Continuing the direct and substantive dialogue between CEB and Member States, as called for by General Assembly resolutions 64/289 and 69/17, to enhance and strengthen the Board’s transparency and accountability, remained a priority in 2014. Three formal briefings on the work of CEB by the CEB Secretariat to the Economic and Social Council were held in June, July and December 2014.
Please note: only publishing dates after March 2013 may be considered reliable.
Pages tagged with Harmonization of Business Practices
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The High-level Committee on Management strategic plan for 2013-2016 identifies harmonization and simplification of business practices as a core activity. In this context, the plan focuses on common and shared services, including improved common procurement practices, and other initiatives to improve efficiency and effectiveness of the United Nations system.
CEB member organizations continued to participate actively in the review and follow-up of specific recommendations emanating from oversight reports by the Joint Inspection Unit, the Board of Auditors and the Office of Internal Oversight Services. Priority attention is given to maintaining the highest levels of transparency and accountability, strict compliance with established rules and regulations and enhancing the capacity of the United Nations system for oversight and audit.
The United Nations system is unique in the range and coverage of its structures and mandates and in the diversity of the means of action that are at its disposal. These characteristics can be a unique source of strength in addressing the increasingly complex and interrelated challenges that the international community is facing.
Extensive discussions had taken place within the High-level Committee on Management on harmonization and reform of business practices. The approach taken to the reform of business practices in the United Nations system was to be driven by programme priorities rather than by bureaucratic considerations and would be based on clear business logic and demonstrated system-wide benefits, concentrating on areas of harmonization and reform within the purview of executive heads.
CEB continued its consideration of management issues in a more integrated and concrete fashion over the 2006/07 period with the support of its High-level Committee on Management. The Committee and its networks had recently given considerable time and attention to the subject of management harmonization and reform within the competence of United Nations system executive heads, with the aim of sharing information, avoiding duplication of efforts, identifying successful experiences as benchmarks and setting common directions for future work.
In line with the increasing demands from the international community for efficient and coherent United Nations system operations, the Secretary-General has made the pursuit of effective, transparent and harmonized administrative and management procedures one of his priorities since taking office. The Board’s endorsement of the High-Level Committee on Management initiative to develop a plan of action for the harmonization of business practices in the United Nations system is a concrete step in the advancement of that objective.
The period 2007/08 has seen significant progress in enhancing the role and functioning of the CEB as an effective coordinating mechanism of the United Nations system. The review of the CEB that was completed during the reporting period served to consolidate the key coordination functions of operational activities at the country level, that is, the harmonization of management functions and programme coordination under an integrated structure, enabling a comprehensive approach towards United Nations system-wide coordination.
The Board’s consideration of management issues during the period 2007/08 focused on enhanced coherence in the working modalities of member organizations. Inspired by the ongoing deliberations on system-wide coherence, which highlighted the key role that improved business practices could play in the United Nations system’s ability to deliver better results, a plan of action for the harmonization of business practices in the United Nations system was elaborated under the auspices of the High-Level Committee on Management.
The 2007/08 reporting period marked several important events that have contributed to the continuous efforts of the United Nations System Chief Executives Board for Coordination (CEB) to further coordination and cooperation among United Nations system organizations on a wide range of programme, management and operational issues. The increasingly vocal calls from the international community for a more effective, coherent and better performing United Nations elevated the Chief Executives Board to new prominence in intergovernmental debates.
The Board has been active in developing a plan of action for the harmonization of business practices in the United Nations system. The plan proposes initiatives in a number of key areas, covering all of the major management functions of organizations of the United Nations system (i.e., human resources, information communications and technology, finance and budget, and procurement). Its scope is limited to the functions and processes for which responsibility rests within the purview of the authority delegated to the executive heads by their respective governing bodies.
Global financial and economic crisis; Second United Nations Decade for the Eradication of Poverty (2008-2017); Climate change; United Nations development system working together; Working together in crisis and post-crisis countries; Security and safety of staff; Business practices
CEB continues to lead the efforts towards the simplification and harmonization of business practices. The endorsement in the third quarter of 2007 of the High-level Committee on Management plan of action for the harmonization of business practices in the United Nations system, and the launch in October 2008 of a campaign to raise funds to implement the Plan marked a significant shift from ad hoc to systematic pursuit of coherent working modalities in the United Nations system.
