1 1.2 KEY RESULTS-BASED MANAGEMENT PRINCIPLES THREE KEY PRINCIPLES of RBM are: Accountability National Ownership Inclusiveness ACCOUNTABILITY TCPR resolutions have long stressed the need for United Nations development entities to achieve and uphold the highest levels of accountability when supporting partner countries in pursuing national development outcomes.6 More recently, a high level symposium of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) Development Cooperation Forum discussed actions to improve mutual accountability at global, regional and national levels, as well as its forms and processes.7 In addition, the Paris Declaration indicators and related targets include accountability expectations from both national governments and donors. The concept of mutual accountability has become established as criteria for development and aid effectiveness, although questions remain around actual implications. For the purpose of the UNDAF, mutual accountability is interpreted to mean the respective accountability of parties working together toward shared outcomes. This notion of respective accountability reflects the fact that accountability is not fungible and must, in the final analysis, be attached to a specific actor. Many stakeholders contribute to
UNDAF outcomes and each one of them is accountable for its contribution. Below are accountability expectations of the various stakeholders at different levels of engagement in the context of a sequence of desired results at the national level.8 Governments: Governments are the primary owner and executing agents of cooperation programmes and are accountable to their people, through their parliaments, for delivering on national development objectives (sometimes referred to as national goals, priorities or outcomes). Results that occur at this level are primarily attributable to the government, although this may sometimes differ depending on the national context. United Nations Country Team (UNCT): United Nations funds, programmes and specialized agencies as members of the UNCT collaborate with national counterparts to determine the outcomes of the United Nations support in a particular country. The outcomes of United Nations support are framed in the UNDAF or other agreed common document and always derive from the country’s national development objectives. UNCT members are accountable to the national partners on the basis of the Basic Cooperation Agreement between the United Nations and the host country on the one hand, and to partner governments funding development activities in the country through the United Nations, on the other. Individual United Nations funds, programmes and specialized agencies: At the national level, each of these United Nations entities are
See, for instance, GA resolution 62/208, paragraph 61, which calls on “the organizations of the United Nations development system, within their organizational mandates, to further improve their institutional accountability mechanisms.” Paragraph 113 further calls “to continue to harmonize and simplify their rules and procedures, wherever this can lead to a significant reduction in the administrative and procedural burden on the organizations and national partners, bearing in mind the special circumstances of programme countries, and to enhance the efficiency, accountability and transparency of the United Nations development system.” 7 Enhancing Mutual Accountability and Transparency in Development Cooperation, ECOSOC. November 2009 8 A more macro perspective of accountability is provided in the UNDG Management and Accountability System. 6
PART 1: Overview of RBM
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