A brief history of UN Reform in Viet Nam
In December of 2006, UNDG Chair and UNDP Administrator Kemal Dervis announced to the world that Viet Nam would be the first pilot country for implementation of the recommendations of the High Level Panel on System-Wide Coherence. But few people were aware that the reform process had begun in Viet Nam over two years ago.
In September 2005 Viet Nam’s then UN Resident Coordinator and head of UNDP, Jordan Ryan and UNICEF Representative Jesper Morch were putting the finishing touches to a discussion paper on the way forward for the UN in Viet Nam. It was just days before the 2005 World Summit and UN reform was at the top of the global agenda. In Viet Nam, the Government and donors had called on the UN to work more as a single organization. Ryan and Morch said at the time that they wrote their paper to stimulate debate among UN agencies in Viet Nam, but the impact of the paper quickly extended well beyond Ha Noi.
By January 2006 the UNCT had prepared a follow-up paper outlining in more detail what “One UN” would look like in Viet Nam. The new paper situated UN reform within the broader context of the Ha Noi Core Statement, a Vietnamese response to the 2005 Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness. The Ha Noi Core Statement and Paris Declaration represent a commitment by the development community to simplify procedures, reduce transaction costs and increase the impact of official development assistance.
Led by the Government of Viet Nam, an action plan was set in motion with sub-groups set-up to work on developing the “five ones:” One Plan, One Budget, One Set of Management Practices, One Leader and One UN House. These formed the core of the One UN Initiative, joined first by UNDP, UNICEF and UNFPA, and since by UNIFEM, UNAIDS and UNV.
Significant progress has been made in 2007. On August 23, 2007 the Government of Viet Nam and the UN in Viet Nam marked a major milestone by signing the “One Plan”, a common action plan until 2010. The One Plan brings together in one coherent programming framework the programmes of 6 UN entities - UNICEF; UNDP; UNFPA; UNAIDS; UNIFEM and UNV. The One UN initiative continues to be an open-ended process and it is expected that by early 2008 a revised One Plan will be finalised with all UN Agencies operating in Viet Nam fully integrated.
“Viet Nam and the UN have a long and trusted partnership and the Government is committed to multilateralism,” said UN Resident Coordinator John Hendra. “But they are also quite frank and they think that some parts of the UN are not quite up to the level they need as they enter this very challenging phase in the development of Viet Nam. They want to see the most effective UN possible and we need to be the best partner that we can be.”
Everyone in the Viet Nam Country Team knows there is more hard work ahead and there will be continued challenges, as -- in this phase -- UNDP, UNFPA, UNICEF, UNIFEM, UNV and UNAIDS work to put the One UN Initiative into action.
“In the UN, we have been brought up with our own Agency specific culture and our Agency specific own way of doing things. The fact that we are embarking on a road that will force us to do business differently is a challenge to my mindset,” UNICEF’s Morch said. “Our challenge in Vietnam will be that what represents the best of our agency is carried on in the ‘One UN.’ And that is the challenge for everyone.”
And Viet Nam’s development needs are changing. Social and economic progress has been rapid and the country is nearing its goal of middle income status. The way the UN delivered assistance before, is no longer an option. And it is Viet Nam that is saying so, as it emerges as one of the global leaders in calls for greater aid harmonisation.
With one of the fastest growing economies in the world, recent accession to the WTO, nomination to the Security Council and its November 2006 hosting of the APEC Summit, Viet Nam is changing quickly and the UN must change with it.
