Reform Update: Will the UN “Deliver as One?”
By Fergus Watt

In an example of the old political adage, ‘Be careful what you ask for; you just might get it,’ the UN has embarked on a potentially very significant shift with even more significant long-term implications.

One of the longstanding criticisms of the United Nations has been that the UN ‘system’ is anything but – composed as it is of myriad semi-autonomous agencies, funds and programs, often dealing with similar or overlapping issues, each with their own secretariat, governance structure and decision-making apparatus.

This situation isn’t the fault of the UN, and the problem is routinely over-stated by the UN’s critics. It is the sovereign member governments which created this large smorgasbord of UN operational agencies in order that they can invest greater political authority and capacity in some bodies but not others, depending on the outcome of political bargaining by these same states.

Last November, an expert panel published its report Delivering as One. Appointed by former Secretary-General Kofi Annan following the September 2005 World Summit, the panel followed a summit mandate to deal with issues of “system-wide coherence” in the areas of development, humanitarian affairs and environment.

The report does not advocate a broad merger of existing institutions. Rather, it aims to replace the present “policy incoherence, program duplication, inappropriate administrative procedures and mediocre management,” with a system where the UN delivers as one on all levels, whether country, regional or headquarters.

At country level, for example, the ‘One UN’ approach means appointing a single leader (either the UN Development Program’s resident representative or a special representative of the Secretary-General) to coordinate and represent the work of all UN agencies as part of a single overall budget, in coordination with national governments. By consolidating programs, the UN can reduce project duplication and ensure that each agency does what it does best. In this manner, the UN can also help the host government reach its own priorities more effectively.

A UN Sustainable Development Board and a development coordinator at headquarters will be responsible for coordinating funding and overseeing all UN activities in individual countries.

In April, the new Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon presented the General Assembly with his response to the panel’s report. Governments have also formally expressed their views. Some of the panel’s recommendations have not been well received and are still under consideration among governments. These include:

–  upgrading the UN Environment Program as environment policy pillar (without turning it into a UN ‘Organization’);

–  establishing a Global Leaders Forum (L27) within the UN Economic and Social Council to upgrade its policy coordination and leadership role on economic development and global public goods issues.

The panel has also proposed a stronger voice for women through the creation of a single and independent UN entity, led by an official at the Under Secretary-General level. This new entity will replace existing (but weak) structures to promote gender equality and the empowerment of women.

NGOs have welcomed the overall direction of the report while also expressing concerns. In particular, NGOs have criticized the effort by governments to introduce coherence within the UN family of institutions while not going further to bring about policy coherence among the wider spectrum of global governance institutions, including the International Monetary Fund, World Bank and World Trade Organization, as well as the UN.

For example, a May conference of the Canadian Council for International Cooperation (CCIC) endorsed a “10-Point Agenda” to end poverty and injustice, that included recommendations that the UN Economic and Social Council’s policy-setting authority be increased in relation to the WTO, IMF and World Bank.

While the political discussion of the report is ongoing, eight volunteer countries (Albania, Cape Verde, Mozambique, Pakistan, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uruguay, and Vietnam as of April 2007) are pilot-testing the ‘One UN’ approach. Others may join later this year. The report proposes a progressive unifying of all UN country programs by 2012.

These developments affecting the UN’s administrative architecture come at a time when the world has already reached a remarkable policy consensus – the Millennium Development Goals.

Delivering as One not only heralds the advent of a more autonomous and effective United Nations delivery mechanism for humanitarian aid and development assistance. It casts in even sharper relief the need for corresponding reform and modernization of the UN’s primary political organs – the Security Council, Economic and Social Council and General Assembly.