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To act effectively in the 21st century, a better focused, leaner, more efficient and cost-effective UN system is needed. A re-engineered UN should devote its efforts to the original purposes set forth in the UN Charter, as they have been refined over the UN's first fifty years. The UN's mission would thus consist of these main functions:
-- maintaining peace and security by Charter-authorized military actions to restore peace, peacekeeping operations to maintain peace, projecting the rule of international law, and assuring the peaceful use of nuclear energy;
-- preparing for, mobilizing and coordinating humanitarian relief to meet emergencies caused by natural disasters or man-made catastrophes;
-- establishing norms, and supporting their implementation, especially in the areas of human rights, workers' rights, health and environment; similarly, defining and monitoring technical standards used in areas like civil aviation, postal services, telecommunications, and intellectual property;
-- supporting international development by promoting environmentally sound, socially equitable, economically viable growth through results-oriented expert advice and technical cooperation.
To perform its role properly, the UN must evolve from a fragmented configuration of competing structures into a fully integrated, interactive system. The new structure should be characterized by:
-- fully interlinked information and reporting systems;
-- centralized policy planning and coordination, to an appropriate degree of detail, to forestall overlap and duplication and to foster a clear division of labor;
-- decentralized action by operationally autonomous entities acting in full collaboration with other relevant bodies both inside and outside the UN system;
-- a drastically pruned organizational structure achieved by:
o eliminating marginal programs and agencies;
o consolidating similar activities and programs;
o focusing efforts on the highest priorities as determined by revised and updated mandates.
Working Group on Strengthening the UN
On September 14, 1995, near the end of its 49th session, the General Assembly established an Open-Ended High-Level Working Group (HLWG) on the Strengthening of the UN System. In our view, the work of this group should cover the need for reform in five areas: the General Assembly, the Secretariat, economic and social affairs (ECOSOC, UNCTAD, the regional and functional commissions, and associated bodies), related funds and programs (including UNDP, humanitarian assistance programs, and human rights activities), and the specialized agencies. Discussion on the first two areas commenced in the first few months of 1996; the other areas should be considered subsequently in the light of progress on institutional issues in the current General Assembly's consideration of the follow-up to Resolution 48/162 and in the Working Group on an Agenda for Development.
The HLWG should aim to complete a set of specific proposals, or "blueprint," for UN reform by the time the 50th session of the General Assembly completes its work early in the fall of 1996. This is an ambitious but achievable timeframe which all member states should help to realize. Actual implementation of reform measures should commence with the adoption of the HLWG "blueprint" at the 51st session of the General Assembly.
Outlining a Blueprint for Reform
A clear and comprehensive outline of the main elements of the "blueprint" would be helpful to guide the HLWG's work. In what follows, the views of the United States are set forth on five areas for the HLWG's attention. For each of these areas, current problems and issues are spelled out, measures for correction and improvement are identified, and comments provided on implementing needed reforms, including where appropriate a schedule for steps to take in carrying them out.
The United States presents these views for the consideration of others. We are prepared to work cooperatively with the other members of the HLWG on these ideas as well as on proposals which others will be making. We may also have additional proposals to present as the discussions continue.
The General Assembly's potential as a great world forum for deliberations on issues of global concern has never been realized.
The tiresome and time-consuming reiteration of agenda items already thoroughly considered previously or by other bodies has overloaded the Assembly's capacity and forestalled thematic debate on pressing or emerging issues. Means should be found to shorten the agenda by half and schedule the use of the time freed up for thematic discussions at appropriate levels.
The General Assembly should be the forum for addressing major issues of the sort that have been the subject of proposals for separate international conferences. This would re-energize the General Assembly and make it relevant. It would also be more efficient than holding more international conferences. NGO involvement would need to be arranged, preparatory work would have to be organized, and an appropriate outcome would be expected from the deliberations.
There is also a need to streamline the list of General Assembly subsidiary, ad hoc and other bodies, eliminating those which are no longer needed, and merging those whose subject areas overlap. Examples would include the Committee on Program Coordination, whose program function should be transferred to ECOSOC and budget and related responsibilities to the Fifth Committee, the Special Committee on Decolonization whose work should be absorbed by the Fourth Committee, and the Palestinian Committees that have been outmoded by the peace process and should be terminated. No new bodies should be created without a finding of necessity.
Plenary
Annual debates should be scheduled, on a provisional multi-year basis, on major emerging issues of global concern. A greatly shortened annual agenda and the consequent reduction in time needed for main committee sessions should free up the time needed to properly conduct such debates. Matters that are now taken up in special or resumed sessions could be addressed in the principal General Assembly plenary sessions each year, such as the implementation of Agenda 21 and the follow-up to UNCED to be considered in 1997.
For 1996, UN reform and funding, tentatively suggested as the focus of a special session, could constitute the main thematic debate for the 51st session. In effect, this would be a logical follow-on to the de facto thematic debate in the 50th session on the UN's status and future in the light of its 50th anniversary. Already scheduled for plenary debate in 1996 are the mid-term review of the New Agenda for the Development of Africa and the social and economic impact of globalization and interdependence -- two closely related subjects that could perhaps be subsumed in a more inclusive debate on the new paradigm or new patterns for development. This debate could also encompass the integrated implementation of the outcomes of recent major UN conferences, under the rubric of sustainable development.
The voting and debating procedures of the General Assembly need to be improved so that the proceedings can be speeded up.
Second Committee
To pare down its agenda and make its sessions more focused, the Second Committee should further rationalize and streamline its work. More subjects should be shifted to a biennial or triennial schedule, resolutions on similar or closely related subjects should be combined into comprehensive omnibus resolutions, and matters already thoroughly debated in ECOSOC or elsewhere should not be re-opened for discussion. At the same time, some issues now taken up in the plenary of the General Assembly could usefully return to the Second Committee as the primary forum for discussion and recommended action.