United Nations system response to the global financial and economic crisis; Supporting progress towards the Millennium Development Goals; Climate change; Security and safety of staff; Harmonization of business practices; United Nations development system working together; Working together in crisis, post-crisis and transition countries;
The Human Resources Network completed two projects focusing on harmonization that are funded by the High-level Committee on Management Plan of Action. The first, a comparative analysis and review of the human resource management policies and practices of the organizations of the United Nations system, contains recommendations on recruitment and selection processes, performance management and job grading and classification.
To more fully identify bottlenecks in business practices at the country level, the Chairs of the United Nations Development Group and the High-level Committee on Management commissioned a high-level joint mission during the second quarter of 2010.
The General Assembly, in its resolution 64/289, on system-wide coherence, encouraged the United Nations system to continue its efforts to harmonize business practices. CEB supported system-wide efforts to achieve significant progress in that area during the reporting period, both at the country and headquarters levels.
Harmonization of business practices; Security and safety of staff; International Public Sector Accounting Standards.
During 2010/11, the United Nations System Chief Executives Board for Coordination (CEB) intensified its efforts to align the strengths and expertise of its member organizations to respond to the mandates of Member States in a coordinated and effective manner. The adoption by the General Assembly of its resolution 64/289 has been an important directive for the United Nations system in further strengthening the coherence of its system-wide efforts, as detailed in the present report.
As the work of the High-level Committee in Management more broadly focuses on corporate management policies, the Committee, through its plan of action for the harmonization of business practices, is funding several initiatives with global impact.
CEB, in particular through its plan of action for the harmonization of business practices, has increased its focus on country level harmonization in response to findings of the high-level joint mission conducted in 2010 by the United Nations Development Group and the High-level Committee on Management to identify bottlenecks in business practices at the country level. The annual report of CEB for 2010/11 (E/2011/104) provided information on the outcome of the mission.
Pursuant to General Assembly resolution 64/289 on system-wide coherence, the United Nations system is encouraged to continue its efforts to harmonize and simplify business practices through common strategies and operations with a view to generate cost savings and reduce administrative and procedural burdens. The harmonization and simplification of business practices continued to be a key priority of the Board during the reporting period.
Harmonization and simplification of business practices; International Public Sector Accounting Standards; Safety and security of staff.
The harmonization and simplification of business practices in the United Nations system continued to be a key priority of the Board during the reporting period, pursuant to General Assembly resolutions 62/208, 63/311 and 64/289 as well as Economic and Social Council resolution 2011/7, in which the United Nations system was encouraged to continue its efforts to harmonize and simplify business practices through common strategies and operations with a view to generating cost savings and reducing administrative and procedural burdens.
Harmonization and simplification of business practices; International Public Sector Accounting Standards.
Effective and coordinated action across programmatic, management and operational issues in support of intergovernmental mandates is essential in order for the United Nations system to deliver results that address global challenges facing the international community. In 2013, CEB, under the leadership of the Secretary-General, facilitated the United Nations system efforts to work together in a coherent and coordinated manner.
In response to paragraph 5 of General Assembly resolution 68/20 and paragraph 232 of the report of the Committee for Programme and Coordination on its fifty-third session (A/68/16), CEB made further efforts to interact and communicate with Member States through a series of formal and informal exchanges with Member States organized in the course of the year.
The High-level Committee on Management strategic plan for 2013-2016 identifies harmonization and simplification of business practices as a core activity of the Committee. In this context, the plan focuses on common and shared services, improved common procurement practices, and other initiatives to improve efficiency and effectiveness of the United Nations system.
Pursuant to Economic and Social Council resolution 2008 (LX), the present report provides an overview of the annual work of the United Nations System Chief Executives Board for Coordination (CEB).
