Progress in the Implementation of General Assembly Resolution 75/233 on the Quadrennial Comprehensive Policy Review of Operational Activities for Development of the United Nations System

E/RES/2023/31View PDF

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

A Resolution of the Economic and Social Council, under agenda item 7 Operational activities of the United Nations for international development cooperation, published in 2023.

What other versions does this mandate have?

3 versions · 2022–2024

This is an older version — the most recent is E/RES/2024/19

Year	Symbol	Title	Word length	Text similarity
2024	E/RES/2024/19	Progress in the implementation of General Assembly resolution 75/233 on the quadrennial comprehensive policy review of operational activities for development of the United Nations System	499	23%Compare
2023	E/RES/2023/31	Progress in the implementation of General Assembly resolution 75/233 on the quadrennial comprehensive policy review of operational activities for development of the United Nations System	1,972	27%Compare
2022	E/RES/2022/25	Progress in the implementation of General Assembly resolution 75/233 on the quadrennial comprehensive policy review of operational activities for development of the United Nations System	614	–

Who cites this mandate in the budget?

2 entities

Entity	(Sub-)Programme	Title	Total mandates cited	Expenditure
	Programme 16	Economic and social development in asia and the pacific	254
	Section 1	Overall policymaking, direction and coordination	18

Historical expenditure covers the complete programme or subprogramme, not this mandate. For an overview of all UN entities and programmes, see UN entities and programmes.

Who cites this mandate in the budget?

2 entities

Entity	(Sub-)Programme	Title	Total mandates cited	Expenditure
	Programme 16	Economic and social development in asia and the pacific	254	—
	Section 1	Overall policymaking, direction and coordination	18	—

Historical expenditure covers the complete programme or subprogramme, not this mandate. For an overview of all UN entities and programmes, see UN entities and programmes.

What subjects does this mandate have?

6 subjects

Coordination Within UN System Development Finance Operational Activities Organizational Reform Resident Coordinators Sustainable Development

What’s in this document?

23 operative paragraphs

Takes note of the report of the Secretary-General on the implementation of General Assembly resolution 75/233 on the quadrennial comprehensive policy review of operational activities for development of the United Nations system;¹

¹A/78/72-E/2023/59 and A/78/72/Add.1-E/2023/59/Add.1; see also the annexes thereto (available at www.un.org/ecosoc/en/2023-Operational-Activities-for-Development-Segment).

Welcomes the ongoing efforts of the Secretary-General on the repositioning of the United Nations development system, and acknowledges the progress achieved thus far in advancing all reform mandates contained in General Assembly resolutions 71/243 and 72/279;

Recognizes that the presence of the entities of the United Nations development system at the country level should be tailored to meet the specific challenges and needs of programme countries, and reaffirms that the resident coordinator system should continue to support government efforts, including to achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development,² and that the focus of the resident coordinator system should remain sustainable development, with the eradication of poverty in all its forms and dimensions as its overarching objective, consistent with the integrated nature of the 2030 Agenda and in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework and national leadership and ownership;

²General Assembly resolution 70/1.

Welcomes the progress made in strengthening the United Nations development system’s oversight, system-wide evaluations and results-based management and reporting to the General Assembly and the Economic and Social Council, as well as the efforts made on providing more detailed and timely information, and encourages the continued strengthening of such evidence-based reporting, in compliance with General Assembly resolution 75/233;

Notes the establishment of the United Nations Sustainable Development Group System-wide Evaluation Office, re-emphasizes the need to ensure the independence, credibility and effectiveness of the Evaluation Office, and in this regard looks forward to receiving reports to the Economic and Social Council on the functioning and work of the Office, especially its findings, recommendations and follow-up;

Welcomes the update on the funding compact and its indicators, takes note of the progress made in the fulfilment of the funding compact commitments while expressing concern that such progress remains uneven, continues to note the voluntary nature of the funding compact and to urge the full implementation by Member States and entities of the United Nations development system of commitments made in the funding compact, and further looks forward to the upcoming inclusive dialogue to be launched by the Chair of the United Nations Sustainable Development Group on the best way forward regarding the funding compact;

Emphasizes that core funding provides United Nations entities the flexibility to allocate funds to priority areas in their strategic plans, including underfunded areas, and in this regard stresses the urgent need to address the continued imbalance between core and non-core resources by meeting the funding compact commitment of 30 per cent core resources by 2023;

Urges Member States and other contributors providing non-core contributions, to the extent practicable, to make them more flexible and aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework, as well as the strategic plans of United Nations funds, programmes and specialized agencies, to reduce transaction costs, and to give priority to pooled, thematic and joint funding mechanisms, in particular the Joint Sustainable Development Goals Fund, applied at all levels;

Urges the entities of the United Nations development system, through their governing bodies, to continue taking concrete steps to address on a continuous basis the decline of the share of core contributions and the growing imbalance of core and non-core resources, including but not limited to those set out in paragraph 56 (a) to (c) of General Assembly resolution 75/233;

Re-emphasizes that adequate, predictable and sustainable funding of the resident coordinator system is essential to delivering a coherent, effective, efficient and accountable response in accordance with national needs and priorities, and recommits to providing sufficient funding for the resident coordinator system, in line with General Assembly resolution 76/4, expresses concern regarding the continual shortfall of funding to the resident coordinator system, looks forward to the report of the Secretary-General to the General Assembly with recommendations for its consideration, taking note of the report entitled “Review of the functioning of the resident coordinator system: rising to the challenge and keeping the promise of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”³ and the recommendations therein, notes the critical importance of dialogue with Member States about the resident coordinator system, and in this regard looks forward to the launching of a transparent and inclusive consultation process as mentioned in the report of the Secretary-General to the 2023 operational activities for development segment of the Economic and Social Council,⁴ before a formal proposal is submitted to the General Assembly;

³A/75/905.

