Progress in the Implementation of General Assembly Resolution 67/226 on the Quadrennial Comprehensive Policy Review of Operational Activities for Development of the United Nations System

E/RES/2013/5View PDF

Who created this mandate?

A Resolution of the Economic and Social Council, under agenda item 3Operational activities of the United Nations for international development cooperation, published in 2013.

What other versions does this mandate have?

3 versions · 2013–2015

This is an older version — the most recent is E/RES/2015/15

2015E/RES/2015/15Progress in the implementation of General Assembly resolution 67/226 on the quadrennial comprehensive policy review of operational activities for development of the United Nations systemLatestCompare with previous version
2014E/RES/2014/14Progress in the implementation of General Assembly resolution 67/226 on the quadrennial comprehensive policy review of operational activities for development of the United Nations systemCompare with previous version
2013E/RES/2013/5Progress in the implementation of General Assembly resolution 67/226 on the quadrennial comprehensive policy review of operational activities for development of the United Nations system

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

What subjects does this mandate have?

9 topics

Capacity Building Coordination Within UN System Country Programmes Development Assistance Development Finance Operational Activities Programme Implementation Resident Coordinators Results-Based Management

What does this mandate say?

36 operative paragraphs

Management processes

Takes note of the reports of the Secretary-General on the monitoring of the implementation of General Assembly resolution 67/226 on the quadrennial comprehensive policy review of operational activities for development of the United Nations system and on the analysis of funding of operational activities for development of the United Nations system for 2011;

Acknowledges the efforts of the Secretary-General in establishing an evidence-based monitoring system on the implementation of the quadrennial comprehensive policy review, and calls upon the Secretary-General, in full consultation with the United Nations development system, to further enhance the analytical and evidence-based quality of the monitoring report as a tool for effective, coherent and accessible monitoring of the implementation of the quadrennial comprehensive policy review, while minimizing transaction costs without affecting the quality of the report;

Requests the United Nations funds and programmes, and strongly encourages the specialized agencies with operational activities for development, to fully align their strategic plans with the quadrennial comprehensive policy review, taking into account their respective mandates;

Reaffirms the importance of improving the transparency of the activities and responsiveness to Member States of the United Nations Chief Executives Board for Coordination and the United Nations Development Group, in accordance with paragraph 17 of General Assembly resolution 67/226, in this regard notes the ongoing efforts of the United Nations development system to monitor the implementation of the quadrennial comprehensive policy review, including through the development of the United Nations Development Group action plan and the indicators of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the Secretariat, and requests the Secretary-General, in close consultation with all relevant entities, to prepare and implement a comprehensive, coherent and effective monitoring and reporting framework for the quadrennial comprehensive policy review;

Requests the United Nations funds and programmes to consolidate their current annual reporting on the implementation of the quadrennial comprehensive policy review within their reporting on the implementation of their strategic plans, and to provide a thorough analysis, including through the selection and use of common indicators that are fully aligned with the monitoring framework for the implementation of the quadrennial comprehensive policy review, to their executive boards and to the Economic and Social Council, with a view to ensuring its full implementation;

Requests the Secretary-General to consolidate the annual reports on the implementation of the comprehensive policy review and on the funding of United Nations operational activities for development in a single report, with inputs from and in full consultation with all the funds, programmes and specialized agencies and other relevant United Nations entities, with a view to facilitating effective, efficient and high-quality analytical reporting on United Nations operational activities for development;

Invites the executive boards of the United Nations funds and programmes and the governing bodies of the specialized agencies to consider integrating evaluations of the implementation of the quadrennial comprehensive policy review into the evaluations of their strategic plans;

Requests the United Nations funds and programmes, and strongly encourages those specialized agencies with operational activities for development, to align their strategic planning and budgeting cycles with the comprehensive policy review cycle, as requested by the General Assembly in its resolution 63/232 of 19 December 2008 and in paragraph 121 of its resolution 67/226, and to report regularly to their respective governing bodies on progress in and challenges to the implementation of the quadrennial comprehensive policy review;

Emphasizes the need for the Council to exercise its coordination and monitoring mandate and competencies to ensure the full and timely implementation of the quadrennial comprehensive policy review;

Funding of operational activities for development of the United Nations system

Reiterates that core resources, because of their untied nature, continue to be the bedrock of the operational activities for development of the United Nations system, and in this regard recognizes the need for organizations to address, on a continuous basis, the imbalance between core and non-core resources and to report to the Council in 2014, as part of their regular reporting, on the measures taken to address this imbalance;

