The Development Account: New Opportunities For Inter-Regional Joint-venturing

 The Development Account was conceived during the summer of 1997 as one of the many recommendations within the reform package of newly elected Secretary-General Kofi Annan. In keeping with his desire to enhance the development performance of the UN, the SG devised the needed therapy and recommended the transfer of financial savings resulting from productivity gains to development activities.

Since 1998, the funds appropriated under the Development Account have been capped at a mere US$13 million per biennium. This money is earmarked for supplementary and catalytic development activities in the economic and social fields especially at regional and inter-regional levels. After a slow start in 1998 with only seven projects, some 20 proposals will be submitted the 56th GA this fall under the broad heading of capacity building for managing globalization.

The regional commissions have proposed eleven projects, which include launching joint ventures with one another or with departments with global mandates as the regional step is critical for the advancement of the recommendations of the UN global conferences.

This cooperation may focus on specific themes such as urban poverty, cross-border transport, population, gender, etc, or on shared regions like the Mediterranean. In particular, the project on capacity-building in developing inter-regional land and land-cum-sea transport linkages stands out since it is sponsored by the five regional commissions. The overall goal of the project is to enhance national capacity for infrastructure development to stimulate intra and inter-regional trade and tourism. Inter-regional co-operation pays dividend too, as illustrated by its US$ 1.2 m budget, the largest budget. To maximize needed continuity in the capacity-building efforts, the majority of the new Development Account proposals build on outcomes of, or lessons learned from the previous projects.

The Development Account aims at addressing development priorities of the UN medium term plan, and it is demonstrating its added value by funding significant development gaps, and critical issues not taken up by other funding organizations. One notable development gap is felt at the regional level, as development cooperation is by and large bilateral or focussed on individual countries. By joining forces, and building critical mass, not only the regional commissions are better equipped to fill these institutional and funding gaps, but they can provide more effective and cost efficient services. The regional level lends itself particularly well to consensus building and achieving an important economy of scale for exchange of best practices and network creation for capacity building making full use of ICT