system-wide reporting on funding for the un system session 1: current situation and perspectives:...

System-wide reporting on funding for the UN system

Session 1: current situation and perspectives: UNDESA Report

Geneva, 20-21 January 2011

Expert Meeting

Kristinn Sv. Helgason and Andrew MacPherson, UNDESA

UNDESA Report

A. Origin, rationale, expectations

B. Recent legislative mandates

C. Current efforts to improve reporting

D. Challenges

E. Opportunities

F. Conclusion

Presentation outline


1960-1970s Major expansion in UN operational

activities for development – many new UN entities established, e.g. UNDP in 1966

Post of DG for Development and International Cooperation (DG-DIEC) established in 1977 to address growing coordination deficit in UN development system (abolished in 1992)



GA 35/81 (Dec. 1980)

Requests SG to entrust to DG-DIEC submission of annual report on operational activities for development, which should also be made available to UN Pledging Conference for Development Activities, containing comprehensive statistical information on all operational activities for development of UN system



Annual Report of DG-DIEC

Annual report from the outset attempted to provide Member States with analysis of important policy issues such as funding flows; efficiency; system-wide coherence; programme support costs; procurement activities and coordination, as well as detailed statistical information on contributions and expenditures – serving de facto as UN development cooperation report



1980-90s

Other factors that increased demand of Member States for system-wide reporting on funding included:

Funding crisis during 1980s when some donors withheld contributions to UN system at height of Cold War

Gradual unraveling of system of centralized funding through UNDP in first half of 1980s (finally abandoned in early 1990s)



1980-90s (cont.)

Funding for operational activities for development becomes increasingly earmarked through growth in non-core contributions

System of execution by UN specialized agencies comes under pressure as programme countries opt for national execution of UN technical assistance – specialized agencies begin to mobilize resources directly from donors



In sum, important drivers for greater demand by Member States for system-wide reporting were:

Concerns about growing fragmentation of UN development system making it difficult for Member States to provide effective coordination and guidance to UN operational activities for development

Shift to decentralized funding system with potential for suboptimal allocation of resources

Greater political interest in issues related to funding of operational activities for development



Due to the fact that operational activities currently account for some two-thirds of all UN system-wide activities, there is an expectation among Member States that strengthened system-wide reporting on funding flows will improve overview, transparency, coherence, coordination and governance of the UN development system

GA QCPR is heavily driven by the analysis provided in the UNDESA funding report



In past few years, Member States have requested the Secretary-General to improve system-wide analysis and reporting in several areas including the following:

Long-term trends in core and non-core contributions

Cost of coordination

Broaden and improve coverage, timeliness, reliability and comparability of system-wide financial data, definitions and classifications

Establish a central repository of information

Better distinguish between development-related activities and humanitarian assistance

B. Recent legislative mandates


In response to these mandates, UNDESA in the past two years has particularly focused on following:

Transforming the statistical compendium on funding into an analytical report

Deepening review of cost recovery, fragmentation of funding, burden-sharing, predictability and local resources contributions

Providing disaggregated analysis of core ratios and non-core funding streams

Introducing biannual funding updates

C. Current efforts to improve reporting


Important challenges in system-wide reporting on operational activities for development include:

Inconsistent coverage: i.e. UNDESA 36 entities; CEB 34; OECD/DAC 53

Reconciliation/coordination of UNDESA, CEB and OECD/DAC reporting figures/efforts

Lack of harmonized terminology: definitions, categorizations, classifications (e.g. sector classifications); groupings (e.g. geographical, institutions)

Different timeframes and frequency of reporting

D. Challenges


(cont.)

Clarity about and understanding of different constituents

Lack of clear definitions: e.g. “operational activities for development”

Lack of conceptual rigour: e.g. commonly accepted definitions of programme, programme support and management and administration costs

Further standardizing UNDESA report to promote better comparison across time and UN entities

D. Challenges


(cont.)

Better understanding implications of IPSAS and other financial reporting harmonization initiatives on UNDESA reporting

Improving analysis of global pooled funds administered outside UN system

Strengthening analytical reporting on issues such as coordination costs, predictability of funding flows, fragmentation/concentration and efficiency of UN system

D. Challenges


Greater cooperation on system-wide reporting on funding also offers opportunities such as:

Harmonizing data collection processes: “one-stop-shop” collection of information from UN entities

“Preempting” uncontrolled outside interpretation and analysis of UN system performance by developing generally accepted core set of analysis and indicators e.g. coordination/system-wide coherence

Achieving potential gains from specialization: e.g. CEB focusing on data collection and management and administration and UNDESA on substantive analysis

E. Opportunities


(cont.)

Improving coordination among various financial reporting harmonization initiatives

Effective establishment of CEB financial statistics database and reporting system

E. Opportunities


System-wide reporting on funding should become a regular item for discussion in UN-wide inter-agency processes

F. Conclusion


system-wide reporting on funding for the un system session 1: current situation and perspectives:...

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