Comprehensive Policy Review of Operational Activities for Development

A/RES/38/171No PDF available

Who created this mandate?

A Resolution of the General Assembly, published in 1984.

What other versions does this mandate have?

2 versions · 1981–1984

1984A/RES/38/171Comprehensive policy review of operational activities for developmentLatestCompare with previous version
1981A/RES/35/81Comprehensive policy review of operational activities for development

Versions are identified automatically by matching titles within the same organ (~97% accuracy on a manual audit).

What subjects does this mandate have?

19 topics

Budget Contributions Coordination Within UN System Cross-Organizational Programme Analyses Developing Countries Development Assistance Development Personnel Development Policy Financing Inter-Agency Cooperation Least Developed Countries Multilateral Aid Operational Activities Programmes of Action Purchasing Self-Reliance Support Costs Technical Cooperation Technical Cooperation Among Developing Countries Tied Aid

What does this mandate say?

44 operative paragraphs

Takes note with appreciation of the report of the Director-General for Development and International Economic Co-operation on the comprehensive policy review of operational activities for development of the United Nations system;

Reaffirms the important contribution that operational activities of the United Nations system make to the development of developing countries and urges the relevant organs, organizations and bodies of the United Nations system to continue to attach priority to operational activities in their plans and programmes;

Notes that, although the outcome of the 1983 United Nations Pledging Conference for Development

Activities 107 reflected a positive trend, the overall level of resources remains unsatisfactory, falling short, in many cases, of the various types of targets set by the relevant intergovernmental bodies, thus hampering the ability of the system to respond to the growing needs of developing countries;

Strongly reiterates the need for a substantial and real increase in the flow of resources for operational activities on an increasingly predictable, continuous and assured basis, so as to enable the organizations of the system to maintain and, where possible, increase the level of their operational programmes and, in that context, strongly urges all countries, particularly developed countries. whose overall performance is not commensurate with their capacities, to increase rapidly and substantially their voluntary contributions for operational activities for development, taking into account the targets that have been set by relevant intergovernmental bodies;

Reaffirms that the operational activities of the United Nations system should be in accordance with the national plans, priorities and objectives of the recipient countries in order to enhance their impact on and relevance to the national development process of those countries;

Invites the World Bank to continue to carry out its country activities in accordance with the national plans and priorities of recipient countries, in order to promote the economic self-reliance of developing countries;

Emphasizes the need to maintain the multilateral character of the operational activities of the United Nations system and urges all Governments to enhance their commitment in this regard;

Calls upon all Governments, in the interest of preserving the multilateral principles of the system, to refrain from the practice of tying aid for operational activities of the United Nations system to the procurement of goods and services from the donor countries, restricting it to those funds that have a mandate to accept it on an experimental basis;

Invites the organs, organizations and bodies of the United Nations system dealing with the flows of concessional resources to developing countries to pay greater attention, in their reviews of these issues, to the funding needs of the United Nations funds and programmes in support of the development plans formulated by the recipient Governments;

Urges the international community to provide a substantial increase in financial resources to United Nations funds and programmes engaged in operational activities in order to enhance their contributions to the implementation of the Substantial New Programme of Action for the 1980s for the Least Developed Countries, 108 bearing in mind the need of those countries for official development assistance from multilateral sources;

Urges all Governments concerned to conclude negotiations regarding the seventh replenishment of the International Development Association, with a view to ensuring an appropriate increase in resources, and calls for those negotiations to be completed as soon as possible so that the seventh replenishment may become effective in July 1984;

Urges all Governments concerned to strengthen the International Fund for Agricultural Development. particularly by releasing their contributions according to agreed schedules and responding positively during the negotiations regarding the second replenishment;

Welcomes the progress made towards the attainment of the 1983-1984 target for voluntary contributions to the World Food Programme and urges Governments to make every effort to ensure the full attainment of that target. as well as the proposed 1985-1986 target;

Takes note of the recommendations made in section III of the report of the Director-General for Development and International Economic Co-operation, 109 designed to enhance the responsiveness of operational activities to the needs and requirements of all developing countries in accordance with their objectives and priorities, as formulated in their national development plans and programmes, and their efforts to promote greater economic and technical co-operation among themselves;

l 5.

Invites all organs, organizations and bodies of the United Nations system engaged in operational activities for development, with a view to achieving, inter alia. higher cost effectiveness, to make greater use of the capacities of developing countries by:

Engaging national experts and personnel;

Utilizing local or regional sources for the procurement of material. equipment and services;

Decides that the guidelines on procurement to be issued pursuant to paragraph 7 of decision 81 /28 of 30 June 1981 110 and section II, paragraph 2, of decision 82/ 34 of I 8 June 1982 111 of the Governing Council of the United Nations Development Programme should govern the procurement activities of organs and bodies under the authority of the General Assembly in their execution of projects financed by the Programme;

I 7.