--Combining Resolutions
Separate annual resolutions on the program of action for least developed countries, debt, commodities, African development, African industrial development, science and technology in Africa, net transfer of resources and other closely related issues such as the partnership dialogue could be consolidated into a single resolution on the concerns of the least developed countries. A similar approach could be pursued with regard to the multiple resolutions that deal generically with trade and environmental issues. Moreover, because the concerns addressed by these resolutions vary little from year to year, the omnibus resolution addressing them could be taken up biennially or even triennially. Where new developments warrant, changing conditions or emerging issues could be taken up in any year that they occur.
--Eliminating Resolutions
Follow-up resolutions should not be proposed or considered where previous follow-up work has already been done on the same or similar subjects. In the same vein, resolutions should be avoided that second-guess the outcomes or decisions of other bodies, like UNCTAD, that have already thoroughly considered an issue -- or specifically decided not to consider it.
Third Committee
The Third Committee was reorganized about five years ago. Meetings were restructured to decrease the opportunities for lengthy floor statements, and this appears to be working well. Although there are fewer agenda items, however, the number of sub-items remains unnecessarily large. Certain social issues could be considered in the context of omnibus resolutions of the Second Committee, instead of being taken up separately in the Third Committee. Attention to poverty eradication, for example, could probably be incorporated into the recommended omnibus resolution in Second Committee on the concerns of the least developed countries.
Fifth Committee
The procedures of the Fifth Committee and the closely related Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ) should be altered to enhance accountability and efficient financial management. To increase its transparency, ACABQ meetings should generally be open to all UN member states, except for necessary executive sessions and informal exchanges with Secretariat officials. Similarly, all data generated by or for the ACABQ should be made available to UN members. Technical support for the ACABQ should be strengthened. The ACABQ's 16 members should be elected as experts, but they should be accountable to their governments.
The work of the Fifth Committee has become too complex and substantial to be handled by the full committee alone. The JIU has proposed the establishment of subcommittees, representative of the membership, focusing on peacekeeping management, strategic planning and oversight. The work of the committee would be improved by the creation of such smaller subcommittees with focused missions.
Measures to rationalize the structure of the UN Secretariat and improve its functioning must be intensified. Repeated efforts to reform the UN have always ended without fully accomplishing their aims. Current efforts at reform, in contrast, must be redoubled. The credibility of the institution and the prospects for continued public and financial support depend upon early, visible and continuing signs of improvement in four areas: restructuring, oversight, personnel, and system coordination.
Restructuring
Lines of authority should be consolidated throughout the Secretariat, and departments should be merged, to make the Secretariat a more effective mechanism for management of UN activities. This should be accompanied by real reductions in positions for personnel, including senior-level positions. After some reductions and consolidations in the Secretariat a few years ago, the proliferation of offices and positions has resumed to some extent; this should be reversed. The number and functions of Under-Secretaries General and the creation of the post of Deputy Secretary General should be closely examined. A Deputy Secretary General would serve as acting Secretary General in the absence of the Secretary General. Routine responsibilities would include administering the whole organization on a day-to-day basis, handling all management responsibilities and freeing the Secretary General to devote full time and attention to diplomatic and political issues. The Deputy would be nominated by the Secretary General, ratified by the General Assembly and serve at the pleasure of the Secretary General.
The Secretariat should be organized into a smaller number of departments, perhaps four or five, each headed by an Under Secretary General, dealing with: political security and peace, international economic cooperation and sustainable development, humanitarian affairs, and administration and management. The number of Under Secretary General and Assistant Secretary General positions should be reduced significantly. The Trusteeship Council, now dormant, should be formally abolished.
--Consolidations
An early candidate for re-structuring has already received a great deal of attention. The Department of Development Support and Management Services (DDSMS) is largely redundant in its functions and responsibilities. It should be phased out as soon as possible, consistent with administrative efficiency, and its functions -- but not necessarily its personnel positions -- transferred for the most part to the semi- autonomous Office of Project Services (OPS) and other appropriate elements of the UN system. Personnel positions in DDSMS should be eliminated as they are vacated by attrition and reassignment.
The Department of Economic and Social Information and Policy Analysis (DESIPA) has statistical compilation and analysis as its most important function. DESIPA maintains an excellent statistical capability. But its activities in national income accounting and its work on social statistics could more efficiently and effectively by carried out if consolidated or better integrated with similar efforts of UNCTAD and the appropriate specialized agencies such as WHO, FAO, ILO, the World Bank, and the IMF.
The Department of Policy Coordination and Sustainable Development (DPCSD) has established an innovative record in stimulating and relying upon the work of other elements of the UN system, rather than creating its own capabilities across the full range of its responsibilities. In connection with certain consolidations of ECOSOC subsidiaries (discussed in the section on economic and social reform, below), however, many of its functions could be transferred to Geneva and administratively supported by the UNCTAD secretariat. This is particularly true in connection with the recommended transfer of the Commission on Sustainable Development to Geneva.
The functions remaining at UN headquarters after restructuring DDSMS, DESIPA and DPCSD should be collected under a single Under Secretary General.
--Terminations: Sunset Policy
It should become the standing practice throughout the UN system for programs to end after a specified period of time unless they have conclusively demonstrated their continuing relevance and value according to established criteria. The Secretary General's existing authority to require program managers to conduct evaluations should be exercised to initiate this process.
The Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) should be tasked with developing a standardized evaluation methodology, including specified criteria for relevance and effectiveness, in accordance with strategic management principals with an emphasis on outputs. The use of this methodology should be required as a routine responsibility of program managers throughout the UN. The OIOS should monitor compliance with the evaluation process as part of its inspection function.
