| GB.267/TC/3
267th Session November 1996 |
| Committee on Technical Cooperation | TC |
THIRD ITEM ON THE AGENDA
Further developments on operational activities in the
UN system, including principal measures taken by the
ILO concerning General Assembly resolution 50/120
Contents
- Introduction
- Comprehensive triennial policy review of the operational activities of the UN system: General Assembly resolution 50/120
- The emerging new paradigm for UN-system operational activities at the country level
- Changes in UNDP
- UNDP: Agency support costs
- The UN Staff College project
I. Introduction
1. The present paper contains a summary of major recent developments concerning the operational activities of the UN system. It refers mainly to discussions and decisions in the major intergovernmental bodies and inter-agency committees, and notes the implications for the ILO's technical cooperation programme.
2. It may seem repetitive to note the sense of deep uncertainty and crisis characterizing the debate in international development cooperation fora in general, and the multilateral operational activities of the UN system in particular. This has been the case for several years now, and the wide variety of positions adopted by different groups of countries on major issues of governance, institutional reform and financing make the possibility of a consensus that would reinvigorate international development cooperation a distant promise. However, the sense of crisis struck deeper in 1995-96, with major reductions in financial contributions by some industrial countries and a general stagnation of official development assistance (ODA) from most donor countries.
3. The decline in ODA should be seen against an impressive rise in private flows, mainly private direct investment. However, these were mainly directed at fast growing developing country economies, raising the spectre of large groups of developing countries, mainly in sub-Saharan Africa and the least developed countries, being cut off from the benefits of the increasingly globalized trade and investment system.
II. Comprehensive triennial policy review of the
operational activities of the UN system:
General Assembly resolution 50/120
4. In parallel with a number of long-term reform exercises that are under way in the General Assembly(1) and which augur major system-wide reforms, the General Assembly in 1995 undertook a further Comprehensive Triennial Policy Review of the operational activities for development of the United Nations system, which resulted in the adoption of resolution 50/120 (Appendix). Information on the preparations for this review at the inter-agency level was contained in the report on this item submitted to the Committee in November 1995.(2)
5. Pending deeper structural changes affecting the operational activities of the United Nations system, the resolution builds on and reaffirms the preceding resolutions 44/211 and 47/199(3) of 1989 and 1992 respectively, and focuses on more incremental reforms in the policies, procedures, modalities and institutional arrangements for development collaboration between the various organizations, with the main focus on arrangements for country-level action.
6. The central message in the resolution is that the UN system should operate as a single unified force when delivering development assistance, particularly at the country level. It therefore focuses on procedures and processes in the coordination, programming and management of operational activities aimed at fostering more effective coherence and collaboration out of a quite amorphous system composed of different funds, programmes and specialized agencies operating with different combinations of substantive and functional mandates.
7. The key concepts promoted by the resolution can be summarized as follows: at the level of coordination and programming, it stresses the primary ownership by national authorities of the development process. This includes the setting of priorities and overall direction and primary responsibility for the coordination of international development aid input. The Country Strategy Note (CSN) is seen as an important instrument outlining the main objectives and priorities for collaboration between a given country and the United Nations system in the medium term, thereby providing a common frame of reference to which the individual activities of the various funds, programmes and specialized agencies should relate. Furthermore, to ensure more effective integration of UN system activities into national programmes, with national ownership, direction and participation, the resolution advocates the adoption of the programme approach and national execution. Other provisions of the resolution, aimed mainly at the funding organizations (UNDP, UNICEF, WFP, UNFPA and IFAD) suggest the expansion of joint programming exercises and the harmonization of programming cycles between the funding organizations, synchronized with national planning cycles.
8. Other elements in the resolution seek to rationalize a plethora of divergent administrative practices through the simplification of rules and procedures, thereby facilitating team-work between organizations. Ultimately this should result in a "common manual" and would diminish the corresponding administrative burden on national counterparts resulting from different procedures for payments, reporting, accounting and monitoring applied by different agencies as well as varying degrees of decentralization of financial authority to the field level. To this end, the different funds, programmes and agencies are urged to share common premises, thereby facilitating interaction and fostering the notion of a common UN country team and with attendant benefits of cost-effectiveness through shared administrative and logistical support services.
