At the inter-governmental level the UN General Assembly and the Economic and Social Council provide oversight and mandates for the UNDG.

The UNDG is one of the three pillars of the UN system Chief Executives Board (CEB), which furthers coordination and cooperation on a wide range of substantive and management issues facing UN system organizations. The CEB brings the executive heads of UN organizations together on a regular basis under the chairmanship of the Secretary-General. Within the CEB structure, the High-Level Committee on Management works on system-wide administrative and management issues, the High-Level Committee on Programmes considers global policy issues, while the United Nations Development Group deals with operational activities for development with a focus on country-level work.

The Administrator of the UN Development Programme (UNDP) chairs the UNDG. The UNDG Chair reports to the Secretary-General and the CEB on progress in implementing the group’s work plan, and on the management of the Resident Coordinator System.

The UNDG meets regularly in full and through working groups. It has also established an Advisory Group of 13 UNDG members, some of whom participate on a rotational basis. The Advisory Group provides the UNDG Chair with advice and guidance on managing the operational dimensions of the UNDG and the Resident Coordinator System. This group convenes at the level of heads of agencies and at the Assistant Secretary-General/Assistant Director-General level. The UNDG’s five working groups help to make development operations more effective at the country level by providing consistent, up-to-date, high quality, and demand-driven guidance to UN country teams. The working groups provide recommendations, update existing guidance documents, and provide support and feedback during the roll-out of new initiatives.

The UN Development Operations Coordination Office (DOCO) is the technical support unit for the UNDG. DOCO provides the link between UNDG discussions at headquarters and the work of the UN development system at the country level, and helps the group prepare system-wide agreements, policies and guidelines for country offices.