Office of the Secretary of the Executive Board EXECUTIVE BOARD DECISION MONITORING TABLE

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1 Last update: 8 February 2018 Office of the Secretary of the Executive Board EXECUTIVE BOARD DECISION MONITORING TABLE The following matrix keeps track of the implementation of specific and time-bound requests contained in Executive Board decisions. The matrix is revised on a regular basis to keep the information relevant and up-to-date. The full text of each decision is available by clicking on the decision number. For more details on other aspects of these decisions or for the full compendium of Executive Board decisions, please visit: The status of a decision is indicated as follows: (1) GREEN signifies that an action has been completed ; and (2) YELLOW signifies that an action is ongoing or partially completed (action in progress, with a due date, if relevant). Decision 2018/4 Private Fundraising and Partnerships: 2018 workplan and proposed budget Private Fundraising and Partnerships (PFP) Para 3: Encourages the Executive Director to identify and respond to new market opportunities, should they arise, between Executive Board sessions and to notify the Board accordingly; Requests to present, as part of the midterm review of the Strategic Plan, , a review of the impact of its non-financial engagement with the private sector and, in 2021, a review of the impact of the investment funds. session 2020 (Report on the midterm review of the Strategic Plan, ) session 2021

2 2018/3 financial report and audited financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2016 and report of the Board of Auditors Financial/ of Financial and Administrative Management (DFAM) Encourages to prioritize the implementation of the seven main audit recommendations identified by the Board of Auditors for the year ended 31 December 2016; Para 5: Also encourages to fully address outstanding recommendations from previous reports of the Board of Auditors, and in particular to strengthen efforts to tackle areas of recurring audit recommendations; Para 6: Requests to continue its efforts to prevent and detect instances of fraud, to thoroughly review the underlying circumstances that led to the cases of fraud in order to minimize future risks and to take steps to improve actions for the recovery of funds; Para 7: Also requests the Executive Director to provide a separate management response to the key findings and recommendations of the annual report of the Board of Auditors, and to submit this report to the Executive Board, along with the annual report of the Board of Auditors, starting with the first regular session of First regular session /2 Evaluation report and management response, road map to a revision of the evaluation Evaluation/ Evaluation Office (EO) and divisions responsible for the management responses Para 3: Requests to provide an update to the Executive Board at its first regular session of 2019 on the implementation of the actions to which committed in its management response to the evaluation synthesis report; Para 5 (on the plan for global evaluations, ): First regular session

3 policy of and plan for global evaluations, /16 Private Fundraising and Requests to continue to draw on lessons learned from previous reviews, evaluation reports and management responses to ensure the effectiveness of planned evaluations; Para 6. Also requests to present with each evaluation report a formal management response setting out actions and a timetable for implementation; Para 7: Further requests to include in the annual report on the evaluation function in the details of the implementation of recommendations set out in evaluation reports and agreed to in management responses, in order to monitor progress, including any implementation issues; Para 8: Requests to seek out opportunities with other United Nations agencies for joint evaluations of joint programming as well as the common chapter of the Strategic Plan, ; Para 10: Welcomes the preparation of the revised evaluation policy of, including plans for consultation with Member States; requests to take onboard guidance from previous decisions, evaluations, reports and reviews to improve the independence, credibility, effectiveness, resources and utility of the evaluation function; and also requests to present the policy for consideration and decision at the annual session of PFP Para 3: Takes note of the preparation of the Private Fundraising and Partnerships Plan , and requests that it be presented at the The Plan will be presented at the first regular session of

4 Partnerships: financial report for the year ended 31 December /14 integrated budget, Budget/ DFAM/ Data, Research and Policy (DRP) first regular session of 2018 and encourages to implement lessons learned from the Private Partnerships and Fundraising Plan ; Para 9: Requests the Executive Director to: (a) Provide actual financial information in the format of the integrated resource plan and assess performance against the integrated budget in his annual report to the Executive Board; (b) Recall Executive Board decision 2016/8 and ensure continued focus on improving transparency in the use of resources to achieve programme results and enhance organizational effectiveness and efficiency; (c) Provide regular updates on the impact and efficiency of spending, including against the Goal Areas and cross-cutting themes of the Strategic Plan, ; (d) Continue to ensure sufficient resources for effective evaluation and audit functions, recalling Executive Board decisions 2017/9 and 2017/10, respectively; and to include in its first revision of the integrated budget a separate budget item for the Office of Internal Audit and Investigations, as The first report on the implementation of the Strategic Plan, will be presented at the 2019 annual session of the Executive Board. This is also when expenditure data and actual financial information with respect to the Strategic Plan will be first presented based on performance in 2018 (i.e. the first year of the Strategic Plan and integrated budget). Guidance on the preparation of multi- year/rolling workplans for country offices has been strengthened to include the development of assumptions for budget preparation. Additionally, a results based management training module has been developed and successfully rolled out. The first report on the implementation of the Strategic Plan, will be presented at the 2019 annual session of the Executive Board. This is also when expenditure data with respect to the Strategic Plan will be first presented based on performance in 2018 (i.e. the first year of the Strategic Plan and integrated budget). has a separate budget item for the OIAI in the integrated budget. This will be better articulated in the updated annual financial estimates in Second regular session 2019 Second regular session 2019 Second regular 4

