Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Foreword
- Preface
- Introduction
- Part I The problem of coordination and its setting
- 1 Relationship problems inherent in the decentralized United Nations System
- 2 Developments that have affected inter-agency relationships and coordination
- 3 The content of coordination activities
- 4 Intergovernmental organs responsible for coordination
- 5 The Administrative Committee on Coordination
- 6 The Secretary-General and the secretariats of the United Nations and the agencies
- 7 Some current constraints on order and coordination in the system
- Part II Some conclusions and suggestions
- Postscript
- 1 Abbreviations and glossary of institutions
- 2 Principal organs of the United Nations (General Assembly, Economic and Social Council and Secretariat) with main subsidiary organs directly concerned with economic and social cooperation and coordination (Status as of Spring 1976)
- 3 Chart of agencies related to the United Nations
- 4 Regional and branch offices of organizations of the United Nations System
- 5 Chart of the United Nations System
- 6 A new UN structure for global economic cooperation–list of conclusions and recommendations of the Group of Experts, prepared by the Secretariat
- Notes
- Index
3 - The content of coordination activities
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 November 2011
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Foreword
- Preface
- Introduction
- Part I The problem of coordination and its setting
- 1 Relationship problems inherent in the decentralized United Nations System
- 2 Developments that have affected inter-agency relationships and coordination
- 3 The content of coordination activities
- 4 Intergovernmental organs responsible for coordination
- 5 The Administrative Committee on Coordination
- 6 The Secretary-General and the secretariats of the United Nations and the agencies
- 7 Some current constraints on order and coordination in the system
- Part II Some conclusions and suggestions
- Postscript
- 1 Abbreviations and glossary of institutions
- 2 Principal organs of the United Nations (General Assembly, Economic and Social Council and Secretariat) with main subsidiary organs directly concerned with economic and social cooperation and coordination (Status as of Spring 1976)
- 3 Chart of agencies related to the United Nations
- 4 Regional and branch offices of organizations of the United Nations System
- 5 Chart of the United Nations System
- 6 A new UN structure for global economic cooperation–list of conclusions and recommendations of the Group of Experts, prepared by the Secretariat
- Notes
- Index
Summary
It is a tribute to the resilience of the United Nations System that it has continued to work reasonably smoothly despite the drastic transformations that have occurred in its whole context. Without dealing historically with the corresponding changes that have occurred in the coordination problems to be faced, it may be well at this point to outline very briefly the nature of those problems, administrative, substantive and others. The next chapters will discuss the instrumentalities and procedures, intergovernmental and inter-secretariat, that have been developed to deal with coordination and to facilitate the functioning of the system.
Let it be stressed that while the total activities of the system are to be seen as a whole and in perspective, only a part–and probably a minor part–need coordination, in the narrow sense of the term, the remainder being self-contained and not impinging on the activity of other agencies. This is especially true of the work of WHO and some of the highly technical agencies such as the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the Universal Postal Union (UPU); it is least true of the United Nations itself, almost all ofwhose activities have a bearing on, or require support from, the agencies. Furthermore, the greater part of the coordination takes place informally among the officials directly concerned. What remains and constitutes the substance of the inter-agency arrangements for coordination is, of course, still sizable.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The United Nations SystemCoordinating its Economic and Social Work, pp. 43 - 61Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1978