Executive Board to hear about poverty issues

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Executive Board to hear about poverty issues

Friday 30 May, 1997: The persistence of poverty, combined with a steady downward spiral in development assistance, continues to affect children and UNICEF's work, UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy will tell the UNICEF Executive Board during its annual session at its New York headquarters beginning Monday. She will also assess the adverse effect of globalization and economic liberalization on poverty reduction, the declining rates of public expenditure on basic social services for the poor, growing urbanization, and women and children as victims of domestic violence.

The Executive Director's report also notes the intensification of efforts directed at United Nations reform. It reports that UNICEF is actively engaged in the UN reform process. At the same time, within UNICEF, the over-arching objective of reform activity remains the enhancement of capacity to further the well-being of children through effective and efficient programme delivery and global advocacy.

This session of the Executive Board will also review a report on how to ensure children's rights to survival, development, and protection in Africa. The report looks at the current socio-economic context in Africa, provides an overview of progress towards the World Summit for Children goals, and describes some future directions for UNICEF and its partners in Africa.

Report of the Executive Director

The Board will review global trends affecting children outlined in the report of the UNICEF Executive Director (E/ICEF/1997/10 Part II).

Poverty and Aid. Deepening poverty and declining development assistance directly affect children and the work of UNICEF. According to the latest World Bank statistics, about one third of the population in developing countries continues to live in poverty. The combination of declining aid and rising poverty places greater demands on UNICEF to focus scarce resources on the countries in greatest need and on the most disadvantaged children.
Globalization, growth and equity. While recent economic policy changes have resulted in growth in investment, employment, and competition, they have also increased the vulnerability of the poorest groups in society. The 1996 Human Development Report (UNDP) confirms that the world has become more polarized. The UNICEF report calls for monitoring the level and composition of public expenditure on social services as an important way to ensure that poverty concerns are woven into macroeconomic management.
Implementation of the 20/20 Initiative. Within social sectors, more resources are being allocated to services that benefit the non-poor. UNICEF is concerned about this trend, and in 1996 UNICEF collaborated with UNDP, UNFPA, and the World Bank in particular, in an effort to assist Governments and donors to improve monitoring and reporting of the resources allocated to basic social services.
Urbanization. If current trends persist, one half of the population in developing countries will live in urban centres by the year 2015. Today, a family can no longer expect that migrating to a city will necessarily improve living conditions. UNICEF is developing an urban focus in programmes in order to reach the most vulnerable children in impoverished urban areas.
Partnerships with NGOs. Cooperation between Governments and non-governmental organizations continues to increase. UNICEF country offices will also continue to facilitate this interaction, especially as more attention is focused on ensuring programme sustainability through capacity-building and the empowerment of local communities.
The Executive Director's report to the Board also elaborates programmatic challenges in supporting the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
The need to bridge the gap between the principles of human rights that States have agreed to uphold for women and children, and the violations of those same rights that cause preventable death and characterize the misery of daily life for millions of children and women worldwide.
The need for progress on complex problems such as under-five and maternal mortality, protection of the nutritional status of children, and the achievement of universal education.
The need to bring national legislation in line with the principles of the Convention in order to link law reform and enactment, and policy formulation, with operational activities on behalf of women and children.

Children's Right to Survival, Protection and Development in Africa

The Executive Board will review a document on the priority concern for child survival, protection, and development in Africa (E/ICEF/1997/15). The report notes that significant political, economic and administrative developments in much of sub-Saharan Africa could in the long term improve the prospects of the region. In the short run, however, the report paints a very mixed picture. There are disturbing trends towards chronic instability and persistent conflict in large areas of the region and too few social and economic benefits are reaching poor children and women. All indications, the report states, are that the number of poor people will be increasing, and it calls for the international community to maintain their commitment to Africa. In this regard, the report describes some future directions for UNICEF and its partners in Africa.

UNICEF will continue to advocate for, and help countries to implement, the Convention on the Rights of the Child in Africa, especially in four main areas: (a) primary health care and nutrition; (b) basic education with an emphasis on girls; (c) water supply and environmental sanitation; and (d) the care and protection of the most vulnerable children and women.
UNICEF will give priority to assisting countries to reach the goals of the World Summit for Children with emphasis on: (a) reaching the poorest of the poor, (b) empowerment of adolescent girls through communication and basic education, the prevention of HIV/AIDS, and the promotion of life skills; and (c) protection from abusive child labour, enlistment in armed forces, violence, and sexual exploitation and abuse.
UNICEF will nurture commitment of government through practical, informed advocacy to help countries seek the involvement of other partners in the development of services, in areas such as districts, which can then serve as launching points for going to scale.
UNICEF will support training for the staff of local or municipal institutions on how to work in a participatory manner. UNICEF will also support community-based organizations to facilitate civil society's full participation.

