CEB Issue Paper: The Global Financial Crisis and its Impact on the Work of the UN System

As the international community faced one of the gravest financial, economic and social threats in our lifetime, the UN System Chief Executives Board for Coordination (CEB) came together to analyze the relevant aspects and mobilize for action to confront the impact of the crisis in the areas of work of each of its members.

The Executive Heads of all UN agencies, funds and programmes, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the World Trade Organization, under the leadership of the United Nations Secretary-General, met in Paris on 4-5 April 2009 and decided to pool together their mandates, knowledge, expertise and means of action to take bold initiatives.

The High-Level Committee on Programmes (HLCP) developed a broad system-wide approach that served as the basis for reflection and decision by the Executive Heads. At its meeting in Geneva on 26-27 February 2009, the HLCP discussed extensively a preliminary version of this paper, submitted by the Chair, on the basis of a very rich set of contributions by all agencies. The CEB Paris meeting resulted in a robust exchange of views during which CEB members endorsed the course of action proposed by the HLCP and supported the various initiatives for joint action contained in the Issue Paper prepared by the Chair of the HLCP.

The Executive Heads produced a CEB Communiqué on the UN System's response to the financial and economic crisis which is attached as Annex. The Communiqué highlights the impact of the financial and economic crisis on people - and in particular the most vulnerable - and commits the inter-agency system to policy coherence and to international policy coordination for a quick, multifaceted and effective response to the crisis worldwide.