RCAR 2006 - Peru

The economy continued to grow at a steady pace in 2006 reaching a growth rate of 6.9 per cent in the fiscal year 2005/2006 versus 4.6 percent the previous year. The establishment of a smooth-functioning foreign exchange market positively influenced the market confidence while the banking sector reform and privatization were moving ahead at a pace exceeding expectations. Reduction in tax and customs resulted in a more efficient and transparent tax and customs collection and increase in market operations. Direct Foreign Investments rose by 56 per cent as it reached almost $6.1 billion against $3.9 billion the previous year. On the other hand, job creation remained a paramount challenge for Egyptian authorities while the trickling down effect of economic growth to the general population remained illusive. Social safety net measures failed to reach the most fragile segments of the Egyptian population.

On the internal political front, 2006 saw a more open debate in the media and public discussions and protests, including on issues that were considered taboo in previous years. While national state-owned newspapers continued to dominate the printed media, a number of independently funded ones started gaining ground and credibility throughout 2006 providing a wider margin of debate.

Cases of police brutality continued to be reported and human rights groups criticized heavy-handed police tactics in dealing with demonstrators. In the first half of the year, there was also much tension and protest led by the Egyptian Judges Club over judicial reform and their independence, including the role of judiciary supervision of national elections. Constitutional reform and issues of succession to the President continued to dominate the political debate between the ruling party and opposition groups in 2006. This was particularly the case following President Mubarak’s request to the parliament and government to reform 34 articles of Egypt’s Constitution. The critical ones are related to conditions for becoming a candidate for President, unlimited terms of office for elected president and reduced judicial supervision of elections.

Avian Influenza emerged as a major socio-economic and political concern early in the year with the discovery of the first human deaths in the country. With the mass culling and killing of poultry by national authorities, the impact of the bird pandemic on people’s livelihoods became a major concern and highlighted the need for a long-term development approach to counter and ultimately avoid the repercussions of an Avian Influenza crisis. Supporting the Government of Egypt in the production of this plan and ensuring appropriate coordination among all stakeholders has become a central focus of the UNCT. Intensive community awareness campaigns supported by the UN took place in the eight most affected governorates (house-to-house) reaching millions of people.

Within this context, the Country Team finalized in 2006 its second UNDAF, 2007-2011. Endorsed by the Prime Minister in February 2006, the UNDAF 2007-2011 was signed by the Minister of International Cooperation and the Resident Coordinator on behalf of the UN Country Team in March 2006.

Summary on progress towards UNDAF outcomes

Several initiatives pursued in 2006 continued to contribute to achieving these UNDAF goals under the overall framework of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). In this regard, continued policy dialogue took place in several areas, in particular on the concept of renewing the ‘social contract’ between the state and its citizens aiming at a paradigm shift in the state-citizen relationship based on the principles of democratic governance. A keystone of the National Human Development Report 2005, and in alignment with the new UNDAF, 2007-2011, the social contract concept has been rooted in a new initiative based in the Information and Decision Support Centre (IDSC) in the Prime Minister’s Office. The purpose is to establish a Social Contract Advisory, Monitoring and Coordination Centre with UNDP support to provide policy advice in developing and monitoring the implementation of the MDG-based poverty reduction action plan.

Efforts to empower civil society were successful through several projects, most notably through the MDG coalition of NGOs. This coalition continued to undertake trainings on the MDGs among government officials and other civil society groups, including media and religious leaders. The joint project, ‘Sailing the Nile for the Millennium Development Goals’, partnering with 18 UN agencies, also succeeded in bringing together civil society and government partners from many different sectors and empowering them, especially youth, to engage in and contribute to achieving the MDGs at the local level.

The UN joint Girls’ Education Initiative led by UNICEF helped to ensure the adoption of national standards for teachers’ performance, and improve the quality of standards in teaching and methodologies. As a result, in 2006 the number of girl friendly schools in Egypt rose to more than 500.

The UN system also worked together to address HIV under the UN Joint Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and through the Joint Team on AIDS established in January 2006, as recommended by the Global Task Team. While official data indicate that Egypt remains a low prevalence country, a recent study by Family Health International indicates that a concentrated epidemic may be present in Egypt among certain most-at-risk populations with up to 6 per cent HIV prevalence among men who have sex with men. Several joint projects continued and new ones were established in 2006, such as the first outreach project targeting female sex workers; expansion of joint support to the Egyptian NGO Network Against AIDS to seven UN partners; and the development of a joint project on workplace programmes through the establishment of the Egypt Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS. General advocacy was reinforced with the launch of the UNICEF-led five-year campaign ‘Unite for Children. Unite Against AIDS. Unite for Children Against Hepatitis C’, capacity-building of religious leaders, and the implementation of the national World AIDS Campaign in close cooperation with the National AIDS Programme, including a three-day peer-led youth camp, and mainstreaming of HIV activities into the MDG campaign targeting Upper Egypt.

