NEW YORK: United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called for wide-ranging structural reforms to enhance the global body’s effectiveness.

He outlined wide-ranging reform plans to revamp how the UN system operates, including cutting costs, relocating services from high-cost duty stations, centralizing information technology and support services, expanding automation and digital platforms, noting that some of these changes will be “painful” for the UN family.

In the briefing on the UN80 Initiative in New York on Monday, Guterres said, “As indicated in my letter of 11 March, the UN80 Initiative is structured around three key workstreams: First, we are striving to rapidly identify efficiencies and improvements under current arrangements.

“Second, we are reviewing the implementation of all mandates given to us by Member States. And third, we are undertaking consideration of the need for structural changes and programme realignment across the UN system.”

Under the first workstream on efficiencies and improvements, Under-Secretary-General Catherine Pollard is leading a Working Group for the Secretariat that is developing a management strategy to design a new business model for the Organization.”

“The Working Group is focused on developing cost-reduction and efficiency-enhancement proposals in management and operations across the UN Secretariat. It is reviewing administrative functions to identify redundancies, streamline processes, and design integrated solutions — with cost-benefit analyses and clear implementation road maps” he said.

He further added, “Priority areas include: Functional and structural consolidation; workforce streamlining; relocating services from high-cost duty stations; centralizing information technology and support services, and expanding automation and digital platforms.”

He emphasised that the immediate focus of the Working Group will be on management and operational areas while the rest of the Secretariat will be expected to contribute towards the efficiency agenda.

He stated, “For example, all Secretariat entities in New York and Geneva have been asked to review their functions to determine if any can be performed from existing, lower-cost locations, or may otherwise be reduced or abolished. This especially pertains to those functions that do not directly support intergovernmental bodies in New York and Geneva.”

(ANI)