⁴A/78/72-E/2023/59.

Requests continued efforts to improve the performance of personnel of the United Nations development system, including the resident coordinator system, at all levels, and in this regard reaffirms the importance of the full implementation of the Management and Accountability Framework;

Takes note of the report of the Chair of the United Nations Sustainable Development Group on the work on the Development Coordination Office,⁵ including on the operational, administrative and financing aspects of the activities of the Office, as well as the report on the system-wide contribution to the advancement of the Sustainable Development Goals, and looks forward to receiving on an annual basis an evidence-based, comprehensive, analytical and more detailed report to the Economic and Social Council at its operational activities for development segment, to include detailed financial, budgetary and expenditure data on the results of the work of resident coordinators on the ground in all future reporting on the implementation of the reinvigorated resident coordinator system;

⁵E/2023/62.

Welcomes the contributions of the resident coordinator system to the results of the repositioned United Nations development system and takes note with appreciation of the resident coordinator system results framework that emerged from the consultative process conducted by the Chair of the United Nations Sustainable Development Group, and urges the Development Coordination Office to continue to use the framework to report on the work and performance of the resident coordinator system at all levels and to adjust it, as necessary, in line with the quadrennial comprehensive policy review mandates;

Notes the findings of the report of the Chair of the United Nations Sustainable Development Group on progress made in gender balance among resident coordinators,⁶ requests that gender balance continue to be ensured, and that further measures be taken to enhance geographical representation with a view to improving representation of developing countries, and in this regard re-emphasizes the need for resident coordinators and resident coordinators pool members to have adequate, diverse and relevant expertise and skill sets, and sufficient leadership, prerogative, impartiality, management tools, ongoing training and mentoring to effectively fulfil their mandate, as referenced in paragraphs 88, 90 and 92 of General Assembly resolution 75/233;

⁶Ibid.

Stresses the need to continue to improve the transparency, accountability and responsiveness of the United Nations development system to the priorities and needs of programme countries, including building the capacity of the United Nations development system, and ensuring its ongoing, adequate and tailored capacity development at country level;

Reiterates its request to the entities of the United Nations development system that have not already done so to consolidate their annual reporting on the implementation of the quadrennial comprehensive policy review within their annual reporting on the implementation of their strategic plans and to continue to improve the quality of their annual reports to the Economic and Social Council, including to reflect their respective contributions to the work of the United Nations development system;

Urges entities of the United Nations development system with operational activities for development that have not done so to fully align their strategic plans and their strategic planning and budgeting cycles with the quadrennial comprehensive policy review, taking into account their respective mandates;

Takes note of the progress in realizing efficiency gains, and encourages all entities of the United Nations development system to strengthen work in implementation of harmonized business practices and realizing efficiency gains, including through the establishment of common premises, where possible;

Also takes note of the checklist⁷ on the implementation of General Assembly resolution 72/279 by United Nations development system entities, circulated by the Chair of the United Nations Sustainable Development Group as a tool to facilitate the oversight role of the governing bodies of the United Nations development system entities in line with paragraph 14 of General Assembly resolution 76/4, and encourages those United Nations development system governing bodies that have not yet done so to consider and decide on the use of the checklist for regular updates on the implementation of General Assembly resolution 72/279;

⁷United Nations development system reform checklist for United Nations entities’ governing bodies.

Requests the United Nations development system to continue supporting programme countries to leverage robust partnerships, in accordance with national development policies, plans, priorities and needs, with development partners and relevant stakeholders, including international financial institutions, civil society and the private sector, that can positively support national development efforts and contribute to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals;

Notes the Secretary-General’s call to ensure that the regional architecture is fit for purpose, and stresses the importance of leveraging regional assets in order to scale up, inter alia, country-level impact and ensuring that expertise is accessible across the United Nations system, including expertise of non-resident entities;

Also notes the forthcoming quadrennial comprehensive policy review in 2024, and in this regard requests the Secretary-General to provide status reporting on the implementation of all provisions and mandates contained in General Assembly resolution 75/233, including integrating and mainstreaming provisions and mandates, such as those outlined in the quadrennial comprehensive policy review monitoring framework and those on the acceleration of the 2030 Agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals, in advance of the quadrennial comprehensive policy review negotiations, and following open and inclusive informal consultation with Member States, which could be done through, inter alia, briefing notes, informal briefings, and case studies with emphasis on development results to inform on possible gaps and challenges to be considered by Member States, with a view to optimizing their engagement with and provide guidance to the United Nations development system;

Welcomes the discussions at the 2023 operational activities for development segment, and requests the Secretary-General to continue to provide briefing notes and informal briefings on progress in the implementation of General Assembly resolution 75/233 in preparation for the General Assembly resolution on the operational activities for development of the United Nations system to be negotiated at the seventy-eighth session of the General Assembly, ahead of the 2024 operational activities for development segment.

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

What other versions does this mandate have?

Who cites this mandate in the budget?

Who cites this mandate in the budget?

What subjects does this mandate have?

What’s in this document?

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Who cites this mandate in the budget?