Resolution adopted by the General Assembly  on 27 December 2019          [on the report of the Fifth Committee (A/74/612)]       74/251. Programme planning        The General Assembly,    Recalling its resolutions 37/234 of 21 December 1982, 38/227 A of 20 December  1983, 41/213 of 19 December 1986, 55/234 of 23 December 2000, 56/253 of  24 December 2001, 57/282 of 20 December 2002, 58/268 and 58/269 of 23 December  2003, 59/275 of 23 December 2004, 60/257 of 8 May 2006, 61/235 of 22 December  2006, 62/224 of 22 December 2007, 63/247 of 24 December 2008, 64/229 of  22 December 2009, 65/244 of 24 December 2010, 66/8 of 11 November 2011, 67/236  of 24 December 2012, 68/20 of 4 December 2013, 69/17 of 18 November 2014, 70/8  of 13 November 2015, 71/6 of 27 October 2016, 72/9 of 17 November 2017, 72/266 A  of 24 December 2017, 72/266 B of 5 July 2018, section III of its resolution 72/262 C  of 5 July 2018 and its resolution 73/269 of 22 December 2018,    Recalling also the terms of reference of the Committee for Programme and  Coordination, as outlined in the annex to Economic and Social Council resolution  2008 (LX) of 14 May 1976,    Recalling further the Regulations and Rules Governing Programme Planning,  the Programme Aspects of the Budget, the Monitoring of Implementation and the  Methods of Evaluation,1 by which the relevant programmes and subprogrammes of  the proposed strategic framework shall be reviewed by the relevant sectoral,  functional and regional intergovernmental bodies, if possible during the regular cycle  of their meetings,    Having considered the report of the Committee for Programme and  Coordination on the work of its fifty-ninth session2 and the reports of the Secretary- General on the proposed programme budget for 2020: part I, plan outline, 3 and part II,  __________________    1 ST/SGB/2018/3.    2 Official Records of the General Assembly, Seventy-fourth Session, Supplement No. 16 (A/74/16).    3 A/74/6 (Plan outline).   A/RES/74/251  Programme planning   19-22679 2/5    programme plan for programmes and subprogrammes and programme performance  information,4     Having also considered the report of the Office of Internal Oversight Services  on strengthening the role of evaluation and the application of evaluation findings on  programme design, delivery and policy directives, 5     1.  Reaffirms the role of the Committee for Programme and Coordination as  the main subsidiary organ of the General Assembly and the Economic and Social  Council for planning, programming and coordination;     2.  Also reaffirms the role of the Committee for Programme and Coordination  in verifying that the programmes of activities of the Organization are implemented in  line with the legislative mandates and that the full implementation of regulations and  rules is ensured;     3.  Re-emphasizes the role of the plenary and the Main Committees of the  General Assembly in reviewing and taking action on the appropriate recommendations  of the Committee for Programme and Coordination relevant to their work, in  accordance with regulation 4.10 of the Regulations and Rules Governing Programme  Planning, the Programme Aspects of the Budget, the Monitoring of Implementation  and the Methods of Evaluation;1     4.  Stresses that setting the priorities of the United Nations is the prerogative  of the Member States, as reflected in legislative mandates;    5.  Reiterates the need for Member States to participate fully in the budget  preparation process, from its early stages and throughout the process;    6.  Recalls its resolution 72/266 A, in which it approved the change from a  biennial to an annual budget period on a trial basis, beginning with the programme  budget for 2020;    7.  Requests the Secretary-General to present a report as early as practicable,  for the consideration of the General Assembly at its seventy-fourth session, on the  impact of the changes to the budgetary cycle on the established budgetary procedures  and practices as they pertain to the agreed sequential nature of the review processes  of the proposed programme budget, and in this regard to present possible options to  ensure the preservation of this sequence, including the possibility of the Advisory  Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions preparing its conclusions and  recommendations on the basis of a programme plan approved by the General  Assembly in 2021;    8.  