DEPUTY SECRETARY-GENERAL CLAIMS UNITED NATIONS REFORM ALREADY SHOWS QUANTIFIABLE RESULTS: STAFF DOWN 25 PER CENT IN DECADE
Press Release
DSG/SM/40
DEPUTY SECRETARY-GENERAL CLAIMS UNITED NATIONS REFORM ALREADY SHOWS QUANTIFIABLE RESULTS: STAFF DOWN 25 PER CENT IN DECADE
19981208 Renewal Process Not Just Cost-Cutting, London Audience Told; New Ways to Address Growing Range of Responsibilities Equally ImportantThis is the text of an address today by Deputy Secretary-General Louise Fréchette to the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Overseas Development in London:
It gives me great pleasure to have an opportunity to address this important group. In an era of globalization and economic liberalization, the role of parliamentarians is more pivotal than ever. In today's world, most of the major problems we face -- from environmental degradation and organized crime to the spread of disease and the proliferation of arms -- have an international dimension. Nations must cooperate with each other far more extensively than in the past. And to engage abroad, you need support at home, among your constituents. So you are a crucial link not only between the State and society, but between the local and the global.
Not surprisingly, parliamentarians have become prominent players on the international scene. You participate, for example, in electoral monitoring missions and are active in policy-making at United Nations conferences. This heightened involvement is one reason why, in 1996, the United Nations signed a cooperation agreement with the Interparliamentary Union.
But that move also reflected a much a broader understanding on the part of the United Nations: that we cannot hope to succeed without the expertise and energies of civil society, of which parliamentarians are a key part, but which also includes non-governmental organizations, the private sector, the academic and research communities, women's and religious groups, trade unions and more.
This opening up to new players and new ideas has brought significant change to the United Nations. But then, contrary to popular belief, change is nothing new for the Organization. Since our very founding, we have been evolving, responding to new challenges and adjusting to new realities.
Where once women were something of a curiosity in its halls and conference rooms, I speak to you as one of a growing battalion of women in leadership positions. Where once the United Nations was strictly the business of governments, non-governmental organizations now play a powerful role. You will look in vain for the word peacekeeping in the United Nations Charter, yet that innovation has long been one of our best-known activities. And we have been in the vanguard of thinking and advocacy on human rights, the environment and development.
But we are still not fleet enough, and I will be the first to recognize that the history of the United Nations is also littered with missed opportunities, outdated and sterile debates, hesitant and inconsistent actions, instances of inefficiency and even downright incompetence. That is why the Secretary-General, immediately upon taking office, launched a major programme of reform and renewal. The world has changed more rapidly and dramatically than anyone had anticipated, and the United Nations has to keep pace.
The process of renewal began in earnest last year and is intended to put the United Nations through a comprehensive, top-to-bottom overhaul. In the name of greater unity, agility, clarity and cohesiveness, we have been moving aggressively to discard outmoded ways of doing business; to improve coordination among our disparate entities; to embrace new technologies; and to ensure that our staff have the managerial, technical and other skills needed to run a modern Organization with global responsibilities and worldwide reach. A great deal has been accomplished.
First, we have undertaken a major rationalization of the structure of the Secretariat.
We have established a Department for Disarmament Affairs in order to give disarmament issues the prominence they deserve. The wisdom of this move has been borne out, I believe, by events of the past year, which has seen nuclear tests on the Indian subcontinent, ongoing impasses over disarmament in Iraq and on the Korean peninsula, and the growing public awareness that the proliferation of small arms and anti-personnel mines are major obstacles to development and conflict resolution.
We have also established the Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention so as to enable us to focus and enhance our capacity to address the interrelated issues of drug control, crime prevention and international terrorism in all its forms. This structural change has been enhanced with new leadership: Pino Arlacchi, a former Italian senator with a strong background in law enforcement and the fight against organized crime. He is helping to give the Organization a more dynamic, responsive and accessible public face.
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This rationalization has extended to other areas as well, including humanitarian affairs, human rights and economic and social affairs. But lest you think we are doing what bureaucrats are said to do best -- that is, perpetuate their institutions while making them grow ever larger -- let me stress that all of the above, and a lot more, is being accomplished despite our having eliminated 1,000 posts from the Organization's staffing table. That reduction brings us 25 per cent below the level of a decade ago.
