The priorities and role of UN agencies

The UN system is represented in Ukraine by 13 agencies and programs which have special mandates. What tasks does the UN Ukrainian office have? What help does this international organization expect from Kyiv? How can Ukraine improve its index of human development? These and other questions are raised in The Day’s interview with Olivier Adam, UN Resident Coordinator and Resident Representative of UN Development Programme in Ukraine.

Mr. Adam, when you came here, you probably tried to assess the situation in Ukraine and the effectiveness of previous UN-led assistance projects. What is your opinion about the state of development in Ukraine and the UN’s contribution to this process?

“I think our successes depend on the sector and the level of intervention. Overall impact at the district and community levels has been greater than at central level. Many thousands of Ukrainians across the country benefited from their participation in UN-led projects. These are smaller size projects that benefit local communities, in support of energy saving, water supply, small infrastructural projects that have brought a lot of tangible results. And the UN has been funded by key international donors, especially the European Union, largely because our projects are successful and bring real results for the population.

“The UN has also comprehensively supported Ukraine in accessing to the World Trade Organization and continues doing so through our joint EU-UNDP Blue Ribbon Analytical and Advisory Centre, providing advice to key governmental officials, so that we ensure the compliance of Ukraine with WTO requirements that enable the increase of export activities for the country. The Blue Ribbon Center is active in a number of key priority areas such as agriculture and pension reform.

“Because of the specific political situation in the country I think it has been more challenging to affect changes at the overall policy level. We have had limited success in certain areas, but, despite our best efforts, key legislation is still pending approval, including a civil service reform and civil society draft laws.”

Is Verkhovna Rada eager to hear advice from the UN?

“Again with the VR we have had mix success, as it’s a combination of things. For example, take the issue of disability.

“Around 10 percent of the world’s population, or 650 million people, live with a disability. They are the world’s largest minority. And 80 percent of persons with disabilities live in developing countries, according to the UN Development Programme data.

“The current Ukraine’s system of job placement and employment of people with disabilities is ineffective. Two UN Agencies in Ukraine – UN Development Programme and International Labor Organization — work to ensure, for example, that there is more equal treatment of disabled people at workplace.

“These agencies helped to develop a Model of Job Placement and Employment of People with Disabilities. Due to the UNDP/ILO active role and neutral position, all key stakeholders, involved into the provision of employment services to people with disabilities, participated in the development of the model. We will continue to provide further assistance in piloting the model and preparing it for implementation.

“In this regard, we had a very good contact with a member of parliament, Valery Sushkevych. Together we were able to mobilize changes in the legislation around the rights of disabled people.

“As a result, in December last year, following a special ad-hoc government session, dedicated to finding solutions to the problems faced by the people with disabilities in Ukraine, the government sent the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities to the Verkhovna Rada for further ratification. The UN Convention is the kind of a comprehensive document which accumulates the world’s best experience regulating how to achieve best results in this important field.

“Finally, the Convention was approved by the Verkhovna Rada.

“So, in this case Verkhovna Rada was open to hear advice coming from the United Nations. We are hoping to continue engaging closely with the parliamentarians whose role is critical in a functioning democracy.”

In the current situation what are the top priorities for Ukraine and the main spheres of cooperation between the UN and Ukraine?

“The role of the UN agencies in Ukraine is to support this country and we do not do anything outside of national priorities, as defined by the government. As you know, the proclaimed course for Ukraine is further European Integration. This issue was common to the political platforms of both presidential candidates and the UN can help support that integration further.

“There is consensus among the economists and international partners that there are a number of critical reforms that need to be taken in certain priority areas for action in the months to come. The consensus is very clear. The first thing is obviously that the government adopts the budget for 2010, which is a number one priority. The government also needs to raise funds and it is critical that it is successful in conducting negotiations on additional funding from the IMF promptly. For this to happen some key steps are necessary. The new government will have a unique window of opportunity to introduce critical and necessary changes.

“Compared to last year the list of key reforms that the new leadership of Ukraine should focus on remains relatively unchanged. In general, the most negative trends in human development are observed in the sphere of health care and demographic indicators.

