PLANNING FOR THE 1960s IN THE 1970s : Part I

INTRODUCTION The Sixth Session of the Governing Council of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) designated Sir Robert Jackson as Commissioner to undertake a study of the capacity of the United Nations system to handle the resources made available by the UNDP first, at their present level, and second, if doubled over the next five years. The « Jackson Report » is the result of a study by a team of people in 1968-1969. The study originated with the UNDP's Inter-Agency Consultative Board. The importance of the report is due to its coverage of the major problems plaguing the operation of the UN family of organizations. Despite the emphasis on development, many of the problems clearly exist for non-development programmes. The Study is extremely forthright in its criticism of the UN structure and operations and for this reason the United Nations should be congratulated for permitting it to be published and circulated to the press, particularly in its « unexpurgated form ». For the first time, an overall view of the United Nations operational mechanism is available. It reveals in a fairly systematic way many of the problems which hitherto have been known only partially by those people moving in United Nations or international organization circles, discussed as « corridor gossip », or cited in conversations as justification for a cynical