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Report of the UNSDG Chair
on the Development Coordination Office

Accountability

More transparency and accountability for results

Accountability

More transparency and accountability for results

Sustained support for UN development system reform requires enhanced communications for development results, linked to increased transparency and accountability – towards governments and the wider public.

Results reporting

The annual DCO report to ECOSOC allows the UN membership to have full visibility of the Resident Coordinator system activities

The online portal of the Special Purpose Trust Fund offers full information and figures on Resident Coordinator system funding

There has been a 6% rise in annual UNCT reporting on joint results from 2018 to 2019.
In 2020 DCO will renew guidance and improve tools for annual joint results reporting to governments.

Tools and capacities to communicate and inform

The Development Coordination Office has improved its data systems, results reporting and transparency tools.

UN INFO showcases the joint SDG programming of UN entities. It continued its roll out in 2019 and has been adopted by 68 UN Country Teams so far. Several use it to produce result reports for national governments. UN INFO is mandatory for UNCTs embarking on a new Cooperation Framework from 2020 on. In Cabo Verde, the Prime Minister has called it a crucial transparency, accountability, data and storytelling tool to assess joint UN results.

Information Management System(IMS) collects information on UNCT activities and was upgraded to capture results following the reform.

RCOs with dedicated officers for data management and results monitoring are improving performance tracking, follow-up and evidence-based policymaking.

Use the interactive map below to explore where we work. Click on any individual blue or yellow country on the map to see a Country Snapshot provided through IMS. Click on the countries shaded in yellow to see through UN INFO how UN Country Teams are working on the SDGs, which UN entities are working on which SDG and where, and through which source of funding, implementing partners and more.

Online communication tools and capacities have been overhauled

In 2019, DCO launched a revamped UNSDG website in English. It will be available in Spanish and French in 2020 and in all official UN languages by 2021.

50 new UNCT websites have debuted as platforms for data visualization and storytelling, pulling data automatically from IMS and UN INFO.

United Nations Information Centres (UNICs) also began migrating their websites to the UNCT web platforms, achieving operational efficiencies and unified messaging.

A new global communication network has fully integrated 44 out of 50 UNICs into RCOs.

In 86 locations without a UNIC, new communications officer positions have been established in RCOs; 50 were hired by March 2020.

Communications officers in all RCOs reinforce the transparency of UNCT activities, while strengthening the collective voice of the system on the ground.

Auditing and evaluation

  • OIOS has initiated an evaluation and audit of Resident Coordinator system activities that will continue in 2020.
  • The UN Board of Auditors is also conducting an audit of the UN development system reform pillar to be finalized by July 2020.
  • Every Cooperation Framework will be evaluated. The new Cooperation Framework guidance and companion package stipulate mandatory system-wide evaluations of performance and results which aim at higher quality evaluations of Cooperation Frameworks.