Thank you, Mr. President.
At the outset, allow me to congratulate you on your election as President of the Executive Board. Israel has full confidence in your leadership and we look forward to great achievements in the coming year.
Let me also thank the Executive Director for his opening statement highlighting the different challenges facing UNICEF—and for his leadership within the organization and throughout the UN system. Israel deeply appreciates Mr. Lake's commitment to advancing dialogue with the Executive Board.
Israel is proud to serve on UNICEF's Executive Board for 2013. Our membership reflects Israel's deep commitment to UNICEF's mission, to multilateral partnerships, and to achieving the development goals that we, as the international community, have set for ourselves.
Mr. President,
Achieving results in early childhood development and gender equality, combating HIV/AIDS, and protecting and ensuring children's rights will require a collective effort uniquely geared towards children and adolescents.
2013 will pose additional challenges for UNICEF, as we prepare the next Medium Term Strategic Plan (MTSP) and the integrated budget. We will also focus on operationalizing the recently adopted QCPR, and contributing to discussions on the post-2015 development agenda. These efforts will help shape the future of UNICEF, enabling it to deliver better results for children and adolescents across the globe.
Mr. President,
Israel values UNICEF's humanitarian and development work around the world, which has a specific focus on the world's most vulnerable and excluded children.
It is often said that what a child doesn’t receive he can seldom later give. Children that are provided the opportunity to succeed will pass on their drive and initiative to the next generation. Investing in children has a ripple effect that benefits communities around the world.
Israel firmly believes that we cannot achieve our development goals until we ensure that children around the world have the resources to realize their potential.
As a result, MASHAV-- Israel's International Agency for Development Cooperation--has put children at the heart of its development programs. One example is the Early Childhood Education Program. In cooperation with the Millennium Cities Initiative (MCI), MASHAV has developed a system that will be implemented in all public schools in Kumasi, Ghana.
Israel stands ready to share its expertise, knowledge and experience with UNICEF, and to enhance cooperation for the benefit of children around the world. We look forward to hosting Deputy Executive Director Ms. Johanna (Yoka) Brandt in Israel later this year, and to explore potential areas of collaboration.
Mr. President,
I would like to offer some brief comments on the annual report to the Economic and Social Council that we have before us. We are pleased with the progress made over the past year in all focus areas of the strategic plan. We see this report as a valuable tool to inform the deliberations and decisions in ECOSOC.
In the next cycle, we expect UNICEF to enhance its results reporting, relying on a new and robust results-based framework, in line with the guidance provided in the QCPR. We would also welcome a more analytical approach in future reports, showing current patterns and trends. UNICEF is a knowledge-based organization, and as such, it should maximize its knowledge potential so that the information shared within UNICEF and with partner organizations can be as accurate and relevant as possible.
We fully support the focus that UNICEF places on equity, and specifically on gender equality. We commend its efforts to identify bottlenecks and barriers, and create enabling environments that are more conducive to achieving its development goals. We do acknowledge, however, that more work needs to be done in this respect. We look forward to the preparation of the next Strategic Priority Action Plan (SPAP), and we encourage further mainstreaming of gender equality throughout UNICEF's programmes, operations and policies.
Israel would like to emphasize the importance of implementing the UN-System Wide Action Plan on Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (SWAP) as a mechanism to enhance coherence and UN system-wide accountability for gender equality. We would encourage UNICEF to include the steps that it is taking to implement the SWAP in its future reports, as well as information pertaining to the implementation of the gender equality marker, first introduced in 2011.
Mr. President,
Israel looks forward to strengthening our relationship with UNICEF in 2013. I would like to reiterate Israel’s support for the work of the Executive Board. We look forward to fruitful discussions during this Executive Board session and throughout the upcoming year.
Thank you.