5 decided by the Board in its decision 2017/10, paragraph 14; (e) Submit to the Executive Board, for annual approval, an updated integrated resource plan at its second regular session, following review of the financial projections upon which it is based; An updated integrated resource plan will be submitted alongside the annual updated financial estimates at the 2018 second regular session. Second regular (f) Submit to the Executive Board information on the actual implementation and results of the revised cost-recovery methodology, together with any related recommendations, at its annual session in 2018; An inter-agency report on the cost-recovery methodology, together with related recommendations, will be presented at annual session in Para 11: Requests to improve future structured dialogues on financing and requests to present a proposal to the Executive Board no later than the second regular session of 2018 on how it plans to use the structured dialogue on financing as a tool to improve the quality and transparency of funding and to better match resources to the outcomes of the Strategic Plan, Second regular Para 12: Encourages, in collaboration with UNDP, UNFPA and UN-Women, to find effective and practicable ways to harmonize administrative and financial systems in order to facilitate joint programming and implementation, and to present information on progress made in this regard to the Executive Board. continues to engage with other United Nations funds and programmes on practical ways to further collaborate to facilitate joint programming and implementation. 2017/13 Strategic Pan, Strategic Plan/ DRP Para 2: Takes note of the common chapter to the strategic plans of, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN-Women); requests, if changes are There were no changes to the common chapter or annex arising from the Board decisions of the other funds and programmes, so no revision has been needed to the Strategic Plan. It is intended to update the joint meeting of the Executive Boards on progress in the annual ; JMB

6 2017/10 Internal Audit and Investigations Audit/ Office of Internal Audit and Investigations (OIAI) / DFAM made to the common chapter, to align it with UNDP, UNFPA and UN-Women after endorsement by their respective Executive Boards and to resubmit it for endorsement by the Executive Board; and encourages to provide details on the implementation of the common chapter in its annual reporting and, when applicable and as appropriate, at the joint meeting of the Executive Boards of UNDP/UNFPA/United Nations Office for Project Services,, UN- Women and the World Food Programme. Para 1: Takes note of the Office of Internal Audit and Investigations 2016 annual report to the Executive Board (E/ICEF/2017/AB/L.2) and, in particular, the overall opinion on the adequacy of the organization s framework of governance, risk management and control, and asks the Office to provide further supporting analysis for such opinions in future annual reports; Para 3: Looks forward to the implementation of the actions described in the management response and requests an update on the implementation of the recommendations at the annual session of the Executive Board in 2018; Takes note of the recommendations made to management by the Audit Advisory Committee, urges the Executive Director to ensure that managers have a clear understanding of the Committee s role and appreciates management s commitment to consider all recommendations made by the Committee; session in June Discussions are also under way with the other funds and programmes with regard to a harmonized approach to reporting regularly on the common chapter and its implementation. The 2017 Office of Internal Audit and Investigations (OIAI) annual report will contain further analysis supporting the annual opinion for the year. will provide an update at the 2018 annual session on the implementation of actions from the 2016 OIAI annual report. As part of the Audit Advisory Committee s (AAC) work in 2017, both management and the AAC took concrete steps to ensure that managers understand the role of the AAC. This outreach included the field visit by the AAC to Budapest, Copenhagen and Geneva in September 2017, as well as the members visits to country offices and National Committees for in their respective home countries. Further field trips by the AAC are planned, and the Committee is 6

