1 year in, have new resident coordinators reinvigorated the UN system?

UNITED NATIONS — Rosa Malango, United Nations resident coordinator of Uganda, receives about 1,200 emails a day, and normally doesn’t read them until midnight, following long days of meetings. It can be hard to keep up with the various global initiatives and partnerships the U.N. regularly launches, on top of Malango’s daily work of conducting broad outreach and representing U.N. agencies. Her small team of staff remains incomplete, without a head of office — and with less capacity than she had in previous leadership positions at the U.N. Development Programme and U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. “The choice was, we become dynamic or we become dinosaurs, in a system with many other priorities.” --— Siddharth Chatterjee, Kenya resident coordinator “I appreciate that the secretary-general and deputy secretary-general are trying to encourage coherence, but oh lord, making sure we implement all of this is going to be a challenge,” Malango told Devex. “I know the SG has launched two or three new platforms with the private sector. I don't know how to talk to them … What is the real capacity to unpack these initiatives and roll them out? I do not feel I have enough time, space or capacity to plug into these things,” Malango continued. Last January, U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres rolled out one major part of his plans for U.N. reform: a “reinvigoration” of resident coordinators, intended to more strategically coordinate and represent all U.N. agencies within 164 countries and territories. More than a year later, there is a mixed picture of progress, interviews with U.N. resident coordinators, agency heads, and other experts reveal. While there has been an improvement in interagency coordination, the move marks a large change that will likely take time for U.N. agencies to absorb. One ‘cannot expect miracles’ at first “It’s a big cultural shift, as people were used to having the whole of the UNDP network. And I think that most people are feeling change in what's expected, but they're not yet sure how much capacity they will have to deliver on what's expected,” explained Sarah Cliffe, the director of New York University's Center on International Cooperation. Once housed within UNDP, RCs are the highest ranking representatives of the U.N. development system and now report directly to the deputy secretary-general, reducing any risk of allegiance to one U.N. agency. All of their time is designated for outreach to various partners, including the private sector and civil society. “The RC change has allowed the resident coordinator to be fully focused purely on the critical task of coordinating the U.N. around the 2030 Agenda without an operational role,” explained Walid Badawi, the resident representative for UNDP in Kenya. “Engagement varies across countries and agencies … but it's the spirit of the reform that people have internalized. ” --— Claire Messina, chief of the RC system leadership branch, U.N. Development Coordination Office The change, estimated to cost $281 million annually, is both a major procedural and cultural upheaval, according to Cliffe. Progress so far has also been heavily dependent on the individual RC and the country context. “At the beginning, I think a lot of the Resident Coordinators were a bit wary about whether they were going to become postboxes for receiving and distributing information to the various agencies. Many of them have been pleasantly surprised that they have been much more substantially involved in the work,” Cliffe said. In many cases, it is too soon to answer the question of how the new RC system is progressing, according to Claire Messina, chief of the RC system leadership branch at the U.N. Development Coordination Office, created with the introduction of U.N. reform. Some of the RC offices have not filled all of the open staff positions, Messina explained. “We are actually still recruiting staff for the RC offices this year. That is why one cannot expect miracles this first year. Because, you know, one RC can be as good as you want, but there's a limit to how much difference that that person can make alone,” Mesina said. “Engagement varies across countries and agencies … but it's the spirit of the reform that people have internalized,” Messina continued. Facilitating better coordination In Kenya, the new coordinating system is working well, according to Kenya RC Siddharth Chatterjee. He offered the example of a new cross-border program, which has led to the creation of a field office between Kenya and Ethiopia, as well as another office between Kenya and Uganda. These could have been harder to set up and execute without the oversight of RCs, Chatterjee explained. “The choice was, we become dynamic or we become dinosaurs, in a system with many other priorities. Before the reforms, agencies were very much siloed, they were very much focused on their own priorities. Bringing this all together has now become easier, from a coordination point,” Chatterjee said. In Armenia, meanwhile, the new RC system also proved to show some positive results in the first few months, Dmitry Marivasin, UNDP’s resident representative in Armenia, told Devex last spring. In the past, the positioning of RCs within UNDP made it difficult to “build a narrative in a country about what the U.N. stands for,” Marivasin said. This aspect of communication and branding matters when the U.N. is trying to coordinate with governments, or the private sector. Despite concerns about capacity for the RC’s office in Uganda, there have been several positive changes under the new system, Malango explained. For the first time, U.N. agencies and offices are having joint meetings with the private sector and with the Ugandan government. The result is more focused conversations and planning based on country needs, not just individual U.N. agency mandates. “Before, you had a multiplicity of U.N. actors speaking to the ambassadors on the same things,” said Malango, explaining that donors would regularly complain about the redundancy. “Everyone was having the meetings before, but we were not doing it as a team. We are trying to make sure that we are complementary in our work.” Challenges to overcome Staffing remains one clear challenge for the success of the RC system. RCs were guaranteed another position and career growth within the U.N. agency they worked for previously. Now, the RCs do not have a clear career trajectory following their posts. “It is a very practical career security issue,” said Karina Gerlach, a senior adviser at the New York University Center on International Cooperation. “Normally, the issue was that you would rotate back to headquarters at some point. At this point, where is your headquarters?” Moving forward, the system will next need to demonstrate results on the ground, monitored not just agency by agency, but “for the U.N. as a whole,” Messina said. “They're not yet looking at what is the increase in the literacy rate, or the improvement in health outcomes that the U.N. system working together can achieve,” Messina said. But donors will soon require these results to justify their funding allocations to the U.N. and the RC system. “Setting up a stronger system of showing results for the U.N. as a whole is going to be crucial for the system entering the next phase,” Messina said.