3 August 2016: In an advance unedited report, the Secretary-General presents recommendations for the UN General Assembly’s (UNGA) negotiations on the 2016 Quadrennial Comprehensive Policy Review (QCPR). The document is presented as a “companion” to the Secretary-General’s report on the QCPR, issued in December 2015, which analyzed the implementation of UNGA resolution 67/226. Both reports will inform the UNGA negotiations on the QCPR, expected to take place later in 2016.

According to the recommendations report, the 2016 QCPR provides a “critical opportunity” for UN Member States to chart the course for the UN development system (UNDS) in the short and medium term, while simultaneously laying the foundations for the future. The text underlines that the recommendations offer building blocks for change, to be realized through a phased approach.

In order to align the UNDS with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the Secretary-General’s report stresses the need for: a system-wide unified and targeted response, cutting across sectors and pillars; stepping up the system’s leadership; developing tailor-made solutions; adopting a multi-stakeholder approach; and cutting through vertical organizational lines to strengthen horizontal results and accountability. The report underscores that, while the SDGs are interdependent, several priorities cut across the entire 2030 Agenda and the system-wide functions of the UNDS: eradicating poverty in all its forms and manifestations; building and developing national capacities, both technical and functional; leveraging and facilitating South-South and triangular cooperation; achieving gender equality and empowering women and girls; and sustaining actions to strengthen the implementation of human-rights principles and standards. The report indicates that these areas will remain important going forward.

The report’s chapters address: the core functions of the UNDS in support of the delivery of the 2030 Agenda; the funding for the delivery of the 2030 Agenda; system-wide transparency, accountability and governance; improving the functioning of the UNDS; improving coherence, coordination and moving towards integrated action; and a new kind of QCPR. [Report of the Secretary-General on the Quadrennial Comprehensive Policy Review of operational activities for development of the United Nations system: Recommendations (Advance, Unedited Version)] [QCPR Website] [IISD RS Story on QCPR Report of UN Secretary-General (A/71/63–E/2016/8)] [IISD RS Policy Brief on QCPR Preparations] [Final Report of the UN Secretary-General on the QCPR]