need for a supportive external environment. Puerto Rico was admitted to ECLAC as an associate member.

The United States joined in consensus on a resolution on changing production patterns, social equity and the international development strategy. This resolution, inter alia, established priority concerns for countries in the Latin American and Caribbean region, including reactivating growth and sustained development, widespread implementation of the existing international debt strategy, protecting the environment, and combating drug trafficking through programs of alternative development and interdiction. The U.S. Delegation stated the resolution was an important statement of the determination of countries in the Latin American and Caribbean regions to move forward with difficult but necessary economic reforms. It also drew attention to efforts of the international financial community to address the debt problems of developing countries and the importance of preserving the independence and mandate of the Bretton Woods institutions.

Economic Commission for Africa

The Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) was established in 1958 as a regional organization to promote economic development in Africa. Full membership is limited to independent African countries of which 51 are currently members. The United States is not a member, but maintains liaison with ECA headquarters in Addis Ababa, and attends some meetings as an observer.

The 25th session of the Commission and 16th meeting of the Conference of Ministers met in Tripoli, Libya, May 15–19. The Conference adopted 27 resolutions, inter alia, on cooperation in African fisheries, women in development, proposed establishment of the African Economic Community and the African Charter for Popular Participation in Development and Transformation. During Commission discussion, several delegates cited the need to implement the African Alternative Framework to Structural Adjustment Programs (AAF-SAP), formulated at the 24th Commission session in Addis Ababa, which reflects the concern of African countries that World Bank/IMF-sponsored structural adjustment programs in Africa have failed.

The United States was not represented at the Tripoli meeting. However, in a speech on November 21 to the UN General Assembly on the "Critical Situation in Africa," the U.S. Permanent Representative to the Economic and Social Council noted that the AAF-SAP was founded on certain questionable assumptions: that free market solutions to economic problems are not as applicable to Africa as to other parts of the world, and that international financial institutions do not give adequate consideration to the human consequences of structural adjustment programs. He pointed out that while economic reform often requires short-term rises in relative food prices and

unemployment, both the IMF and the World Bank through its Social Dimensions of Adjustment Program give special consideration to the human impact of structural adjustment and direct aid efforts accordingly.

Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia

The Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) was established in 1974. There are 14 members, including the PLO. Although a UN member of the region, Israel has been effectively excluded from membership because of the wording of the 1973 ECOSOC resolution establishing the Commission. The United States objected at the time, considering that the language was contrary to the terms of the UN Charter.

The last (15th) session of ESCWA was held May 13-18, 1989, in Baghdad. The United States, a nonmember, did not participate in the proceedings. There were no meetings of the Commission in 1990.

UN DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM

Mandate and Financing

The UN Development Program (UNDP) is a voluntary fund which finances the world's largest multilateral program of grant technical cooperation. Its Administrator, William H. Draper III, of the United States, assumed office in 1986 and was reappointed on January 1, 1990, for a second 4-year term. A subsidiary organ of the UN General Assembly, UNDP receives the greater part of its resources as voluntary contributions from governments. The United States contributed $107.8 million, or 10.2 percent of total government contributions in 1990.

UNDP was established in 1966 through the merger of two earlier UN programs, the Special Fund and the Expanded Program of Technical Assistance. The General Assembly established UNDP as the principal UN mechanism for financing technical cooperation activities. UNDP provides grant technical assistance to developing countries and territories at their request, with increasing emphasis on assistance to the poorest countries and building national capacity to manage development activities.

Projects funded by UNDP are normally executed by one of the 29 participating agencies of the UN system, such as UNIDO, ILO, UNESCO, World Bank or ICAO. UNDP also directly undertakes an increasing number of projects through its own Office for Projects Services (OPS). In 1990, OPS executed UNDP-funded projects valued at approximately $130 million; it also executed approximately $160 million worth of projects funded by trust funds, and by development banks, bilateral donors and recipient governments through Management Service Agreements.

In an effort to bring greater focus to UNDP's activities and assure lasting impact, UNDP's Governing Council in 1990 decided to focus on building and strengthening national capacity in the following areas: poverty eradication and grass-roots participation in development, environmental problems and natural resource management, management development; technical cooperation among developing countries, transfer and adaptation of technology for development, and women in development.

ORGANIZATION AND OPERATION

UNDP's operating policies are established and its programs and budgets approved by a Governing Council composed of representatives of 48 states-21 developed and 27 developing. The Council reports to the General Assembly through ECOSOC, which elects states to the Council for 3-year terms. The United States is UNDP's largest contributor (although other major donors are approaching the level of U.S. contributions) and has been a member of the Council since its establishment.

In 1990 the UNDP Governing Council provided oversight for the UN Population Fund, Technical Cooperation Among Developing Countries, UN Volunteer Program, UN Fund for Science and Technology for Development, UN Revolving Fund for Natural Resources Exploitation, UN Sahelian Office, and the UN Development Fund for Women. The Council also provides policy guidance for the UN Department of Technical Cooperation for Development (DTCD) which, together with OPS, is the second largest executor of UNDP-financed projects.