7 Para 5: Expresses concern about areas of risk consistently identified in the audit reports, namely, results-based management, governance and accountability and supply and logistics, and urges management to prioritize the implementation of actions that address these recurring identified risks; Para 7: Also welcomes the intention of to finalize and implement an enhanced anti-fraud strategy as part of its response to the recommendations of the report of the Joint Inspection Unit of the United Nations system on fraud prevention, detection and response, and requests that report to the Executive Board on its implementation;. Para 10: Requests management to provide regular updates on the recovery of assets, including recovery trends, to the Executive Board at its annual session; Para 11: Also requests to take firm action to reduce the number of internal audits with non-satisfactory ratings; Para 13: Requests to provide information on investigations performed by the Office of Internal also interacting with a wider range of managers across the world through videoconferencing during meetings. is focused on addressing these risk areas, and will report back to the Executive Board on the implementation of remedial actions. OIAI has also focused its work more tightly on key risk areas during 2017, and will report on this in its annual report. The of Financial and Administrative Management (DFAM) is currently devising a new anti-fraud strategy and will provide an update to the Executive Board. The anti-fraud strategy will be finalized by the end of March 2018 and implementation rolled out during The management response to the 2017 OIAI annual report will include an update on recoveries and recovery trends. is actively working to continue to improve governance, risk management and control across the organization, including strengthening the organization s second line of defense, while recognizing that the spread of audit ratings will vary from year to year depending on the precise portfolio of work being audited (for example, where greater numbers of inherently high-risk audits are being undertaken). An update will be provided in the management response to the 2017 OIAI annual report. The 2017 OIAI annual report will include further information on investigations, as requested by the Executive Board. First regular ; 7

8 2017/9 Evaluation reports, and management perspective and response report for 2016 on the evaluation function/ EO Audit and Investigations as well as information on actions taken as a result of such investigations, in the annual report of the Office, in line with relevant and existing disclosure policies and guidelines of ; Para 14: Also requests to continue to allocate sufficient resources for the Office of Internal Audit and Investigations to ensure a satisfactory number of internal audits and investigations each year and requests that a separate budget item for the Office be included in future budgets. Para 2: Encourages to continue its ongoing internal capacity-building activities addressing gaps in the evaluation coverage of humanitarian assistance and to take further steps to address shortcomings related to evaluation coverage of cross-cutting priorities, including gender equality, and also to strengthen impact-level evaluations; The OIAI budget was increased in the Office Management Plan. Recruitment is ongoing for new positions, and there is a significant investment in technology in Further details will be provided in the OIAI 2017 annual report. has separate budget item for the OIAI in the integrated budget. This will be better articulated in the updated annual financial estimates in The new Plan for global evaluations includes evaluations of all programmes in L3 (Level 3 emergency) countries. Four L3 are already being planned for 2018: the Yemen cholera response; South Sudan; the Bangladesh Rohingya crisis response; and the Kasai region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In addition, the upcoming revised evaluation policy includes details on evaluation coverage of L2 and L1 countries. The Plan for global evaluations includes a genderspecific evaluation in each of the five Goal Areas as well as an evaluation of the Gender Action Plan. It also includes evaluation of how/strategies which are cross-sectoral. In addition, the new Plan for global valuations, foresees country programme evaluations which, inter alia, will provide recommendations on intersectoral and cross- 8

9 cutting work in achieving results for children through country programmes. Para 3: Welcomes the focus of on meeting the target to spend 1 per cent of resources allocated to evaluation, but is concerned that this goal was not met in 2015 or 2016, and therefore requests to present plans towards meeting it; The upcoming revised evaluation policy will include details on a pool funding mechanism to finance strategic evaluations and meet the 1 per cent expenditure target. Requests that updates on these issues be provided at the annual session of the Executive Board in 2018; The Evaluation Office will provide updates when presenting the plan for global evaluations to the Board at the 2018 annual session and the revised evaluation policy at the 2018 annual session. An update will also be provided through the annual report on the evaluation function to be presented at the 2018 annual session of the Executive Board. On track to be completed by the annual Para 5: Takes note of the United Nations Children s Fund (): Review of development effectiveness, , looks forward to the implementation of the actions described in the management response and requests an update on the implementation of the recommendations of the review at the annual session of the Executive Board in 2018; The Evaluation Office is closely monitoring the implementation of management responses through its management responses tracking system. An update will also be provided through the annual report on the evaluation function to be presented at the 2018 annual session of the Executive Board. On track to be completed by the annual Para 6: Requests to further advance collaboration and joint evaluation work with other United Nations entities, especially United Nations funds and programmes. The new Plan for global evaluations, includes several joint evaluations. In addition, the upcoming revised evaluation policy will include details on joint evaluation work in support of the Sustainable Development Goals and the 2030 Agenda. 2017/8 Strategic Plan, , Strategic Plan/ DRP Para 2: Requests to work closely with the United Nations Development Programme, the United Nations Population Fund and the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment Common indicators across the various strategic plans were identified during the formulation of the strategic plans, based on areas of collective action, the priorities in the common chapter/annex, and the QCPR. These indicators are found not just in 9

