The Development Account was established by the General Assembly in 1997 through its resolution 52/12 B, as a mechanism to fund capacity development projects of the economic and social entities of the United Nations (DESA, ECLAC, ESCAP, ESCWA, ECE, ECA, UNCTAD,UNEP, UN-Habitat, UNODC).

By building capacity on three levels, namely: (i) the individual; (ii) the organizational; and (iii) the enabling environment, the Development Account becomes a supportive vehicle for advancing the implementation of internationally agreed development goals (IADGs) and the outcomes of the United Nations conferences and summits. The Account adopts a medium to long-term approach in helping countries to better integrate social, economic and environmental policies and strategies in order to achieve inclusive and sustained economic growth, poverty eradication, and sustainable development.

Projects financed from the Account aim at achieving development impact through building the socio-economic capacity of developing countries through collaboration at the national, sub-regional, regional and inter-regional levels. The Development Account provides a mechanism for promoting the exchange and transfer of skills, knowledge and good practices among target countries within and between different geographic regions, and through the cooperation with a wide range of partners in the broader development assistance community. It provides a bridge between in-country capacity development actors, on the one hand, and United Nations Secretariat entities, on the other. The latter offer distinctive skills and competencies in a broad range of economic and social issues that are often only marginally dealt with by other development partners at country level. For target countries, the Development Account provides a vehicle to tap into the normative and analytical expertise of the United Nations Secretariat and receive on-going policy support in the economic and social area, particularly in areas where such expertise does not reside in the capacities of the United Nations country teams.

The Account’s operational profile is further reinforced by the adoption of pilot approaches that test new ideas and eventually scale them up through supplementary funding, and the emphasis on integration of national expertise in the projects to ensure national ownership and sustainability of project outcomes.