Despite Significant Funding, Staffing Gaps, UN Resident Coordinator System Delivering Development Support for Countries Worldwide, Economic and Social Council Hears
Six years after the Resident Coordinator system was repositioned to address fragmented United Nations support for development, countries are beginning to see results on the ground — but significant funding and staffing gaps persist, the Economic and Social Council heard today.
The discussion — taking place as part of the Council’s Operational Activities for Development Segment — comes as the UN faces a deepening liquidity crisis and undertakes sweeping reform efforts — such as UN 2.0 and UN80 — aimed at making the Organization more agile, responsive, efficient and fit for purpose.
At the outset of the meeting, Amina J. Mohammed, Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations and Chair of the United Nations Sustainable Development Group, presented the report of the United Nations Development Group’s Chair (document E/2025/61) on the Development Coordination Office and the Resident Coordinator system.
The Resident Coordinator system is the main mechanism for coordinating the UN development activities at the country level. It ensures that all UN entities operating in a country work together in a coherent, effective, and accountable manner to support national development priorities and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The Development Coordination Office is the secretariat of the reinvigorated UN Resident Coordinator system and plays a central role in helping the UN development system deliver as one at the country level.
Amid Convergence of Global Crises, Challenges, Expedited Action Key to Achieve Sustainable Development Goals
“Around the world, people are confronting a convergence of crises, entrenched conflict, economic instability, persistent poverty and inequalities, constrained multilateralism and declining support for development funding and financing,” the Deputy Secretary-General observed, emphasizing: “This is precisely the moment in which we must recommit to accelerated action that delivers the Sustainable Development Goals for people and planet.”
In 2024, 98 per cent of host Governments reported that the UN’s activities were closely aligned with national priorities, and 93 per cent indicated that the Resident Coordinator system and UN country teams provided support for changes in national policies and regulatory frameworks to advance all the SDGs.
Moreover, 90 per cent of contributing countries agree that the Resident Coordinator system has scaled up collective action for the SDGs, and 84 per cent agree that the Resident Coordinator system helped improve coherence in UN activities and in reducing the duplication of efforts. “These are more than numbers,” she said, as they represent “a shift in how we work together, as the UN system”.
Wide Range of Actors Actively Engaged in Resident Coordinator System
The Resident Coordinator system is “the engine of this accelerated support to countries”, she stressed, outlining its key functions. Resident Coordinators are leveraging national and global processes to support transformation aligned with SDG priorities. Over 100 national initiatives were launched to link the Summit of the Future with SDG implementation.
Resident Coordinators are mobilizing a wide range of actors — from civil society to international financial institutions. About 73 per cent of UN country teams reported active engagement with these multilateral banks while 90 per cent of host Governments said that Resident Coordinators helped leverage partnerships for national SDG efforts.
Additionally, the Joint SDG Fund supported 136 new programmes in 90 countries in 2024, reaching over 206 million people and catalysed $1.6 billion in additional investment. Resident Coordinators are also improving delivery by tracking the Business Operations Strategy and by promoting common premises, back offices, and global service centres. They are also providing comprehensive results reports, enhancing accountability to Member States.
$80 Million Funding Gap Poses Problems
However, challenges remain — despite $53 million in regular budget support in 2024, the funding gap was nearly $80 million. Only 33 per cent of Resident Coordination offices were fully staffed due to lack of resources. She noted overreliance on voluntary contributions and agency cost-sharing. Recruitment for Talent Pipeline for the top development officials has paused, risking gaps in diversity and technical capacity.
“Let us invest in the UN development system as a matter of shared responsibility and a strategic necessity for a sustainable future that leaves no one behind,” she concluded.
Following the presentation of the report, Member States exchanged views with the Deputy Secretary-General.
“Six years into the repositioning of the UN development system and the establishment of the Development Coordination Office, we are being confronted with a further reduction in financing,” warned the representative of Iraq, speaking for the Group of 77 and China, observing: “This comes at the time when full recovery from the impacts of COVID-19, climate change, and rising inequality seems elusive.” The report presents some emerging evidence that the work of the Development Coordination Office and the Resident Coordinator system are beginning to yield results. In this regard, future reports can be further strengthened to reflect tangible outcomes from cooperation frameworks and insight into the successes and challenges.
Stronger Coordination among UN Agencies Key to Deliver as One
The representative of the European Union, in its capacity as observer, said that it is encouraging that 75 per cent of Resident Coordinators were appointed post-reform, 53 per cent are women, and 57 per cent come from programme countries. “Despite improvements, stronger coordination among agencies is still needed to work and deliver as one UN,” he emphasized. Cautioning that the nearly $80 million financial gap poses a risk to reform efforts, he said that the system is working to maximize efficiencies, saving $6.2 million through cost avoidance and advancing shared services. He encouraged the Resident Coordinator system to continue identifying further efficiencies and analyse how it will be impacted by the UN80 reform process. The bloc and its member States contributed more than $300 million since 2019 in the form of levy and voluntary contributions combined, he added.
