POLICY REVIEW OF OPERATIONAL ACTIVITIES FOR DEVELOPMENT BEGINS IN SECOND COMMITTEE
Press Release
GA/EF/2698
POLICY REVIEW OF OPERATIONAL ACTIVITIES FOR DEVELOPMENT BEGINS IN SECOND COMMITTEE
19951107 Background Release First Review Since UNDP Administrator Entrusted With Responsibility for Coordination of UN Development ActivitiesThe Second Committee (Economic and Financial) begins the 1995 triennial policy review of United Nations operational activities for development on Wednesday, 8 November. At a time when, as described by Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali, the Organization's financial crisis is affecting those activities.
In his opening remarks to the 1995 United Nations Pledging Conference for Development Activities, the Secretary-General said that the development challenges faced by the United Nations were growing in range and complexity, but levels of development aid were declining, which meant "difficult times" for the Organization's development work. He said the fiftieth anniversary provided a "window of opportunity" to revitalize United Nations system development cooperation and reverse the trend of declining resources for operational activities. The Conference concluded on 2 November after receiving pledges of more than $2 billion in real or anticipated contributions.
The Committee's policy review will assess the implementation of resolution 47/199, a 55-operative paragraph text that stresses that recipient governments have the primary responsibility for coordinating all types of external development assistance. This will be the first comprehensive review of those activities since the Secretary-General entrusted, in July 1994, the Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), James Gustave Speth, with overall responsibility for improving the coordination of the Organization's development activities.
A report of the Secretary-General before the Committee states that, increasingly, the United Nations system is being asked to help governments solve major problems that go far beyond its available financial resources. In turn, that leads to calls from donor countries for a process of prioritization
and to calls from recipient countries for additional resources and continued flexibility in resource allocation, so as to maintain the system's responsiveness to national priorities.
The Secretary-General's report (document A/50/202-E/1995/76 and Adds. 1, 2 and 3) was based, in part, on views expressed by donor and recipient countries and United Nations agencies in response to questionnaires related to the implementation of resolution 47/199. Two addenda contain statistical data on operational activities for the years 1993 and 1994, respectively. Another addendum provides a summary of actions taken by the United Nations system to implement mandates by the Economic and Social Council and by the Assembly related to the triennial policy review.
Reviewing changing trends in the Organization's operational activities for development, the Secretary-General states that those activities have extended their geographical reach to include the Commonwealth of Independent States and central Europe. In addition, the functional ambit of operational activities has widened in response to requests by recipient countries, involving greater support in national reconstruction, the continuum of relief and development, public administration reform, disaster management, drug control, human rights and support for institutional reforms.
Among the new challenges of development cooperation, emergency assistance increased from 20 per cent of all operational activity expenditures in 1990 to 25 per cent in 1994, with the main increase occurring in Africa. Another important development is the trend towards enhancing the cooperation between the Bretton Woods institutions and other organizations of the United Nations system, particularly in the areas of social development, environment and poverty elimination.
According to developed countries, the key to that cooperation is complementarity, with the United Nations system providing, through technical cooperation, added value to the major resource flows available from international financial institutions. Developing countries, however, express a more mixed opinion. For example, while all countries desire and encourage greater cooperation, some countries expressed concern that it might lead to new conditionalities being placed on United Nations resources, making them more vulnerable to the restrictive policies normally attached to the loans of those financial institutions.
Many recipient countries are undergoing some type of structural adjustment programme and that has also influenced the role of operational activities, the report states. Sixty-two per cent of resident coordinators describe operational activities as complementary to adjustment programmes, whereas 58 per cent view them as mitigating and alleviating the effects of those policies and programmes. The vast majority of recipient countries feel
- 3 - Press Release GA/EF/2698 7 November 1995
that the United Nations system has been "informed of" but not "involved in" the preparation, coordination and implementation of structural assistance schemes.
According to the report, there is a growing awareness that the effectiveness of development cooperation is largely a function of the capacity of a country to manage the development process and integrate development assistance into the national context. Nearly half of the developing countries that expressed their views called for an even greater emphasis on promoting internal managerial skills and training indigenous counterparts to United Nations experts.
Addressing the resource situation, the report states that official development assistance (ODA), which over the past 20 years had remained stable, sharply declined for the first time, from $60.8 billion in 1992 to $55.9 billion in 1993. While demand for United Nations system assistance has increased dramatically, programmable funds available for supporting development cooperation activities have shown a decline, particularly for technical cooperation. Volatility in contributions has made realistic long-term planning more difficult and reduced effectiveness and impact.
A whole chapter of an annex to the Secretary-General's report concerns programme development and implementation. It provides background information, as well as an assessment of the current status of important provisions of resolution 47/199, including the country strategy note and the programme approach.
The concept of a country strategy note (CSN) was established in resolution 47/199. Such a note should be a policy statement that establishes national priorities to be supported by the United Nations system and represents a broad frame of reference for United Nations system development activities. It should outline the contribution that the United Nations development system can make to respond to the requirements identified by recipient countries in their plans, strategies and priorities.
Of the 131 countries for which information is available, 84 have formally indicated their interest in pursuing the CSN, which has been completed and has been adopted by the Governments in Bolivia, Costa Rica, Ghana, Indonesia, Mauritius, Thailand, Turkey and Viet Nam. Six countries have explicitly declared that they do not wish to pursue the CSN process at the present stage: Bhutan, Cuba, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Libya, Saudi Arabia and Uruguay.
