Addressing the General Assembly, Guterres briefed Member States on the structural reforms and programmatic realignments that are needed across the United Nations system to make it fully capable of meeting today’s challenges.
“My vision of the United Nations system is clear: Entities working together to achieve better results – overcoming fragmentation, eliminating duplication, improving financing models and maximizing synergies.», declared the secretary general.
“For the people we serve”
He highlighted the need for a more streamlined, collaborative and cost-effective approach: “ensuring that the resources entrusted to us have maximum impact on the people we serve.”
As part of the reform campaign, Mr. Guterres announced the creation of a dedicated UN 80 Implementation Team to advance reform proposals, either by submitting them to intergovernmental decision-making bodies – or by advancing them unilaterally when within his authority.
“The ultimate leadership of the UN80 Initiative rests with you, the Member States of the United Nations.“, underlined Mr. Guterres.
The briefing is part of the UN80 Initiativewhich aims to streamline operations, increase impact and reaffirm the relevance of the UN in a rapidly changing world.
This is the third of three workstreams created to guide the reform process.
Workstream 1 focuses on modernizing business operations and improving efficiency within the Secretariat and the United Nations system – including through consolidated administrative platforms, relocations to lower-cost duty stations and reduction of real estate costs – while preserving core program delivery.
The first proposals included in the revised forecasts for the 2026 budgetare now before the Fifth Committee of the General Assembly, and decisions are expected by December this year.
Workstream 2 examines the full lifecycle of mandates to strengthen coherence, accountability and impact.
It is initial recommendations are being studied by a Informal ad hoc working group of the General Assembly, co-chaired by Jamaica and New Zealand, which is leading a “discovery phase» until the end of 2025.
Changing paradigms
Among the more than 70 proposals included in the first progress report Workstream 3 concerns the plan to consolidate and reconfigure the peace and security teams at Headquarters in New York, as well as the special political missions in Yemen, Cyprus and Central Africa.
Other potential reforms include a merger between the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS), an initiative that Mr. Guterres said would “create a more powerful sustainable development engine, with greater scope and scale.”
He also raised the possibility of merging UN Women and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) to form “a unified and more powerful voice on gender equality and the rights of women and girls”. [More details on the proposals on this UN News story]
“More than just a cost-cutting exercise”
Before her presentation, Member States heard from Annalena Baerbock, the President of the General Assemblywhich echoed the need for Member States to commit to the reform proposals presented in the Secretary-General’s report.
The caller “more than a cost-cutting exercise« , she summarized the UN80 Initiative as being « a question of efficiency, agility and ability to leverage cutting-edge technologies.”
She also stressed that while Member States cannot ignore the “precarious budgetary situation,” they have a responsibility to the people the United Nations serves.
“We cannot sacrifice the principles of this institution in the name of the ‘bottom line,’” Baerbock said.
Check out our UN News explainer on the UN80 initiative, here.
Publicado anteriormente en Almouwatin.
