UNITED NATIONS ASIA-PACIFIC REGIONAL COORDINATION MECHANISM (RCM) Record of the RCM Meeting 7 December 2016, 15:00-16:30 hours Meeting Room E, United Nations Conference Centre (UNCC), Bangkok I. Organization A working level meeting of the Asia-Pacific Regional Coordination Mechanism (RCM) was held on 7 December 2016 at the United Nations Conference Centre in Bangkok to 1) take stock of the thematic working group (TWG) work plan deliverables 2016-2017, 2) brief the RCM on the organization of the APFSD and status of the regional roadmap process and, 3) present the RCM communications plan. The meeting was chaired by Mr. Adnan Aliani, Director of the Strategic Programme Management Division, ESCAP. It was attended by representatives of 12 agencies (incl. ESCAP). II. Key Discussions Points The Chair welcomed UNFCCC to its first RCM meeting. The Chair outlined the purpose of the meeting and reminded the TWGs of the opportunity to feature One UN outputs during the APFSD meeting taking place 25-20 March 2017. He invited the TWGs to give presentations on the status of their work plans. Education 2030+ (Mr. Gwang-Jo Kim, UNESCO) UNESCO reported that the 2016-2017 work plan was on track and that those deliverables planned for 2016 had been completed. National consultations in support of SDG4 continue. The major initiative for 2017 will be the launching of the Global Education Monitoring Report, which is expected to take place in the second half of the year. Mr. Kim informed that the high level meeting to launch the Report will take place in Bangkok, Thailand, hosted by China and India and that it was very much hoped that the ESCAP Executive Secretary would be available to participate. Future TWG meetings will focus on the development of joint activities and a communications plan will also be developed. Interested agencies not already part of the TWG were encouraged to indicate their interest in membership. Inclusive Development and Poverty Eradication (Mr. Joseph d Cruz, UNDP) UNDP reported that two outputs were expected to be completed by year end 2016: the Pro-poor food and agricultural policies in Asia and the Pacific volume, led by FAO, and the policy note on inclusion in the context of rural-urban migration. It was further reported that more substantial work on the latter policy note would be undertaken in 2017. FAO reported that it had recently published a regional report on the state of food security. [http://www.fao.org/3/a-i6481e.pdf] The TWG will be holding another meeting in early 2017 to think of new areas joint work that could be captured in a One UN paper. Gender Equality and Empowerment of Women (Ms. Janneke van der Graaff-Kukler, UNWOMEN) Two analytical products are underway which involve inputs from multiple agencies. The regional analysis of financing for gender equality and the empowerment of women in Asia- Pacific is scheduled for completion in Feb 2017. A study on women s transformative leadership 1
in the Asia Pacific is in the conceptualization stage and anticipated for delivery in June-Sept 2017. Advocacy and work shop/event activities have taken place as noted to the work plan. The work shop on sex-disaggregated data for SDG indicators produced a report which finding are already informing agencies/policy making and was presented at a consultation work shop held by UNWOMEN and ADB on benchmarking. The mapping of UN entities work with ASEAN is nearly completed. Preparatory work for the 60 th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) is in progress. A new analytical product led by UNICEF on Making Girls Count will be presented at a side event at the upcoming Committee on Statistics. It was recommended that advocacy activities be retained in the TWG work plan. Sustainable Societies (Ms. Mariko Tomiyama, IOM) The work plan activities are at various stages of development. Follow up events to the launch of the Youth Report have taken place. The report on Migration in the 2030 Agenda and the discussion paper on the long term implications of demographic change (led by UNFPA) are anticipated for delivery by March 2017. It was suggested that further discussions on coordinating cross over work between TWGs would be useful, for example, in the area of migration (SS, IDPE) and the urban agenda (SS, REG) and on youth (SS/Statistics). There was discussion on the various elements of the agencies country level analyses, particularly on urban-rural migration determinants. Resource Efficient Growth (Mr. Stefanos Fotiou, ESCAP) The ASEAN-UN Action Plan on the Environment and Climate Change 2016-2020 is pending ASEAN approval, possibly at the ministerial meeting in Feb 2017. The Asia-Pacific Knowledge Platform is on schedule for introduction at the