Children in Need of Special Protection: Report on Steps for Policy Implementation

The Board will review a report that outlines a strategy for measures to protect children from exploitation, violence, abuse, abandonment, and other situations of disadvantage (E/ICEF/1997/16). The strategy, a key component of the evolving child rights approach to programming, focuses on the establishment of technical support networks to ensure support to Governments in addressing special protection issues. Specific steps now under way are highlighted, including the revision of guidelines and the strengthening of strategic partnerships with governments, United Nations agencies, non-governmental organizations, and other civil society organizations.

Follow-up to the World Summit for Children

The Board will consider the Executive Director's sixth annual progress report on follow-up to the Summit; this will be the first report since the formal review carried out at mid-decade (E/ICEF/1997/14). The report states that striking progress has been made in the areas of immunization, control of diarrhoeal diseases, polio, dracunculiasis eradication, IDD control, and promotion of breast-feeding. It notes that, while the Convention on the Rights of the Child has been ratified by almost every country in the world, a lot still remains to be done in the areas of child survival, education, and nutrition. The report recommends sustaining progress made in the control of preventable diseases in the coming years and intensified efforts to narrow the gap in child development.

Allocation of General Resources

The Executive Board will review a modified system for the allocation of general resources (E/ICEF/1997/P/L.17) that is based on the principles identified by the Board at its third regular session of 1996, and discussed at the second regular session of 1997. In accordance with the Board, the modified system presented will (a) continue to be based on the existing core criteria; (b) give higher priority to the low-income countries, in particular the least developed countries; (c) be sufficiently flexible to accommodate evolving needs and special circumstances; (d) apply only to general resources, and (e) be transparent, simple and consistent.

Management Excellence

The Board will review a report for information on progress in implementing management excellence (E/ICEF/1997/CRP.15). Using the Country Programme as an illustration, the report presents the accountability system of UNICEF at different locations (Country Office, Regional Offices, Headquarters Programme Group). A matrix is provided in the report in order to give the overall progress to-date on the implementation of the recommendations made by the Booz-Allen and Hamilton study.

UNICEF Greeting Card and Related Operations (GCO)

The Board will review a financial report and statement for the year ended 30 April 1997 of GCO (E/ICEF/1997/AB/L.9). The report notes that GCO was able to achieve a record net contribution to UNICEF general resources income of $151.3 million, and a sales volume of 158 million cards. The report contains country-by-country performance data, and data on the net proceeds from private sector fund raising. A 1997 work plan and proposed budget for GCO are presented in a separate document for the Boards review (E/ICEF/1997/AB/L.8).

UNICEF Information and Publications Policy

The Board will examine a report (E/ICEF/1997/17) that outlines a UNICEF information and publications policy. The report notes the distinct mandate of UNICEF, and on-going collaboration on publications with other agencies. The report highlights the role of the Joint United Nations Information Committee (JUNIC), chaired by the Department of Public Information, in ensuring that duplication among agencies is avoided. The report also provides information on new developments in the use of information technology (the Internet) as a key information vehicle.

Other Issues

The Executive Board will also a review:

a report containing recommendations of the fifth meeting of the UNESCO/UNICEF Joint Committee on Education (E/ICEF/1997/18);
a report containing recommendations of the thirty-first session of the UNICEF WHO Joint Committee on Health Policy of the Executive Boards of UNICEF and WHO (E/ICEF/1997/19);
a report on the field trip by Board members to Malawi and Zambia; and,
an oral report on the U.N. Special Initiative for Africa.

Executive Board Composition and Officers

The Officers of the Executive Board are Dr. Mercedes Pulido de Briceno (Venezuela), President; Mr. Dino Beti (Switzerland), Vice President; Ms. Hazel de Wet (Namibia), Vice President; M.E. Ambassador Ngo Quang Xuan (Viet Nam), Vice President; Mar. Fikret Mamedali Pashayev (Azerbaijan), Vice President.

The 36 members of the Executive Board for 1997 are as follows (listed by regional groupings as per E/ICEF/1997/11): Africa: Angola, Burundi, Cape Verde, Kenya, Morocco, Namibia, Nigeria, Uganda; Asia, China, India, Indonesia, Oman, Pakistan, Republic of Korea, Viet Nam; Eastern Group, Azerbaijan, Czech Republic, Russian Federation, Ukraine; Latin America and the Caribbean, Cuba, Jamaica, Nicaragua, Suriname, Venezuela; Western,Europe and Others, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, United States of America.