The General Assembly of the United Nations, with the Resolution Α/RES/72/279 adopted on 31 May 2018, welcomes a revitalized, strategic, flexible and action-oriented United Nations Development Assistance Framework as the most important instrument for the planning and implementation of United Nations development activities in each country, in support of the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, to be prepared and finalized in full consultation and agreement with national Governments. In this context, the General Assembly calls upon the entities of the United Nations (UN) development system to strengthen capacities, resources and skill sets to support national Governments in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and, where relevant, build capacities and expertise across UN agencies, funds and programmes to promote progress on the SDGs lagging behind.
The General Assembly recognizes that improving its voluntary and grant-based funding is essential to the successful repositioning of the United Nations development system and to the strengthening of its multilateral nature, with the aim of better supporting countries in their efforts to implement the 2030 Agenda in line with national needs and priorities in a coherent and integrated manner. Therefore, it welcomes the call by the Secretary-General for a funding compact as a critical tool to maximize the investments of Member States in the UN development system and the system’s transparency and accountability for system-wide actions and results and also his proposal to establish a dedicated coordination fund.
Moreover, the General Assembly recognizes that the commitment to reform is an essential component of a funding compact, and requests the UN development system, as the starting point: to provide annual reporting on system-wide support to the SDGs and present aggregated information on system-wide results by 2021, to comply with the highest international transparency standards and to undergo independent system-wide evaluations of results achieved, at the global, regional and country levels and to comply with existing full-cost recovery policies.
Finally, the General Assembly, stresses the need to improve monitoring and reporting on system-wide results, and, in this regard, welcomes the strengthening of independent system-wide evaluation measures by the Secretary-General.
More information available at: http://www.un.org/en/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=A/RES/72/279