United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)

Performance evidence

Overview

MOPAN released its most recent assessment of UNCTAD in 2019.

Established by the United Nations General Assembly in 1964, UNCTAD is a subsidiary organ of the General Assembly. Its mission is to promote international trade, especially with a view to accelerating economic development, particularly of developing countries, as well as to provide policy analysis, facilitate consensus building and offer technical cooperation. It does so through informing national and international policies, while giving priority consideration for the needs and interests of developing countries. Within the United Nations (UN) system, it is the focal point for the integrated treatment of trade and interrelated issues in the areas of investment, finance and technology as key drivers of the inclusive, equitable global economic environment for sustainable development.

UNCTAD is responsible for assisting developing countries, especially the least developed countries (LDCs), and countries with economies in transition in integrating beneficially into the global economy, in support of inclusive and sustainable growth and development. Its mandate derives from the priorities established in relevant General Assembly resolutions and decisions, including the quadrennial sessions of UNCTAD.

UNCTAD is mandated to “strategically position itself by applying three principles: comparative advantage; differentiation of its work with respect to other organisations; and complementarity so as to put the organisation’s strengths to the best use to address – [through its three pillars] − the needs and priorities of developing countries for sustainable development and strengthening their role in the global economy.” UNCTAD’s thematic focus is to build productive capacity to transform economies; promote a development focus and more efficient markets; and to tackle vulnerabilities, build resilience and strengthen multilateralism. UNCTAD gives priority to Africa, LDCs, landlocked developing countries (LLDCs), small island developing states (SIDS) and other vulnerable and small economies, as per its mandate. In doing so, it is expected to give due account to cross-cutting issues, mainstream gender equality and women’s empowerment (GEWE), sustainable development and productive employment, strengthened engagement with government and all relevant stakeholders, and enhanced organisational efficiency, effectiveness, transparency and accountability. UNCTAD fulfils this mandate through three closely interlinked functions or pillars:

Providing a forum for intergovernmental deliberations (the consensus-building pillar)
Undertaking research, policy analysis and data collection to inform these deliberations (the research and analysis pillar)
Providing technical assistance to developing countries (the technical co-operation pillar).

Performance rating summary

UNCTAD organisational performance wheel — Organisational performance

Key findings

UNCTAD is one of few agencies mandated to address trade and development. It provides relevant, specific expertise that would otherwise not be easily available to its prioritised member states, the least developed countries. Its staff are dedicated to UNCTAD’s mandate.
UNCTAD is highly regarded by its development partners. Member states’ governments appreciate UNCTAD’s sincerity and responsiveness to their demands and needs, as is witnessed through the sometimes decades-long relationships in TC delivery. Besides constantly updating and innovating its longstanding programmes ASYCUDA, DMFAS and others, UNCTAD is also adding valuable contributions to innovative TC niche areas, such as e-commerce and the digital economy, bio-trade, and financing for development.
Generally, UNCTAD’s technical co-operation interventions are regarded as relevant, effective, efficient and sustainable. UNCTAD delivers results that contribute towards institutional and policy change and engages with partners to encourage the uptake of TC support. Working with a relatively small TC budget, UNCTAD has proven to be cost-efficient in most areas, thanks to its careful management of available funds and tight financial control.

Two main programmes, ASYCUDA and DMFAS represent close to 60% of UNCTAD’s technical co-operation, but the remainder is highly fragmented. This has evolved autonomously as a consequence of the de facto decentralised operating model. Because oversight is conducted at the divisional level, rather than the secretariat level, strategic corporate-level co-ordination and decision-making for technical co-operation is implicit, rather than systematic and robust. Tools and mechanisms for such co-ordination are in place but not used to their full potential.
There is a growing mismatch between member states’ demands and UNCTAD’s supply capabilities. An explanatory factor is the absence of a secretariat-wide, integrated, future-facing technical co-operation strategy that sets the direction for fundraising, partnership and external relations, and could support prioritisation across the secretariat.
Until recently, results-based management was largely missing at the outcome level for technical co-operation. Although important steps have been taken to enhance results-based management, within UNCTAD’s TC pillar there is no holistic approach to tracking performance, identifying poor performance or overseeing deviations from planned results in TC interventions. Cross-cutting themes are only partially addressed.