9. Resolution 50/120 calls for the governing bodies of individual agencies "to take appropriate action for [its] full implementation" and requests the executive heads to inform their respective governing bodies of the measures taken or planned to ensure the implementation of the resolution. The Administrative Committee on Coordination (ACC) at its April 1996 Session consequently adopted a statement which calls for concerted efforts for the full implementation of the resolution. The Consultative Committee on Programme and Operational Questions (CCPOQ), which will be the main inter-agency body responsible for monitoring implementation of the various reform components of the resolution and for reporting to ECOSOC and the General Assembly, at its March 1996 Session reviewed the implications of the resolution for its future work programme and endorsed a management process, identifying targets, benchmarks and action required by various actors for the various elements in the resolution up to the next General Assembly triennial policy review scheduled for 1998.
10. In the ILO, resolution 50/120 and the ACC statement have been circulated to all field offices and departments at headquarters, accompanied by notes and guidelines highlighting the implications of key elements such as the country strategy notes and new programming arrangements for the management of ILO activities at the field level, in particular as regards the changing relationship with UNDP and the other funding organizations of the United Nations system. This is part of a continuing process of information, briefing and training for ILO staff at headquarters and in the field involved in operational activities regarding the changing institutional arrangements, modalities and procedures for the management of technical cooperation and other operational activities.
11. The ILO considers that the reforms it has introduced, as endorsed by the Governing Body, are broadly consistent with the main thrust of these General Assembly resolutions: in particular the implementation of the Active Partnership Policy (APP) and restructuring of the ILO's field structure with redefined roles and responsibilities of the different ILO units. Efforts to promote coherence and team-work within the UN system, as promoted by resolution 50/120, in no way contradict the need for the ILO to maintain its own programming framework through the country objectives exercises and continuous dialogue with its constituents on the objectives and substance of its activities. Participation in the Resident Coordinator system and the country strategy note process should be seen as complementary to the ILO's efforts to ensure that its own programmes respond to the main needs and priorities of its constituents. Conversely, participation in the larger UN-system framework opens opportunities for the ILO to promote the interests of its constituents also in strategies and programmes outside the scope of its own activities.
III. The emerging new paradigm for UN-system
operational activities at the country level
12. The succession of significant reforms in the modalities and institutional arrangements for the UN system's operational activities deriving from the General Assembly's Comprehensive Triennial Policy Reviews, related decisions of ECOSOC in recent years and a number of initiatives taken at the inter-agency level in response to these policy instruments, are coming together in a new paradigm for the UN system's role and function in development. This paradigm represents a significant departure from the situation of a decade ago, and has considerable implications for the ILO's activities in terms of the substance and types of its technical cooperation activities, as well as the conditions for collaboration with United Nations partners, and in terms of resources and funding arrangements.
13. As regards overall strategies and substantive objectives this paradigm is shaped by the series of recent United Nations summit conferences, in particular the Conference on Environment and Development (Rio de Janeiro, 1992), the International Conference on Population and Development (Cairo, 1994), the World Summit on Social Development (Copenhagen, 1995) and the Fourth World Conference on Women (Beijing, 1995). Taken together, the programmes of action adopted by these conferences represent a continuum of inter-related goals and commitments and hence provide a common agenda for the United Nations system and its member States for collaboration in the social and economic fields, and a common frame of reference for action by the United Nations system.
14. At the country level this compact between global commitments and the objectives of the United Nations system is expressed in the Country Strategy Note or similar policy instruments, which should reflect national priority needs and objectives and the mandated roles, objectives and competencies of the UN system as a common strategic framework. Individual funds, programmes and specialized agencies are supposed to derive their own programmes from this common frame of reference, each contributing specific elements of support from its comparative substantive or functional advantage.
15. With the attendant concepts of national execution and programme approach, it follows that the activities carried out by the UN system collectively and by its individual organizations should not be seen as stand-alone, discrete projects under their management, but as inputs for comprehensive, multi-sectoral and nationally owned and directed programmes which may also integrate policies, investments and legislation and be supported by other organizations, donors and private-sector entities outside the UN system. Within this emerging new paradigm, the financing of development activities is seen in terms of helping countries mobilize domestic and external resources towards the priority objectives of national programmes, rather than mobilize resources for distinct activities carried out by different UN organizations.
16. Support from the UN system at all levels, from the formulation of overall development objectives and strategies through the Country Strategy Note process down to the mobilization of resources and programme implementation, is orchestrated by the Resident Coordinator system. The common thrust of various decisions taken to translate these into operational guidelines and practical institutional machinery at the intergovernmental level in recent years (followed by initiatives in such inter-agency fora as the Joint Consultative Group on Policy -- ], comprising the funding agencies -- and the CCPOQ -- comprising the whole system) has been aimed at strengthening the Resident Coordinator System. Through these decisions the Resident Coordinator system is moving from a loose informal network for the exchange of information towards operational unity, consensus-building on common objectives and more collective development of operational programmes to achieve these. Significant developments in this regard are the common-system decisions and initiatives taken through the CCPOQ and endorsed by the ACC on the Country Strategy Note process, the programme approach, common country assessments and joint programming. The call in resolution 50/120 for the establishment of field level committees of organizations present in a given country are another very significant development, as these "should review substantive activities -- including draft country programmes, sectoral programmes and projects -- prior to their approval by individual organizations ..." (paragraph 41).
