2004/05 Annual Overview Report

The present report provides an overview of major developments in inter-agency cooperation during 2004/05 within the framework of the United Nations System Chief Executives Board for Coordination (CEB).

In the course of 2004/05, CEB completed its programme of pursuing themes identified in the report of the Secretary-General to the General Assembly on the implementation of the Millennium Declaration. CEB reflections on these themes were designed to provide a system-wide perspective to the process of monitoring and reporting by the Secretary-General on progress achieved in the implementation of the Declaration. In that context, it took up the themes “Bridging the digital divide and fostering inter-agency collaboration in information and communication technology” and “Prevention of armed conflicts” at its fall 2004 and spring 2005 sessions, respectively. While CEB and its structures continued to cover a wide range of issues to ensure greater coherence and build synergies in the actions taken by the system, since 2003 it has given high priority to the elaboration of the system’s collective contribution to the comprehensive review of the implementation of the Millennium Declaration at the 2005 High-level Plenary Meeting of the General Assembly. A report from CEB entitled “One United Nations — catalyst for progress and change: how the Millennium Declaration is changing the way the United Nations system works” will be presented to the Assembly. CEB also continued to review its support for Africa and the New Partnership for Africa’s Development and for curbing transnational crime, among other issues.

In the management area, CEB continued to focus on the safety and security of staff and adopted a unified security management system and new approach to costsharing and field-related security costs. It also decided on various measures to strengthen managerial capacity across the system and harmonize staff management policies and practices, a common framework for results-based budgeting to guide inter-agency work, and the development of accounting standards for the organizations of the common system.

The report is available in other UN official languages at the UN Official Documents System.