Governance
The UNCT Special Session
The UNCT Special Session in Malawi is comprised of the Resident Coordinator as chair, and UN Heads of Agencies, or as otherwise delegated to Officer in Charge. The sitting members of the UNCT Special Session are UN Agencies that signed the UNDAF 2008-2011. The following stakeholders will attend upon invitation - one representative from the Office of the President and Cabinet, one representative from the Ministry of Finance, one representative from the Ministry for Economic Planning and Development and one donor representative. The UNCT Special Session guides and decides on the overall strategic orientation of all aspects of delivering the One Programme in Malawi. The UNCT Special Session requires a quorum of Four UN Agencies and the chair. The Administrative Agent participates in the UNCT Special Session as observer.
The Resident Coordinator
The overall management of the One UN Fund will be led and coordinated by the Resident Coordinator in consultation with the Participating UN Organisations. In line with the overall objective of the One UN in Malawi to deliver more effectively at the country level, the Resident Coordinator will be responsible for:
- Strategic leadership of the One UN Fund on the basis of the One Programme;
- Mobilizing resources for the One UN Fund in collaboration with Participating UN Organisations;
- Signing the Standard Administrative Agreement with Donors and the Memorandum of Understanding with Participating UN Organisations as a witness;
The UN Country Team/Allocation Committee
The UN Country Team will be responsible for prioritization and allocation decisions of the One Fund under the leadership of the UN Resident Coordinator, according to the agreed allocation criteria and process, as can be seen below:
The UN Country Team will be responsible for developing a joint resource mobilisation strategy, for approving prioritization of allocation of funds from the One UN Fund, and for providing oversight of the management and operations of the One UN Fund. The prioritisation for allocation will be guided by recommendations from the outcome of the Malawi Growth & Development Strategy 2007-2011 Annual Reviews, recommendations by the UNDAF bi-annual Review process, and the overall strategic orientation of the UNDAF joint M&E Technical Working Group independent validation of implementation.
In this prioritisation process, the Resident Coordinator and the UNCT can seek inputs from the Office of the President and Cabinet, Ministry of Finance and the Ministry for Economic Planning and Development.
Decisions of the UNCT are made by consensus. In the event that no consensus is reached, the Resident Coordinator can make ultimate decisions on fund allocation (with documented process and rationale for these decisions). Programme implementation will be the responsibility of the Country Directors/Head of Participating UN Organisations.
The UNDAF Programmatic Clusters
The UNDAF Programmatic Clusters are responsible for making recommendations on the allocation of the resources within each UNDAF Outcome on the basis of the criteria and process listed in this document.
The Administrative Agent
UNDPs responsibilities as Administrative Agent will include the following:
- Signing the Standard Administrative Agreement with Donors, as delegated by the Multi Donor Trust Fund Executive Coordinator, and the Memorandum of Understanding with Participating UN Organisations;
- Receipt, administration and management of contributions from Donors;
- Disbursement of such funds to the participating UN Organisations in accordance with the approved Annual Work Plans;
- Provide consolidated narrative and financial reports, in accordance with the MOU, on the One UN Fund Account to the Resident Coordinator based on reports of the participating UN Organisations.
Support services provided by the Resident Coordinator’s Office
The Office of the Resident Coordinator is responsible for support to the strategic leadership role of the Resident Coordinator for the One UN Fund. It will provide support in all the designated tasks for the Resident Coordinator. Drawing on the review report provided by each of the UNDAF Clusters, the Office of the Resident Coordinator shall make recommendations to the UNCT, on initial prioritisation and continued funding, based on the financial status of the One Fund for Malawi. The Office of the Resident Coordinator will provide strategic focus including analysis of progress and lessons to be learned for future programme implementation. It will circulate the finalised annual consolidated report on the One UN Fund to the UNCT Special Session for information. The Office of the Resident Coordinator will ensure that these reports are distributed to all donors contributing to the One Fund and maintain an appropriate level of fund information on the UN system websites for Malawi and the MDTF Office to ensure transparency.
The Office of the Resident Coordinator will i) provide coordination support to the Administrative Agent in consolidating the narrative and financial reports and ii) support UNDAF Programmatic Cluster Conveners to prepare and report on consultations with stakeholders regarding the One Programme and One Fund in Malawi.
The Office of the Resident Coordinator will serve as the secretariat to the Single Budgetary Framework Task Force that comprises of focal points from each Participating Organization. The Single Budgetary Framework Task Force provides information on the financial situation of Participating UN Agencies: Regular Resources and Other Resources.
