Support to the reform of the United Nations Development System (2017-2020)


If the UN Development System is to provide efficient support for the implementation of the 2030 Agenda at country level, reform is an imperative and time critical. There is a promising constellation of leadership, new strategic plans and guidance through UN Resolutions. This contribution will help accelerate the reform efforts through strategic financing of integrated work.

Country/region Topic Period Budget
Global
Other

Sector not specified
01.11.2017 - 31.12.2021
CHF 7'500'000
Background The UN Development System needs to reform and reposition itself in order to step up to the challenges of the 2030 Agenda. At the strategic level, many positive steps have been taken under the leadership of the SG, through new strategic plans (UNDP, UNICEF, UNFPA, UN Women) as well as relevant General Assembly Resolutions. It is time critical to translate these reform to the country level and the UN country teams. 
Objectives Accelerate the impact of UN development operations at country level in support of the implementation of the 2030 Agenda through targeted reforms.
Target groups

Direct: United Nations Resident Coordinators Offices
United Nations Country Teams, UN Department for Economic and Social Affairs


Indirect: UN Member States, civil society, private sector partners working with the UN in the field on Agenda 2030

Medium-term outcomes
  1. Resident Coordinators have the capacity to provide strategic, effective and efficient support to national priorities in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda (Supporting the “Delivering Together Facility”).
  2. UN Country Teams have the capacity to deploy the collective policy advisory and normative capacity of the UN System to support national partners to design interventions that address the multi-dimensional nature of the 2030 Agenda (Supporting the “Joint Fund for the 2030 Agenda”).
  3. The UNDS is more accountable to the Economic and Social Council on the progress of the reform of the United Nations Development System (Supporting UN DESA to strengthen accountability mechanisms of UN bodies).
Results

Expected results:   Resident Coordinators have human and financial resources to improve joint planning and develop common business operations; deploy personnel for emergency response planning, conflict prevention and human rights, and strengthen leadership capabilities of UN Country Teams for the implementation of the 2030 Agenda. UN Country Teams pool and leverage human and financial resources to support national partners in the design and implementation of policy solutions that address multiple SDGs. UN Department for Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA) has the capacity to produce high quality monitoring frameworks and reports to Member States on the progress of the UN Development System reforms.


Results from previous phases:  

  • Systematic roll-out of operational guidelines to UNCountry Offices (“Field handbook”) completed
  • Better quality UNDAFs developed (“WOGA cooperation strategies”)
  • Key staff capacity on human rights and crisis response for RC Offices deployed
  • Joint pilot programmes enabled through financial incentives
  • Improved tracking and reporting on reform and its bottlenecks

From the previous phases, it can be concluded that the UN Country Teams require affirmative action and incentives to implement joint work and the RC Offices can only operate effectively if they have enough resources.
 


Directorate/federal office responsible SDC
Credit area Development cooperation
Project partners Contract partner
United Nations Organization (UNO)
  • UNDGO
  • United Nations Development Programme


Coordination with other projects and actors Accountability for Agenda 2030: support to the High Level Political Forum to review national reports on the implementation of the 2030 Agenda.

SDG Lab in Geneva: support to UN agencies in Geneva to provide an integrated response to the 2030 Agenda.
Budget Current phase Swiss budget CHF   7'500'000 Swiss disbursement to date CHF   7'328'500
Project phases Phase 7 01.12.2019 - 31.12.2021   (Current phase) Phase 6 01.11.2017 - 31.12.2021   (Current phase) Phase 5 01.12.2013 - 31.12.2018   (Completed)