UN General Assembly resolution 44/211 (1989) on UN system operational activities for development called for major reform in the way the UN system carries out development activities in the field, including strengthening the leadership role of the resident coordinator in the field and the multidisciplinary support provided by agency field staff, as well as integrated programming of UN system development assistance. Considerable work is being done by the Administrative Consultative Committee and the Joint Consultative Group on Policy (UNDP is a member of both) under the general leadership of the Director General on its implementation.

1990 GOVERNING COUNCIL SESSIONS

A special session of the Governing Council met on February 20-23 in New York to consider the resource situation of the Fourth Programming Cycle, preparations for the Fifth Programming Cycle, next steps on a new arrangement to reimburse UN specialized agencies for the implementation of UNDPsponsored projects, and mid-term reviews of country and regional programs.

The Administrator's report on the Special Measures Fund for least developed countries was controversial at the special session, since some member states

sought a decision in favor of the least developed countries that could have prejudged Fifth Cycle resource allocation decisions to be taken in June. The Council in the end reached consensus on a decision which noted that the Fund had not accomplished its original mandate and requested the Administrator to redefine that mandate in the light of the outcome of the Second UN Conference on the Least Developed Countries to be held in September 1990. The Council requested the Administrator submit specific proposals aimed at mobilizing contributions and making a significant contribution to the Second UN Conference on the Least Developed Countries.

The Governing Council held its 37th session in Geneva on May 26-June 23. It took up three issues of long-range significance for UNDP: Fifth Cycle resource allocations, new arrangements for reimbursement of agencies for the implementation of UNDP projects and governance, as well as a number of other issues.

Fifth Cycle Resource Allocations

The decision allocating UNDP's resources for the Fifth Programming Cycle, the period 1992–1996, involved estimating total resources likely to be available and dividing them among centrally managed resources and regional and individual country programs. Donor countries wanted to keep a realistic figure for anticipated growth in resources for planning purposes, since they did not expect their contributions to increase much beyond the rate necessary to keep pace with inflation. The Council agreed to assume an 8 percent annual increase in voluntary contributions on a $1 billion base in 1991 as part of a total package including funding for countries and centrally controlled programs, and a separate decision establishing a Standing Committee for Program Matters (see below).

Agreed allocations increase substantially the share of UNDP's grant assistance going to the poorer countries, and 55 percent of Indicative Planning Figure (IPF) resources will go to countries designated least developed. Countries over $3,000 GNP will not receive country IPF allocations, although they will benefit from regional and centrally programmed resources.

This important decision also focused UNDP assistance on building and strengthening national capacity in poverty eradication and grass-roots participation in development, environmental problems and natural resource management, management development, technical cooperation among developing countries, transfer and adaptation of technology for development and women in development.

The share of Special Program Resources (centrally controlled resources as opposed to those managed by individual recipient countries) was increased from 3.9 percent ($189.5 million) in the Fourth Programming Cycle to 7 percent ($313 million) of all programmable resources in the Fifth Programming Cycle.

U.S. and other donor resolve as well as the determination of the least developed countries themselves were key factors in achieving this decision.

Standing Committee on Program Matters

Donor members of UNDP's Governing Council have had a longstanding concern about exercising the Council's oversight function effectively. Most donors, including the United States, were determined that establishment of a Standing Committee on Program Matters would be an explicit quid pro quo for agreement on Fifth Cycle resources. As a result, the Governing Council adopted a decision consolidating the functions of the Committee of the Whole and the working group, creating in its place a permanent Standing Committee on Program Matters. This is an important step toward increasing the oversight given UNDP operations. The Committee will look into program matters in depth and prepare the work of the Council, recommend decisions and help streamline the Council's work.

New Arrangements for Agency Support Costs

The Governing Council adopted a decision which restructured the financial arrangements under which UNDP reimburses major UN sectoral agencies for technical, operational and administrative support to UNDPfunded activities. The changes should result in improved program quality and greater analytical and technical contributions from these agencies to program planning and to project design and backstopping. The United States has been a leader in conceptualizing this restructuring, which most donors have seen as addressing fundamental problems affecting the quality of UN system operational activities for development in the field.

Under the new arrangements, technical support will no longer be linked to operational and administrative support for projects. The new arrangements distinguish between three categories of agency support to UNDP-assisted programs and projects: technical support at the program level, technical support at the project level and operational and administrative services. The first two categories are centrally funded but the third category is funded at the country level. This arrangement should make recipient governments more aware of the cost of project implementation than under the current system, and make agencies more accountable to UNDP for effective performance.

National Execution

A separate Governing Council decision on national execution of UNDPfunded projects also adopted at the 37th session provides for expanded UNDP assistance to recipient governments in building their capacity to manage their own development efforts.