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The timing for this debate is right. With several reform processes of the UN Development System taking place simultaneously, there is strong momentum for change:

• The post-2015 agenda that is to follow the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)– linked with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to be negotiated through an inter-governmental process – will bring about a new sense of purpose and direction within the UN Development System.
  

• The follow-up to the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (“Rio+20”) will see the creation of a High Level Political Forum (HLPF) to permanently anchor the debates at the political level.
  
• The Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) of the UN is set to revise its functions and structures as part of a long-term reform process.

However, these processes are currently segregated and not directly linked to each other. In order to result in a coherent overall outcome, it therefore seems necessary to provide a closer linkage under a uniting and coherent “vision” for the United Nations Development System. This vision should have three dimensions:

• What: Using the HLPF, member states should translate the post-2015 agenda into a system-wide mandate for the UN Development System that details its purpose as a complement to other actors.
  

• How: The post-2015 agenda is about the recognition that development challenges such as population growth, economic inequality, water shortages and volatile financial markets are increasingly interrelated and global. A set of reforms should therefore be undertaken in conjunction with the elaboration of the future mandate so that the UN Development System can fulfil its mandate supported by a cohesive institutional organisation.
  
• Means: Finally, there is a need to initiate discussions about the future funding of the UN Development System in line with the broadened mandate and reformed structure. What the post-2015 agenda requires is a dramatic shift in perspective to go “beyond aid”.

In order to build up the necessary support and momentum for substantial reforms of a funding structure “beyond aid”, stakeholders will need a clear understanding of the specific role that the UN Development System would be playing in the post-2015 agenda, and assurances that the UN Development System “House” is well prepared to deliver. A sequenced approach meets these concerns.