“Institutions — mandated with policy making and implementation — suffer from systemic problems of inefficient governance, lack of transparency, corruption and lack of accountability for results. Comprehensive reforms are needed to create a transparent and accountable government. Achieving this will require constitutional changes to clearly define roles and responsibilities especially within the executive branch to avoid repeat of the present political stalemate. Another key priority is to start combating corruption within the justice system.

“In the social sector, reform of the pension system is needed to cope with demographic challenges and to ease pressure on state budget by gradually increasing retirement age and introducing, for example, individual accounts system. To increase effectiveness of social assistance, it would be important to review all social benefits and remove poorly targeted subsidies for energy, housing and transport that distort, are costly and do not support the poorest segment of the population adequately. As a result, only those most vulnerable will be really protected, and those less vulnerable should not benefit from the subsidies of the state.

“Another very challenging area of reform will be to rationalize Ukraine’s energy policy, change internal gas pricing system and create real incentives for energy saving and investments in capacity to diversify energy resources and help the heavy industry invest in energy efficient technologies.

“Next year we will have the big 25th anniversary of Chornobyl, which I think is a humbling moment to rethink about the specific incident, but also an opportunity to revive the overall energy policy debate and openly discuss Ukraine’s dependence on specific commodities, models, alternatives, etc.

“In terms of economic development, further integration in the world market through meeting the WTO requirements and further preparations are needed for signing the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area agreements with the EU should be top priorities.

Increasing confidence through improved legislation to facilitate foreign investment, transparency and ease of doing business is also critical for all, especially foreign investors. Developing Ukraine’s small and medium enterprises and building up its full agricultural potential should be helped by lifting of the moratorium on trade in agricultural land and trade facilitation for small and medium enterprises active in agriculture, as well as introducing an efficient system of land registration and land management to clarify property rights.

“Given the deteriorating infrastructures and poor public service delivery, more attention needs to be devoted to improving access to financing by local government actors to enable them to rehabilitate networks, increase energy efficiency, improve water management, waste disposal, transport, etc. In that context decentralization of power to relevant level authorities combined with administrative and territorial reforms is becoming an urgent task.

“I think that it is critical to bring ‘human face’ to further development in Ukraine. We have to ensure that Ukraine respects its own obligations in the context of international conventions Ukraine has signed, that it respects rules and that there is more transparency and accountability for commitments made.

“We are supporting Ukraine in the very important exercise of the year, mid-term review of the Millennium Development Goals that has been undertaken by the leadership of the Ministry of Economy. These goals are six commitments that Ukraine vowed to achieve by 2015. They include actions aimed at reducing extreme poverty, protecting motherhood and childhood, fighting HIV and tuberculosis, and many more. Results of this review will be presented at the special session of the General Assembly devoted to MDGs and planned for September this year in New York.

“In our opinion, on the whole, Ukraine is doing well in reducing absolute poverty rates. There has also been some progress on infant and maternal mortality indicators, we see improvement in ensuring access to school education, finally, we see Ukraine’s actively participating in Kyoto Protocol mechanisms. Still, there’s much left to be done. Negative demographic trends must be reversed and the disparity between life expectancy of men and women has to be reduced. Response to HIV/AIDS and TB epidemics must be led by the government and environmental indicators should start to improve. These areas are critical if Ukraine is to reach its own targets by 2015 and they need to be addressed now.

“It’s important to overcome bureaucratic barriers and institutional inertia creating obstacles on the path to MDGs achievement in Ukraine. Without this it would be impossible to reach the Goals. It’s high time to demand a more effective action and a stronger political leadership in reaching the Ukrainian Millennium Development Goals.

“I also count on the government to increase the transparency in the sense that it is essential for the country to further prosper, to have a better judicial system, better procurement laws, and greater accountability.

“In 2010 UN will continue to position itself as a competent and neutral source of expertise and policy advice for the government on overall reform directions. We are ready to jointly focus on strengthening implementation of our ongoing projects. We will be in a year to come working very close with the government to evaluate and define our new Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF) for the future, which need to be prepared by the end of 2010.”

In regards to the human development index, what component is the most critical for Ukrainians to improve?