The information generated by the evaluation process should be used to establish priorities among those programs administered or supported by the UN Secretariat, terminating those programs and activities that have fallen to a lower priority or have lost their relevance to changing circumstances. Review of program evaluations should be part of the functions performed at present by the Committee on Program Coordination and in future by a reformed ECOSOC (see following section on economic and social reform). Finally, evaluations should be tied to the UN's budgetary process, thus assuring compliance with the "sunset" policy and providing a base of information to help establish funding requirements.
Oversight
The UN's inspector-general function, embodied in the new Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS), should be thoroughly integrated throughout the UN system, to create or reinforce transparency and accountability in all UN activities. Steps are needed to ensure the effective application of the OIOS's scope of authority to the UN's funds and programs. The specialized agencies (discussed in a separate section, below) should establish effective internal oversight functions or make use of the OIOS (or possibly the Joint Inspection Unit) to provide such services.
The relationship between the OIOS and the Joint Inspection Unit (JIU) should be strengthened. Effective operational collaboration between these two oversight bodies should be established and maintained. Restructuring of the JIU should be carried out, if required, to improve its operation and enhance its effectiveness as a joint oversight body with OIOS; the size of the JIU secretariat could probably be reduced. Regular meetings among the OIOS, JIU, ACABQ and the Panel of External Auditors should be held at least twice a year to develop coordinated working relationships among these external and internal oversight bodies.
Personnel
UN member states should express and regularly reiterate their strong support for ongoing UN efforts to inculcate a management culture of accountability and responsibility among UN personnel. Performance appraisals, new procedures for grievances and internal justice, and financial disclosure requirements are the main elements of improved UN personnel management.
A new employee performance appraisal system was inaugurated last spring, and UN managers are being trained in the development of work requirements and performance evaluations. Every effort should be made to ensure the effective implementation and continuation of the new system.
The employee grievance system is being revised. At the same time, action should be taken to reform the internal justice system In addition, means should be developed to impose appropriate civil sanctions for fraud and cases of egregious misconduct.
Financial disclosure requirements should be implemented for senior officials (D-1 and above) and those engaged in contracting or procurement functions. At the same time, the UN employee code of conduct should be revised and applied to all UN officials, not just Secretariat staff.
Improved personnel management practices should accompany these reformed regulations and procedures. Professional training programs inaugurated last year should continue and expand, especially in the area of procurement operations, including logistics and transportation. A serious effort should be launched to reduce extraneous staff, especially non-performing staff, through buy-outs and other mechanisms.
System Coordination
The Secretary General and his Deputy should make more effective use of the Administrative Committee on Coordination (ACC). It should be turned into the functional equivalent of a "cabinet" for the UN system, along the lines of paragraph 61 of A/49/665. It should meet regularly under the Secretary General at the head-of-agency level to review and advise on coordination matters. It should also report regularly to the ECOSOC (see below). Finally, it should make greater use of small task forces at the executive head and operational program manager levels to address critical emerging issues and develop joint programs for them.
For informational purposes only, the ACC should prepare a combined presentation of the regular UN and specialized agency budgets. This consolidated description of financial plans and projections in the UN system would help in identifying areas of overlap and duplication, and facilitate the ACC's and member states' efforts to bring about greater coordination and system-wide collaboration.
A coherent, sustainable development agenda for the 21st century cannot be pursued adequately at the international level without the adoption of serious and pragmatic proposals for UN institutional reform. The UN system's ability to support environmentally sound, socially equitable, and economically viable growth is undermined by overlapping institutional mandates, inadequate coordination and priority-setting and excessive administrative overhead. Member states should commit themselves to reforming the UN to reflect global budget realities, to make it more efficient and cost-effective in its operations, and to improve its management structures and practices.
On the economic and social side, member states should agree upon a set of principles and related proposals to bring about better coordination and prioritization of UN activities, functional consolidation of related programs or agencies, and the re-assessment of agency or program mandates with subsequent organizational re-arrangements. The results of these efforts should be keyed to re-engineering the UN system in a way which will clearly benefit all participants and enhance its contributions to economic and social development. Such fundamental reform will enable stronger and more productive cooperation between the UN and the international financial institutions and facilitate a greater role for the private sector.
ECOSOC
Better coordination and adjusted priorities among the agencies, programs and activities of the UN system would go a long way to eliminate wasteful duplication and overlapping activity, identify and fill gaps in UN efforts to meet the needs for which it was created, reprogram resources from areas of lower to areas of higher priority, and leverage the effectiveness of UN undertakings through collaboration and mutual reinforcement of effort.
The key to achieving these goals lies in enhancing the power and effectiveness of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) in setting policy for and coordinating the UN's efforts in the economic and social areas, as envisioned in Chapters IX and X of the UN Charter. ECOSOC should focus on policy rather than operations, and should also undergo further reform to strengthen its capacity to provide direction and guidance within its mandate, as proposed in the Secretary General's report on an Agenda for Development (UN General Assembly document A/49/665 of November 11, 1994). An expanded bureau or executive committee of ECOSOC should be created to meet between Council sessions in order to improve the continuity and effectiveness of ECOSOC's attention to and guidance of UN economic and social affairs. ECOSOC's nascent role as the unified governing body for UN development programs should be strengthened.
Coherent implementation of recommendations emanating from recent major UN conferences should be pursued under ECOSOC's auspices. Compiling these recommendations, estimating their costs, ordering them according to their importance, and proposing at least notional schedules for putting them into effect should proceed promptly. The Earth Summit's Agenda 21 might provide a common framework, amplified particularly by the programs of action produced by the Vienna human rights conference, the Cairo population conference, the Social Summit in Copenhagen, and the women's conference in Beijing.
No additional major UN conferences should be planned until the results of the most recent series, ending with the World Food Security Summit in Rome and HABITAT-II in Istanbul in 1996, are fully absorbed and applied.
The principal reform measures for enhancing the coordination and policy-making functions of ECOSOC are outlined below.