17. The ILO has closely followed the discussion of these issues in the main intergovernmental bodies and has been actively participating in discussions in inter-agency meetings and working groups to examine the operational implications and develop appropriate guidelines. It considers that the emerging new framework for UN-system collaboration at the country level offers considerable opportunities for the ILO, as well as challenges to make effective contributions and derive maximum benefit for the ILO's work and for its constituents.
18. In addition, it should be noted that the emerging new conceptual framework for UN-system operational activities opens brings for the ILO to contribute with technical analysis and experience to the formulation of larger programmes supported by many other actors at a more strategic level, thereby reaching beyond projects and activities directly implemented by the ILO. It can also, potentially, ensure greater complementarity between its own programmes and supporting activities carried out by others, thereby achieving greater impact, to the benefit of constituents and target groups. Through the Resident Coordinator system it may reach out to the broad range of national institutions and authorities to ensure that the specific concerns of its constituents receive attention in the setting of priorities and the allocation of resources for development programmes.
19. Some potential risks may also be noted. While the ILO will always support coordination that enables concerted action by the competent organizations on complex, multi-sectoral problems, it favours a system based on recognition of the specific mandate and competence of each organization which permits each to contribute in terms of its own comparative advantage. However, the amorphous, open and much more competitive environment for multilateral development cooperation also finds its analogy in the market, with a multitude of funds, programmes and specialized agencies vying for position and recognition and competing for scarce resources. Here there is no guarantee of respect for the substantive and functional mandates of individual organizations, and their particular contribution may be obfuscated, not sufficiently recognized and inadequately funded. It also requires considerable effort on the part of the ILO to adapt and train its staff in the new modalities, which is required to participate effectively in the new UN system, often with uncertain returns, as there is often no direct assurance that the cost to the ILO of such participation will be met.
IV. Changes in UNDP
20. As the central coordinating organization responsible for managing the Resident Coordinator system and the central funding organization for technical assistance by the specialized agencies, UNDP has been at the centre of the reform process outlined above. It has, on the one hand, itself been particularly affected and forced to reassess all aspects of its role, its organizational structure, substantive focus and management practices by challenges to its authority, a changing and insecure funding base and the general demand for change emanating from member States. It has also, on the other hand, attempted to preempt reforms imposed from outside by advancing new concepts and ideas to stimulate discussion between governments and by undertaking a comprehensive set of internal reforms under the heading of initiatives for change, which have radically changed UNDP itself as well as its relationship with other UN bodies, in particular its traditional specialized agency partners.(4)
21. The debate over the future of UNDP is far from over. Because of its strategic position at the centre of the UN system's development activities, its network of offices in some 130 countries and its monopoly on the Resident Coordinator position, UNDP is seen by itself and others as the key to any major reform of the entire system. A number of further quite radical reform proposals have recently been put forward from different sides and are circulating in the corridors of the General Assembly, ECOSOC and UNDP's own Executive Board. It is symptomatic of the lack of consensus that one such study, commissioned by the Governments of the United Kingdom, India, Sweden and Denmark, proposes that UNDP should renounce its traditional funding role and long-standing close ties with the specialized agencies in order to become itself a substantively focused development agency, concentrating on capacity building; whereas another proposal, by its own Administrator, echoing proposals put forward by the United States, suggests the abolition of UNDP in its present form and its rebirth as the central management structure in an "Alliance for People" which would regroup all the major UN development funds and programmes as well as the humanitarian departments and agencies.