10 draft for review 2017/7 report for 2016 of the Executive Director of 2017/4 report of the Executive Director/ DFAM/ DRP/ Office of the Executive Director (OED) Financial/ DFAM of Women (UN-Women) in line with the QCPR on identifying common measurable indicators for shared areas of collaborative advantage, which are spelled out in the Strategic Plan, including its common chapter; Recalls decision 2013/5 in which the Executive Board requested to recommend adjustments to the approved cost-recovery rates, as required, to be presented at the annual session 2016 of the Executive Board, notes that this process has been delayed and requests, together with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN- Women), to continue the consultations with Member States with regard to the cost-recovery policy and to present evidence-based proposals for harmonized cost-recovery policies of UNDP, UNFPA, UN-Women and, with adjustments if required, for consideration by the respective Executive Boards no later than their annual sessions in 2018; Para 5: Emphasizes the need for to continue to improve transparency in the use of resources to achieve programme results and to enhance organizational effectiveness and efficiency, and requests to present in its future financial planning and reports a higher level of detail on the way that regular (core) resources are attributed and used, inter alia, with regard to financial breakdowns across budget areas, including staff costs; Para 3: Encourages to prioritize the the common annex that is linked to the common chapter of the respective strategic plans, but also to the main results framework of the Strategic Plan itself. Joint briefing of UNDP, UNFPA, and UN-Women on cost recovery (24 January ECOSOC Chamber) The requested information will be included in the annual updated financial estimates at the second regular session in Six of the main audit recommendations have been implemented; four were confirmed and closed by. Second regular 10

11 financial report and audited financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2015 and report of the Board of Auditors 2017/3 Updated road map to and outline of the Strategic Plan, Strategic Plan/ DRP implementation of the eight main audit recommendations identified by the Board of Auditors for the year ended 31 December 2015; Also encourages to continue to strengthen risk management and the implementation of the Harmonized Approach to Cash Transfers, and to improve the timeliness of monitoring and evaluation, as identified by the Board of Auditors; Para 5: Further encourages to fully address the 14 outstanding recommendations from the 2014 report of the Board of Auditors. Para 3: Also requests, in line with General Assembly resolution 71/243 of 21 December 2016 on the quadrennial comprehensive policy review of operational activities for development of the United Nations system, to elaborate in its strategic plan on how it plans to engage in coherent and integrated support, as called for in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and in this regard, further requests to work collaboratively with UNFPA, UNDP and UN Women on the development of a specific chapter in its strategic plan outlining a common approach in supporting Member States towards the implementation of the 2030 Agenda, in accordance with each entity s mandate; Encourages to collaborate with UNFPA, UNDP and UN Women to continue to harmonize the Board of Auditors during the 2016 audit; and two are subject to confirmation by the Board of Auditors during the 2017 audit. The remaining two recommendations are under implementation and targeted for completion in Robust reporting mechanisms have been put in place for country offices, regional offices and headquarters to monitor the level of implementation of the harmonized approach to cash transfers and identify areas of weaknesses. Risk-mitigating measures are also put in place to address the inability of individual country offices to meet standard performance indicators. Twelve of the recommendations have been implemented. The two remaining are under implementation and targeted for completion in The Strategic Plan, was endorsed by the Executive Board in September 2017 at the second regular session and at that time it included a common chapter and related common annex. This common chapter was developed collaboratively with UNDP, UN-Women and UNFPA and outlined how the organizations will work more collaboratively together over the coming four years. The same text was included and endorsed in the strategic plans of the other three funds and programmes and by their respective Executive Boards. During the last strategic planning cycle, worked to harmonize its approach to results reporting with other funds and programmes. 11

12 their approaches to results reporting on their strategic plans, which, inter alia, will help to capture their contributions to collective outcomes; Discussions on further harmonizing reporting will continue through 2018 as we collectively decide how to best report on the common chapter and annex. 12