October 2015: During its 30th session, the UN High Level Committee on Management (HLCM) discussed the UN system’s “operational fit” for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The Committee agreed that the Agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) must be accompanied by a “strategic repositioning” of the UN system in terms of management and operations, in order to ensure “no disconnect between the goals and the means.”

The 30th HLCM session convened on 5-6 October 2015, in London, UK. According to the report issued by the UN system Chief Executives Board for Coordination (CEB) on the conclusions of the session, it is feasible for UN system entities to pursue defragmentation, simplification, consolidation and system-wide collaboration.

Irina Bokova, HLCM Chair and Director General of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), observed that the UN system has made significant progress in addressing many of the operational imperatives required to support the 2030 Agenda. This progress includes, she said: implementing “several policy platforms” for joint and more efficient service provision, such as in procurement; increasing accountability and transparency through the adoption of authoritative international standards; investing in data availability and knowledge sharing, including the development of a UN system Data Catalogue; harmonizing human resource policies for recruitment in the field; and implementing the ‘Delivering as One’ approach for country-level operations, through the adoption of Standard Operating Procedures.

Jan Beagle, HLCM Vice-Chair and Deputy Executive Director, Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), pointed out that the 2030 Agenda will have implications for the substantive work of the organizations, as well as for staff profiles and business models. In this regard, the report indicates that participants outlined the need for reviewing the balance between longer term staff and shorter term expertise, and between specialists and generalists. Participants also noted the need for UN staff to: develop multi-stakeholder partnerships; work across sectors and locations; and easily move between organizations and “in and out” of the UN system in order to ensure that organizations profit from current good practices and expertise from outside the UN system. They underlined the importance of developing cross-organizational professional networks, especially in management areas.

The HLCM supports the CEB, together with the High Level Committee on Programmes (HLCP) and the UN Development Group (UNDG). The CEB brings together the executive Heads of 30 specialized organizations “to deliver as one” at the global, regional and country levels. [Publication: Conclusions of the Thirtieth Session of the High Level Committee on Management] [CEB Website] [HLCM Webpage]