The United Nations (UN) on Thursday, Feb. 23, took a major step towards crafting the UN's Cooperation Framework with the Philippines for the period 2024 to 2028. A meeting with over 500 participants from the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA), the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), and members of the UN Country Team (UNCT) was held to facilitate the process of identifying the priorities of the new cooperation framework. The new United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework or UNSDCF, a core instrument for providing a coherent, strategic direction for UN development activities by all UN entities at country level, is being developed in the context of the UN Development System Reform that aims to make the organization nimbler, less bureaucratic, more transparent and accountable, and more decentralized and effective, and places sustainable development “at the heart” of the UN. The current cooperation framework between the national government and the UN will end this year. "My vision of the new cooperation framework is not that of a fragmented collection of activities conducted by 23 UN entities and compiled in a nice catalogue, but a powerful and dynamic partnership instrument that brings the collective energy of a committed UN team in support of sustainable development in the country," UN Philippines Resident Coordinator Gustavo Gonzalez said. Under the reform, the UNCT, which exists in over 130 countries and includes all UN entities working on various programs, is required to agree as one UN (not as individual agencies) on the key priorities before they will be able to craft their own programs. “This is a fundamental change, compared to past cooperation frameworks where agencies produced first their plans and the cooperation framework was a compilation of them. Here, we first agree with you as a UN—not as individual agencies—on key priorities and after that agencies will be developing their own country programs,” Gonzales said. He told the participants that it is important for them to be in the meeting as the UN is not expected to be just an observer of problems in the country but as a partner for solutions. "Jointly with your permanent missions in the various locations of the planet, the UN is the organization that negotiates, formulates, adopts, and disseminates, every day, the norms, principles, strategies and programs on the most fundamental practices of a society; about the food we produce and consume; on the pests and diseases threatening our lives, on reproductive health, on the protection of our oceans, of our planet, on how to protect the rights of workers, journalists and indigenous people; on policies about how to combat organized crime, corruption and violent extremism, most recently, on outer space and digitalization. That’s the added value of the UN in a world that needs—more than ever—a collective leadership,” Gonzales said. "This Cooperation Framework can consolidate the ongoing agenda on human rights and make sure the country remains compliant with a key number of conventions and treaties related to environment and biodiversity protection, child protection, women’s rights among others," he said. He added  that the framework can contribute to the improvement of various indicators in the countries, including the reduction of food insecurity, resolution of socioeconomic inequalities, recovery of learning losses, filling the gender gap, setting the most suitable policies and frameworks for climate justice, and  poverty, among others.