Statement
Mr. Vice-President,
I have the honour to deliver this statement on behalf of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS).
AOSIS welcomes this dialogue, and we thank the panellists for their insightful presentations.
It illustrates that the multilateral system is confronting growing pressures, shrinking resources, rising demands, and increasing complexity across the development landscape.
It is also very clear.
As discussions advance under the UN80 process, we must ensure that reform efforts strengthen, rather than dilute, the ability of the UN Development System to respond to the realities of developing countries, particularly Small Island Developing States.
For SIDS, tailoring support across the UN system is an operational necessity. Our countries face a convergence of structural vulnerabilities where conventional development approaches simply cannot work.
In this regard, AOSIS underscores that any discussion on tailored UN Country Team Configurations and the regional architecture must begin, first and foremost, with country needs and national priorities – and not on institutional convenience.
As such, the effectiveness of the Resident Coordinator system and UN Country Teams cannot be measured solely by efficiency metrics or consolidation objectives. Effectiveness must instead be assessed by whether the system is delivering responsive and context-specific support to programme countries.
For SIDS, this means recognizing that “one-size-fits-all” approaches are fundamentally incompatible with the operational realities we face.
SIDS often require highly specialised expertise that is critically important for implementation of national development plans and strategies. This includes expertise related to climate action, debt sustainability, ocean governance, digital connectivity and renewable energy transitions.
Therefore, the proposed “expertise-on-demand” can be a viable approach, as long as it is genuinely responsive to national priorities and agile and accessible in practice. Therefore, the challenge is not simply moving expertise around the system more efficiently. The challenge is ensuring that the right expertise reaches the right countries at the right time.
At the same time, however, expertise-on-demand cannot become a substitute for sustained institutional presence. Short-term deployments alone cannot replace long-term trusted partnerships, institutional memory or sustained engagement.
In this regard, the configurations of UN Country Teams, especially those covering multi- country office settings, are of paramount importance. Country Teams operating in these settings require not only technical expertise, but also a deeper understanding of the structural constraints facing the programme countries, and the trust of host governments.
As such, AOSIS further emphasizes that reforms undertaken under the UN80 Initiative must not result in reduced support for SIDS, who are most in need of tailored engagement.
Efficiency gains cannot come at the expense of accessibility, responsiveness or country-level delivery.
Mr. Vice-President,
For SIDS, proximity matters. Presence matters. Trusted partnerships matter.
Therefore, the central question is not whether reform should occur, but whether the proposed reforms will result in a stronger, more responsive and more effective development system on the ground.
In this regard, greater clarity and a fuller understanding of potential impacts are still needed regarding the proposals emerging under the various UN80 workstreams, particularly concerning the structure and functioning of Multi-Country Offices and the UNCTs.
Before conclusions are reached, Member States must have a clear understanding of what specific changes are being proposed, how they would operate in practice, what gaps they are intended to address, and how they would strengthen delivery for SIDS.
AOSIS will continue to engage constructively throughout this process with the objective of ensuring that reforms strengthen implementation of the QCPR, reinforce country ownership, and ultimately deliver a more effective and responsive United Nations development system for SIDS.
I thank you.
