Title_ The Future of UN Development Assistance

Author_ Stephen BROWNE

Pages 81-106

Abstract_ While the UN did not set out to be a developmentorganization, this function now constitutes the fourth and largestpillar of the “second UN” of organizations, taking on the roles ofnorm-setter, dispenser of technical assistance, and source of ideasand research. The UN has adapted to change in its other mainfunctions, but its development role has been disadvantaged by theparallel structures bequeathed to it. In this role, the UN has becomeless cohesive and more marginalized in spite of the fact that thereare growing development challenges requiring urgent responsesfrom the world organization. A new blueprint for reform in 2006remains only partially implemented and provides an agenda forchange which should be pursued. In 2015, the UN passed animportant watershed with the expected agreement of a new set ofdevelopment goals. “The UN we want” for “the world we want”thus becomes an urgent priority. In the future, the technicalfoundations of the present development UN need to be downplayedin favor of the normative. With the support of the “first” UN ofmember-state governments, successful change can come throughnew enlightened leadership within the “second” UN oforganizations, able to respond to the messages and opinionsemanating from the “third” UN: the global public in whose namethe UN was originally conceived.

Keywords_ United Nations, UN development system, UN reform, MDGs