Note No. 5689

                                                            23 October 2001

Note to Correspondents

UN 21 AWARDS CEREMONY, DAG HAMMARSKJÖLD AUDITORIUM, 25 OCTOBER

The Management Policy Office has organized the UN 21 Awards to be held on Thursday, 25 October 2001, at 12 noon in the Dag Hammarskjöld Auditorium.  The Secretary-General will be present to say a few words and to be photographed with the award-winning teams.

Introduced in 1996 by the Secretary-General,the UN 21 Awards were established as part of the management reform and efficiency improvement effort to provide recognition and special thanks to staff members for outstanding achievements in improving the efficiency, effectiveness, quality, and impact of the Organization’s activities. 

For the 2000 UN 21 Awards, a greater emphasis was placed on productivity, as set forth in the Organization’s Long-Term Productivity Strategy.  The Awards are given to staff members, based on the following three criteria:

-- Introduction of outstanding improvement or innovative change;

-- Increase in quality, impact, efficiency or effectiveness of the Organization’s programme or service; and

-- Achievement of concrete results.

In 1999, five teams received the UN 21 Awards.  This year, five teams will receive awards.  The winners of these five awards are:

Integrated Management Information System (IMIS):  (37 recipients).  The introduction of IMIS has been called perhaps the most radical and innovative reform that has taken place in the Organization since its inception.  Through IMIS, all major duty stations have significantly improved the efficiency and effectiveness of personnel and financial processing.

Improvements to UN Guided Tour Programme:  (two recipients).   The improvements to the UN Guided Tour Programme improve the interface between the United Nations and the visiting public by providing more information and more efficient staffing in the Public Lobby.  The phone answering service (through the new number 963-TOUR) has been significantly upgraded to provide information in nine different languages, including up-to-date information about current exhibits, and to enable the public to make tour reservations through a queuing system.

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                                                            23 October 2001

Archives and Records Management Service:  (11 recipients).   This team improved the archiving of United Nations materials by planning and implementing a relocation of material to new facilities and by improving the storage capacity and environmental conditions of the facilities.  The improvement in the environmental facilities will extend the life of important United Nations archival information.

Rules Streamlining Project:  (11 recipients).  The team streamlined, simplified and organized the rules pertaining to Human Resources.  From 1998 to 2000, some 407 documents (SGB, I, IC, PD) were abolished.  After streamlining and consolidation, the team placed the information on-line in the form of an electronic “Human Resources Handbook”.  This tool makes the most up-to-date set of rules and procedures accessible to all, thus enabling considerable saving of time and strengthening the ability of managers to ensure equal and consistent treatment of staff.

Automated System of the Interpretation Service (Assignment Programme):  (five recipients).  The team designed and implemented a comprehensive information system for managing the assignment of interpreters to meetings.  The system automatically produces the daily assignment of interpreters to meetings on the basis of required language combinations, accepted practices governing minimum rest periods between meetings, availability and suitability of individual interpreters, and the number of assignments already performed.  The new system has contributed to the overall efficiency of the Interpretation Service, providing effective support to its planning and administrative tasks and optimising the recruitment of freelancers.

For further information, please contact Cheryl Larsen at 3-8401 or Liz Scaffidi at 3-5834.

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