28 December 2015: In his report on the Quadrennial Comprehensive Policy Review (QCPR), released in an advance, unedited version, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon calls for rethinking the functioning of the UN Development System (UNDS) to ensure it can best support Member States in realizing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The report, titled ‘Implementation of General Assembly Resolution 67/226 on the quadrennial comprehensive policy review of operational activities for development of the United Nations system (QCPR): 2016,’ is expected to be discussed during a briefing on 18 January 2016.

The report addresses: the funding of UN Operational Activities for Development (OAD); the contribution of UN operational activities to national capacity development and development effectiveness; the “improved functioning” of the UNDS; the effectiveness of the UNDS; and the longer-term positioning of the UNDS in the context of the 2030 Agenda.

The report notes that the UN system is not the product of a coherent blueprint, but grew with its different components responding to disparate needs, both developmental and political. Despite these origins, the report says, the UNDS has adapted to new realities and “is ready and willing to continue to do so.” The report cites a growing imbalance between core and non-core funding and a lack of flexible, pooled non-core funding. These factors, it says, challenge efforts for UN system-wide responses, encourage siloed functioning, increase fragmentation and transaction costs, and foster competition and overlap of UN entities’ activities.

The report argues that “growing capacities and differentiated needs of programme countries call for individual, tailor-made approaches” by the UNDS, to reflect the “specific circumstances of every country, and in line with obligations under international law.” It also calls for a “heightened focus” on prevention, and for making development activities an integral part of efforts to build resilience against disasters and violent conflicts.

The QCPR is the mechanism through which the UN General Assembly (UNGA) assesses the effectiveness, efficiency, coherence and impact of the UNDS’ support to developing countries. A key input to the next QCPR will be the outcome of an ongoing UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) dialogue on the longer-term positioning of the UNDS. The dialogue should present, says the report of the Secretary-General, concrete options for discussion by Member States on the changes needed for the UNDS to rise to the challenges of the 2030 development agenda. The dialogue is expected to conclude in June 2016, following which governments will negotiate a UNGA resolution on the QCPR by the end of 2016.

The Office for ECOSOC Support and Coordination in the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (OESC/DESA) will provide a briefing on the report on 18 January. [QCPR Report: Implementation of General Assembly Resolution 67/226 on the quadrennial comprehensive policy review of operational activities for development of the United Nations system (QCPR): 2016] [QCPR Website] [IISD RS Story on ECOSOC Dialogue]