Urges donor countries and other countries in a position to do so to maintain and substantially increase their voluntary contributions, in a manner consistent with their capacities, to the core/regular budgets of the United Nations development system, in particular its funds, programmes and specialized agencies, and to contribute on a multi-year basis, in a sustained and predictable manner;

Notes, while recognizing that non-core resources are not a substitute for core resources, that non-core resources represent an important contribution to the overall resource base of the United Nations development system and complement core resources in supporting operational activities for development, thus contributing to an increase in total resources; also notes the need for non-core resources to be more predictable, flexible, less earmarked and better aligned with the priorities of programme countries, including those in the United Nations Development Assistance Framework, and with the strategic plans and mandates of the United Nations funds, programmes and specialized agencies; and encourages those providing non-core contributions to prioritize pooled, thematic and joint-funding mechanisms at the global, regional and country levels, in full alignment with national development priorities;

Reaffirms the request of the General Assembly to the executive boards of the funds and programmes and the governing bodies of the specialized agencies of the United Nations, as appropriate, to organize structured dialogues during 2014 on how to finance the development results agreed to in the new strategic planning cycle of their respective entities;

Also reaffirms the request contained in paragraph 42 of General Assembly resolution 67/226 that, as a practice, all available and projected financial contributions for operational activities for development of the United Nations system at the country level be consolidated within a common budgetary framework, which would not constitute a legal constraint on the spending authority of resources, and that the framework be used to strengthen the quality of system-wide resource planning in support of the United Nations Development Assistance Framework, and in this regard requests the United Nations funds and programmes, and strongly encourages the specialized agencies, to provide information concerning efforts undertaken and results achieved towards that end as part of the regular reporting to the Council on the implementation of the quadrennial comprehensive policy review;

Further reaffirms paragraph 39 of General Assembly resolution 67/226, and in this regard requests the Secretary-General, as part of the regular reporting, on the basis of information to be provided by the United Nations development system entities, to report to the Council at its substantive session of 2014 on progress made on the development of the concept of critical mass of core resources;

Reaffirms that the guiding principle governing the financing of all non-programme costs should be based on full cost recovery, proportionally, from core and non-core funding sources, and in this regard notes the timelines agreed by the respective executive boards and the decision by the respective executive boards for an independent and external assessment to be performed in 2016 of the consistency and alignment of the new cost recovery methodology with the quadrennial comprehensive policy review;

Contribution of United Nations operational activities to national capacity development and development effectiveness

Reaffirms the request to the United Nations development system to develop, for the consideration of Member States, a common approach for measuring progress in capacity development, as well as to develop specific frameworks aimed at enabling programme countries, upon their request, to identify, monitor and evaluate results in capacity development to achieve national development goals and strategies;

Requests the United Nations development system to consider the findings and observations related to national capacity gaps repeatedly highlighted by programme countries to be addressed through the work of the operational activities for development of the United Nations system;

Improved functioning of the United Nations development system

United Nations Development Assistance Framework

Requests the United Nations development system at the country level to ensure alignment of the United Nations Development Assistance Framework period with government planning cycles, wherever possible, as part of the overall efforts to fully align the United Nations Development Assistance Frameworks with national priorities and needs;

Resident coordinator system

Notes the review of existing funding modalities in support of the resident coordinator system and the resulting recommendations for improving the provision of resources and support to the resident coordinator system on the basis of a cost-sharing arrangement among all member entities of the United Nations Development Group, and in this regard requests the respective governing bodies to consider the recommendation for a cost-sharing arrangement and, subject to approval, to implement it in 2014, in order to ensure that resident coordinators have the necessary stable and predictable resources to fulfil their mandates effectively, without compromising resources allocated to programmatic activities;

Requests the United Nations funds and programmes, and strongly encourages the specialized agencies, to further strengthen their participation in the resident coordinator system and the management and accountability system, including in the areas of information-sharing, performance assessment and the functional firewall;

Requests the Secretary-General to report, as part of the regular reporting, on steps taken to improve the overall effectiveness of the resident coordinator system, including in accordance with paragraphs 124 to 127 of General Assembly resolution 67/226;

“Delivering as one”

Welcomes the finalization of the standard operating procedures for countries wishing to adopt “Delivering as one”, and in this regard requests the United Nations funds and programmes, and strongly encourages the specialized agencies, to fully and coherently implement the standard operating procedures by the end of 2013 and to report on progress towards that end at the first meeting of their respective governing bodies in 2014;

Requests the Secretary-General, in cooperation with the United Nations system, to report on progress in the implementation of the standard operating procedures through the annual reporting on the implementation of the quadrennial comprehensive policy review;