22. Under the pressure for reform UNDP has been evolving, albeit unsteadily, towards an organization with two centres of gravity: initiatives aimed at strengthening UNDP's coordinating function and its "service functions" on behalf of the UN system; and other initiatives aimed at sharpening its technical focus and transforming UNDP into a more substantively competent and effective organization, based on the concept of sustainable human development and with particular focus on poverty, as related in earlier reports.(5)
23. A number of significant initiatives have been taken to strengthen UNDP's position in coordinating UN-system operational activities, both centrally and at the country level, as well as to improve its managerial capacity and the effectiveness of its coordinating functions. The Administrator of UNDP, Mr. Speth, in his capacity as Special Coordinator for Economic and Social Development, is helping the Secretary-General ensure coherent policy and enhanced coordination in the economic and social fields of United Nations activities in a number of ways. One significant initiative relates to the role UNDP sees for itself as coordinating support from the entire UN system in follow-up on recent major international conferences at the country, regional and global levels, and fostered a proposal for integrated UN-wide follow-up on these conferences. This resulted in the establishment of three Inter-Agency Task Forces examining major common elements of those conferences' Programmes of Action. The ILO, as reported earlier,(6) is currently chairing one of the Task Forces, dealing with employment and sustainable livelihoods. These overall coordinating functions are seen as covering all the United Nations funds and programmes and the link between development and humanitarian and emergency operations, and also extend, through the Resident Coordinator system, to the field activities of the specialized agencies. To support this global coordination responsibility and UNDP's resident coordinator function a special Office for UN System Support (OUNS) has been established. This Office also supports UNDP's role as emergency coordinator in countries affected by complex emergencies. In 1996 the Executive Board gave practical effect to UNDP's coordinating role and to the Resident Coordinator system by approving the earmarking of 6 per cent of total UNDP resources to strengthen aid coordination and support to the UN system, a 17-fold increase over the previous level. Other initiatives taken in this regard include support to a number of UN system-wide operational activities training programmes, organized by the International Training Centre of the ILO in Turin (see below) and expanding the pool from which Resident Coordinators can be drawn to include other major UN organizations and large specialized agencies such as the ILO. The ILO has followed up on this initiative and expects that, over time, a number of ILO staff members will be seconded for this assignment with UN system-wide responsibilities.
V. UNDP: Agency support costs
24. At its Annual Meeting (Geneva, May 1996) the Executive Board of UNDP concluded the preparation of new successor programming arrangements, the main features of which were highlighted in an earlier report to this committee.(7) The new programming arrangements were intended to underpin UNDP's substantive reorientation focusing on sustainable human development and to provide UNDP with more effective, flexible and quality-based tools for resource allocations and management. However, at the threshold of the next programming cycle of UNDP, which starts in 1997, UNDP has been forced to revise downwards its forecasts of resources from a planning level of US$1.1 billion per year to a much lower level of around US$930 million per year. This is due to a disappointing decline in contributions from some major donor countries. Uncertainty over UNDP's future resource situation continues to undermine the strong team-leadership role UNDP intends to play, centred on the Resident Coordinator system and support for wider UN-system mandates at the field level.
25. The Annual Meeting also adopted an important decision on agency support costs (decision 96/31), which covers the resource parameters and modalities for financing technical and operational services from the specialized agencies. The decision reaffirms the policy objectives and retains the main characteristics of the system which was introduced in 1992:(8)
- effective involvement of the specialized agencies in UNDP's programmes, particularly in programme and project formulation and technical support to implementation;
- complementarity and synergy between the technical support services provided by agencies to UNDP projects and the broader technical mandates of specialized agencies;
- incentives for specialized agencies to concentrate on upstream and technical services, combined with disincentives for their involvement in more administrative operational support services, in line with the thrust towards national execution and a programme approach as the preferred modalities.
26. The decision retains the same financial parameters for three types of services:
| Percentage of global core
resources |
Estimated annual amount | |
| Resources for implementation | 3.00 | US$33 million |
| United Nations system support for policy and programme development | 2.00 | US$22 million |
| United Nations system support for technical services at the project level | 1.60 | US$17.6 million |
Within each of these services there are notional earmarkings in line with historical patterns for the "big five" agencies (FAO, UNIDO, UN/DDSMS, UNESCO and the ILO). However, in response to calls for greater flexibility and competition, the resources for different groups of agencies may increase or decrease within these ceilings according to actual demand. The ILO can therefore expect to obtain more or less the same level of resources for programme development and technical support services, while resources for administrative and operational services for project implementation will decline slightly, in line with progress in national execution.
27. Certain groups of countries favour a completely open, transparent and market-based system for support costs. They would therefore prefer to completely abandon the separate earmarking of support costs for UN system agencies and the "privileged" position enjoyed by UN specialized agencies as technical partners to UNDP for support services as compared to private sector consultants, universities and NGOs. Other countries are in favour of practical mechanisms, such as the support cost arrangements, which underpin close ties between UNDP and the specialized agencies. This debate, which is, essentially, about the nature of the relationship between UNDP and the specialized agencies rather than simply about support cost mechanisms and resources, is still ongoing and may lead to further changes in the arrangements in a relatively short time.
