The UN and UNDP in Brussels

About the Partnership

The European Commission has in recent years become one of UNDP's most important single donors and is making an essential contribution to UNDP's global development agenda.

History

UNDP and the European Commission’s increased collaboration over the last dozen years should be seen against the backdrop of the European Union’s policy towards the United Nations, which was first set out comprehensively in the Commission's Communication of 2001 on "Building an effective partnership with the UN" and further reinforced through a 2003 Communication entitled "EU-UN relations: The choice of multilateralism". The Financial and Administrative Framework Agreement (FAFA), which was also signed in 2003, provided the legal, financial and administrative framework for all contracts concluded between the European Commission and the UN. A year later, UNDP and the European Commission signed a Memorandum of Understanding called the Strategic Partnership Agreement, which outlined the two organizations’ "shared goal of establishing the solid foundations for peace and recovery from crisis and of promoting the Millennium Development Goals, particularly, the fight against poverty". The EC-UNDP strategic partnership covers the areas of governance, conflict prevention and post-conflict reconstruction, including the broader post-conflict agenda with its focus on relief, rehabilitation and development (LRRD), and transition issues. All actions undertaken within the framework of the Strategic Partnership must also include a strong focus on human rights and gender issues.

Funding

Aid effectiveness

Both the UN and the EC share a commitment to improving the quality and impact of development assistance. Both organizations are signatories to the 2005 Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness, which defines a series of targets based on the principles of ownership on the part of partner countries, donor alignment as regards strategies and procedures, donor harmonization, managing for results and mutual accountability.

Visibility

The ‘Joint Action Plan on Visibility’ between the EC and the UN was signed in New York in September 2006 by European Commissioner for External Affairs Benita Ferrero-Waldner and then UN Deputy Secretary-General Mark Malloch-Brown. The Action Plan builds on the FAFA and on the fact that both organizations share an obligation to be transparent about the use of public funds, whilst also addressing EC concerns about the need for adequate EU visibility in the context of activities implemented by the UN and financed by the EC. The ‘Joint Visibility Guidelines for EC-UN actions in the field’, adopted in April 2008, provide practical advice to staff from both organizations working in the field.

Key documents

• EC-UN Financial and Administrative Framework Agreement (FAFA)
• EC-UNDP Strategic Partnership Agreement
• EC-UN Action Plan on Visibility
• Joint Visibility Guidelines for EC-UN actions in the field
• EC-UN Joint Guidelines on reporting obligations under the FAFA