J,Velcomes decision 82/8 of 18 June 1982 of the Governing Council of the United Nations Development Programme, 111 designed to promote government execution of projects funded by the Programme, the support cost savings that could result therefrom becoming available for programmes and plans, on the basis of the illustrative indicative planning figure;

Reiterates the set of principles which, in the programming of the resources at the disposal of the different organizations of the United Nations system, should be uniformly applied; those principles, embodied in the consensus of 1970 112 and decision 80/30 of26 June 1980 113 of the Governing Council of the United Nations Development Programme include, inter alia, the following:

Equity, particularly in the distribution of resources among developing countries;

Assistance to be provided only in response to the express needs of the recipient countries;

Assistance to be integrated with the overall development objectives and priorities of the country concerned;

Programming to be seen as an integrated process, of which the different phases, such as programming, project formulation. assessment, approval and evaluation. constitute integral parts;

Emphasizes the important role of the United Nations system in assisting developing countries, upon request, in developing their evaluation capacity and requests the Secretary-General, in consultation with the organs, organizations and bodies of the system, to elabo-

rate, in the light of the conclusions and recommendations of the Joint Inspection Unit contained in its report. 114 proposals to promote the evaluation capacity of recipient Governments;

Recognizes that. concerning operational activities for development of the United Nations system. evaluation is an important part of the programming process in order to achieve a rational and optimal utilization of the overall resources available;

Reaffirms the general guidelines embodied in the new dimensions in technical co-operation adopted by the Governing Council in 1975 115 and urges their full application;

Recommends improved coherence of action and co-ordination of the operational systems at the country level, under the overall responsibility of the resident coordinator and in consultation with the Governments concerned, in order to cut down expenses on administrative and support costs, minimize waste through avoidance of duplication of work and facilitate the task of the host country in co-ordinating external assistance, and considers that further efforts should be undertaken in this regard;

Invites the Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme and the President of the World Bank, as well as the heads of regional development banks, to examine further possibilities of co-operation between the Programme and those institutions regarding the complementarity of their respective technical co-operation programmes, in order to enhance the implementation of the present resolution and. in so doing, ensure greater utilization of the facilities available in the various organizations of the United Nations system regarding projects financed by those funding agencies. and requests the Administrator to report thereon to the Governing Council of the United Nations Development Programme:

Urges the relevant organs. organizations and bodies of the United Nations system to increase their support for the process of technical co-operation among developing countries by orienting their programmes and projects. as appropriate, towards strengthening such co-operation:

Urges the Secretary-General and the executive heads of organs, organizations and bodies of the United Nations system, bearing in mind the need to maintain an appropriate level of support functions. to seek to minimize administrative and other support costs without affecting the field programmes and the network of United Nations Development Programme offices in developing countries, with a view to increasing the proportion of resources available to improve programme delivery to developing countries;

Requests the organs, organizations and bodies of the United Nations system receiving resources of an extrabudgetary nature to include information on those resources and their utilization in their budgets and reports and to make that information available to the Governments concerned and to the resident co-ordinator in the recipient country;

Recommends that. in accordance with its resolution 32/ 197, due consideration should be given to the technical expertise of the Department of Technical Cooperation for Development for its designation as an executing agency for the implementation of projects within its mandate, as well as its role in the execution of technical co-operation activities of the United Nations system, in order to reaffirm the role of the Department within the existing technical and administrative structures and to avoid duplication and accomplish economies of scale:

Urges all organs.. organizations and bodies of the United Nations system. in the light of the recommendations contained in section V of the report of the Director- General for Development and International Economic Cooperation, 109 to take the necessary steps to ensure the harmonization of administrative. financial. personnel, planning and procurement procedures. and requests the Director-General for Development and International Economic Co-operation to report annually on specific action taken;

Reiterates the importance of the co-ordination of multilateral development assistance at the field level, and requests the Director-General for Development and International Economic Co-operation, while preparing his next report on operational activities. to pay particular attention to the need for improved coherence of action and effective integration at the country level, in accordance with section V of the annex to resolution 321197 and paragraph 11 of resolution 35/81. and to the role of resident co-ordinators in the co-ordination of operational activities of the United Nations system:

Requests the Joint Inspection Unit to study in depth the structure of the field representation of the organs and organizations of the United Nations system. particularly with regard to the tasks allotted to the resident coordinators;

Requests the Director-General for Development and International Economic Co-operation to include in his report to the General Assembly at its thirty-ninth session:

An examination of the extent and implications of the continuation of the practice of contributions being provided to organizations with conditions attached to their use. taking into account the information to be provided by the heads of the relevant organs. organizations and bodies;

An in-depth analysis of the subject mentioned in paragraph 22 above concerning improved coherence of action and co-ordination of the operational systems at the country level:

A comparative analysis of the relationship between programme delivery and administrative costs pertaining to operational activities for development executed by the organs, organizations and bodies of the United Nations system. as well as an assessment of agency support costs;

Requests the Director-General for Development and International Economic Co-operation to include in his report for the 1986 comprehensive policy review:

A study, with supporting data, on the progress achieved with respect to the issues identified in paragraph I 5 above:

A system-wide review of the activities identified in paragraph 24 above relating to technical co-operation among developing countries as carried out by different organizations, with particular reference to the approaches and methods devised and followed, the kind of activities undertaken by these organizations and the relevant institutional arrangements;

Requests the Secretary-General, for the purpose of the 1986 comprehensive policy review. as part of the continuous review by the General Assembly, to entrust the Director-General for Development and International Economic Co-operation with the preparation of a report on policy issues pertaining to operational activities for development undertaken by the United Nations system, taking into account the views and comments of delegations at the second regular session of 1983 of the Economic and Social Council and at the thirty-eighth session of the General Assembly. for submission to the- Assembly at its forty-first

session through the Council at its second regular session of 1986;

Strongly reiterates its desire for a coherent and coordinated United Nations system in the field of operational activities for development and, in that context, requests the Director-General for Development and International Economic Co-operation to continue to provide effective leadership in the co-ordination of the various components of the United Nations system in that field and in exercising overall co-ordination within the system, as set forth in resolution 32/ l 97, and requests all organs, organizations and bodies of the United Nations system to co-operate fully with the Director-General.

!02nd plenary meeting

19 December 1983

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