The Development Account is an integral part of the technical cooperation activities of the economic and social entities of the United Nations under the umbrella of the Executive Committee for Economic and Social Affairs (EC-ESA).

Development Account projects aim at capacity-building through sub-regional, regional and interregional economic and technical cooperation among developing countries. Each individual project is aimed at achieving a distinct development impact. Projects are executed by member entities of EC-ESA, and often in cooperation between more than one entity. The Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs acts as Programme Manager of the Account.

The Development Policy and Analysis Division is currently managing or supporting three active capacity-building projects sponsored by the Development Account:

• capacity building for macroeconomic policy analysis in Central America and the Caribbean, executed by DPAD in cooperation with the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC);
• capacity building in policy analysis for the realization of the Millennium Development Goals through socially inclusive macroeconomic policies, executed by DPAD in cooperation with UNDP, the regional commissions and the World Bank;
• capacity building in model-based policy analysis of the impact of external shocks on poverty and social vulnerability and the implications for macroeconomic policies and the design of social protection systems in Latin America and the Caribbean, executed by ECLAC and DPAD.

Finalized Development Account projects:

• establishing a research network for development policy analysis and macroeconomic model building in Africa (end of project in 2003).

Development Account projects in preparation:

• A project for capacity building for graduation strategies for least developed countries has been proposed for funding from the development account during 2008-2009. The expected starting date for this project is early 2008.