Notes with concern that options for the review and approval of common country programme documents of the “Delivering as one” countries, as requested in paragraph 143 of General Assembly resolution 67/226, were not presented to the Council at its substantive session of 2013, and requests the Secretary-General, in full consultation with the United Nations development system and countries using the common country programme document modality, to ensure that this matter is fully addressed at the substantive session of the Council in 2014;

Reaffirms the importance of the United Nations development system identifying and addressing challenges and bottlenecks at all levels that have prevented the United Nations country teams in “Delivering as one” countries from fully realizing efficiency gains under the “Delivering as one” approach, and requests the United Nations funds and programmes, and encourages the specialized agencies, to start reporting annually, as part of their regular reporting to the Council, on progress in this regard;

Simplification and harmonization of business practices

Recognizes that the harmonization of regulations and rules, policies and procedures of the United Nations funds and programmes in the functional areas of finance, human resources management, procurement, information technology management and administrative services, the establishment of interoperability among existing enterprise resource planning systems of the funds and programmes and the establishment of common services at the country level are interlinked and need to be pursued in an integrated manner;

Recalls paragraph 155 of General Assembly resolution 67/226, recognizes the progress made by the United Nations development system in harmonizing regulations and rules, policies and procedures, and requests the Secretary-General, through the High-level Committee on Management and the United Nations Development Group, to continue the ongoing efforts at harmonizing regulations and rules, policies and procedures of the United Nations funds and programmes in the functional areas of finance, human resources management, procurement, information technology management and other appropriate services;

Welcomes the undertaking of a study to examine the feasibility of establishing interoperability among existing enterprise resource planning systems of the United Nations funds and programmes, and requests the Secretary-General to report to the Council at its substantive session of 2014, as part of the regular reporting, on findings and assessment of progress in achieving full interoperability in 2016 in the context of the quadrennial comprehensive policy review;

Requests the Secretary-General, consistent with paragraphs 152 and 155 of General Assembly resolution 67/226, to ensure adequate and evidence-based planning and design of common United Nations service centres, by including in plans, for review by the Council in 2014, concrete proposals for pilot centres in consenting programme countries that duly represent the diversity of the United Nations presence in all the regions;

Reaffirms the request contained in paragraph 161 of General Assembly resolution 67/226 that the United Nations development system develop a strategy, by the end of 2013, to support the establishment of common premises in programme countries that wish to adopt them, requests the United Nations development system to commence the requested consultations in this regard with Member States, and requests the Secretary-General, through the United Nations development system, to report on progress made to the Council at its substantive session of 2014, as part of the regular reporting;

Invites the respective executive boards of the United Nations funds and programmes, beginning in 2014, to review annually, including possibly through the informal mechanism of the joint meeting of the boards, progress on the simplification and harmonization of business practices and to make available to the Council and the General Assembly the summary records of their deliberations;

Results-based management

Requests the United Nations funds and programmes, and strongly encourages the specialized agencies, to take further measures to ensure that the country programmes of individual entities, including common country programme documents or country programming frameworks, include complete results chains that are aligned with the respective outcomes agreed to in the United Nations Development Assistance Framework and the respective organization-wide results frameworks of each entity, in line with national needs and priorities;

Reiterates the request contained in paragraph 169 of General Assembly resolution 67/226 that the Secretary-General articulate and report to the Council at the operational activities segment of its substantive session of 2013, with a view to implementation by 2014, a more robust, coherent and harmonized approach to operational activities for development, focused on results, which would streamline and improve the planning, monitoring, measurement and reporting on system-wide results, and in this regard invites the executive boards of the funds and programmes and the governing bodies of the specialized agencies and other relevant United Nations entities to engage in a focused dialogue on how to balance most effectively the need for reporting on system-wide results at all levels with the current agency-specific reporting requirements, taking into account the challenges in developing results frameworks that demonstrate the United Nations contribution to national development results;

Evaluation of operational activities

Welcomes the establishment of an interim coordination mechanism for system-wide evaluation of operational activities for development of the United Nations system, as mandated by the General Assembly in resolution 67/226, composed of the Joint Inspection Unit, the United Nations Evaluation Group, the Department of Economic and Social Affairs, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and the Office of Internal Oversight Services of the Secretariat, takes note of the new policy document for independent system-wide evaluation of United Nations operational activities for development, including the proposals for pilot system-wide evaluations, and calls for continuing consultations with Member States on the proposals for pilot system-wide evaluations, for decision by the end of 2013;

Requests the Secretary-General, as part of the regular reporting on the implementation of the quadrennial comprehensive policy review, to report on progress and challenges in implementing independent system-wide evaluations of United Nations operational activities for development.

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