The Resident Coordinator Office
The United Nations Resident Coordinator Office supports the work of the UN Resident Coordinator. The UN Resident Coordinator leads the UN Country Team in consultations with the Government to define and agree on the UN strategic response to the Government’s development priorities. This response is captured in the UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF) 2023-2027. Over the next five years, the UNSDCF will help to leverage Pacific countries in four interlinked areas, Planet, People, Prosperity, and Peace, to ensure that:
- no one is left behind,
- people are equal and free to exercise their fundamental rights,
- gender equality and peace are promoted,
- nations and communities are enabled to become resilient to existential threats allowing them to live in harmony within the blue continent.
The UNSDCF is a results framework that describes the collective vision and response of the UN system to national development priorities. The UNSDCF describes how the UN Country Team will contribute to the achievement of development results based on a common country analysis and the UN comparative advantage. The office coordinates activities related to common programming including Agenda 2030, joint programmes, joint programming activities and development coordination work. This is done in conformity with the objectives and priorities of the Government, and the mandates and objectives of the United Nations agencies.
The UN Resident Coordinator Office has five core functions:
- Strategic Planning
- Economics
- Partnerships and development finance
- Data and results management & reporting
- Communications and advocacy
The UN Resident Coordinator for Micronesia
On October 1, 2021, the United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres appointed Jaap van Hierden of the Netherlands as the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Micronesia, with the host Government’s approval.
Mr. van Hierden is the first UN Resident Coordinator (RC) for the North Pacific covering five Micronesian Countries. Among regular RC duties, Mr. van Hierden has been appointed to establish the new UN MCO Micronesia in order to enhance UN’s presence in the Micronesia region.
Mr. van Hierden has over 30 years of experience in international development, humanitarian assistance and peacebuilding. He has been deployed to countries in conflict and those rising from Least Developed to Upper Middle-Income status. He has also taken on corporate level responsibilities in New York and in Copenhagen, regional level responsibilities in Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur, and country level responsibilities in Sierra Leone, Cambodia and the Philippines. Mr. van Hierden graduated from Wageningen University in 1990 as Agricultural Economist.
The UN Resident Coordinator (RC) leads a UNCT to ensure the coordination, harmonization, and simplification of their support to achieve national development goals. Under the leadership of the RC, the UNCT consults with the governments to define and agree on the UN strategic responses to country development priorities.