We are also cutting costs: already, $13 million in administrative savings has been transferred to a Development Account established for this purpose. We are committed to increasing this amount over time, and expect to find about $40 million in savings from the next biennial budget that can be reallocated to development.
I hope that these demonstrable, quantifiable results will help lay to rest, descriptions of the United Nations as a bloated bureaucracy. At the same time, reform is far more than the sum of its cuts. This brings me to a second major area of reform: the new management tools that have been put in place.
Until last year, there had been no systematic forum where the leaders of the various United Nations departments, funds and programmes were brought together to share information, develop policies and ensure strategic coherence.
Now, the cabinet-style Senior Management Group meets every Wednesday, linked by teleconference to United Nations offices in Geneva, Rome, Vienna and Nairobi. Although these senior officials operate according to different lines of accountability, they are now active as members of a single team, under the strong leadership of the Secretary-General.
In addition, the work of the 30 or so United Nations departments, programmes and funds has been grouped into four main thematic areas -- peace and security, economic and social affairs, development operations and humanitarian affairs -- and is now guided by an Executive Committee in each area. Human rights, I should hasten to say, is a cross-cutting concern in all four areas. Already, we are seeing better coordination and less duplication of work, although of course there is much more to do in this regard.
Ultimately, however, the United Nations is not about departments and structures, but about people. The staff is simultaneously our most precious asset and our greatest expense. If we want to operate efficiently and effectively, we must have the right people with the right skills in the right job at the right time. This is a more formidable task than it may sound.
Towards that end, we are carrying out a major reform of the way we manage our human resources, looking at how we recruit, train and promote our
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people and much, much more. Experts from other inter-governmental institutions and private sector businesses have been involved in this process, offering advice and "best practices". We are also taking steps intended to decentralize decision-making and to simplify procedures and rules, while ensuring accountability and high standards of performance.
Reform of human resources is a critical, yet often overlooked part of the reform process. The way we do our budgeting suffers from no such lack of attention, but it is also an area ripe for far-reaching reform. We have proposed that the United Nations shift to results-based budgeting, which emphasizes "outcomes" rather than "inputs" such as staff and equipment. Some Governments have adopted this with favourable results and we feel that it would give the United Nations the flexibility and agility it needs in an era of rapid change.
The necessary complement to these moves at Headquarters is action in the field. The United Nations Development Assistance Framework is a new mechanism that is already showing results. On a country-by-country basis, United Nations programmes and funds come together, in partnership with the Government involved, to decide on strategic objectives so that country programmes unfold in an integrated, mutually supportive way.
A pilot phase was implemented in 18 countries in Africa, Asia and Central America. Although old habits die hard, and we are still assessing the lessons learned, we are greatly encouraged by what we have seen thus far. Our hope is that the Development Assistance Framework will also prove, over time, to be a good instrument of coordination with United Nations specialized agencies, the Bretton Woods Institutions, bilateral donors and NGOs.
In certain cases -- such as countries emerging from conflict -- we are experimenting with a more binding and demanding kind of coordination mechanism, one that knits together the United Nation's political, development and humanitarian roles. The situation in Afghanistan, for example, is characterized by protracted turmoil, the breakdown of governance and public administration and the involvement of many outside humanitarian actors.
Simple logic dictated that we devise a strategic framework that articulated the situation on the ground, the goals we are pursuing, the principles we ought to be respecting, and the coordinating mechanisms available to accomplish our goals. That document now serves as a guide for action in a fragile environment, one in which the issues -- such as the question of gender equity -- require all involved to operate from the standpoint of a unified position.
In another step aimed at improving teamwork at the country level, United Nations programmes and funds are being placed under a single roof, or United Nations House, wherever such a move makes financial sense. Such common
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premises have been established in Algeria, Lebanon, Malaysia and South Africa; in all, 32 countries have been approved for this designation and many more United Nations Houses will be designated in the future.
These are some of the highlights of the reform package. A lot is in place already, but some measures will take time to implement. Overall it is more than fair to say that we have demonstrated our seriousness about reform for everyone with goodwill to see. There has been more reform, and more significant change, throughout the United Nations in the past year and a half than ever before.
