Vienna International Centre, Vienna, Austria
Over the past two years, the issue of system-wide coherence has received renewed attention among Member States and organizations of the United Nations system. UNIDO is organizing the high level dialogue “United Nations System-wide Coherence: The Next Steps” on 4-5 March 2008, in Vienna. This high-level conference will provide a platform for interactive and action-oriented discussions on the development aspects of system-wide coherence and the “Delivering as One” initiative among representatives of governments, aid agencies and United Nations system organizations. The key aim is to reach a common understanding of the issues involved and ways of moving forward.
There will be six sessions on:
- Intergovernmental process on system-wide coherence: Progress and next steps
- Perspectives on Advancing UN System-wide Coherence
- Ensuring a comprehensive and strategically focused UN system response to national development priorities
- Funding the pilots for coherence
- Empowering the Resident Coordinator
- Harmonizing business models and practices
The dialogue will review the status of intergovernmental consultations on system-wide coherence and the next steps in that process. Representatives from Member States and the United Nations family will be invited to share their views on how they see the coherence and “Delivering as One” processes unfolding, what they see as the main challenges and how they see those challenges being addressed. To this end, it is expected that the high-level dialogue will:
- Provide better understanding of ongoing efforts to enhance system-wide coherence in the field of development at the intergovernmental, inter-agency and country levels.
- Contribute to intergovernmental dialogue on system-wide coherence and the “Delivering as One” pilot initiative.
- Identify the main issues and challenges towards further progress in the “Delivering as One” initiative and ways of addressing them.
- Provide a forum for organizations of the United Nations system to discuss concrete ways of providing further support to the coherence process and the “Delivering as One” initiative.
Speakers will include the United Nations Deputy-Secretary-General, Ms. Asha-Rose Migiro, the co-Chairs of the United Nations General Assembly consultations on system-wide coherence, the Permanent Representatives of Ireland and the United Republic of Tanzania to the United Nations in New York, H.E. Mr. John Paul Kavanagh and H.E. Mr. A. Augustine Mahiga, the Director-General of WHO, Dr. Margaret Chan, the Director-General of UNESCO, Mr. Koïchiro Matsuura, and the Director-General of UNIDO, Mr. Kandeh Yumkella.