General statement by

Mr. Normand Lauzon, Executive Secretary

United nations capital development fund (UNCDF)

(Check Against Delivery)

Mr. President,

Distinguished Delegates,

Colleagues and friends,

It is a pleasure and a privilege for me to address the Third United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries, whose main objective is to mobilize the international community towards reducing the development gap between the LDCs and the rest of the world, and, in particular, towards reducing poverty in these countries.

Let me therefore briefly indicate what the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) is committed to doing in support of these efforts.

UNCDF was established by the General Assembly as a special purpose fund for small-scale investment, “first and foremost in the Least Developed Countries.” In recent years, UNCDF has come through intense and far-reaching changes. The result is that, today, UNCDF’s overarching goal is to help reduce poverty by concentrating its investment and capacity-building activities in two areas only: local governance and micro finance.

Our approach is to help reduce poverty by investing with the poor, building the productive capacities and self-reliance of poor individuals and communities by improving their access to essential local infrastructure and services. Our approach is to help produce concrete results that can make a difference in the lives of the poor. Our approach is to help give a voice to local people so that they can find local solutions to local challenges. Our approach is to be flexible because we know that one size does not fit all.

I would like to illustrate what we are doing by giving two concrete examples. Thérèse Nougbogononhoum from Benin and Ram Prasad Bajgain from Nepal were invited this week by the Belgian Government to speak at a press briefing organized within the framework of this Conference. Thérèse and Ram are among five people featured in an innovative billboard campaign by the United Nations Department of Public Information and the Belgian Government to focus public attention on the goals of the Conference.

Both Thérèse and Ram have benefited from UNCDF programmes in their respective countries. Thérèse has become a successful micro-entrepreneur. She had a dream but no means. With three small loans from a local Micro finance Institution supported by UNCDF, she has now developed a successful micro trading business. She has also become a local development leader, helping others to do the same. Because she and the other borrowers are reimbursing their loans, the local Micro finance Institution is on the path to sustainability -- a must if micro finance is to play any significant role in poverty reduction. What we need are thousands of Thérèse’s who can take their future and the future of their children into their own hands.

Ram and his community organization have pressed hard for rural electrification and clean water for their community. They have made choices about their own future. They have found local solutions to local challenges. They have contributed ideas, time and resources. At UNCDF, working in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), we have helped the district local government to support Ram’s community-based initiatives. By injecting small financial resources into the veins of the district local government, we are supporting good local governance, we are helping strengthen the capacity of locally-elected officials to learn by doing, to provide matching funds to produce concrete results at the community level and to empower individuals, Non Governmental Organizations and the private sector to find local solutions to local challenges.

At UNCDF, we fully appreciate that what we do is very small in comparison to the huge needs in the two areas in which we work. This is the reason why we pilot small-scale investment and capacity-building initiatives in the hope that what poor people do with our support can be replicated on a larger scale with the participation of the international community. Indeed, we believe that partnership is essential to poverty reduction.

In conclusion Mr. President, I would like to emphasize that, at UNCDF, we realize -- as an organization funded by the international community through voluntary contributions -- there is no entitlement. Good results are necessary for us to continue to deserve the confidence of our stakeholders, at the village level with Thérèse and Ram, at the local and central government levels, and at the international level, from those who contribute to our resources. And we are committed to doing just that.

Thank you.

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