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071543Z Jul 06

UNCLAS PARIS 004673 
 
SIPDIS 
 
FROM USMISSION UNESCO 
 
STATE FOR IO/UNESCO KELLY SIEKMAN, IO/S LISA SPRATT 
STATE FOR NSC GENE WHITNEY 
STATE FOR NSF INTERNATIONAL OFFICE ROSE GOMBAY 
 
E.O. 12958:  N/A 
TAGS: AORC EAID KSCA SOCI UNESCO
SUBJECT:  UNESCO REFORM: GENEVA GROUP TO TACKLE UN "COHERENCE" 
EXERCISE 
 
 
¶1.  This is a Guidance Request, see para 3. 
 
¶2.  At its July 12 meeting, the UNESCO Geneva Group of donor member 
states will focus on the ongoing exercise to enhance UN system-wide 
coherence in the areas of humanitarian assistance, the environment 
and development.  The meeting will start with a presentation by the 
Director of UNESCO's Bureau of Strategic Planning.  Discussion will 
center on two documents: a paper produced by the UNESCO Secretariat 
on the coherence exercise, and a February 24 2006 letter from UN 
Ambassadors of 13 donor states (not including the U.S) to the three 
members of the panel on UN system-wide coherence. (Both documents 
e-mailed to IO/UNESCO Kelly Siekman and IO/S Lisa Spratt). 
 
¶3.  The U.S. Permanent Delegation to UNESCO requests guidance before 
July 11 on the U.S. position on the ongoing UN coherence exercise, 
as well as on the two documents described above. 
 
UNESCO Secretariat on UN System-Wide Coherence 
¶4.  The UNESCO secretariat's paper acknowledges the need for reform 
of the UN system at the country level, stressing the importance of 
complementarity within the UN system, and thus respect for the 
mandates of specialized agencies.  Recommending that the discussions 
on UN reform be broadened to include the World Bank, the paper notes 
that while the World Bank's expertise lies in addressing needs on a 
country-by-country basis, the strength of the UN (especially via its 
specialized agencies) lies in its sectoral expertise. 
¶5.  A key point of the UNESCO paper on the coherence exercise is 
found in para 4:  "UNESCO's intellectual, ethical, and normative 
functions cannot be divorced from implementation and operational 
action." (para 4)  UNESCO's eagerness to highlight its role in 
implementation and operational action -- which the U.S. has 
encouraged, in contrast to its normative functions -- is perhaps 
explained by para 8.  This para stresses that those "best efforts 
will be severely constrained if UN common country programming is not 
fully inclusive of all UN system agencies and if donor funds were to 
be channeled at country level exclusively to so-called 'operational 
agencies'."  Despite these concerns, Paras 6-7 affirm support for 
the Secretary-General's vision of "the need to create one UN at the 
country level," as well as for the principles of the Paris 
High-Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness. 
¶6.  The UNESCO paper concludes by outlining UNESCO's role in 
development, humanitarian assistance and the environment.  On water 
resources, the paper states "UNESCO's work is not narrowly normative 
in this field, but is deeply engaged with practical aspects of 
implementation." 
13 Donor States Outline UN Coherence Principles 
¶7.  The second attachment is a letter to the three UN coherence 
panel co-chairs that was signed by 13 donor nations:  Belgium, 
Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Luxembourg, the 
Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, and the UK.  The letter 
evokes five principles "to help shape a new vision for the future": 
Orientation towards supporting sustainable development and the 
achievement of the agreed international development goals, including 
the MDGs; 
Policy and institutional coherence; 
More unified presence than today at country level with one UN 
country team, one country representative for the whole system and 
one integrated, results-based plan; 
Support to national priorities and processes as well as efficient 
and timely delivery; 
Clear division of labor and effective partnerships, based on 
comparative advantages between the UN system, Global Funds, 
bilateral actors and the IFIs. 
¶8.  An annexed document poses questions and presents proposals on: 
defining the core role, structure, governance mechanisms, and 
funding of the UN operational system; deepening and accelerating the 
reform of country-level operations; mainstreaming cross-country 
issues (including human resources, environment and gender); and 
improving aid effectiveness, including via assessing implementation 
of the Paris Declaration.  KOSS