The Egypt Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Trust Fund, established in January 2002 in partnership with the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) with contributions from the private sector and donors, continued to serve as a mechanism to create public-private partnerships to support the use of ICT in fostering socio-economic development by increasing access to ICT technology. In 2006, with UNDP support, the Trust Fund helped to galvanize a series of coordinated initiatives, such as the Mobile Internet Unit, franchising of ICT clubs, and community development portals, to engage citizens in sustainable human development practices while offering them access to knowledge via ICT.

In 2006, Global Compact network members in Egypt launched an independent institution called the Centre for the Global Compact and Corporate Social Responsibility in order to advance Global Compact work in Egypt. Efforts, including the launch, continued to be supported by the UN family, namely ILO, UNDP and UNIDO. In addition, 2006 saw a growing government and business association buy-in to the work of the Global Compact in Egypt. There was also an increase in UN initiatives supported by private companies, such as the MDG advocacy campaign, the Popular Market programme, street children, and the Sailing the Nile initiative.

On the issue of gender equality, through joint support to the National Council for Women with UNIFEM in the forefront, information gathered from various governorates has fed into the National Five-year Development Plan. This was achieved through strengthening and mobilizing knowledge and expertise available in the country and gender sensitive planning in line ministries. Gender budgeting, gender auditing and performance-based budgeting with a gender approach have also been piloted in selected ministries. In addition, 10 UN agencies came together to address the rights of children, youth and mothers through support to the National Council for Childhood and Motherhood (NCCM) to develop an integrated national five-year plan of action whose main tenet is to move from a project to a programme approach and as such facilitate long term and integrated interventions in this area.

In the area of female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C), dialogue and joint activities in communities continued between NCCM, relevant ministries and a number of UN agencies. Two agencies joined forces in major evaluations of FGM/C programmes in order to produce joint final recommendations that would feed into one national strategy and a joint work plan. Renewed efforts to use the media to advocate against the practice also progressed.

In an attempt to address environmental concerns, school awareness campaigns were successfully implemented 120 schools in Upper Egypt. The campaigns also addressed surrounding communities. This is particularly relevant given the reports of water contamination and quality issues. The UN also took steps to support the Water Holding Company to conduct national hygiene awareness campaigns.

In 2006, Egypt was announced polio-free due to successful efforts led by the Government of Egypt, with support from UNICEF and WHO, Rotary, USAID and other partners. In 2007, it is anticipated that Egypt will have eliminated maternal and neonatal tetanus.

In the context of improving food security, capacity building and social reform, a number of agencies led by WFP were active in 2006 in supporting the Government to reform the food subsidy programme, develop national safety nets for the poor, and provide food for education and flour fortification, while specifically targeting the poor and most vulnerable groups in Upper Egypt, Sinai and the Red Sea, in an effort to address regional disparities.

Efforts were taken to strengthen national capacity in monitoring and evaluation and data collection. The DevInfo management system was transferred to two national data collection institutions that included a capacity-building component which will continue through 2007. The Ministry of Planning was also given support to increase planners and policy-makers’ access and utilization of evidence-based information for effective integrated population planning and policy dialogue. A database of indicators was created with UNFPA support and is being maintained by the IDSC, while a reference manual as produced that includes indicator, source, date definitions, source of calculation and other information necessary to ensure the quality of the data and indicators.

Summary on progress in UN Reform

As the centre stage for the regional meeting of the High-level Panel on System-wide Coherence in June and amid the first steps to operationalize the new UNDAF, the Government, donors and the UN family in Egypt had the opportunity to engage in constructive dialogue over the design and meaning of UN reform at the country level. This dialogue helped to strengthen cooperation with national partners in implementing UN reform processes, especially with the Ministry of International Cooperation, which moved to take ownership of the process from the outset.

Led by the Project Evaluation and Macroeconomic Analysis (PEMA) Office of the Ministry of International Cooperation, the UN system and the donor community engaged in the OECD Paris Declaration Monitoring Survey designed to assess and improve national capacities in leading the management of aid coordination. Supported by the RC Office, PEMA was in charge of collecting and analyzing donor inputs, arranging orientation and validation workshop.