--Executive Committee
An expanded Bureau or Executive Committee of ECOSOC should be set up to handle routine business on a regular or even continuous basis. Membership should be set at 15 UN member states. Selecting them would be a delicate task. The world's leading economies should be included, adequate geographic representation should be assured, and some rotation of membership should be provided for -- at least by including the current five-nation Bureau of ECOSOC.
The President of ECOSOC would chair the Committee. Overall guidance for the Committee's work would be provided by the main annual meeting of ECOSOC.
--Policy Role
ECOSOC's role in setting policy for the operational development programs, as outlined in paragraphs 44-46 of the Secretary General's report on an Agenda for Development (A/49/665), should be enhanced. In part, this could be brought about by broadening the annual discussion of policy for operational development programs to include the status of collaboration with other multilateral and bilateral donors, especially the Bretton Woods institutions. The dialogue should be build around the concept of a "spectrum of support" (see section below on development funds and programs) for country-driven processes that formulate and carry out national sustainable development strategies.
--Coordination: UN "Cabinet"
As mentioned above, the Administrative Committee on Coordination (ACC) should be turned into the functional equivalent of a "cabinet" for the UN system, meet regularly under the Secretary General at the head-of-agency level, and report regularly to the ECOSOC. Small task forces should be formed at the executive head and operational program manager levels to address critical emerging issues and develop joint programs for them.
--Coordination: Development Assistance
A de facto development assistance coordination committee should be set up, consisting of all senior officials in the economic and social sectors meeting under the chairmanship of the Secretary General, as organized by the UNDP Administrator, to improve coordination and performance, as outlined in paragraphs 86-88 of A/49/665. The de facto committee should meet periodically and report, orally or in writing, to ECOSOC. ECOSOC should review the de facto committee reports and make appropriate recommendations for action by ECOSOC or the General Assembly.
--Meetings
ECOSOC's annual meeting should be shortened and held only in New York in the interest of efficiency and cost-effectiveness. The annual session should concentrate on policy formulation and coordination. Special plenary meetings of ECOSOC can be called as deemed necessary.
--Subsidiary Bodies
The number of ECOSOC's subsidiary bodies should be reduced significantly by consolidations and terminations, and the functions of the remaining bodies adjusted. The Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) should be the main body for providing a process for reviewing implementation of the 1992 Rio Earth Summit (UNCED) and for addressing UN support for the integrated pursuit of sustainable development policies and programs within the UN system. In that context, it should absorb the functions of the Commission on Science and Technology for Development, the Committee on Natural Resources and the Energy Committee.
The CSD should take the lead in reviewing and overseeing the integrated implementation of the results of recent UN conferences on sustainable development and related issues. To facilitate interaction with the specialized agencies that are responsible for implementation of much of UNCED's Agenda 21 and many of the recommendations of other UN conferences, the CSD should be moved to Geneva after it completes its current multi-year work program in 1997.
The Commission on Social Development and the Commission on Population and Development should keep the CSD apprised of their work to permit their results to be integrated into the UN's system-wide efforts to promote sustainable development.
The Crime Commission and the Commission on Narcotic Drugs should fully concert and mutually reinforce their efforts, including holding joint meetings on matters of mutual interest.
UNCTAD
Because UNCTAD has attempted to tackle the entire range of issues that influence trade and development, its ability to play a meaningful and effective role in international economic policy has been extremely limited. The recent report of the Office of Internal Oversight Services identified a number of management problems and made specific recommendations for improving efficiency. UNCTAD needs to focus its activities on a small number of priority activities that provide practical assistance to developing countries in their integration into the global economic system, thereby contributing to their sustainable development. The main concern should be to make UNCTAD complementary to, and not competitive with, the new World Trade Organization (WTO). Priorities should be identified, and programs or activities that have become less relevant to changed circumstances should be scaled back or eliminated in the interests of efficiency and cost-effectiveness.
In the short term, the UNCTAD IX Conference to be held from April 27-May 11 in South Africa will be the main vehicle for refocussing and streamlining UNCTAD. Member States agreed in the December 11-15 Trade and Development Board (TDB) session that UNCTAD's intergovernmental structure needs to be overhauled so that it is simpler, more transparent and coherent, reflective of clear priorities, and that its budget, program of work, and technical cooperation activities are effectively supervised by the member states.
The TDB will meet in February and March to begin consideration of UNCTAD's future work program. During these meetings and into UNCTAD IX, all elements of the current work program should be closely examined for their continued relevance and, in many cases, scaled back. UNCTAD Secretary General Ricupero's report to the ninth session provides a good basis for negotiating these adjustments. Some areas where UNCTAD has done valuable work include trade and environment, risk management, and trade efficiency. However, many elements of the current work program have not made unique, cost-effective, and valuable contributions to the international system and therefore should be eliminated (and the Secretariat correspondingly reduced). These elements include poverty alleviation, economic cooperation among developing countries, global interdependence, enlarged economic spaces, and export capacity.
Other Institutions, Funds and Programs
Regional Commissions
The five regional economic and social commissions in the UN system -- ECE (Europe), ESCAP (Asia and Pacific), ECLAC (Latin America and Caribbean), ECA (Africa), and ESCWA (Near East) -- have had a limited impact, in part because they lack unique, compelling missions. Much of their work duplicates that of other international organizations. Many of the commissions do not carry out their activities in the most cost-effective manner possible. The regional commissions should focus on activities derived from their comparative advantages as unique sources of services or assistance to countries in their regions, leaving economic studies and the like to other bodies.
There is strong interest within each region in its corresponding commission. Each region should translate that interest into strong support for regional commission reform and restructuring to ensure its relevance and effectiveness in an era of limited resources. The commissions should focus their efforts on programs that provide practical benefits to their members, especially those from developing countries. The number of intergovernmental meetings and publications they generate should be reduced to the minimum needed for coordination. Activities that are not unique or offer no value-added to the regional concerns of their members should be cut back or eliminated, and superfluous staff should be removed.
