A/RES/51/194 Page 3 46/182 and 50/19, the capability for a quick and coordinated response to natural disasters and other emergencies, Reaffirming the need for the improved accountability of all relevant actors involved in emergency relief operations, 1. Encourages Governments to ensure coherence in the direction given to the governing bodies of relevant organizations, funds and programmes of the United Nations system, and to thereby promote the development and strengthening of the cooperation between these organizations and the Department of Humanitarian Affairs, drawing on the mandate, expertise and respective strengths and available capabilities of each, to improve the system-wide capability for a quick and coordinated response to complex humanitarian emergencies and natural disasters; 2. Urges all relevant organizations of the United Nations system to participate actively in the follow-up process established by Economic and Social Council resolution 1995/56; 3. Calls upon the Secretary-General to ensure that the Inter-Agency Standing Committee, as a contribution to the report of the Secretary-General to the Economic and Social Council at its substantive session in 1997, develops options and proposals to further define operational responsibilities between its members, drawing on their respective mandates, expertise, strengths and available capabilities, to identify cooperative arrangements to strengthen their joint capacities and to strengthen its work in priority setting and formulation of coherent humanitarian strategies; 4. Requests the Secretary-General to include in his report to the Economic and Social Council at its substantive session in 1997 recommendations of the Inter-Agency Standing Committee on measures aimed at making it a more effective and transparent mechanism, under the leadership of the Emergency Relief Coordinator, for inter-agency decision-making on coordination; 5. Emphasizes the need for the Secretary-General to draw on the discussions and conclusions in the various governing boards, as mentioned in paragraph 1 above, on the follow-up to Economic and Social Council resolution 1995/56, on the results of the work of the Inter-Agency Standing Committee in this regard and on the assessment of the Emergency Relief Coordinator, when contributing to the report of the Secretary-General, in order to ensure that all relevant issues are coherently addressed and appropriately reflected; 6. Encourages all relevant agencies of the United Nations system to collaborate closely at the country level in carrying out their relief activities, in order to enhance the overall policy coherence, operational complementarity and cost-effectiveness of the response of the United Nations system in emergencies; 7. Encourages the Secretary-General to develop further, in consultation with the Emergency Relief Coordinator and with members of the Inter-Agency Standing Committee, a transparent and timely procedure for putting into place effective coordination arrangements in the field; 8. Encourages members of the Inter-Agency Standing Committee to cooperate closely with each other, as well as with the Bretton Woods institutions and the regional development banks, to ensure that relief, /...