The new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) will guide global development for a generation after they are formally adopted by Heads of States and Governments at the end of this month, the UN Development Programme’s (UNDP) Administrator Helen Clark told the Organization’s governing body on 1 September at UN Headquarters.

The SDGs are “a strong, ambitious, and visionary set of commitments, with poverty eradication identified as the most urgent task within the broader agenda for sustainable development,” Helen Clark said, addressing the UNDP Executive Board, which is holding its current session from 30 August - 4 September.

“UNDP is deeply involved in all processes around the SDG roll out,” she added, and “we are bringing our extensive programming experience to bear in supporting countries to develop their national SDG efforts.”

All 193 UN Member States are expected to adopt the SDGs here at the Sustainable Development Summit being held 25-27 September. The SDGs are a global call to action to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure that all human beings enjoy peace and prosperity, leaving no one behind. In addition, an agreement on climate change is expected at the Paris Climate Change Conference, or COP21, this December.

Helen Clark illustrated the urgency of this ambitious vision by pointing to several ongoing crises around the world. Whether it be the response after the earthquake in Nepal, the ongoing conflict in Syria, the flooding in Myanmar, the critical electoral process underway in Haiti, or the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, the need for development to be resilience-based and sustainable is constant and paramount. To fill this need, UNDP focuses on building a knowledge-driven, innovative and open institution that supports developing countries with high quality policy advice, and effective and efficient operations.

“We look forward to the Board’s ongoing support at this time of many crises requiring our response, and of new global agendas requiring our support for implementation,” Helen Clark concluded.

The UNDP Executive Board is made up of representatives from 36 countries around the world, serving on a rotating basis. Through its Bureau, consisting of representatives from five regional groups, the Board oversees and supports the activities of UNDP, the UN Office for Project Services (UNOPS) and the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), ensuring that these organizations remain responsive to the evolving needs of programme countries.

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Helen Clark: Statement to the Second Regular Session of the UNDP Executive Board*

I am delighted to welcome you to the Second Regular Session of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Executive Board. Since we met in June at the Annual Session of the Executive Board:

• the final “Millennium Development Goals (MDG) report”, issued by the United Nations Secretary-General, has been released. This is an important milestone as we near the end of the MDG era;

• the Third International Conference on Financing for Development in Addis Ababa reached consensus on a new framework for development financing; and

• here in New York, negotiations on the post-2015 sustainable development agenda concluded successfully. We very much look forward to leaders from around the world gathering here later this month to adopt the new global agenda for sustainable development.

In my statement today, I will comment further on these developments and on:

• the support UNDP will give to implementation of the new global agreements negotiated this year;

• the UN development system reform agenda; and

• our ongoing work on transparency and accountability.

The Executive Board’s agenda this week has a dedicated session on funding – including an important dialogue on how UNDP is adapting to the new development finance landscape, and the importance of predictable, flexible, and quality funding. I will also comment briefly on these issues.

The global agendas being determined this year

On 2 August, UN Member States concluded their negotiations on the post-2015 agenda for sustainable development – “Transforming our World: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”. The agreed text is a strong, ambitious, and visionary set of commitments, with poverty eradication identified as the most urgent task within the broader agenda for sustainable development. After the new agenda is formally adopted by Heads of States and Government at the end of this month, it will guide global development for a generation.

UNDP can support, and is already supporting, countries in three different ways, through the MAPS approach:

• Mainstreaming

• Acceleration

• Policy Support

This sees us:

• providing support to governments to reflect the new global agenda in national development plans and policies. This work is already underway in many countries at national request;

• supporting countries to accelerate progress on SDG targets. In this we will make use of our extensive experience over the past five years with the MDG Acceleration Framework; and

• making the UN’s policy expertise on sustainable development and governance available to governments at all stages of implementation.

Collectively, all partners can support communication of the new agenda, strengthening partnerships for implementation, and filling in the gaps in available data for monitoring and review. As Co-Chair of the UNDG Sustainable Development Working Group, UNDP will lead the preparation of Guidelines for National SDG Reports which are relevant and appropriate for the countries in which we work.

