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

Abstract

In July 1997, the Secretary General of the United Nations reported that the organization had become fragmented, duplicative, and ineffective in some areas; it risked becoming irrelevant if it did not more effectively carry out its missions. In response, he proposed a reform program consisting of three core elements-(l) restructuring U.N. leadership and operations to unify organizational efforts to accomplish core missions, (2) developing a performance-based human capital system, and (3) introducing programming and budgeting processes focused on managing program performance. The Secretary General stated that these three core elements formed an integrated program and all were necessary to create a United Nations that achieved results and continuously improved. He set the end of 1999 as the target date to put the reforms in place. The Chairmen of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations and of its Subcommittee on International Operations asked GAO to assess the status and impact of the U.N. reform program. Specifically, GAO assessed whether the United Nations had put into place the three core elements of its reform program and whether U.N. management and performance were improving as intended.

Open PDF

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
May 01, 2000
Accession Number
ADA378455

Entities

Organizations

  • United States Government Accountability Office

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical
  • Counter WMD
  • Human Systems

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Agreements
  • Business Administration
  • Commerce
  • Congress
  • Department Of State
  • Disaster Management
  • Employment
  • Human Resources
  • Information Systems
  • International Organizations
  • Law
  • Management Personnel
  • Money
  • National Security
  • Organizational Structure
  • Personnel Management
  • United States

Fields of Study

  • Political science

Readers

  • Defense Acquisition Program Management