26 July 1984

Meeting 49

Programme planning and co-ordination

A Report of the Committee for Programme and Co-ordination on the work of its twenty-fourth session

The Economic and Social Council,

Having considered the report of the Committee for Programme and Co-ordination on the work of its twenty-fourth session,

I 1. Takes note with appreciation of the report of the Committee for Programme and Co-ordination on the work of its twenty-fourth session and endorses the conclusions and recommendations contained therein;

2. Emphasizes the importance of the programming and co-ordination functions carried out by the Committee and stresses the need for timely and full implementation of intergovernmental mandates concerning the submission of reports to the Committee by the organizations, organs and bodies of the United Nations system;

II Proposed revisions to the medium-term plan for the period 1984-1989 to incorporate the programme implications of the resolutions and decisions adopted by intergovernmental organs or international conferences

1. Endorses the conclusions and recommendations of the Committee for Programme and Co-ordination concerning the proposed revisions to the medium-term plan for the period 1984-1989 to incorporate the programme implications of the resolutions and decisions adopted by intergovernmental organs or international conferences;

2. Reiterates that the medium-term plan should continue to serve as the framework for future biennial programme budgets;

3. Requests the Secretary-General, when preparing the future proposed revisions to the medium-term plan, to make every effort:

(a) To identify in the revisions the specific paragraphs of new legislative mandates on which the proposed revisions are based;

(b) To apply fully the methodology adopted by the General Assembly in resolution 34/224 of 20 December 1979 on medium-term planning in the United Nations, particularly in so far as it concerns the participation of sectoral and regional intergovernmental bodies in the review of medium-term plan proposals;

III Operation of the new system for setting priorities

Requests the Secretary-General to redouble his efforts to ensure that, in future, the provisions of the relevant General Assembly resolutions, including resolutions 36/228 of 18 December 1981, 37/234 of 21 December 1982 and 38/227 of 20 December 1983, will be implemented more systematically;

IV Programme performance for the biennium 1982-1983

Requests the Secretary-General to implement fully the recommendations of the Committee for Programme and Co-ordination concerning programme performance for the biennium 1982-1983 when preparing the programme performance report for the biennium 1984-1985;

V Evaluation of the United Nations Development Programme-financed technical co-operation activities of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization in the field of manufactures

1. Takes note with appreciation of the implementation of those recommendations cited in paragraph 79 of the report of the Secretary-General on the evaluation of the United Nations Development Programme-financed technical co-operation activities of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization in the field of manufactures which the Programme and the Organization had stated were under implementation before the finalization of the staff evaluation report;

2. Takes note of decision 84/15 of 29 June 1984 of the Governing Council of the United Nations Development Programme;

3. Invites the Governing Council of the United Nations Development Programme and the Industrial Development Board of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization:

(a) To ensure that the above-mentioned recommendations will continue to be implemented systematically and that follow-up will be pursued actively;

(b) To adopt and implement the recommendations referred to in paragraph 81 of the report of the Secretary-General;

(c) To give careful consideration to the recommendations referred to in paragraphs 82 and 84 to 87 of the report of the Secretary-General;

(d) To request their secretariats to report to them on the recommendations referred to in paragraphs 83 and 87 of the report of the Secretary-General;

(e) To request their secretariats to continue efforts to improve their evaluation methodology;

(f) To study regularly the means likely to strengthen further the effectiveness and impact of technical co-operation activities in the manufactures sector;

4. Invites the Governing Council of the United Nations Development Programme and the Industrial Development Board and its Permanent Committee to include this question in the agenda of their next sessions;

5. Requests the Secretary-General to report to the Economic and Social Council at its second regular session of 1987, through the Committee for Programme and Co-ordination at its twenty-seventh session, on the implementation of and follow-up to the above-mentioned recommendations;

6. Invites Member States to give careful consideration to the recommendations referred to in paragraphs 80 and 82 of the report of the Secretary-General;

VI Cross-organizational programme analyses

1. Welcomes the improvements in the recent cross-organizational programme analyses, in particular the cross-organizational programme analysis of the activities of the United Nations system in human settlements;

2. Invites all organizations, organs and bodies of the United Nations system carefully to review and follow up the cross-organizational programme analyses in their respective sectors;