UNDP is deeply involved in all processes around the SDG roll out. The guidance and tools being developed will be shared as they become available. As well, we are bringing our extensive programming experience to bear in supporting countries to develop their national SDG efforts. There is a briefing session on this on the Board agenda for Thursday.

Financing for development

Financing needs for implementation of the new global development agenda and national development agendas are great. The Addis Ababa Action Agenda, agreed in July, has updated the financing for development framework; set important priorities for development investment – including in social protection, jobs creation, nutrition, and agriculture; and agreed on new global technology and infrastructure financing mechanisms.

The agenda from Addis Ababa highlights the critical need for continued Official Development Assistance, and for its more strategic use to build national capacities for domestic resource mobilization. From inclusive and sustainable growth will flow tax revenue for development spending. Investments in capacities of governments will support tax collection, budget allocation to development priorities, and implementation of policies and plans. Effective governance also builds investor confidence and helps stem illicit financial flows.

On capacity building for domestic resource mobilization, UNDP and OECD have launched a partnership to provide “Tax Inspectors Without Borders”. It will place international tax audit experts alongside national tax authorities, to help build their capacity to assess and collect the tax which should be being paid to them by international companies. The experts will be drawn from North and South.

Looking ahead, we need to ensure that all countries, and in particular the poorest and most vulnerable, are able to access the range of financing opportunities which is available. UNDP is already supporting national partners, especially in LDCs and SIDS, to ensure that diverse financing streams can complement and reinforce each other – for example by implementing Development Finance Assessments, first in seven countries of the Asia Pacific, and now also beginning in Africa. This work maps the complex resource flows, and designs integrated national financing frameworks which will support an actionable agenda on SDGs. It is particularly important to find synergies between development and environment finance. Greater synergies between humanitarian and development finance would help too.

Looking ahead to COP21

Countries now have nine negotiating days left until the Paris Climate Change Conference – COP21 – where the aim is to adopt a new, global agreement on climate change. Agreement in Paris has the potential to stop catastrophic and irreversible climate change – but we are not yet seeing the level of ambition required, as the UN Secretary-General and many others are pointing out. This must change in the interests of all peoples and countries and in particular of the poorest and most vulnerable.

The stakes are high. UNDP will continue to support the “Road to Paris” through sharing expertise and experiences from our $1.3 billion portfolio of climate change mitigation and adaptation projects in over 140 countries; strengthening capacities of negotiators from LDCs and SIDS; and partnering with the COP Presidencies from Peru and France. In addition, we have hosted seven regional dialogues on the technical elements of Intended Nationally-Determined Contributions (INDCs), and are organizing three more in Morocco, Uganda and Samoa. We have also developed the first guidance note to support countries as they make important choices on their INDCs – now distributed among experts, government officials and institutions in 150 countries.

Climate action is definitely needed from governments, but the role of the private sector is also indispensable. Policy and regulatory settings are important – UNDP is supporting countries to amend these to create environments conducive to private sector investment in renewable energy and other areas of adaptation and/or mitigation.

An example – in South Africa and Uruguay, UNDP has been helping to lower barriers to private sector investments in the wind-energy sector. These interventions created new jobs; supported economic growth; diversified energy sources; and contributed to Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions (NAMAs).

UNDP is one of twenty organisations approved for accreditation by the Green Climate Fund. We have been working with a number of countries to support preparation of projects for the GCF to consider in its first funding allocation round later this year.

UNDP is planning a ministerial-level event to take place in late February next year, which will be a key occasion to mark both the fiftieth anniversary of UNDP’s founding and the beginning of the SDG era. The event will showcase UNDP’s fifty year journey of promoting sustainable development by supporting the transformation of countries and societies. It will enable us to recognize the substantial long-term collaboration and investments of our partners, and to provide a detailed briefing on UNDP’s approach to and package of support for SDG implementation at country level. A “hold the date” letter is going out now.

* Read the full statement here.