APFSD in March 2017 and agencies were invited to consider hosting their on line courses or modules on the Platform. UNHABITAT reported that the task team formed to support the Quito meeting is winding down its activities but is considering certain post-quito activities to develop strategies for implementation of the new urban agenda. The TWG will discuss a new TOR with knowledge product/policy paper options. It was noted that the Asia Pacific Regional SDG Progress Report has been removed as a TWG deliverable. A TOR for the joint report on resource efficiency policy is under development for intended delivery June-Sept 2017. The TWG will be considering adding work related to oceans in 2017. Disaster Risk Reduction and Resilience (Mr. Sujit Mohanty, UNISDR and Mr. Sanjay Kumar Srivastava, ESCAP) The TWG contributed to the outcome documents for the 2016 AMCDRR meeting: the Asia Regional Plan and the Delhi Declaration. A technical session on coherence at the AMCRR produced a report which will serve as input in the formulation of a guidance note on mainstreaming DRR, which will be informed by feedback at the APFSD. The TWG is also reflecting on RCM messaging for the global platforms taking place in Mexico (2017) and for the AMCDRR in Mongolia in 2018. Work continues on a technical assessment paper which is part of a global El Nino impact assessment report. There was discussion on how best to integrate the Disaster Related Statistics Framework (DRSF) work plan activities with the TWGs. The importance of discussing a global strategy for national statistics for damage and needs assessment was also raised, flagging the fractured nature of data across UN agencies. Statistics (Ms. Margarita Guerrero, ESCAP) Delivery of the work plan activities 1 and 2 has been delayed to June 2017. (inventory of UN activities related to national statistical capacity building; gap analysis, formulation of joint 2-yr statistical capacity building strategy/programme). The development of a common regional database for SDG data and statistics is under review and with the expectation to be completed by the end of 2017. The compendium of good practices on data disaggregation requires inputs from the IEGS and should be ready by late 2017. It was suggested that the Statistics TWG organize a 2
meeting with other TWGs in early 2017 to better identify and coordinate respective statistical activities and strengthen the Statistics TWG ability to track over RCM statistical work. General Comments: The Chair asked the TWGs to reflect on one to two key outputs that they would expect to have ready by and would like to see highlighted during the APFSD. He further reminded the group that the overall RCM narrative on the TWG outputs for 2017-2019 should try to orient and focus around the SDGs sequenced by the ECOSOC-HLPF for in-depth review: 2017 Sustainable Development Goals: 1, 2, 3, 5, 9, 14 (Note: 2018 Sustainable Development Goals: 6, 7, 11, 12, 15; 2019 Sustainable Development Goals: 4, 8, 10, 13, 16) In addition, TWG s were asked to identify the specific agencies that were collaborating on specific work plan outputs in future work plan versions. The Chair clarified that there were no funds for sub regional workshops to feed into the 2017 APFSD but that such funds had been proposed in the 2018-19 budget to support the 2018 APFSD. Briefing on the Asia Pacific Forum on Sustainable Development (Mr. Stefanos Fotiou, ESCAP) Mr. Fotiou reported on the three focus areas of the APFSD, taking place 27-29 March (associated events are planned for 25-26 March): 1) regional perspectives on the 2030 Agenda, as aligned to the HLPF SDG cluster for 2017; 2) Follow up and review- global, regional/sub regional and national, featuring countries experiences in national voluntary reviews; 3) discussion on the 2030 Agenda and adoption of the regional roadmap. It was emphasized that the regional roadmap is a Member States negotiated document pending finalization and the APFSD a Member State event. Mr. Fotiou informed the RCM that communications would be forthcoming soliciting ideas on proposed TWG participation in panels and associated events for Member States consideration. There was discussion as to the potential for collective RCM messaging at the APFSD rather than by individual agencies. Briefing on the RCM Communications Plan (Ms. Laura Lopez, ESCAP) Ms. Lopez briefed the group on the objectives of the communications plan to create an identity for the RCM designed around key messages on joint work and the importance of the regional dimension in bridging the global and national levels. She informed that while the ESCAP Executive Secretary is the principal spokesperson for the RCM, TWG Co-chairs are encouraged to