The Member States, for their part, also have significant responsibilities with respect to reform. They are examining various aspects of the intergovernmental machinery and contemplating reforms that are quite fundamental in nature, including, above all, updating the Security Council so that it reflects the geopolitical realities of today rather than those of 1945.
All of this, it must be remembered, is being done under very difficult conditions caused by a chronic financial crisis. There are actually two financial crises: the first is global, in that Member States owe the Organization more than $2.3 billion in arrears to the regular and peacekeeping budgets. This makes it difficult for us to pay Member States for the peacekeeping troops they provide and to pay vendors for their indispensable services. Ultimately, it undermines public confidence in the ability of the Organization to respond to their needs and aspirations.
At the same time, under the present rule of "zero nominal growth" the United Nations budget is actually shrinking, in real terms, from year to year. That may have had some salutary effects. We have had to concentrate our minds on eliminating waste and on giving Member States better value for their money. But, as the Secretary-General has said, "without money, there can be no value". Those who want more out of the United Nations must be prepared to put more in.
I would like, at this point, to acknowledge the United Kingdom for its model behaviour in this regard. It is among other things at the United Nations a steadfast supporter of peacekeeping and a country that pays its assessments in full. Others should follow your example.
The second financial crisis is more specific: a severe shortfall in the resources available for the development work of the United Nations. As we all know, there has been a dramatic decline in official development assistance (ODA). But, amid that already disturbing trend, the amount dedicated to United Nations bodies involved in development has declined even more precipitously. The United Nations Development Programme has been hit
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especially hard with voluntary contributions down about 25 per cent from a high of about $1.1 billion in 1992.
I must stress the seriousness of this situation. For millions of people around the world, the United Nations is not only an international forum of debate but the bearer of tangible and concrete benefits. To a significant extent, United Nations programmes of economic and social development are the public face of the United Nations. The failure to deliver such assistance allows poverty to grow more firmly entrenched and undermines the Organization's credibility as well.
Here, too, I would like to thank the United Kingdom for announcing a significant increase in its ODA. No one doubts the power of private capital; it is the engine of the world economy, creating jobs and wealth. But most of this capital and investment goes to a select number of countries; for the rest, primarily the least developed countries, ODA remains a vital lifeline for seeing to their peoples' needs and building the capacity to compete in the global economy and take advantage of the opportunities offered by globalization.
The bottom line when it come to reform is that for all the sound structural changes we can make, for all the managerial savvy we can develop, for all the technical innovations we can assimilate into our global operations, nothing we do to improve the multifaceted machinery of the United Nations will make much difference unless Member States are willing to make use of it. And that requires a sustained effort of political will.
By will I mean the will to mobilize the necessary resources to tackle the challenge of poverty. The will to accept the costs and risks involved in upholding the principles set out in the Charter. The will to sacrifice narrowly defined domestic interests for the broader, common, global good. The will to share, to join forces, to unite.
What priorities are we to unite around? The celebration of the millennium offers a great chance for the international community to set itself an agenda. The Secretary-General has suggested that Member States use the General Assembly session in the year 2000 to identify a few of the world's most pressing problems, and then to settle on a precise, achievable programme for dealing with them. This would be a fitting way to celebrate the millennium.
The challenges we face today are as complex and as daunting as those ever faced by the United Nations. There are the associated opportunities and perils of globalization. The fight against poverty takes on added urgency in this context. Many countries remain caught in a vicious circle of conflict and underdevelopment. The spread of HIV/AIDS promises to make all of these
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problems even more intractable. Terrorism; crime; drugs; the spread of arms and disease: these and other challenges cry out for concerted action at the global level.
Our objective, as ever, is to leave to future generations, a legacy of peace and prosperity. Parliamentarians already carry tremendous responsibilities, but have an essential role to play in helping the United Nations evolve and prepare itself for the new era in international affairs that is now upon us.
I described you earlier as a bridge between the State and society, and between the local and the global. You are also a link between the world public and the world Organization, building understanding and support for the universal ideals of the United Nations and for its efforts to raise standards of living throughout the world. In that spirit of partnership, I look forward to working with you in the years ahead towards the goals we share and hold dear.
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