session underscored the need for UN agencies and organizations to support the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD). Furthermore, the General Assembly in its resolution (A/57/7) endorsed NEPAD as the strategic framework for cooperation.

Against this backdrop, the fourth Regional Consultations of UN Agencies Working in Africa, which brought together more than 28 UN agencies, was held on 24 and 25 October 2002 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, under the chairmanship of the Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Africa. Mr. Wiseman Nkuhlu, Chairman of the NEPAD Steering Committee, also attended the meeting, as well as representatives from the AfDB, the AU, and IOM participating as observers. The meeting considered how the UN system would support the NEPAD Action Plans and decided that:

· At the country level coordinating mechanism of CCA/UNDAF, PRSPs and other national strategies, particularly the MDGs-related strategies, would continue to be used through the UN Coordinator system and the UN Country Teams

· At the regional level, the Regional Consultations of UN Agencies working in Africa established five thematic clusters around the priority areas of NEPAD, to serve as operational framework to support NEPAD, and as reporting mechanism, and identified the convening agencies as follows: Infrastructure Development including Water and Sanitation, Energy, Transport, and ICTs, convened by ECA; Governance, Peace and Security, convened by UNDP; Agriculture, Trade and Market Access, convened by FAO; Environment, Population and Urbanization, convened by UN-Habitat; Human Resource Development, Employment and HIV/AIDS, convened by UNICEF. The Consultations agreed that the clusters would work closely with the RECs in the implementation of their sub-regional NEPAD activities.

The newly formed clusters identified some “quick-win” and fast track activities for collective action in support of NEPAD, and agreed that they would continue their interaction to further refine agreed areas of cooperation.

The fifth Regional Consultations were held in Addis Ababa on 15 – 16 May 2003 under the chairmanship of the ECA Executive Secretary. The meeting reviewed progress made thus far by the five clusters as well as the challenges they confronted in achieving the immediate deliverables in the priority areas of NEPAD, and the challenges to be overcome in ensuring coherence of the UN system in support of NEPAD.

Notable progress has been made by the five clusters ranging from identifying areas of common concern in their work, to drawing up common plans of actions, to mobilizing resources, to working with African regional and sub-regional organizations within the context of the Regional Consultations, and to actual implementation of projects and activities. The sixth cluster, Science and Technology, convened by UNESCO, was established.

In spite of the progress made, much remains to be done to enhance the coherence and coordination of the UN system support to NEPAD. For instance, the thematic clusters identified areas where synergies can be built in their various work programmes. However, there is need to enhance cross-sectoral collaboration. Cross-cutting issues such as HIV/AIDS, gender and human rights also need to be mainstreamed into all cluster activities. There is a growing need to provide the UN with additional resources to enable it to assist in strengthening the capacities of the RECs, the AU Commission and the NEPAD Secretariat. The Regional Consultations mechanism needs to be strengthened, by clearly defining the roles and responsibilities of the various agencies operating at the regional and sub-regional levels in Africa in order to ensure complementarity and to avoid duplication.

The Sixth Regional Consultations, scheduled to take place on 9 – 10 July 2004, under the chairmanship of the ECA Executive Secretary, will review progress made; lessons learnt; consider challenges and prospects in the context of new developments in NEPAD; and chart a way forward in support of NEPAD.