VI. The UN Staff College project
28. The United Nations Staff College Project, which was launched and started operations in 1996, is conceived as a project with a five-year life-span, the management and implementation of which have been entrusted by the United Nations to the Turin Centre. The assignment of the project to the Turin Centre should be seen in a large part as a result of the demonstrated ability of the Centre in handling a large number of system-wide training activities related to the reform process of UN-system operational activities under the aegis of the ACC and CCPOQ. At this initial stage the activities of the Staff College in 1996 have included a broad round of consultations with UN organizations and with multilateral and bilateral development agencies, with a view to sensitizing partner organizations on areas of common interest and mobilizing resources in support of the project. Efforts have also focused on programme design and development to determine the principal substantive offerings of the Staff College, notably in areas with a broad, cross-cutting interest: peace-keeping, peace-making and emergency training; economic and social development; organizational change and management; and new training methodologies and technologies. A series of training activities has already been carried out in 1996 in the framework of the project. These include continuation of the programme on the strengthening of national capacity aimed at trainers and decision makers in developing countries with a view to increasing the countries' capacity to manage their own development process; the programme on the management of field coordination, aimed at enhancing the cohesion of the UN system at the country level; and the provision of management and advisory services to individual UN institutions and agencies.
Geneva, 16 September 1996.
1. Information on some of these was provided in GB.265/5. The General Assembly has subsequently adopted a resolution, 50/227, on Further measures for the restructuring and revitalization of the United Nations in the economic, social and related fields.
3. Resolution 47/199 was appended to GB.258/TC/1/2. See also GB.258/TC/3/4, GB.261/TC/2/5 and GB.261/TC/4/6.
4. Information on the reforms in UNDP was provided in GB.264/TC/3 and earlier reports on this item.
5. GB.261/TC/4/6 and GB.264/TC/3.
Appendix
UNITED NATIONS
| General Assembly | .
Distr.
A/RES/50/120
|
Fiftieth session
Agenda item 97
RESOLUTION ADOPTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY
[on the report of the Second Committee (A/50/619)]
| 50/120. | Triennial policy review of operational
activities for development of the United Nations system |
The General Assembly,
Recalling its resolutions 44/211 of 22 December 1989 and 47/199 of 22 December 1992, as well as other relevant resolutions,
Reaffirming that operational activities for development within the United Nations system have a critical and unique role to play in enabling developing countries to continue to take a lead role in the management of their own development process,
Bearing in mind that the effectiveness of operational activities should be measured by their impact on the sustained economic growth and sustainable development of developing countries,
Stressing that national plans and priorities constitute the only viable frame of reference for the national programming of operational activities for development within the United Nations system, and that programmes should be based on such development plans and priorities, and should therefore be country-driven,
Also stressing in that context the need to take into account the outcomes and commitments of relevant United Nations conferences, as well as the individual mandates and complementarities of the organizations and bodies of the United Nations development system, bearing in mind the need to avoid duplication,
Further stressing that the fundamental characteristics of the operational activities of the United Nations system should be, inter alia, their universal, voluntary and grant nature, their neutrality and their multilateralism, as well as their ability to respond to the needs of developing countries in a flexible manner, and that the operational activities of the United Nations system are carried out for the benefit of the developing countries, at the request of those countries and in accordance with their own policies and priorities for development,
Recognizing the urgent and specific needs of the low-income countries, in particular the least developed countries,
Noting the progress that has been achieved in a number of areas in the implementation of its resolution 47/199, while stressing the need for individual organs, organizations and bodies of the United Nations system, as well as coordination mechanisms of the United Nations system, to continue to work towards the full and coordinated implementation of that resolution,
Also recognizing that the United Nations development system should take into account the specific needs and requirements of the countries with economies in transition and other recipient countries,
Recalling that the General Assembly is the highest intergovernmental mechanism for the formulation and appraisal of policy matters relating to the economic, social and related fields, in accordance with Chapter IX of the Charter of the United Nations, and that the functions and powers of the Economic and Social council are provided for in Chapters IX and x of the Charter and are elaborated in relevant Assembly resolutions, including resolutions 45/264 of 13 May 1991 and 48/162 of 20 December 1993, in which the Assembly defined the relationship between the Assembly, the Council and the executive boards of the funds and programmes, in particular the Council function of overall guidance and coordination of the operational activities for development of the United Nations system,
1. Takes note of the report of the Secretary-General on the triennial comprehensive policy review of operational activities for development of the United Nations system(1) and welcomes its user-friendly format;
2. Reaffirms its resolution 47/199 and stresses the need to implement fully all the elements of that resolution in a coherent manner, keeping in mind their interlinkages;
3. Endorses Economic and Social Council resolution 1995/51 of 28 July 1995 on overall guidance on operational activities for development to the United Nations funds and programmes;
