President,
I am honoured to deliver this statement on behalf of Austria, Israel, Italy, Switzerland, United Kingdom and my own country, Norway.
We congratulate the Executive Director and her staff on a comprehensive annual report for 2018 and the performance this first year of implementation of the Strategic Plan and the progress achieved in initiating social impact investment activities.
We acknowledge the extensive efforts of UNOPS in establishing and following up systems for cross-cutting sustainability elements such as human rights, gender equality, environment and anti-corruption.
The role UNOPS has in a number of humanitarian emergencies is important, but not without challenges. Your ability to operate in challenging environments is appreciated – as well as your valuable working relation with local governments and communities, where the annual report demonstrates that your «Community Engagement Toolkit» has been useful.
We appreciate your systematic work to respect indigenous groups.
President,
We welcome the Report of the Internal Audit and Investigations Group, and notes that UNOPS’ governance, risk management and control processes are partially satisfactory but in need of some improvements.
We welcome the large reduction in audit recommendations and commend UNOPS for its work in closing audit recommendations.
We note the increase in complaints received by the investigative unit and reiterates the need for sufficient capacity for this function.
President,
Efficient use of resources is key for the UN Development System as a whole. Strengthened cooperation between UNOPS and other agencies is important.
In this context, we welcome the Secretary-General’s decision to establish a UNOPS client board to replace the Policy Advisory Committee as part of the Secretary-General’s management reform and underline the importance of further consultations with the Executive Board in this regard.
We commend the important steps that have been taken regarding implementation of the Secretary-General’s reform agenda for increased efficiency and quality, and would like to know the status for the change of job description of your Country representatives to fulfil the requirements in Resolution 72/279.
We also look forward to hearing more from you how you will articulate your commitments to the Funding Compact and on your progress towards the Secretary General’s targets on common back office functions.
Thank you.