How is the RC system leveraging leadership, accountability and efficiency?
Cultivating host government satisfaction/ownership
Host Government satisfaction reached its highest levels since the reform in 2025. These gains reflect a sustained, system-wide improvement in the quality and credibility of UN country-level leadership across all regions.
Over 90 per cent of host governments report strengthened RC leadership, impartiality, authority and coordination capacity in 2025.
Host Governments reporting that resident coordinators have strengthened/increased support provided in key dimensions, compared to before the reforms in 2019
Empowering double- and triple-hatted RCs
In complex settings, a single RC may simultaneously serve as Humanitarian Coordinator or Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General, wearing two or three "hats" at once. This integrated leadership model covers 28 countries.
RCs serving as Humanitarian Coordinators (Double-hatted: RC/HC)
RCs serving as Deputy Special Representatives of the Secretary-General and Humanitarian Coordinators (Triple-hatted: DSRSG/RC/HC)
Cost-sharing in mission settings
Missions cover 50 per cent of leadership costs for DSRSG/RC/HC functions. After mission closure, costs are borne fully by the RC system, including in humanitarian contexts.
Iraq
Closure of the special political mission effectively doubled the RC system's share of leadership costs
Mali and Sudan
Similar cost burden transfers followed recent mission withdrawals
Withdrawal of mission capacities has increased demands on RCOs, absorbed so far within existing resources, without additional funding.
Strengthening core functions in every RC Office and specialised advisory capacities
Since 2019, five core functions have been embedded in all RC Offices, ensuring every host country and UN Country Team has foundational coordination support for SDG advancement.
Strategic planning to help identify with Governments’ needs and priorities for a coherent UN response
Economic analysis to help map the landscape and support action for SDG financing
Data and results reporting to anchor decision-making and action into robust evidence
Partnerships to leverage the assets of all stakeholders for SDG achievement
Communications for clear reporting on results and partners’ engagement
To complement core coordination capacities, tailoring support according to different country contexts, RCOs have been hosting specialized advisory capacities.
Specialised advisory capacity deployed globally in 2025
In Mauritania, advisory support helped unlock financing for a nationally led prevention strategy, bringing together the Government, the UN, the World Bank, the EU and the African Development Bank.
In Guatemala, advisers contributed to embedding prevention in policymaking through dialogue on the revised Cooperation Framework.
Advisory support backed the national gender-based violence strategy in Papua New Guinea and informed prosecutorial guidance on hate crimes in Montenegro.
National gender policy work was also advanced in Venezuela by linking national priorities with global gender commitments.
Food systems coordination was supported in Cameroon, Ghana and Somalia.
Climate advisory support was provided in Pakistan and Mozambique, embedding climate considerations into national planning and financing frameworks.
Improving surge coordination support
RCOs and the DCO regional team for Arab States received surge coordination support in 2025
DCO New York
DCO's headquarters in New York equips RCs and their offices with the tools and knowledge they need to support UNCTs, manage the human, financial, and operational infrastructure, and serve as the secretariat to the UNSDG.
Fostering systematic innovation
In 2025, horizon scanning, systems analysis and forward-looking risk assessment were embedded more systematically into Cooperation Framework processes. This enables RCs to identify risks earlier and align support and programming more precisely with evolving national priorities.
A pilot Design Intelligence platform brings together data, analytics and AI to support Cooperation Framework analysis and planning, optimising mainstreaming of financing for development and the normative agenda across UNCT programming.
Resident Coordinators are increasingly integrating information integrity (misinformation, disinformation and hate speech) into development planning, in line with the Global Digital Compact, supporting governments to address risks from misinformation, disinformation and hate speech. These approaches strengthen resilience to online harm to reinforce trust in development processes.
In Bangladesh, Costa Rica, DRC and Ghana, these approaches informed national dialogue and Cooperation Framework implementation, strengthening resilience to information-related risks and reinforcing trust in development processes.
Leveraging the Joint SDG Fund
The Joint SDG Fund is proving that RC-led joint programming, drawing on the unique expertise of UN agencies, is delivering systemic change. The Joint SDG Fund has mobilised over $8 billion since its establishment.
The Fund has evolved from supporting targeted SDG policy and financing interventions into the UN development system's flagship vehicle for integrated programming, driving policy transformation across sectors.
The Fund has allocated an initial financing window to pilot an "Expertise-on-Demand" mechanism in six countries
Strengthening accountability
Member States can now more clearly track the impact of their investment in coordination and provide guidance through annual ECOSOC reviews and decisions. An integrated architecture of digital platforms, independent evaluations and advanced results reporting offers unprecedented visibility into RC system activities and results.
More than 160 countries and territories are covered by the UNSDG Data Portal: the most comprehensive window into the performance of the UN development system.
UNCT joint workplans publicly reporting on Cooperation Framework results in 2025
DCO-backed UNCT websites fed by this data
People reached through UNCT websites in 2025 across 33 languages
Advancing efficiencies and savings
The RC system is a key driver of UN efficiency at the country level, reducing duplication, strengthening operational continuity and directing more resources towards programme delivery and the people the UN serves.
Of UN buildings operating as common premises in 2025, up from 32 per cent in 2024
Of UN personnel were accommodated in common premises in 2025, up from 55 per cent in 2024
Countries where RCs secured host government support for common premises
Algeria, Egypt, Gabon, Pakistan, Samoa, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania (Government-funded renovation of the OneUN House) and Türkiye.
Common Back Offices consolidate administrative and operational services across UN entities in a country, saving costs, reducing duplication and freeing up capacity for programme delivery. RC leadership has been central to advancing them.
Countries where common back offices are transforming the way the UN works
- Brazil: Introduced process innovations, including AI-supported solutions
- Kenya: The CBO delivered more than 100 services to over 3,400 personnel across 25 entities
- Tanzania: Continued phased expansion
- Viet Nam: Co-located entities reported reductions in per-desk service costs
- Pakistan and Zimbabwe: RC leadership was crucial to advance new CBOs, nearing completion
RCs played an important role in ensuring that all UNCTs had a business operations strategy (BOS) in place.
In Sudan and Ukraine, the Business Operations Strategy framework was reviewed, ensuring business continuity and staff safety through shared transportation and an online booking platform.
RCs accelerated the shift to global shared services, helping UNCTs adopt shared operational and digital solutions that reduce costs and improve inter-agency efficiency.
In the United Arab Emirates, the RC promoted UN Fleet leasing to streamline vehicle ownership.
RC efforts in Kenya led to shared mobility, carpooling and wellness services that improved inter-agency efficiency.
RCs in Guatemala, Mozambique, India and Djibouti encouraged uptake of the UN Booking Hub, UN Fleet and UN Mobility services.