PEMA was also central in developing the UNDAF Monitoring and Evaluation System whose ambitious plan involves the entire UN system, government and civil society partners. The cornerstone of the monitoring mechanism is a capacity-building exercise in which five UNDAF task forces co-chaired by national partners and the UN will be fully involved in developing detailed M and E plans and the process of expanding the UNDAF M&E system. Central to the M&E framework is the plan to develop a joint UN project on capacity building of national partners on results-based management as well as data collection, monitoring utilization.

Efforts to establish a joint project office continued. Assuit in Upper Egypt was identified as the preferred governorate and currently premises are being located. The proposed Joint Project office would constitute a ‘workstation’ that will allow national officers to benefit from close proximity to project operations and thus to ensure quality monitoring and substantive and consistent technical assistance to projects. Similarly, a number of UN agencies agreed in 2006 to move to new premises as part of a longer term strategy to work towards establishing a UN House for all agencies in Cairo within the next five years.

In accordance with UN reform guidance and with the willingness of participating agencies, the UNCT accorded significant importance to the development of joint programmes when there is a clear added value, and as such 2006 saw a remarkable increase in joint programmes. During the year, nine new joint programmes were created, six of them with pooled resources, in areas ranging from HIV/AIDS, poverty reduction, gender, children, education and the MDGs. Several other joint projects and initiatives continued, such as the project on neonatal resuscitation, a small project with great impact, ensuring skills development of medical staff to perform a simple life-saving technique for infants at the moment of birth.

Four UNCT Working Groups were active in 2006: UN Communications Group (UNCG), Disaster Management Team (DMT), Expanded Theme Group on HIV/AIDS (ETG) and UN Joint Team on AIDS. Furthermore, the M&E officers met regularly, led by the RC Office, to develop the UNDAF M&E framework. The UNCG, chaired by the UN Information Centre, played a central role in coordinating the media response to the Lebanese crisis and the UN Goodwill Ambassadors issue. The Group took the lead in organizing both UN Day and the launch of the new UNDAF in December 2006, and helped to garner financial and technical support for Beyond quarterly, the supplement to the English-language weekly Al-Ahram newspaper, focusing on development issues of importance to Egypt with UN agencies providing articles as requested. The unfolding regional events in 2006 prompted the UNCT in Egypt to work through its Communications Group to enhance the public and media image of the UN while creating a better understanding of how the UN works and what it aims to achieve nationally and worldwide under the guidance of its Member States.

In the vacuum of a coordinated response to Avian Influenza, the DMT led by WFP took the lead in organizing multi-stakeholder meetings with government, UN agencies and donors through the first wave of Avian and Human Influenza cases. The DMT also organized efforts to develop a joint UN Operations Contingency Plan in the event of a human pandemic, which was issued in August 2006.

In the spirit of UN reform, the UN Joint Team on HIV/AIDS led by UNICEF developed a one joint programme of support for 2007-2008 during a two-day retreat. Based on the HIV-relevant sections in the UNDAF and national priorities set forth in the draft National Strategic Plan on HIV and AIDS, the UN Joint Team on AIDS produced four priority areas in which the UN could have an added-value and a comparative advantage in support to the national response. Furthermore, the UN Theme Group on HIV, comprised of heads of the cosponsoring agencies, met twice to make policy-level decisions. A special high-level discussions meeting was conducted with the Policy Advisor of the UN Learning Strategy on HIV/AIDS. The Expanded Theme Group on HIV/AIDS continued to meet regularly as well, functioning as a partnership forum with UN and national partners, e.g. supporting and ensuring effective implementation of the national World AIDS Campaign.

Summary on progress in UN Reform

Complementary to the UNDAF M&E system will be the development of an MDG-based poverty reduction action plan led by the Government in cooperation with all relevant stakeholders. The planned establishment of the Social Contract Advisory, Monitoring and Coordination Centre in the Prime Minister’s Office will support the development of the MDG action plan while serving to monitor its implementation.

High on the agenda will also be the continued support to the Donor Assistance Group (DAG) and its thematic sub-groups with the ultimate aim of spearheading donor aid harmonization in line with Paris Declaration principles. These activities come on the heels of the recent OECD Paris Declaration Monitoring Survey conducted in Egypt in 2006 under the leadership of the Ministry of International Cooperation. In 2007, the DAG aims to organize a Paris Declaration Monitoring Survey follow-up conference in cooperation with OECD/DAC colleagues to outline a strategy for aid harmonization in Egypt.

