Deputy Secretary General Amina Mohammed acknowledges key areas to strengthen UN Country Team support.

The United Nations Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed met with the Resident Coordinator Simona Marinescu in New York last week ahead of a very important global meeting for all the UN Resident Coordinators this month.

This was the opportunity for the Resident Coordinator Simona Marinescu to share with the Deputy Secretary-General success stories and aspirations for more robust and impactful joint UN programmes contributing to the development of island countries including Cook Islands Niue Samoa and Tokelau that are under the UN Multi-Country Office, based in Apia Samoa.

Some of the key UN joint programmes include the support on COVID 19, the EU and UN Spotlight Initiative, the Multidimensional Vulnerability Index for the SIDS recently developed, and continuous support on Climate Change and the joint programmes under the SDG Financing, such as the Social Protection and on the Integrated National Financing Framework (INFF).

The Resident Coordinator Simona Marinescu suggested that it is important for the governments to consider including the Integrated National Financing Framework in future Voluntary National Reviews (VNRs) in order to bring further traction on the financing issue and make Voluntary National Reviews more credible.

She also elaborated that the Multidimensional Vulnerability Index for SIDS (MVI) is finalized with the draft Resolution on the S-G’s Report A/76/211 being currently with the Second Committee. She added that the MVI was developed to be universal, and it is a very useful tool for the Common Country Analysis (CCA) and the Cooperation Frameworks.  The UN Country Team in Samoa led by the Resident Coordinators Office has just completed public consultations to validate the preliminary Common Country Analysis for Samoa. Preparations are underway for Common Country Analysis for the Cook Islands, Niue and Tokelau.

Deputy Secretary-General  Amina Mohammed acknowledged the work done with the Multidimensional Vulnerability Index, indeed it is a very important undertaking and the Multidimensional Vulnerability Index discussion needs to expand the Common Agenda beyond the  Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and ensure that vulnerability is better positioned. 

The Food Systems Summit discussion was another area that the Deputy Secretary-General believes is very important for the island countries and the need for the UN to identify the key challenges with the food systems where the UN can provide further support.

She acknowledged the leadership of women Resident Coordinators and stressed the need to discuss new dynamics in UN Country Teams looking into what is working and where there is still push back on women leadership.

With disability inclusion at the heart of the UN work, the Deputy Secretary-General also spoke about opportunities for persons with disabilities in the Resident Coordinators Office and asked the Resident Coordinators to champion inclusion, especially for national staff as a source of inspiration for all.