Effective and coordinated action across programmatic, management and operational issues in support of intergovernmental mandates is essential in order for the United Nations system to deliver results that address global challenges facing the international community. In 2013, CEB, under the leadership of the Secretary-General, facilitated the United Nations system efforts to work together in a coherent and coordinated manner.
The High-level Committee on Management strategic plan for 2013-2016 identifies harmonization and simplification of business practices as a core activity of the Committee. In this context, the plan focuses on common and shared services, improved common procurement practices, and other initiatives to improve efficiency and effectiveness of the United Nations system.
Pursuant to Economic and Social Council resolution 2008 (LX), the present report provides an overview of the annual work of the United Nations System Chief Executives Board for Coordination (CEB).
The global communities the UN system serves have become more sophisticated in their information needs and the organizations’ information content and the means by which it is delivered often seem inadequate and out]dated to younger and other intended mass audiences.
The HLCM Strategic Plan reflects the collective vision of the HLCM membership and intends to leverage its professional talent and expertise to formulate and put forward proposals – several of which are far-reaching – and foster its role as a source of inspiration and a catalyst for action towards UN system-wide management reform.
The Procurement Network project on harmonizing procurement in the field came a long way towards defining the changes needed in policies and procedures to support teams carrying out procurement jointly. The project, designed to be completed towards the end of 2012 finalized much of the preparatory work in 2011 and this is reflected in the donor report. A second phase to enhance implementation of this project has been approved for funding
Following up on recommendations from the Feasibility study of on the harmonization of treasury services, the Treasury Services Working Group has embarked upon a project to consolidate banking services in the UN system. The project aims at negotiating joing contracts with major banks to capaitalize on the combined strenght of the UN system. In addition to global contracts, the project will also focus on large volume duty stations with the eventual aim of global coverage.
This project led by the Procurement Network aims to simplify the registration process for UN Procurement in order to increase the number of vendors to compete for UN procurement contracts. The project uses the UN Global Marketplace as its platform.
Financial Statistics is a collection of annual data from CEB member organizations on their revenue and expenditures. Using this data, revenues broken down by assessed and voluntary contributions can be shown. Also, expenditures at the country, regional and global levels and broken down by expenditure categories: development assistance, humanitarian assistance, technical cooperation, peacekeeping and normative activities.
In 2008 the HLCM Finance and Budget network endorsed a Feasibility Study as a first step towards greater harmonization in treasury services across the UN system. It is expected that common treasury services can be an opportunity for savings in the areas of banking services, payments, foreign exchange and investments. The feasibility study was funded by the HBP. The project consisted of two components, the first component focusing on the development of a web-based knowledge-sharing platform for UN treasurers (Treasury Community of Practice – TCOP) and the second component a Feasibility Study on common treasury services was carried out by a consulting firm.
The aim of the project was to provide support to UNCTs to use and integrate operations concepts into the programming process in the field. This was found necessary during the joint mission of the HLCM and UNDG to identify bottlenecks to collaboration in the area of operations in Delivering as One. A second phase to enhance implementation of this project has been approved for funding
From October 2011 to February 2012, the United Nations System Staff College held three workshops, two in Turin, Italy and one in Bangkok, Thailand, designed for senior operations staff. These workshops built on the experiences of the 2011 United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF) rollout where operations management was for the first time incorporated.
Business Practices address operational matters that can be harmonized and strengthened at the system-wide, inter-agency level in the fields of human resources, finance and budget, information and communication technology and procurement. This section contains reports for each project in the four thematic areas of ICT, Procurement, Finance and Budget and Human Resources.
The initiative on the Harmonization of Business Practices was developed by the CEB’s High Level Committee on Management in response to the report of the High-level Panel on System-wide Coherence, ‘Delivering as One’. It follows recommendations made for building a more effective, coherent and better-performing UN country presence and focuses on the management and coordination of UN operational activities.
The Chief Executives Board for Coordination (CEB) and its three high level committees advance coordination and cooperation on a range of programmatic, management and operational issues facing UN system organizations. CEB agenda is developed in response to inter-governmental mandates, emerging issues and challenges faced by the UN system, in preparation and follow-up to international conferences and at the request of member states.