“Human development is the process of expansion of choices and freedoms that people have to live their lives as they choose. Human Development Index (HDI) is a summary indicator of people’s well-being, combining measures of life expectancy, literacy, school enrolment and GDP per capita.

“In the new 2009 Human Development Report, Ukraine’s Human Development Index value based on 2007 data is 0.796. It falls in the medium human development range, positioning the country at 85 out of 182 countries and territories.

“The biggest factor that brings down Ukraine’s HDI is life expectancy and especially high and early mortality of Ukrainian men. On average, a Ukrainian man lives only 63 years. It is 1.9 years longer than a Russian, but 17 years shorter than a Swiss. Statistically, only six out of 10 men after 40 will reach the age of 60 years. Partly this is due to the lifestyle leading to cardiovascular diseases, cancer and traumas. Certainly, there are accidents, but there are many lifestyle choices and habits such as alcohol abuse, drugs, cigarette smoking that are fuelling this decrease in life expectancy. There is also no habit of regular health checks. Also, drinking and driving is common and deadly not only for drivers but mostly for pedestrians, especially innocent children.

“This picture is very disturbing and very unusual for this part of the world, even when you look from the perspective of neighboring countries. You really have to step up programs advocating for better lifestyle. I think there has to be obviously a revision of the taxation and pricing of products that are detrimental to the health of the citizens of Ukraine.”

We talked mostly about UN aid to Ukraine. But I think the UN also expects some aid or help from Ukraine?

“There is a lot Ukraine can do. I have just received this new book by a famous Ukrainian photographer Oleksandr Klymenko. His photo-album Through the Fire and Tears commemorates the significant contribution that Ukrainian peacekeepers made to global peace and human security. Starting from 1992, about 34,000 Ukrainian servicemen and over 2,000 policemen served as peacekeepers under UN flag.

“Following the break-up of the Soviet Union you made vital decisions that were very important for the world’s peace and disarmament, peace and security on the overall agenda. We’ve always seen a very good level of government in cooperation with the UN system.

“We hope that Ukraine will continue contributing into peacekeeping and that it will continue responding to emergence matters in case of major disasters such as we have in Haiti, where we really need international presence and the capacity of emergency response teams. In the case of Ukraine there is a possibility of having mobile hospitals, so there are these aspects on disaster management and peace and security front.

“We also have a national volunteer program for the UN Volunteers that we would like to enhance. We would like Ukrainians to participate more as international volunteers.

“I believe that Ukraine has always sent very high level representatives to the UN, who are very active in the discussions at the United Nations and critical partners in promoting UN values at the General Assembly and all executive bodies.”

What about Ukraine’s participation in the work of the World Food Programme?

“We are happy that Ukraine has initiated its contribution to WFP. Following the Presidential Decree of November 18, 2008, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine issued an Order on the Provision of Humanitarian Donation to Ethiopia in the amount of around 100,000 tons of bread wheat. This was an excellent result. It is a breakthrough for Ukraine as an active donor to global food security. In particular, you’ve largely contributed to alleviating the food crisis in Horn of Africa.

“However, with surplus and potential for accelerating further agriculture production, I trust that Ukraine will do more in that domain and WFP needs you. I think this should be pursued and enhanced, especially since you are a big agricultural country, to support WFP in its emergency relief, especially food supply, cereals supplies.”

What about your personal impression of Ukraine?

“I’ve made a conscious choice of coming here, partly because I had come here before and enjoyed the country and its people. It is a very large country and a critical one. Its geopolitical situation, its diversity, successes and challenges make it a great country for a UN Representative to work. I also liked personally the direct emotional temperament of Ukrainians. I enjoy working with my Ukrainian colleagues and my counterparts, interacting with the people — although I have much progress to make to speak Ukrainian. I enjoy my assignment here, the culture, and the city. I am a European myself, and I am back home in Europe. I also feel totally integrated and welcome.

“It is an honor to be posted in such a complex country. It’s very special to be in such a complex place. Maybe the role of the UN is not as dramatic and as visible as it may be in a conflict-affected country or in a country prone to complex natural disasters, but I believe we can make a solid contribution to democratization and human development and I am happy to be part of this effort.”