50th plenary meeting

29 July 1982

Report of the Governing Council of the United Nations Development Programme

The Economic and Social Council,

Reaffirming the importance of technical co-operation in the United Nations system and the central role of the United Nations Development Programme in its funding and co-ordination,

Reaffirming the basic principles of universality and of the voluntary nature of the Programme, as stated, in particular, in General Assembly resolutions 1240 (XIII) of 14 October 1958, 2688 (XXV) of 11 December 1970 and 3405 (XXX) of 28 November 1975,

Taking note of decision 82/11 of 18 June 1982 of the Governing Council of the United Nations Development Programme on the United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries,

Having considered the report of the Governing Council of the United Nations Development Programme for the year 1982,

1. Takes note of the report of the Governing Council of the United Nations Development Programme for the year 1982, and decisions contained therein;

2. Expresses its serious concern at the alarming decline in the rate of growth of the resources of the United Nations Development Programme, which threatens its effectiveness with respect to the third programming cycle, 1982-1986, as well as the full implementation of the Substantial New Programme of Action for the 1980s for the Least Developed Countries;

3. Takes note of decision 82/5 of 18 June 1982 of the Governing Council of the United Nations Development Programme, by which the Governing Council reaffirmed its decisions 80/30 of 26 June 1980 and 81/16 of 27 June 1981, including, in particular, those provisions relating to the indicative planning figures, the assumed over-all average annual rate of growth of voluntary contributions and the level of resources envisaged for the third programming cycle for the purposes of forward planning;

4. Welcomes the establishment of an intersessional committee of the whole to study options and recommendations for the longer-term financing of the United Nations Development Programme and for strengthening the effectiveness of the work of the Governing Council;

5. Appeals to all Governments, in particular those whose previous contributions may have been below their capacity to pledge, to increase their voluntary contributions, starting with the 1982 United Nations Pledging Conference for Development Activities, so as to achieve an over-all average annual rate of growth of 14 per cent for the third programming cycle, as enviasaged by the Governing Council in its decision 80/30;

6. Urges all States, particularly donor countries, international financial institutions in a position to do so and other multilateral financial institutions to make all possible efforts with a view to contributing substantially and effectively to the Special Measures Fund for the Least Developed Countries of the United Nations Development Programme and to the United Nations Capital Development Fund, as well as through other suitable channels for the least developed countries, in order to assist in ensuring the timely and full implementation of the Substantial New Programme of Action;

7. Endorses the invitation of the Governing Council of the United Nations Development Programme to the General Assembly to consider, during its thirty-seventh session, the financial situation of the Programme and the need to sustain technical assistance to developing countries through the Programme in the light of the outcome of the 1982 United Nations Pledging Conference for Development Activities;

8. Welcomes decision 82/8 of 18 June 1982 of the Governing Council of the United Nations Development Programme, designed to promote government execution of projects assisted by the Programme;

9. Invites Governments of recipient countries and urges all organizations of the United Nations system to facilitate the role of the resident co-ordinator in strengthening the co-ordination of all United Nations technical assistance activities in accordance with the consensus of 1970 and in carrying out the tasks assigned to him or her by the General Assembly in its resolutions 32/197 of 20 December 1977, 33/202 of 29 January 1979 and 34/213 of 19 December 1979;

10. Reaffirms the need for the United Nations Development Programme and its executing agencies to review their operational support systems, working methods, arrangements and staffing, with a view to bringing about significant reductions in over-all support costs, in order to make more resources available to meet the assistance requirements of developing countries.