4. Notes with regret that, although significant progress has already been made on the restructuring and rationalization of the governance and functioning of the United Nations development funds and programmes, there has not been, as part of the overall reform process, any substantial increase in resources for operational activities for development on a predictable, continuous and assured basis, nor have the consultations on prospective new modalities for financing reached a conclusion;
5. Strongly reaffirms that the efficiency, effectiveness and impact of the operational activities of the United Nations system must be enhanced by, inter alia, a substantial increase in their funding on a predictable, continuous and assured basis, commensurate with the increasing needs of developing countries, as well as through the full implementation of resolutions 47/199 and 48/162;
6. Urges developed countries, in particular those countries whose overall performance is not commensurate with their capacity, taking into account established official development assistance targets, including targets established at the Second United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries(2) and their current levels of contribution, to increase substantially their official development assistance, including contributions to the operational activities of the United Nations system;
7. Notes with appreciation the sustained contributions of many donors and recipient countries to the operational activities for development in a spirit of partnership;
8. Expresses serious concern at the persistent insufficiency of resources for the operational development activities of the United Nations, in particular the decline in contributions to core resources;
9. Stresses the need for a substantial increase in resources for operational activities for development on a predictable, continuous and assured basis, commensurate with the increasing needs of developing countries;
10. Decides that intensified consultations and negotiations on prospective new specific modalities for financing operational activities for development on a predictable, continuous and assured basis, in accordance with paragraphs 31 to 34 of annex I to resolution 48/162 on the restructuring and revitalization of the United Nations in the economic and social fields, should lead to an agreed outcome in the framework of the review process of that resolution;
11. Reaffirms the need for priority allocation of scarce grant resources to programmes and projects in low-income countries, particularly the least developed countries;
12. Emphasizes that recipient Governments have the primary responsibility for coordinating, on the basis of national strategies and priorities, all types of external assistance, including that provided by multilateral organizations, in order to integrate effectively such assistance into their development process;
13. Urges the members of the United Nations development system to continue to develop an agreed division of responsibility, in accordance with their respective mandates, under the coordination of Governments as well as greater complementarity in their respective roles at the field level in response to the needs and priorities of recipient countries;
14. Stresses the need for the United Nations system to take full account of the interests and concerns of all recipient countries, and, in that context, stresses the need for it to give serious consideration to ways of ensuring a more coherent response by the system to the national plans and priorities of recipient Governments;
15. Also stresses the need for all organizations Of the United Nations development system to focus their efforts at the field level on priority areas, in accordance with the priorities identified by recipient countries and the mandates, mission statements and relevant decisions of their governing bodies, in order to avoid duplication and enhance the complementarity and impact of their work;
16. Further stresses that, in the context of the reform of the United Nations Secretariat and the restructuring and revitalization of the intergovernmental process, the mandates of the separate sectoral and specialized entities, funds, programmes and specialized agencies should be respected and enhanced, taking into account their complementarities;
17. Reaffirms that the country strategy note remains a voluntary initiative of recipient countries that should be formulated by interested recipient countries in accordance with their development plans and priorities, with the assistance of and in cooperation with the United Nations system under the leadership of the resident coordinator, in all recipient countries where the Government so decides;
18. Decides that, where in place, the country strategy note should be the common framework for country programmes of United Nations system organizations and for programming, monitoring and evaluating United Nations system activities in such countries, and that the country strategy note should outline the United Nations system contribution, including, where appropriate, an indication of the level of resources needed to meet the requirements therein;
19. Requests the Secretary-General, in consultation with interested Member States and in order to be able to respond more effectively to the needs of recipient countries, to undertake further work on:
- Broad common guidelines, with the aim of promoting greater consistency and clarity in the United Nations system contribution to country strategy notes;
- Enhancing its operational relevance by ensuring that the development of individual country programmes takes fully into account the framework provided by the country strategy note, where it exists, so as to promote an agreed division of responsibility within the United Nations system in accordance with paragraph 13 of the present resolution;
- Promoting the exchange of experiences gained in producing country strategy notes among recipient countries;
20. Requests the Secretary-General, in consultation with Member States and United Nations organizations, to consider ways of enhancing the coordination of United Nations development activities at the regional and subregional levels, including ways of enhancing the role of the regional commissions and of promoting the national ownership of regional programmes;
21. Stresses that the United Nations system, where requested by interested Governments, should support the establishment of the forums and mechanisms that facilitate and guide policy dialogue among the partners in the development process, primarily in order to ensure that their programmes are integrated with national plans and strategies;