Reform efforts have been initiated in many of the commissions. The meetings scheduled for April/May 1996 in all the commissions (except ESCWA) should result in a strengthening of the reform process; ESCWA should find an appropriate mechanism to develop and implement reforms. The Fifth Committee recently discussed the resources for and roles of these commissions, and further guidance should be provided by the HLWG. Some areas to consider for reforms in the regional commissions are discussed below.
ECE
Following a priority-setting exercise a few years ago, the ECE has identified environment, transport, statistics, trade facilitation and economic analysis as the foci of its activities. A major area of the ECE's work is the development of regional standards on motor vehicles, perishable agricultural produce, and other products. Despite the decision to concentrate its efforts in five main areas, the ECE has been called upon to undertake an increasing number of activities in recent years, straining its resources.
Improvements in the ECE's efficiency and cost- effectiveness, as well as budgetary savings, clearly could be found through further prioritization and by declining to take on tasks in non-priority areas. Many of its activities, especially in standard-setting, are effectively global in nature or are also carried out by more centralized organizations in the UN system. These activities could be spun off or transferred to organizations that have more central roles in the UN or broader international system. We believe there is room for rationalization and prioritization within each element of the ECE work program.
ESCAP
ESCAP lacks a clear sense of direction. As a result, it is overstaffed and inadequately managed. It holds over 200 meetings a year and produces voluminous documentation. Although the organization employs over 500 people, with some funded from extrabudgetary sources, much of its substantive work is performed by outside consultants. Sizable concentration of effort is in order, with consequent reductions of staff and programmatic activity that offers little of value to the regional membership. The work program should be cut back to focus on a limited number of discrete, unique, high-priority, regionally-oriented activities.
ECLAC
ECLAC serves primarily as an information source, with much of its program activity devoted to "advisory services" and the coordination of ad hoc experts' meetings. Some programs duplicate work done by other UN agencies, the Organization of American States, and the multilateral development banks. Nevertheless, almost half of ECLAC's budget and over half of its staff are devoted to "program support," including hosting conferences. Duplicative activities should be ended and other program elements rationalized to enhance cost effectiveness including through reducing expenses for travel and consultants.
ECA
ECA suffers from weak and fractured program oversight, poorly trained mid- and lower- level staff, excessive reliance on outside consultants, the absence of a comprehensive African development strategy, and weak financial management. As a result, ECA has contributed little to economic growth and development in Africa. On the other hand, a newly appointed executive secretary appears determined to bring about reform of the organization. Certain programs in specific areas deserve strong encouragement and support, particularly in Development Administration and Management, Infrastructural and Structural Transformation, and Women in Development. Substantial streamlining should be applied to virtually all program areas.
ESCWA
ESCWA is in disarray, aggravated by its move in 1990 from Baghdad to Amman. A note by the UN Secretary General, document A/49/891 of April 19, 1995, indicated that the commission has a number of problems. A comprehensive strategy is needed to tie its work program together. Its programs should be more mutually supportive. More systematic methods should be developed and applied to set priorities. Better ways should be found to gauge the relevance of inputs to its programs. Outputs vary widely in quality. The use of resources should be better accounted for. Major organizational and programmatic improvements are clearly needed to enhance the commission's overall performance.
The UN's operational activities in support of development would benefit greatly from a more integrated, efficient and effective structure for coordination at UN headquarters level in New York, and encouragement of strengthened collaboration among UN field-level efforts under the resident UN coordinator in each recipient country. This could be facilitated and reinforced through frequent meetings of all senior UN officials in the economic and social sectors, chaired by the Secretary General and organized by the UNDP Administrator, as described above (see paragraph on development assistance coordination in section on economic and social affairs).
Reinforcing UNDP's Leading Role
Activities and functions throughout the UN system devoted to providing technical cooperation for sustainable development should be consolidated into fewer agencies and programs. The list of UN entities engaged in development work is long. It includes the UN Development Program (UNDP), the Population Fund (UNFPA), the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), certain development-related functions assumed by the UN Environment Program (UNEP), the UN Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), the technical assistance programs of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the UN Capital Development Fund (UNCDF), the UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), some of the work of the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), and the five regional commissions, and various programs based in the UN Secretariat, primarily in the Department of Development Support and Management Services (DDSMS).
The UN Development Program clearly has the most comprehensive range of responsibilities for operational development assistance, and should form the core of functional consolidation, whether as "primus inter pares" among UN programs and agencies or as the principal element in a formally unified development organization. The institutional structure of UN development assistance will probably go through a protracted phase of evolution or re-engineering. The purpose of this process should be clearly defined, however -- to establish UNDP, and progressively modify its organization, as an umbrella structure for UN development funds and programs. It should provide a base for coordination and ultimately management of all UN development-related efforts, while preserving the identity of activities like UNICEF which have established themselves as valuable programs that draw public and financial support.
An enhanced UNDP could absorb many generally smaller, currently independent activities along the following lines:
--UNIFEM
The UN Development Fund for Women represents an ambitious attempt to redress gender disparities throughout the world. However, it has suffered from underfunding and mismanagement. In addition, it is not advisable to have the concerns of women appear to be restricted to one UN entity, but rather they should be fully integrated into all development efforts. Accordingly, UNIFEM should not be an independent bureaucracy, but should be incorporated into UNDP and charged with promoting gender equality as part of all UN development efforts.
--UNFPA
Efforts to stabilize rapid population growth cannot be effective acting in isolation from broader development concerns; gender equality, female education and health services will all form part of effective population programs, as the UN Conference on Population and Development made clear. Although UNFPA should remain a separate fund to preserve the visibility and importance of UN-based, multilateral family planning and demographic programs, efforts to integrate appropriate population, female education and women's health issues into UNDP's sustainable development technical cooperation activities should be enhanced. Similarly, administrative support services associated with this integrated programming approach should be consolidated where cost-effective. The current UNDP/UNFPA joint governance structure is a viable mechanism to ensure greater program and administrative integration, and could serve as a model for other integration efforts.
