For more than five decades, United Nations has been giving development aid to developing countries for their economic and social development. At its birth, this was hailed as one of the greatest achievements of the UN and for humanity. The UN operated three aid programmes from its founding in 1945 until the creation of UNDP in 1966. But despite the scale and scope of these programmes, they did not attract much serious attention from scholars and institutions interested in multilateral aid. This book presents for the first time a comprehensive survey and critical analysis of these programmes. The author explains in detail the political struggles and considerations underlying the birth of each of these programmes and some inherent flaws in their conceptualisation. In analysing their growth and changes in structures, the author discusses the modalities and chronic problems encountered in implementation, in coordination at all levels and in the evaluation of their impact on economic development in the recipient countries.