22. Decides that the objective of capacity-building and its sustainability should continue to be an essential part of the operational activities of the United Nations system at the country level, with the aim of integrating their activities and providing support to efforts to strengthen national capacities in the fields of, inter alia, policy and programme formulation, development management, planning, implementation, coordination, monitoring and review;
23. Recalls the importance of accountability as well as of simplifying reporting requirements, which should be in line with national systems;
24. Decides that, where Governments so desire, the United Nations system should be ready to engage in providing an enabling environment to strengthen the capacity of civil societies and national non-governmental organizations that are involved in development activities, in accordance with national priorities;
25. Also decides that the United Nations system should use, to the fullest extent possible, available national expertise and indigenous technologies;
26. Calls for further work on the development of common guidelines at the field level for the recruitment, training and remuneration of national project personnel, including national consultants in the formulation and implementation of development projects and programmes supported by the United Nations development system in order to enhance the coherence of the system;
27. Decides that the United Nations development system should continue to work on promoting a common understanding and the operationalization of capacity-building concepts, as well as on ways of enhancing the sustainability of capacity-building;
28. Also decides that the United Nations development system should continue to work on improving the definition and guidelines for national execution and the programme approach;
29. Requests the organizations and bodies of the United Nations system to undertake efforts in the context of national execution and capacity-building to enhance the absorptive capacity in developing countries, in particular in the least developed countries and Africa, and to assist similar efforts undertaken by those countries;
30. Stresses the important role of the specialized agencies of the United Nations system in transferring and facilitating the necessary technical and substantive expertise to support the national execution of United Nations~ funded programmes and projects, and invites the Secretary-General, in collaboration with the heads of specialized agencies, to inform the Economic and Social Council of the measures taken by those specialized agencies in response to General Assembly resolution 47/199, in particular as regards national execution;
31. Also stresses that the governing bodies of all funds, programmes and specialized agencies should make further progress in order to ensure that the prescribed limits on field-level authority for cancelling, modifying and adding activities within approved programmes and shifting resources within approved budget lines of individual components of a programme and among components of a programme, with the approval of national authorities, should be expanded to become equal and uniform, to the maximum extent possible, in the context of enhanced accountability;
32. Recognizes that monitoring and evaluation processes, including joint evaluations, should continue to be nationally led, and that the United Nations system should therefore support, where requested by Governments, the strengthening of national evaluation capacities;
33. Also recognizes in that context the need to strengthen capacities to perform both effective programme, project. and financial monitoring and impact evaluations of operational activities funded by the United Nations;
34. Requests the United Nations system to strengthen its efforts, in consultation with recipient countries, to ensure that:
- Monitoring is carried out in a way that ensures the timely identification of problems and effective remedial action;
- Organizations of the United Nations system, operating at the country level, coordinate their periodic programme reviews and evaluations;
- The lessons learned from both monitoring and evaluation exercises are systematically applied into programming processes at the operational level, and that responsibility for such application is clearly assigned;
- Evaluation criteria are built into all projects and programmes at their design stage, bearing in mind the need for adequate training;
35. Underlines the importance of promoting, under the leadership of Governments, greater collaboration on issues relating to evaluation among recipient Governments, the United Nations development system and relevant development partners at the country level;
36. Requests the Secretary-General to make the resident coordinator system more participatory in its functioning at the field level by, inter alia, making greater use of thematic groups and adopting a more consultative approach;
37. Also requests the Secretary-General to:
- Identify ways of encouraging wider participation in the pool of candidates for resident coordinator positions;
- Promote greater governmental involvement in the selection process for resident coordinators, in particular by ensuring that national Governments are consulted before the post profile for resident coordinators is passed to the Joint Consultative Group on Policies, and keeping up to date the selection criteria for resident coordinators and, through the respective executive heads, for senior representatives of United Nations agencies in the field, bearing in mind the specific circumstances of individual countries;
- Develop common guidelines for staff performance appraisal for the funds and programmes, including ways of assessing the contribution of staff members to United Nations system coordination;
- Urge all members of the united Nations development system to give clear guidance and direction to their country representatives to promote the effective functioning of the resident coordinator system;
- Promote training in the areas of team-building and interpersonal skills;
38. Invites the United Nations system, including the funds and programmes, specialized agencies and the Secretariat, to provide, as appropriate, support to the resident coordinator system;