3. Requests the Secretary-General to ensure that future cross-organizational programme analyses, in particular the analysis of economic and technical co-operation among developing countries, will provide a critical analysis of gaps in coverage of the activities mandated and of questions of priorities, as well as of overlaps and co-ordination, taking into consideration problems which may exist in defining the relative competences of the United Nations Development Programme and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development or in co-ordination between the activities of the two organizational units;

A. Cross-organizational programme analysis of the activities of the United Nations system in human settlements

4. Invites the Commission on Human Settlements, at its eighth session in 1985, to give due consideration to the cross-organizational programme analysis of the activities of the United Nations system in human settlements, as well as to the assessment and recommendations of the Committee for Programme and Co-ordination;

5. Invites the Commission on Human Settlements, with the assistance of the United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (Habitat), to exercise vigorously its co-ordination role;

B. Mandates of, and problems addressed by, the United Nations system in economic and technical co-operation among developing countries

6. Requests the Secretary-General to refine further the criteria, proposed in his report on the question, for identifying activities to be included in the analysis of the mandates of, and problems addressed by, the United Nations system in economic and technical co-operation among developing countries;

7. Recommends that the cross-organizational programme analysis of economic and technical co-operation among developing countries should contain a critical analytical assessment of the role of the United Nations system and the relationship between its activities and the mandates it has been given, including the difficulties encountered;

VII Measures to improve secretariat support for the Committee for Programme and Co-ordination

1. Regrets that no concrete proposals were submitted to the Committee for Programme and Co-ordination at its twenty-fourth session;

2. Reiterates the recommendation of the Committee that the consultations referred to in the statement made by the Under-Secretary-General for Administration and Management before the Committee at its twenty-fourth session should be held with the widest possible participation of Member States;

3. Re-emphasizes that the programme planning and evaluation functions of the Secretariat are an essential element of General Assembly resolution 32/197 of 20 December 1977;

4. Recommends that the proposals referred to in paragraph 1 of the present section should take into account the integrity of the programming and co-ordinating functions of the Committee, as reflected in its mandate;

5. Requests the Secretary-General, in his report to be submitted to the General Assembly pursuant to section II of its resolution 38/227A, to take into account the views expressed by Member States at the twenty-fourth session of the Committee and at the second regular session of 1984 of the Council;

VIII Preparation of the documentation for the proposed programme budget for the biennium 1986-1987

Requests the Secretary-General to ensure that the arrangements set out in his report on the preparation of the documentation for the proposed programme budget for the biennium 1986-1987 will be followed.

B Joint Meetings of the Committee for Programme and Co-ordination and the Administrative Committee on Co-ordination

The Economic and Social Council

1. Takes note of the report of the Chairmen of the Committee for Programme and Co-ordination and the Administrative Committee on Co-ordination on the nineteenth series of Joint Meetings of the two Committees, devoted to the implementation of the International Development Strategy for the Third United Nations Development Decade, with special emphasis on Africa, and to economic and technical co-operation among developing countries;

2. Notes the improvements made in the preparation of the Joint Meeting;

3. Welcomes the summing-up by the Secretary-General at the Joint Meeting;

4. Notes, however, that further progress could be made, particularly in achieving a real dialogue between the two bodies;

5. Stresses that the Joint Meetings should highlight the problems and difficulties faced by the specialized agencies;

6. Recommends in this context that:

(a) The Administrative Committee on Co-ordination should prepare for the Committee for Programme and Co-ordination a background paper on the subjects chosen for discussion at the twentieth series of Joint Meetings, that the background paper should be problem- and action-oriented and that it should include problems faced by organizations in the field of interorganizational co-ordination;

(b) Interventions at the Joint Meetings should enable participants to focus on the problems and their solutions and to improve the dialogue between the Committee for Programme and Co-ordination and the Administrative Committee on Co-ordination.

C Twenty-fifth and twenty-sixth sessions of the Committee for Programme and Co-ordination

The Economic and Social Council,

Recommends that the twenty-fifth and twenty-sixth sessions of the Committee for Programme and Co-ordination should each be of five weeks' duration, on an experimental basis, in order to allow the Committee adequate time for the discussion, inter alia, of the proposed programme budget for the biennium 1986-1987.