Statement
Mr. Vice-President,
Deputy Secretary-General,
I have the honour to deliver these remarks on behalf of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS).
AOSIS extends its gratitude to the Deputy Secretary-General, as Chair of the Sustainable Development Group, and to the Development Coordination Office and Resident Coordinators across our regions for their continued efforts to support our members in navigating increasingly complex development realities.
For SIDS, the UN Development system is central to whether international support reaches our countries in ways that are responsive, coherent, and aligned with regional and national priorities.
As such, the report aptly recognizes that SIDS continue to face a widening gap between ambition and implementation amid escalating climate impacts, debt burdens, constrained fiscal space and declining development assistance.
Therefore, AOSIS welcomes the report’s continued recognition that the Resident Coordinator system, including its recalibration, must include capacities and approaches tailored to country contexts, with specific attention to SIDS.
For SIDS, these tailored approaches must mean development coordination and support that fully reflect our structural vulnerabilities and unique circumstances. As both the Caribbean and Pacific regions are currently considering their respective regional development cooperation frameworks, AOSIS reiterates that DCFs must remain country-led and nationally owned, shaped by national priorities, and not the reverse.
Equally important is ensuring that Resident Coordinators and Resident Coordinator Offices operating in SIDS contexts possess the expertise and capabilities needed to respond to our realities. Tailoring capacities to country contexts must be reflected not only in structures, but in skills, experience, and deployment.
In this regard, we welcome the steps taken by the Coordination Office to improve the pool and cadre of Resident Coordinators, with more expertise and skillsets relevant to the context within which they are expected to function. This is particularly important as the report recognizes that Resident Coordinators are increasingly expected to convene financing solutions, broker partnerships, and strengthen policy coherence across development pillars.
For SIDS, this role is indispensable.
AOSIS therefore appreciates the efforts to strengthen the implementation of the Antigua and Barbuda Agenda for SIDS, including catalytic funding financing through the Joint SDG Fund in the areas of the blue economy and resilience-building, and supporting the first pilot exercise of the Multidimensional Vulnerability Index in Saint Kitts and Nevis.
While these are concrete examples of what effective coordination can achieve, more remains necessary.
In this regard, AOSIS underscores that Resident Coordinator system serving SIDS, including Multi-Country Offices, require predictable, adequate, and sustained financing. Funding constraints cannot come at the expense of development coordination capacity, especially in multi-country offices.
Mr. Vice-President,
Deputy Secretary-General,
As the UN development system adapts through recalibration and broader UN80 reforms, SIDS must not be an afterthought.
Our countries require a development coordination architecture that recognizes multidimensional vulnerability, strengthens resilience, supports implementation of the ABAS, and ensures that no SIDS is left behind due to scale, geography, or structural constraints.
As such, AOSIS will continue to engage constructively on the various reform proposals and ongoing adjustments to the development system. At the heart of these efforts must be accelerated implementation of the Quadrennial Comprehensive Policy Review, strengthened country ownership, and tailored support that responds to the unique circumstances and priorities of SIDS.
In the end, for AOSIS, effectiveness will ultimately be measured not by institutional reform alone, but by whether coordination translates into stronger resilience, greater access to finance, accelerated SDG progress, and long-lasting sustainable development outcomes for our peoples.
I thank you.