39. Reaffirms that resident coordinators, in full consultation with national Governments, should facilitate a coherent and coordinated United Nations follow-up to major international conferences at the field level;
40. Decides that in order to promote coordination and a better division of labour resident coordinators Should, at an early stage of formulation, be informed of planned programme activities of the United Nations agencies, funds, programmes and bodies;
41. Also decides that the field-level committees organized by the United Nations system country team, which were established in accordance with paragraph 40 of General Assembly resolution 471199, should review substantive activities - including draft country programme, sectoral programmes and projects - prior to their approval by individual organizations, and should exchange experience acquired, on the understanding that the result of the work of the review committee should be submitted to national Governments for final approval through the national focal points;
42. Reaffirms the need to enhance the responsibility and authority of resident coordinators for the planning and coordination of programmes, an well as to allow them to propose, in full consultation with Governments, to the heads of the funds, programmes and specialized agencies, the amendment Of country programmes and major projects and programmes, where required, in order to bring them into line with country strategy notes;
43. Requests the Secretary-General and the United Nations development system to take the need for gender balance fully into account when making appointments, including at the senior level and in the field, in accordance with relevant General Assembly resolutions;
44. Requests the Joint Consultative Group on policies and, to the maximum extent possible, the specialized agencies, to raise substantially the target for achieving common premises on the basis of cost-benefit analysis and avoiding an increased burden on host countries;
45. Calls for further simplification and harmonization of rules of procedure used by the United Nations development system in its operational activities, in particular by the promotion of greater consistency in the presentation of budgets at the headquarters level, as well as in sharing administrative systems and services in the field, where possible, and in developing common databases, in consultation with national Governments;
46. Urges the members of the United Nations development system to adopt a more collaborative approach in preparing reports at all levels;
47. Requests the Secretary-General to promote the creation or further development of common guidelines on procedures relating to, inter alia, programme components and project formulation, appraisal, implementation, monitoring, evaluation and administration, in fulfilment of paragraph 33 of General Assembly resolution 47/199;
48. Takes note of Economic and Social Council resolution 1995/50 of 28 July 1995, in which the council decided that the high-level meeting of the operational activities segment of its substantive session of 1996 should focus on strengthening collaboration between the United Nations development system and the Bretton Woods institutions in the area of social and economic development at all levels, including the field level;
49. Takes note of the mission statement of the World Food Programme and the decision of the executive boards of the United Nations Development Programme/United Nations Population Fund and of the United Nations Children's Fund to establish mission statements for their respective organizations;
50. Emphasizes the importance of disseminating the experience of effective and efficient cooperation with the United Nations development system, inter alia, through interregional projects of technical cooperation, and urges the United Nations system to give support to such activities;
51. Calls upon the United Nations system, in implementing the present resolution, to bear in mind the specific requirements of the continuum from humanitarian assistance through rehabilitation to development;
52. Requests the Secretary-General, after consultations with the funds, programmes and specialized agencies of the United Nations system, to present to the Economic and Social Council at its substantive session of 1996 an appropriate management process containing clear guidelines, targets, benchmarks and time-frames for the full implementation of the present resolution;
53. Invites the Economic and Social Council, during the operational activities segment of its substantive sessions of 1996 and 1997, to examine the operational activities of the United Nations system with a view to ensuring the full implementation of the present resolution;
54. Also invites the Economic and Social Council, at its substantive session of 1996, to consider, inter alia, the issues of harmonization and administrative services, common premises and monitoring and evaluation, and, at its substantive session of 1997, to consider, inter alia, capacity-building, field and regional-level coordination, and resources, on the basis of progress reports by the Secretary-General, including appropriate recommendations;
55. Reaffirms that the governing bodies of the funds, programmes and specialized agencies of the United Nations system should take appropriate action for the full implementation of the present resolution, and requests the executive heads of those funds, programmes and specialized agencies, bearing in mind paragraph 46 of the present resolution, to submit a yearly progress report to their governing bodies on measures taken and envisaged for the implementation of the present resolution, as well as appropriate recommendations;
56. Decides that, as an integral part of the next comprehensive there should be, in consultation with Member States, triennial policy review, d an evaluation of the impact of operational activities for development, and requests the Secretary-General to submit to the Economic and Social Council at its substantive sessions of 1996 and 1997 information on progress in that regard;
57. Requests the Secretary-General to submit to the General Assembly at its fifty-third session, through the Economic and Social Council, a comprehensive analysis of the implementation of the present resolution in the context of the triennial policy review, and to make appropriate recommendations.
96th plenary meeting
20 December 1995
1. A/50/202-E/1995/76.
2. See Report of the Second United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries, Paris. 3-14 September 1990 (A/CONF.147/18), part one.