ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the UN's frailties in the development domain, tracing them back to the absence of an original blueprint for a development 'system'. The first factor is committed leadership, starting with the secretary-general. A second factor is sound and authoritative advice. A third factor is the need for champions, both within the second UN and, more especially, among member states. A fourth factor is timing. Every new secretary-general enjoys a honeymoon period during which a window of opportunity for change opens. Crisis is a fifth factor. On a country, rather than a global scale, confronting crisis conditions has forced change on the UN Development System (UNDS). The UNDS was seen to be most effective in the four domains of health, education, gender, and human rights, and this pattern was reflected in perceptions of the relative effectiveness of the different organizations of the UNDS.