In spirit of the Millennium Declaration and the beginning of the new UNDAF cycle, UN agencies will seek to continue to work together through joint initiatives not as a default mechanism but when there is a clear comparative advantage in doing so. A key joint programme to be developed in 2007 will include the continuation to 2015 of ‘Sailing the Nile for the MDGs’, which received much acclaim in 2006 for its impact in mobilizing youth and advocating for the localization of the MDGs. Other important initiatives include the roll out of joint projects to be identified within the five-year National Plan of Action for Childhood and Motherhood, within the joint UN programme of support on HIV/AIDS and the full roll out of the Harmonized Approach to Cash Transfer modality in April.

As Egypt is a priority country, UN agencies will also collaborate very closely in helping the Government to develop a comprehensive national plan to address Avian Influenza that takes into account all relevant sectors, including human pandemic preparedness and response. The UNCT has recruited an AI Strategic Planner and Coordinator in collaboration with the Office of the Senior UN Influenza Coordinator, to help the Government work with UN agencies, donors, civil society and the private sector in this endeavour. An OCHA AI Regional Planner will also shortly join the UN team in Egypt to help with preparing a common regional UN response to a possible Avian Human Influenza pandemic.

Key aspects of the proposed 2007 workplan

Complementary to the UNDAF M&E system will be the development of an MDG-based poverty reduction action plan led by the Government in cooperation with all relevant stakeholders. The planned establishment of the Social Contract Advisory, Monitoring and Coordination Centre in the Prime Minister’s Office will support the development of the MDG action plan while serving to monitor its implementation.

High on the agenda will also be the continued support to the Donor Assistance Group (DAG) and its thematic sub-groups with the ultimate aim of spearheading donor aid harmonization in line with Paris Declaration principles. These activities come on the heels of the recent OECD Paris Declaration Monitoring Survey conducted in Egypt in 2006 under the leadership of the Ministry of International Cooperation. In 2007, the DAG aims to organize a Paris Declaration Monitoring Survey follow-up conference in cooperation with OECD/DAC colleagues to outline a strategy for aid harmonization in Egypt.

In spirit of the Millennium Declaration and the beginning of the new UNDAF cycle, UN agencies will seek to continue to work together through joint initiatives not as a default mechanism but when there is a clear comparative advantage in doing so. A key joint programme to be developed in 2007 will include the continuation to 2015 of ‘Sailing the Nile for the MDGs’, which received much acclaim in 2006 for its impact in mobilizing youth and advocating for the localization of the MDGs. Other important initiatives include the roll out of joint projects to be identified within the five-year National Plan of Action for Childhood and Motherhood, within the joint UN programme of support on HIV/AIDS and the full roll out of the Harmonized Approach to Cash Transfer modality in April.

As Egypt is a priority country, UN agencies will also collaborate very closely in helping the Government to develop a comprehensive national plan to address Avian Influenza that takes into account all relevant sectors, including human pandemic preparedness and response. The UNCT has recruited an AI Strategic Planner and Coordinator in collaboration with the Office of the Senior UN Influenza Coordinator, to help the Government work with UN agencies, donors, civil society and the private sector in this endeavour. An OCHA AI Regional Planner will also shortly join the UN team in Egypt to help with preparing a common regional UN response to a possible Avian Human Influenza pandemic.

Recommendations

The UN should invest more time and resources in joint needs assessment exercises and in the programme formulation phase to better ensure that interventions are demand-driven, relevant to national development priorities and strategies and complementary to other national, bilateral and multilateral initiatives.

In line with recent UN reform initiatives, the Resident Coordinator system should be strengthened to ensure coordination of assistance and encourage national execution initiatives in the context of the UNDAF, where more focus is still needed in targeting the outcomes and activities. Here, the RC should be given greater authority accompanied by enhanced accountability. This can help ensure strengthened collective actions and synergies in capacity development programmes.

There should be greater emphasis on fully streamlining rules and regulations among UNDG Ex-Com agencies. The current request of harmonization is often overruled by individual, differing procedures that hinder rather than facilitate support to national partners. UN agencies must use one rather than multiple operational systems in a country. For example, there should be one common system for procurement and a common information management system, etc. Financial systems and policies within the UN should be simplified and unified to facilitate joint programming.

On a related issue, more focus from HQ is needed to encourage specialized agencies to fully collaborate in UN reform initiatives, which would ensure greater UN system effectiveness. Little attention has been focused on these agencies and as such it is very much up the country teams to engage those UN partners.

Finally, the UN should work more strongly on promoting its image as a development organization, as much as a political one, especially in the Middle East region where the UN is seen primarily as a vector for Security Council decisions and less as a development expert.

In closing, Mr. Secretary-General, I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate and welcome you to the UN family. I wish you and your staff a successful 2007, and renew the commitment of the Egypt UN Country Team to implement the UN programme of reform at the country level.