An assessment of the CSN's full value is not possible yet, the report states. However, the experience gained suggests that its success depends, to a large extent, on the interest and involvement shown by national authorities. Many recipient governments, especially in Latin America and Africa, expressed
- 4 - Press Release GA/EF/2698 7 November 1995
the view that the CSN is a valuable tool for coordinating external aid and also serves as a reference document for all donor agencies. Others said the CSN did not contribute to additional resource mobilization nor did it directly add value to existing modalities. Some donor countries expressed concern about the slow introduction of the CSN.
Suggestions to improve the quality of the CSN as a document and a process were formulated by some resident coordinators, including those who expressed concern that it is a government document, which means that the pace of preparation is subject to the degree of commitment and availability of resources. On the other hand, according to several United Nations organizations, the CSN process is seen as not reflecting sufficiently the country's priorities, because it is overly driven by resident coordinators and, in some cases, by UNDP priorities.
Concerning the programme approach, the Secretary-General states that the core of that approach implies the use of external funds in a form that is best suited to supporting national programme objectives. United Nations system support should be merged with national and other external support, no longer structured in separate projects, but targeted to national objectives. At the same time, there are difficulties concerning a common understanding of the concept of programme approach among organizations of the United Nations system and governments, and several respondents said that clearer and better coordinated guidelines should be developed.
Assessing the programme approach, the report states that many organizations had indicated that it is too soon to make an evaluation of programmes formulated under that approach, as the programmes are largely in the process of being formulated or are in an initial stage of implementation. Most governments have welcomed the shift from the project to the programme approach as a means of bringing about a greater concentration of resources on a few priority programmes.
The report states that there is an increasing body of experience and evidence with regard to the practice and performance of national execution. That has resulted in a significant change in the role of UNDP, which has in the past primarily relied on United Nations system agencies to undertake project and programme execution, a function now being transferred to government entities. The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the World Food Programme (WFP) have, in any case, already conformed to the definition of national execution and established long-standing implementation relationships with governments, so their practices have not changed in any appreciable degree in recent years. The specialized agencies have maintained that their activities conform in practice to the definition of national execution and that overall responsibility and accountability for formulation and management of programmes are with governments.
- 5 - Press Release GA/EF/2698 7 November 1995
The report also assesses the experience of the resident coordinator system and its implementation of some of the tools developed to support a more effective operational activities system, those tools being the programme approach, national execution and the country strategy note. Most recipient countries have positive perceptions of the resident coordinator system and several advocated strengthening the resident coordinator to act as an adviser to the government on behalf of the United Nations system. The majority agreed, however, that there would first need to be greater consultation and cooperation across agencies to make the resident coordinator more effective. Finally, countries from all regions called for the resident coordinator to be fully cognizant of the specific cultural and economic contexts of the countries in which they worked.
The Secretary-General also submits a set of 28 recommendations relating to the main provisions of resolution 47/199. Concerning the role of the Economic and Social Council, one of the recommendations is that, when the Council reviews the annual reports of the Executive Boards of the United Nations funds and programmes, it should ensure that their activities and operational strategies are consistent with each other and the impact achieved is commensurate with the resources and efforts devoted to them.
Concerning improved substantive dialogue at the country level, the report recommends that recipient countries establish mechanisms to facilitate the policy dialogue among the different partners in the development process, in consultation with the local representatives of the donor community. The United Nations system should be ready to support this process, as requested by governments, and should equip and staff itself accordingly.
Addressing resources, the report stresses that negotiations on a new, improved funding system should be re-energized by all parties. A better system should be developed that ensures mechanisms for all participating countries to demonstrate their responsibility and commitment to the programmes and funds.
Noting the growing responsibilities of the resident coordinator, the report states that, in addition to the resources provided by the UNDP Executive Board, the resident coordinator system should have supplementary resources, either financial or in kind, drawn from the entire United Nations system to support system efforts.
The report also states that the country strategy note should outline the contribution that the United Nations system can make in responding to the country's requirements, including an indication of the level of resources needed. There should be a regional strategy note to serve as a framework for regional cooperation. Addressing the programme approach, the report states that United Nations organizations should continue to play a strong role in helping countries, at their request, to prepare coherent national programmes, implement those programmes and monitor and evaluate them.
- 6 - Press Release GA/EF/2698 7 November 1995
The expansion of national execution should be continued on a situation- specific basis, says the report. It calls for special attention to be paid to accountability issues. Further, the report calls on United Nations system organizations to intensify their efforts to simplify, streamline and harmonize their rules and procedures, particularly those that have a bearing on their programming processes and delivery systems. Also, capacity-building in priority areas should continue to be an essential part of the operational activities of the United Nations system at the country level.
The report calls for a more focused policy dialogue encompassing the United Nations system as a whole, to be promoted at the Headquarters level. That dialogue could be pursued within the framework of the Economic and Social Council, within the governing bodies of the Bretton Woods institutions, between the Bretton Woods institutions and other organizations of the United Nations system and within the Administrative Committee on Coordination (ACC). The report also calls for strengthened national coordination, adding that the Assembly might recommend that the United Nations system should normally be housed in common premises at the country level, wherever economically feasible, and that every effort should be made to institute shared services in the field.
* *** *