also have a spokesperson presence. Ms. Lopez introduced the new RCM website and cautioned that without regular inputs from the RCM members, the new website structure will not deliver its full potential in promoting and archiving One UN work. She asked the agencies to consider cross posting the RCM website on their respective agency websites. The group viewed the RCM video and was asked to provide feedback to Ms. Lopez on the video, website and brochure (by 12 December). The new website will be launched before year end. A question was raised as to how the RCM/TWGs may involve civil society in the future; an item the Chair proposed could be raised in the next full RCM meeting. The Chair also encouraged the group to actively use the RCM website for publicizing and archiving outputs produced by two or more UN agencies. III. Action Items 1. TWGs to update their respective work plans as needed and submit to the RCM secretariat. 2. TWG s to each identify 1-2 outputs that could be featured a representative work by One UN at the APFSD. 3. TWG s to send the names of the communications focal points to the RCM secretariat, if not already provided. 3
4. Agencies to advise the RCM secretariat on joint publications which could be added to the new RCM website. 5. Agencies to provide any comments regarding the website, video and brochure to SCAS (Ms. Lopez) by 12 December 2016. 4
UNITED NATIONS ASIA-PACIFIC REGIONAL COORDINATION MECHANISM (RCM) RCM working group meeting to discuss the activities of TWGs 7 December 2016 15:00 16:30 hours Meeting Room E, UNCC LIST OF PARTICIPANTS RCM MEMBERS Organization Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Name of representative(s) Mr. Aziz Arya South-South Cooperation Officer Email: Aziz.Arya@fao.org Mr. Hem Raj Regmi International Consultant (Statistical Capacity Building). International Organization for Migration (IOM) United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Ms. Mariko Tomiyama Senior Regional Policy and Liaison Officer Email: Mtomiyama@iom.int Mr. Joseph D'Cruz Asia-Pacific Team Leader, Inclusive Growth & Sustainable Development UNDP Regional Hub in Bangkok Urbanization Global Task Team Lead, Bureau for Policy and Programme Support (BPPS) joseph.dcruz@undp.org Mobile: +66813713207 Mr. Gwang-Jo Kim Director UNESCO Regional Bureau for Education Bangkok Email : gj.kim@unesco.org Mr. Jayakumar Ramasamy Programme Specialist and Chief of Natural Sciences Unit Email: r.jayakumar@unesco.org United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Mr. Muhammad Taimur Programme Officer Programme Support and Coordination Sustainable Development Mechanisms United Nations Climate Change Secretariat Martin-Luther-King-Str. 8 5
53175 Bonn, Germany Tel: +49 228 815-1740 Email: MGandapur@unfccc.int United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN Habitat) United Nations Children s Fund (UNICEF) United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR) United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) World Food Programme (WFP) Ms. Laura Devos Humanitarian Consultant Asia Pacific Regional Office United Nations Population Fund Tel: +6626870118 Fax: +6622802715 http://www.unfpa.org Ms. Mariko Sato Chief UN-HABITAT U.N. Service Building, 2nd floor Rajdamnern Avenue Bangkok 10200 Tel: (02) 288-2852 Email: satom@un.org Mr. Bertin Gbayoro Monitoring Specialist Email: bgbayoro@unicef.org Mr. Sujit Mohanty Programme Officer Email : Mohanty@un.org Ms. Janneke van der Graaff - Kukler Strategic Planning and Coordination Specialist Tel: +66 2 288 2584 E-mail: janneke.kukler@unwomen.org Ms. Parvathy Ramaswami Deputy Regional Director Email : parvathy.ramaswami@wfp.org 6
ESCAP Mr. Adnan Aliani Ms. Michele Von Rautenkranz Mr. Stefanos Fotiou Mr. Sanjay Kumar Srivastava Mr. Sudip Ranjan Basu Mr. Naylin Oo Ms. Margarita Guerrero Ms. Cai Cai Ms. Vanessa Steinmayer Ms. Laura Lopez Mr. Martin Dessart Ms. Patricia De La Torre Director, Strategy and Programme Management Division (SPMD) Programme Officer, Asia-Pacific Regional Coordination Mechanism Secretariat, SPMD Director, Environment Development Division (EDD) Chief, Disaster Risk Reduction Section, Information and Communications Technology and Disaster Risk Reduction Division (IDD) Economic Affairs Officer, Macroeconomic Policy and Financing for Development Division (MPFD) Economic Affairs Officer, MPFD Director, Statistics Division (SD) Chief, Gender Equality and Women s Empowerment Section, Social Development Division (SDD) Officer-in-Charge, a.i., Social Policy and Population Section, SDD Director, Strategic Publications, Communications and Advocacy (SPCA) Public Information Officer, Strategic Communications and Advocacy Section (SCAS) Consultant, SCAS 7