--UNEP
Environmental concerns should be an integral part of all UN development efforts from the outset, and the UN Environment Program's development-related activities should be incorporated into UNDP to help ensure this. The recently signed "Framework Agreement for Cooperation in Capacity-Building" should initiate a gradual process of merging these UNEP activities into UNDP, so that environment becomes part and parcel of all economic development efforts, as envisaged by the UN Conference on Environment and Development.
--UNCHS/HABITAT
The role of sharing innovative shelter strategies should be handled as one of the functions of UNDP, and UNCHS should be re-evaluated.
--IFAD and FAO
The resources for rural poverty lending provided by the International Fund for Agricultural Development should be more closely integrated with the sector lending provided by the World Bank/IDA and with UNDP technical assistance. IFAD's targeted rural proverty lending should not be pursued independent of overall national sustainable development strategies. Although the level of future financial support from OECD countries is unclear, IFAD has sufficient internally generated resources to cover new lending and administrative costs for a minimum of two years. Over the longer term, ideally IFAD should be absorbed by either the World Bank Group or by UNDP.
In like manner, most FAO development efforts should be subsumed into UNDP. At country levels, it generally makes no sense to have separate FAO and UNDP offices, and the logic of consolidation runs all the way up the administrative hierarchy to the headquarters level.
--UNIDO
Useful functions of the UN Industrial Development Organization should be incorporated into UNDP, as industrial development cannot be effectively pursued except as part of an overall national development strategy.
--Other Specialized Agencies
The development-related activities of all other UN specialized agencies should be merged into a UN system-wide effort under UNDP's auspices. All trust fund resources should be programmed as part of the UN country program conducted under the direction of the UN Representative, who serves in turn under UNDP's overall management.
--Regional Commissions
There is a widely recognized need for the UN to rationalize the structure of its regional programs and activities, including the regional commissions, as discussed at length in a preceding section. Most of the UN's regional efforts are development-related. It would be to the overall benefit of the UN system to integrate regional and development functions in a formal way. UNDP should decentralize its regional bureaus, and the UNDP's semi-autonomous regional directors should simultaneously serve as heads of the corresponding regional commissions.
Upgrading the UNDP Administrator
The head of UNDP should also serve as overall operational development activities coordinator for the UN, and as overall coordinator of the UN response to major UN conferences. These functions should be formally assigned as permanent responsibilities of the position.
Collaborative Support for Sustainable Development
A unifying theme in bringing about practical collaboration among the diverse institutions engaged in supporting development can be found in the national sustainable development planning process first recommended in the Earth Summit's Agenda 21. Major donors, organizations and programs -- bilateral as well as multilateral -- could work together by cooperating in support of well defined national strategies that arise from sound, responsible, democratic processes at country levels. Such an approach could be the basis for a "spectrum of support" by development assistance organizations, within as well as outside the UN.
Building on the country strategy note (CSN) process, UNDP, other relevant UN agencies and other appropriate donors could contribute to building the indigenous national capacity necessary for initiating and maintaining national development planning processes -- and systematically evaluating the results of their efforts in each country. Incorporating the results into its country assistance strategy (CAS) process, the World Bank and other multilateral development banks could preferentially select activities for financing that fall within these comprehensive national schemes.
Bilateral donors in turn should cooperate in helping to support the realization of the national priorities identified and defined in these national processes. Ultimately, foreign direct investment and commercial lending should respond to the opportunities offered by these coherent, viable economic development strategies. There may be a role for UNDP to act as a contractor in managing implementation of certain parts of a national development strategy, as it has done for privatization programs in Argentina and Eastern Europe, with payment as appropriate for such services.
As a first step in promoting this process, the Commission on Sustainable Development has begun to review and discuss the national sustainable development strategies of selected countries, on a voluntary basis. This pattern should continue and deepen, expanding to include all relevant aspects of sustainable development, including the recommendations of all the recent development-related conferences. As the CSD completes its currently established multi-year work program, this review process could become one of its primary functions after 1997.
Over the past five years there has been a tremendous increase in the kind of civil strife that sparks strong demand for humanitarian relief from the international system. In response, funds have been made available to UN agencies for emergency assistance in ever growing amounts. Examination of the current humanitarian relief system has revealed gaps, inefficiencies, and coordination problems. The main operational humanitarian programs, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the World Food Program (WFP), have responded effectively to the increase in emergency activity by improving their response capabilities and applying their mandates in the broadest possible way in accordance with the international community's wishes.
In 1995, ECOSOC called for an analysis of the emergency response capacity of the UN system to be accomplished over the next two years. This analysis will identify existing capabilities, and develop options, proposals and recommendations to clarify the division of labor among UN relief-related activities of UNICEF, WHO, UNDP, WFP, and UNHCR. The key to improved humanitarian response should be based on an assessment of agencies' effectiveness and efficiency, and the seamlessness of functions among them: Are the agencies performing effectively? Do we get value for money from the current structure? Are there significant overlaps or gaps in functions? Change should not be forced for the sake of mere organizational theory; in humanitarian terms, errors in theory can result in increased suffering and death.
DHA
The Department of Humanitarian Affairs should concentrate its efforts at developing blueprints and, through the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC), obtain endorsement by humanitarian agencies for coordinated operations. DHA has proposed to establish a Military-Civil Defense Unit (MCDU) in Geneva to coordinate planning for the use of military and civil defense assets in complex emergencies. It could also serve as an interagency planning and evaluation cell, functioning both before and after an actual emergency. Once such plans have been established, individual humanitarian agencies would carry out their field operations directly with each other, and with other UN entities, such as peacekeeping and political affairs. DHA would continue to coordinate and liaise with DPKO and DPA at UN Headquarters.
