Attack on absolute poverty in Africa: the role of the United Nations Development Advisory Teams (UNDATs)

Abstract

The UNDATs are a response to a need, which was recognized in 1958 when the ECA was being established. This need in the words of the Secretary-General of the United Nations was that “with the accession to independence, new states emerged with geographical boundaries not suited to the requirements of rapid economic growth. One of the very first resolutions adopted by the Commission called on the Executive Secretary to “obtain the consent of Governments of West Africa to undertake a study of measures which would enable the countries of that area to derive mutual benefit by increasing their economic contacts in such spheres as tarde; the conservation of water; the international use of roads, railways and harbors; the pooling of electric power; the control of fisheries and other economic matters.”