Recalls paragraph 13 of its resolution 72/266 A, and reaffirms that no  changes to the budget methodology, established budgetary procedures and practices  or the financial regulations may be implemented without prior review and approval  by the General Assembly in accordance with established budgetary procedures;     9.  Requests the Secretary-General to clearly identify those provisions and  rules that are proposed to be formally suspended or no longer applied during the trial  period;   __________________    4 A/74/6 (Sect. 2), A/74/6 (Sect. 3), A/74/6 (Sect. 4), A/74/6 (Sect. 5), A/74/6 (Sect. 5)/Corr.1,  A/74/6 (Sect. 6), A/74/6 (Sect. 8), A/74/6 (Sect. 8)/Corr.1, A/74/6 (Sect. 9), A/74/6 (Sect. 10),  A/74/6 (Sect. 11), A/74/6 (Sect. 12), A/74/6 (Sect. 13), A/74/6 (Sect. 14), A/74/6 (Sect. 15),  A/74/6 (Sect. 16), A/74/6 (Sect. 17), A/74/6 (Sect. 18), A/74/6 (Sect. 19), A/74/6 (Sect. 20),  A/74/6 (Sect. 21), A/74/6 (Sect. 22), A/74/6 (Sect. 24), A/74/6 (Sect. 25), A/74/6 (Sect. 26),  A/74/6 (Sect. 27), A/74/6 (Sect. 28), A/74/6 (Sect. 29), A/74/6 (Sect. 30), A/74/6 (Sect. 31) and  A/74/6 (Sect. 34).    5 A/74/67 and A/74/67/Corr.1.   Programme planning  A/RES/74/251   3/5 19-22679      10. Expresses its support for the efforts of the Secretariat to better engage and  support programme managers with the aim of making the Organization more  effective, and welcomes the commitment and ongoing efforts of the Secretariat to  improve the programmatic aspects of the programme budget;     11.  Calls upon the Secretary-General to ensure that objectives, results and  performance measures that are put forward for consideration are strategic,  measurable, achievable, realistic and time-bound;     12. Requests the Secretary-General to ensure that the Regulations and Rules  Governing Programme Planning, the Programme Aspects of the Budget, the  Monitoring of Implementation and the Methods of Evaluation approved by  the General Assembly in its resolutions 70/8 and 72/9 are fully respected, with the  exception of regulations and rules that have been directly impacted by the decisions  taken by the Assembly in its resolution 72/266 A;     13. Notes the repeated reference “in the context of the 2030 Agenda for  Sustainable Development, the purposes stipulated in Article 1 of the Charter are  embodied by the Sustainable Development Goals” across the programmes,  underscores the primacy of the Charter of the United Nations, and reaffirms that the  Sustainable Development Goals and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development 6  are guided by the purposes and principles of the Charter;    14. Requests the Secretary-General to ensure that results and, where possible,  performance measures actually reflect achievements in the implementation of the  programmes of the Organization and not those of individual Member States;     15. Also requests the Secretary-General, while still considering further areas  of improvement, to apply the following guidelines when preparing the next proposed  programme plan and programme performance documents for the remainder of the  approved trial period, namely, for 2021 and 2022:     (a)  Adhering to a programme plan that contains the required level of detail  and information, in particular keeping the objectives, results and corresponding  performance measures at the subprogramme level, in line with the results-based  budgeting framework;     (b)  Including a detailed list of deliverables in the proposed programme budget  and ensuring that resources are justified in terms of the requirements to implement  deliverables as contributions to the planned results;     (c)  Including clear, comprehensive explanations of the approved methodologies  to be applied in the context of the programme budget proposals to be submitted in  respect of the 2021 and 2022 budget periods, with reference to the applicable  provisions of relevant General Assembly resolutions, including resolutions 47/212 A  of 23 December 1992 and 72/266 A;     (d)  Enhancing the link between the preceding programme plans and the  proposed future plans, with a view to ensuring consistency and continuity;     (e)  Incorporating more general information on programmes and subprogrammes  by showing not only examples of actual and planned results, but also an overview of  activities and general strategy that encompasses a comprehensive overall account of  the actual and planned results;     (f)  Presenting performance information on a comprehensive set of results,  which would allow for enhanced oversight, transparency and accountability in the  __________________  6 Resolution 70/1.   