'WE SHOULD ASK OURSELVES HOW WE CAN DO MORE WITH LESS, WITHOUT AFFECTING QUALITY AND IMPACT', SECRETARY-GENERAL TELLS UN STAFF
Press Release
SG/SM/6286
'WE SHOULD ASK OURSELVES HOW WE CAN DO MORE WITH LESS, WITHOUT AFFECTING QUALITY AND IMPACT', SECRETARY-GENERAL TELLS UN STAFF
19970717 Commenting on Proposals for Reform of Organization, Kofi Annan Emphasizes 'It is Not Their Reform, It Is Our Reform'Following is the text of Secretary-General Kofi Annan's statement to the staff on proposals for United Nations reform, at Headquarters today:
This morning, as I speak to you about the vital reforms of our Organization, I am very pleased to be addressing the staff of the United Nations throughout the world.
Greetings, then, not only to colleagues here in New York, but also to those in Geneva, Nairobi and Vienna, and in the United Nations Information Centres and regional commissions, and especially to our colleagues in the field, and on United Nations missions, who with great courage endure hardship and danger in the cause of the United Nations.
As you know, yesterday I submitted to the General Assembly my report "Renewing the United Nations: a Programme for Reform".
This reform package is the product of detailed review and careful consultation. I have briefed your staff representatives. It has one objective and one objective only: to strengthen our United Nations, and enable us -- the staff -- to do more and to do better.
My aspiration -- simply and immediately -- is to improve and enhance the conception, quality and delivery of the services that we provide. That is what the world demands of us. No less must we demand of ourselves.
Let me say to you at the outset: reform is not their cause, it is our cause. We who strive every day to honour our calling and improve our service want, more than anyone else, to enhance our effectiveness and unleash our potential. It is not their reform, it is our reform.
I am convinced -- having become Secretary-General after 30 years of service at the United Nations -- that the skills, idealism and sense of vocation of the staff are an extraordinary asset for the Organization and for the world.
My reform package aims to liberate skills and capacities. I want to ensure the highest levels of excellence. Mobility, opportunity for growth and continuing learning are the cornerstones of my vision for the staff. All three are central to this reform process. We must be able to attract and retain the most talented, able and committed staff members.
The package I presented yesterday is comprehensive. I will not go into all the details here. Every one of you, through normal documents distribution, cc-mail, optical disk or our home page on the World Wide Web, will be able to read the report as well as my statement to the General Assembly.
Let me say briefly, however, and in general, that its measures and recommendations touch virtually every aspect of our work: from development to disarmament, peace-keeping to the environment, humanitarian assistance to human rights.
It discusses the technical support we provide to intergovernmental bodies, and our presence at the country level, where our efforts are felt most directly.
It proposes new ways of putting the Organization on a sound financial footing, and of raising more money for economic and social activities.
When it comes to management, the United Nations must follow the lead of its Member States. We should ask ourselves how we can do more with less, without affecting quality and impact. How we can meet growing demands within constrained resources. How we can avoid duplication of effort, and how we can achieve the results required of us by the Member States.
This is a formidable challenge. My report embraces a number of related strategies.
We must do away with excessive bureaucratic procedures and rules.
Our administrative processes must be modernized.
We intend to expand and strengthen common services: administrative, financial, personnel and procurement.
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I have also asked the General Assembly to consider shifting to results- based budgeting -- an approach that moves us from micro-management to macro- accountability.
But of all the strategies aimed at creating a new culture of management at the United Nations, none is more important than the management of our human resources.
Vous savez tous ce que j'en pense et, à plusieurs reprises, j'ai eu l'occasion de le dire: les fonctionnaires de l'Organisation sont son capital le plus précieux. Sans eux, sans vous, rien ne peut être accompli.
Ensemble, nous pouvons mener à bien le programme de réformes. Ensemble, nous pouvons changer la réalité d'une administration pesante et compliquée. Ensemble, nous pouvons offrir au monde une Organisation moderne, efficace, respectée.
J'en suis intimement convaincu. Mais cela exige de chacune et de chacun d'entre nous les plus hautes compétences, le degré de professionnalisme le plus élevé et le plus parfait dévouement aux valeurs de l'Organisation.
Car c'est en donnant le meilleur de nous-mêmes que nous parviendrons à construire une Organisation intègre, solide, méritante.
Nous voulons une Organisation des Nations Unies fière des qualités professionnelles et humaines de son personnel. Pour cela, nous devons être capables d'offrir aux fonctionnaires internationaux des conditions de travail et de rémunération appropriées. Nous devons leur offrir un environnement professionnel attractif et innovateur et libre de toute forme de harcèlement. Car il ne suffit pas de recruter. Il faut également offrir à chacun une carrière prometteuse.
Dans cette entreprise essentielle, je sais pouvoir compter sur vous.
Vous savez que vous pouvez compter sur moi.
The United Nations approach to human resources management will be the subject of a continuing and thorough review. It will be conducted by a task force to be established for this purpose.
The task force will be comprised of human resource experts from both the private and public sectors. Management and staff will have ample opportunity to make their views known.
Building on the General Assembly Strategy, it will examine all the relevant issues: recruitment and placement, human resources planning, career
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service and compensation packages, career development and mobility, performance management and staff-management consultation. I want quick results from this initiative.
As you know, I have already pledged to eliminate 1,000 staff posts. This will be achieved through attrition.
The retirement of nearly half will occur in the course of the next decade. This will allow our programme managers to create new career opportunities and recruit the talent we need for the next millennium. In this effort, geographical representation and gender balance will be paramount considerations.
This is a new beginning for the United Nations. It will be a new beginning for the staff as well. The quiet revolution that we have launched will transform the environment in which we work and the prospects for our success.
We will ensure a United Nations which, when called upon to restore the peace and advance the cause of development, can and will do the job.
Yesterday, I asked Member States to judge the United Nations and this reform plan not only by the cuts proposed or the structures changed.
I asked them to judge us as well -- and rightly -- by the relief and the refuge that we provide to the poor, the hungry, the sick and the threatened -- the peoples of the world whom the United Nations exists to serve.
That is the standard that we must meet, that is the calling to which we must be true. I know that we, the staff of the United Nations, care more deeply about fulfilling the aims of our founders than anyone. Let us now show the world that when we can, we will.
I thank you all for your dedication and service. I look forward to working with you in building our United Nations for the next century.
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