Latest News in UN Governance & Reform

The SG's messaging on the financial crisis has become significantly more direct in this address, in which he highlighted for the first time that if member states do not change their behaviors in paying arrears and agreeing on mitigation measures, the UN is racing towards bankruptcy. While many member states reiterated their support for multilateralism and UN reform, there were few concrete indications that member states will make more progress on the liquidity crisis than in the second resumed session in the spring at which no agreement was reached on the SG's request to create a mechanism to suspend the return of credits to member states when liquidity shortfalls threaten full budget implementation.

The Fifth Committee has struggled in recent years to find agreement on the budget by Christmas, so the revised budget and delayed ACABQ review will only make this more difficult. In addition to efficiencies, the revised budget includes a request to suspend the return of $298.9 million in credits which the Secretariat needs to to address the liquidity crisis and fill the gap in unpaid assessed funding, primarily from the United States.

A key reform issue that the Board will discuss is the follow up to the JIU's assessment of the NY-based boards' governance functions. An adhoc committee set up to assess and plan the implementation of the recommendations has put forward a proposal that all the recommendations should be implemented, and prioritized them in terms of complexity and short vs. long term wins. It has also proposed the creation of different subcommittees meant to streamline the work of the overall Executive Board. While many of these proposals are likely to improve governance processes, some of the recommendations of the JIU may inadvertently heighten politicization. This is because the JIU used corporate board standards as a best practice, which fails to recognize that member state board members are by definition not independent in the way that corporate board members are required to be. Check out our ReformWorks spotlight on this dilemma from when the JIU report was issued in early 2024: https://www.reformworks.org/post/why-corporate-governance-reforms-dont-translate-to-un-boards

The Strategic Plan for 2026-2029 and the structured funding dialogue are also key items for this session of the UNICEF Executive Board, as well as the UNICEF integrated budget for 2026-2029. In addition, the Board will review a draft evaluation plan for 2026-2029 and the Gender Equality Action Plan for 2026-2029.

The working group, which is open to all member states, is tasked with considering the "proposals contained in the report of the Secretary-General (A/80/318) and to identify principles and follow-up actions in order to improve the creation, delivery and review of mandates". In its resolution, the General Assembly also "Looked forward to the forthcoming proposals of the Secretary-General on structural changes and programme realignments, which would further inform efforts to enhance the overall effectiveness, efficiency, responsiveness, resilience and overall impact of the United Nations system across all three pillars of its work" and "Encouraged Member States to strive for consensus in the deliberations of the informal ad hoc working group".