Another aspect of DHA coordination is the issuance of consolidated appeals and management of the Central Emergency Revolving Fund (CERF) resources lent to the core UN emergency response agencies. DHA would also continue to lead interagency assessment teams during the initial phase of an emergency, and in advance of the issuance of subsequent appeals in the case of a protracted emergency.
UNHCR
Currently, UNHCR is automatically involved in any emergency where a refugee flow has occurred across international borders. UNHCR has the endorsement of the international community to involve itself inside a country of origin in three circumstances: (a) where UNHCR action could prevent a refugee flow, (b) where repatriation of refugees requires action in the receiving communities, and (c) other cases where the UNSYG (or other "principal competent organ") requests UNHCR to become involved, such as in the former Yugoslavia, in Armenia, Georgia, Tajikistan, and in Chechnya. The UN should continue to apply the above criteria to justify UNHCR activity inside countries of origin to include cases involving internally displaced persons (IDPs) on a case-by-case basis.
WFP
The World Food Program should retain its primary role in food relief for all humanitarian emergencies and transition programs from relief to development. Its residual interest and role in agricultural development should be eliminated. FAO's current role in the provision of and funding for seeds and tools for emergencies, or in the transition out of relief programs, should be transferred to WFP, which should assume the principal operational role for such programs, drawing on the technical advice of FAO, as appropriate and cost-efficient. The MOU that WFP has negotiated with UNHCR should serve as a model for situations in which UNHCR is not involved (see above), where WFP should develop MOU's with other operational humanitarian agencies.
UNICEF
The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) has a role in the initial stages of a new humanitarian emergency in areas where it has a unique capability, and should have a stand-by capacity to implement certain programs such as emergency measles immunizations and the care of unaccompanied minors. Such emergency responsibilities should be set out in MOUs. Beyond those targetted areas, UNICEF should be called upon to support the UN system's response when it has a substantial and pre-existing infrastructure or expertise in an affected country or sector. UNICEF should concentrate its activities on the transition from relief to development, especially in repatriation or reintegration efforts (of refugees or internally displaced persons).
Other Agencies
Problems and inefficiencies can arise from the unpredictable entry of some UN agencies into the area of emergency relief. WHO's efforts to supply emergency health services and Habitat's attempted involvement in refugee housing are recent examples. Specialized or technical agencies capable of doing so should be encouraged to provide technical advice or technical assistance to the relief agency responsible for meeting a particular sector of need, but should not strive to become operational in emergency response themselves.
Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs)
Internal crises are often caused by conflict involving the host government, which complicates the determination of the appropriateness of international intervention. Internal conflict invokes the participation of the Red Cross movement, under the terms of the Geneva Conventions (e.g. Sudan, Somalia, and Angola). The Secretary General should appoint a lead operational agency in IDP circumstances in which the UN determines that humanitarian assistance is appropriate, ensuring that an appropriate agency or entity has responsibility for each sector of need in specific emergencies. Such responsibilities will best be set forth in memoranda of understanding. The program in the former Yugoslavia (1992-present) follows this model.
Coordination
Enhanced interoperability in emergency response, especially in terms of transport and logistics, should lead to major new efficiencies in the short term. Over the long term, sharing or borrowing of skills and assets should lead to such good coordination that agency activities may be seen as joint operations.
UN organizations involved with humanitarian relief should enhance their abilities to perform joint operations, improve interagency communication, and specify their respective responsibilities and commitments through memoranda of understanding (MOUs).
Joint planning and evaluation of operations should be conducted through the newly established DHA Military-Civil Defense Unit (MCDU). In addition, DHA, UNHCR and WFP should take maximum advantage of recent studies and recommendations for the establishment of common information systems and interoperable communications networks.
Establishment of the position of High Commissioner for Human Rights was one of the major results of the 1993 Vienna World Conference on Human Rights. Creation of this post was an important step toward reform of the UN's human rights mechanisms; it should lead eventually to more effective use of human and financial resources both within the Human Rights Center and throughout the UN system.
The Center has responsibility for support of a broad and complex network of special rapporteurs, independent experts, and working groups. In addition to implementing mandates of the Human Rights Commission and providing necessary documentation for Commission meetings, the Center also manages several voluntary funds, and supports a series of treaty bodies which monitor international implementation of treaty obligations by States Parties.
More recently, the Center has become active in providing field support in Rwanda through establishment of an extensive network of human rights monitors. A by-product of this new responsibility has been greater coordination of efforts with field support programs of the UN, such as UNDP and the UN Volunteers.
Management Reform
The UN has identified certain organizational weaknesses at the Human Rights Center, stressing the importance of focusing on priorities and the need for strengthening the administrative capabilities and training programs of the Center. An outside management study has developed specific recommendations for more effective staffing and structure of the Center. Recently, the Director of the Center was named as the deputy to the Human Rights Commissioner, rationalizing and clarifying lines of authority between the Commissioner and the Center. The Commissioner should be supported and encouraged in his efforts to elaborate a clear and comprehensive vision of his role and functions based on the management study's recommendations.
Coordination
Funding for the office of Commissioner and the operational Center should be maintained and strengthened as steps continue to put in place a more efficient organizational structure. Over the longer term, as the capabilities of the Commissioner's office grow, recommendations should be developed for system-wide coordination of all UN human rights mechanisms by this office.
A comprehensive approach to UN reform must include the specialized agencies which, taken together, now lay claim to more member state resources than the UN Secretariat itself.* Reform of these agencies is therefore an appropriate subject for discussion in the HLWG, although ultimate decision-making authority rests with the respective governing bodies. UN system-wide coordination through the ACC should reinforce each agency's reform efforts, e.g., in eliminating duplications.
While each agency has its own unique requirements, there are several broad reform principles that may usefully be applied, to a greater or lesser degree, to all of them:
-- Member states should take a harder look at the priorities of each organization, and prune back those functions that have become obsolete in order to make room for emerging new priorities.