Least Developed and Landlocked Developing Countries Call for Tailored Support
Least developed countries, represented by the delegate of Nepal, called for explicit and tailored support to this group for integration, implementation and monitoring of the Doha Programme of Action at the national level. “The effective implementation of the Doha Programme of Action remains our top priority,” she said, adding: “Its success hinges significantly on a well-coordinated and effective UN development system support at the country level.” For example, she requested that the Resident Coordinators support national focal points in preparing country reports on the implementation of the Programme of Action ahead of its mid-term review in 2027. Resident Coordinators should also facilitate enhanced South-South and triangular cooperation to supplement North-South cooperation. Dedicated mechanisms should be established to support least developed countries during their graduation from the category, including by enhancing capacity for data collection and resource mobilization.
Landlocked developing countries face a range of unique and structural challenges due to their lack of direct access to the sea, limiting their ability to fully participate in global trade, attract investment, and achieve sustainable development, noted the representative of Kyrgyzstan, who spoke for the group, welcoming UN development support tailored to their needs. “We value the contribution made by the Resident Coordinator system in coordinating multi-stakeholder platforms around transit corridors, trade facilitation and digital access,” she said. On the UN80 reform initiative, she expressed a deep concern about any potential reduction in mandates of UN offices that support landlocked developing countries. “At a time when tailored support is more critical than ever, the group stresses that such mandates must not only be preserved but actively strengthened,” she urged.
Africa Group Voices Satisfaction with Resident Coordinators’ Performance, Leadership
The representative of Ethiopia, speaking for the African Group, said that the report reflects high satisfaction with the performance and leadership of Resident Coordinators among host Governments, particularly in Africa. “The work done in areas such as climate action, youth employment and food systems, especially through regional platforms and joint programming, demonstrate the value of coordinated cross-border responses,” he said.
Responding comments and questions, the Deputy Secretary-General clarified that the UN80 initiative is about more impacts, not less, stating: “Yes, the funding is going down, but if we have a repositioning, a reset of how we respond, being more efficient, being more representative, being more responsive to the needs, then I believe that funding will come back to the development system.” In this regard, she noted the importance of successfully concluding the upcoming Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development in Seville, Spain.
Dialogue with Executive Heads of UN Development System Entities
Also featured in today’s programme was an interactive dialogue with executive heads of UN entities that comprise the UN development system, offering insights into system-wide efforts to advance sustainable development.
Achim Steiner, Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), reported how the Programme works as part of UN country teams to help Governments achieve their development objectives. UNDP, as part of an international consortium, is supporting nearly 100 countries in preparing their nationally determined contributions to ensure each country is raising their levels of ambition to reduce global-warming gas emissions. Another example is the publication of UNDP’s “SDG Push” analyses, which have been made available to almost 100 countries, offering innovative, data-driven and actionable insights tailored to specific national contexts.
He pointed out that adding things up and dividing by 193 — the number of UN Member States — hides both the remarkable successes of individual initiatives and national policies as well as the serious setbacks and failures. The advantage of UNDP, as an entity working at country level, is its ability to see on the ground that “choices matter and well-informed policymaking, actually, is consequential”.
Focus on Digital Connectivity’s Role in Achieving Sustainable Development
Doreen Bogdan-Martin, Secretary-General of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), joined the discussion via videoconference to underscore that “digital connectivity is a critical enabler of development, and one of six transformative pathways to maximize country-level impact across the SDGs”. The SDG Digital Acceleration Agenda by ITU and UNDP found that 70 per cent of the SDG targets have a digital component.
“Connectivity can spur progress across all the Goals… at a time when 2.6 billion people are offline,” she said. Despite being a smaller agency with physical presence in 13 countries, ITU supported 146 countries with digital transformation policy frameworks and technical assistance in 2024 alone, she added.
Coordinated Action that Advances Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment is Central Objective
Sima Bahous, Executive Director of the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN-Women), said that gender equality is the thread running through the entire 2030 Agenda. UN-Women works with UN partners, the Resident Coordinator system and the Development Coordination Office to help deliver results for all women and girls worldwide. This year alone, 116 UN country teams reviewed how well they integrate gender equality and women’s empowerment in their planning, marking a 20 per cent increase from 2024.
She said that more than 30 per cent of UN-Women’s programmes are jointly carried out with other agencies, highlighting its partnership with the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and World Food Programme (WFP) to support rural women’s economic empowerment in countries like Nepal, Niger and Rwanda, helping nearly 80,000 women and over 400,000 family members build their own resilience to climate shocks and to crises.
“Coordinated action that makes a difference in the daily lives of women and girls is our objective,” she declared, adding that UN-Women has started moving operations closer to those it serves.
Dialogue with UN Country Teams and Other Actors on SDG Financing at Country Level
Country-level SDG financing was the focus of another panel discussion held late afternoon, which explored how the UN development system helps countries unlock financing and investments for the SDGs through innovative approaches and stronger coordination at the national level.
Guest speakers were: Rola Dashti, Under-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA); Bjørg Sandkjær, Officer-in-Charge and Assistant Secretary-General for Policy Coordination of the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs; Nelson Muffuh, UN Resident Coordinator in South Africa; and Pablo Ruiz Hiebra, UN Resident Coordinator in Uruguay.
Held annually, the Council’s Operational Activities for Development Segment is taking place from 20 May to 22 May under the theme “Keeping the promise on sustainable development in times of uncertainty — The United Nations development system delivering for results”. The segment provides overall coordination and guidance to the governing bodies of the UN development system and serves to strengthen the link between policy and operations.