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United Nations: Reform Initiatives Have Strengthened Operations, but Overall Objectives Have Not Yet Been Achieved

NSIAD-00-150 Published: May 10, 2000. Publicly Released: May 10, 2000.
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Highlights

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO assessed the status and impact of reforms to improve the United Nations (U.N.), focusing on whether: (1) the U.N. had put into place the three core elements of the Secretary General's 1997 reform program; and (2) they are improving U.N. management and performance as intended.

Recommendations

Recommendations for Executive Action

Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of State To help ensure that the U.N. maintains momentum in its overall reform efforts, the Secretary of State should report annually to Congress on the status of the Secretary General's reform plan, including an assessment of whether U.N. agencies and departments are effectively coordinating efforts at the country level, effectively implementing a results-oriented human capital system, and effectively implementing a performance-oriented management system.
Closed – Implemented
In response to our recommendation, the State Department through the U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations has reported annually to the Congress about U.N. reform efforts as part of its oversight hearings.
Department of State To support the U.N. in transforming the organization into one that is performance oriented and continuously improves, the Secretary of State and the Permanent Representative of the United States to the United Nations should work with other member states to take immediate steps at the Secretariat to implement results-oriented budgeting, such as setting measurable goals and performance indicators for each section of the budget and introducing pilot tests on these measures.
Closed – Implemented
GAO has issued several reports over the past few years on efforts to reform the United Nations. GAO recommended that the Secretary of State and the U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations work with other member states to ensure that the United Nations adopt results based budgeting. In response, with State, the U.S. Representative has worked with other member states, and the United Nations has adopted adopted results based budgeting.
Permanent Representative of the United States to the United Nations To support the U.N. in transforming the organization into one that is performance oriented and continuously improves, the Secretary of State and the Permanent Representative of the United States to the United Nations should work with other member states to take immediate steps at the Secretariat to implement results-oriented budgeting, such as setting measurable goals and performance indicators for each section of the budget and introducing pilot tests on these measures.
Closed – Implemented
GAO has issued several reports over the past few years on efforts to reform the United Nations. GAO recommended that the Secretary of State and the U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations work with other member states to ensure that the United Nations adopt results based budgeting. In response, with State, the U.S. Representative has worked with other member states, and the United Nations has adopted adopted results based budgeting.
Department of State To support the U.N. in transforming the organization into one that is performance oriented and continuously improves, the Secretary of State and the Permanent Representative of the United States to the United Nations should work with other member states to require the Secretariat to develop an organizational strategy for monitoring and evaluating the results and impact of Secretariat activities.
Closed – Implemented
GAO recommended that the Secretary of State and the U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations work with other member states to ensure that the United Nations develop a strategy for monitoring and evaluating the impact of its activities. In response to our recommendation, with State, the U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations has worked with other member states, and as a result, the United Nations developed a strategy to systematically momitor and evalutate the results of its programs, and began implementing it in 2002.
Permanent Representative of the United States to the United Nations To support the U.N. in transforming the organization into one that is performance oriented and continuously improves, the Secretary of State and the Permanent Representative of the United States to the United Nations should work with other member states to require the Secretariat to develop an organizational strategy for monitoring and evaluating the results and impact of Secretariat activities.
Closed – Implemented
GAO recommended that the Secretary of State and the U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations work with other member states to ensure that the United Nations develop a strategy for monitoring and evaluating the impact of its activities. In response to our recommendation, the U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations has worked with other member states, and as a result, the United Nations developed a strategy to systematically momitor and evalutate the results of its programs, and began implementing it in 2002.

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Topics

Staff utilizationInternational cooperationInternational organizationsPerformance measuresProgram evaluationStrategic planningHuman capitalBudgetingPerformance monitoringHuman capital management