A/RES/74/251  Programme planning   19-22679 4/5    implementation of all activities in the programme plan as approved by the General  Assembly;     (g)  Providing, in the context of performance measures, at least three prior  years of actual performance information to facilitate a better understanding and  assessment of progress made at the programme and subprogramme levels;     (h)  Including a strategy at both the programme and subprogramme levels;     (i)  Incorporating the list of legislative mandates into the published official  document and not into the supplementary document provided informally;     (j)  Replacing the proposed section on alignment with the Sustainable  Development Goals with concrete information regarding contributions to the  implementation of the Goals by relevant programmes and subprogrammes in  accordance with their specific related intergovernmental mandates;     (k)  Using simplified and identifiable numbering to improve the readability  and referencing of the proposed programme plan;     (l)  Reducing the use of accompanying photographs in the foreword to each  proposed programme plan;     (m) Ensuring that the use of anecdotal narratives in subprogrammes is only to  provide examples of actual and planned results as referenced in (e) above;     (n)  Ensuring that the terms and expressions referenced in the proposed  programme plan have been intergovernmentally agreed;     16. Approves, on an exceptional basis and without creating a precedent, for  programmes 5, 8, 10, 12, 13, 16, 17, 19, 22, 27 and 28 of the proposed programme  budget for 2020, the programme narrative that is composed solely of the “Mandates  and background”, “Recent developments”, “Strategy and external factors for 2020”  and “Evaluation activities” sections at the programme level and by objective at the  subprogramme level;     17. Also approves, on an exceptional basis and without creating a precedent,  for programmes 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 9, 11, 14, 15, 18, 20, 21, 23, 24, 25 and 26 of the proposed  programme budget for 2020, a programme narrative that is composed solely of the  list of mandates at the programme level and the objectives approved by the General  Assembly in its resolution 71/6 and the deliverables for 2020 at the subprogramme  level;    18.  Further approves the programme plan for programme 6, Legal affairs, of  the proposed programme budget for 2020, as contained in the report of the Secretary- General;7     19. Approves, on an exceptional basis and without creating a precedent, in the  case of the programmes mentioned in paragraph 17 above, where new mandates imply  changes to the objectives at the subprogramme level as approved in their agreed  formulation under its resolution 71/6, the relevant objectives as updated in the  proposed programme budget for 2020;     20. Requests the Secretary-General to ensure that the programme plan covers  all activities, both substantive and servicing, including those to be financed partially  or fully from extrabudgetary and other assessed resources;   __________________    7 A/74/6 (Sect. 8) and A/74/6 (Sect. 8)/Corr.1.   Programme planning  A/RES/74/251   5/5 19-22679      21. Endorses the conclusions and recommendations of the Committee for  Programme and Coordination on evaluation8 contained in its report on the work of its  fifty-ninth session, and requests the Secretary-General to ensure the timely  implementation of the recommendations;    22. Also endorses the conclusions and recommendations of the Committee for  Programme and Coordination on the annual overview report of the United Nations  System Chief Executives Board for Coordination for 2018, 9 contained in its report on  the work of its fifty-ninth session, and requests the Secretary-General to ensure the  timely implementation of the recommendations.    52nd (resumed) plenary meeting  27 December 2019    __________________    8 Official Records of the General Assembly, Seventy-fourth Session, Supplement No. 16 (A/74/16),  chap. II, sect. B.    9 Ibid., chap. III, sect. A.