-- Even after unneeded programs have been eliminated, there is room for further economies in how business is conducted: e.g. fewer and shorter meetings, fewer and shorter publications, and cutbacks in travel expenses.
-- In virtually all agencies there is scope for cutting back on overhead expenses, notably by streamlining headquarters staff.
-- More should be done to eliminate duplication in the mandates and activities of the specialized agencies.
-- Each agency should have an internal oversight mechanism with independent reporting authority, aimed at improved effectiveness, transparency, and accountability.
-- The budget-setting process should incorporate a more realistic appreciation of major-donor resource Constraints. Budget transparency should be improved to allow member states to make informed decisions.
-- Agencies should investigate innovative fund-raising techniques, for example through the sale of certain services, to relieve some of the pressure on member state budgets.
Detailed below are a number of illustrative proposals for reform in WHO, FAO and ILO.
* The U.S. budget requirement for assessed payments to the UN in FY 1996 is some $311 million, in contrast to $393 million for the affiliated agencies of which the U.S. is a member (WHO, FAO, ILO, IAEA, ICAO, IMO, ITU, UNIDO, UPU, WIPO, and WMO).
WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION (WHO)
WHO must become leaner and better focused on the identified priorities for which it can have a clear impact on improving the state of the world's health. WHO's well-known expertise in setting international standards (normative functions) and in helping countries fight communicable diseases must be supported and reinforced. While some reform steps continue to be taken, often due to pressure from western countries primarily, the impetus for lasting change must come from stronger leadership and management within the organization.
o A Deputy Director General with day-to-day management responsibilities should be appointed. There should be an improved process for filling the top seven electoral offices (Director General and six Regional Directors), opening it up for member state input, so that member states have more oversight on the management of the organization.
o A more transparent budget presentation format should be created to improve member state oversight and enhance priority-setting.
o One of WHO's six regional offices should be eliminated, with its functions absorbed by its nearest regional counterpart.
o Support should be reduced for the Americas region, recognizing that this region already benefits from a separate organization with a similar mandate (PAHO). The fellowship program should be cut in half to reduce unnecessary expenditures.
o Meetings of the World Health Assembly should be biennialized in the interest of cost-effectiveness.
o An enhanced internal oversight function should be put in place to improve organizational efficiency.
FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION (FAO)
FAO's greatest strengths lie in data collection and dissemination in the fields of agriculture, fisheries, and forestry. Other important activities include the global early warning system and trade standardization (Codex Alimentarius and the International Plant Protection Convention-IPPC). Significant steps have been taken on reform, but there is room for further progress in reducing overhead, sharpening priorities, and cutting costs for meetings and publications.
o FAO should make a greater effort to cooperate with, inter alia, the other Rome-based agencies, UNDP, and NGOs to implement sustainable food security strategies in low-income food deficit countries, and to reduce overlap.
o In collaboration with other international organizations (inter alia), the FAO should develop broadly accepted yardsticks to help measure progress in key areas and identify and eliminate low-priority, unsustainable projects.
o FAO should continue to reduce its bureaucratic overhead, transferring resources to higher priority needs while deemphasizing its involvement in programs of lower priority, or where FAO does not have a comparative advantage.
o Personnel requirements should be assessed aggressively so that only those positions essential for important program activities are filled.
o All official FAO staff travel should be downgraded from business to economy class to reduce unnecessary travel costs. The FAO practice of providing planefare to selected FAO meetings for one representative from each member country should also be reconsidered.
o Vacant professional posts should be selectively downgraded and middle management positions should be reduced. Excessive General Service support staff should be cut.
o The centralized Administration and Finance Department should be reduced by consolidating administrative functions in technical departments. o FAO country offices should be dismantled, especially in areas where countries are already served by a regional or subregional office.
o FAO's Latin American field offices should be consolidated with those of IICA (Inter-American Institute for Cooperation in Agriculture).
o An enhanced internal oversight function should be put in place to improve organizational efficiency.
INTERNATIONAL LABOR ORGANIZATION (ILO)
In recent years, the ILO has adopted several important reforms: shortened Governing Body meetings and conferences, consolidation of committees, restructuring of its sectoral program, decentralization of constituent services, and review and renewal of its core mandate. These measures provide a solid foundation on which to build. Reforms needed now include restructuring of the Geneva headquarters, reduction of overhead, and creation of improved methods and procedures by which the Governing Body can prioritize programs.
o Publications and documentation costs should be reduced by 20 per cent through a strategic examination of all publications, Governing Body/Conference documentation, translation, and distribution.
o Possibilities for outsourcing of printing and distribution should be explored.
o Subsidies to related institutions including the International Social Security Association, the Turin Centre, and the International Institute for Labor Studies should be reduced or eliminated.
o The Governing Body should be engaged in early and detailed program planning for the next budget cycle.
o There should be a mechanism for more equitable sharing of exposure to exchange rate losses between member states and the organization.
o The Director-General's assessment of ILO's comparative advantage should be sought to help the Governing Body set medium- and long-term priorities.
o Meeting expenses should be reduced by: cutting back on technical and sectoral meetings; seeking outside support for the Maritime Session of the International Labor Conference, or consolidating its work with that of the general Conference; biennializing the International Labor Conference; and using the Turin Centre residential facilities for sectoral and technical meetings to reduce costs.
o All regional offices and multi-disciplinary teams should be reviewed with the aim of eliminating overlap and ensuring that necessary administrative work is centralized. Offices in areas of lowest priority should also be eliminated.
o Governments, workers, and employers should be engaged in a more effective dialogue aimed at eliminating programs that all agree are of lower priority.
o Senior management positions should be defined with meaningful responsibilities and line authority to carry them out.
o Improved Governing Body oversight procedures should be put in place to ensure better compliance with audit inspection recommendations.
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Last Updated: March 18, 1996