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• Author: Petrovsky, Vladimir
• Position: Enhancing efficiency at the UN Office at Geneva

In keeping with the goals of the Secretary-General's reform measures, the United Nations Office at Geneva (UNOG) has undertaken a thorough and wide-ranging review of its activities in order to enhance its effectiveness.

As a result, the Office - whose work is consolidated into the promotion of human rights and humanitarian assistance, economic, trade and development activities, science and technology, disarmament negotiations, and research and training - has introduced working methods aimed at maximizing the potential of a reduced workforce. Within its budgetary constraints, UNOG has maintained a fundamental objective of becoming a more modern and more responsive organization, serving the needs of Geneva's international community.

The reform efforts have developed in two directions: to further streamline UNOG activities in order to run smoother programmes and deliver better services to Member States; and to adapt to new realities, new emerging circumstances and new international players. Following the announcement on 16 July 1997 by Secretary-General Kofi Annan of his reform programme, those efforts have been placed in a broader context.

For example, in the administration and management field, streamlining and productivity improvements not only continued in 1998 but were expanded, and thus allowed for savings of some 20 per cent in dollar terms for the programme budget for the biennium 1998-1999, as compared to the biennium 19961997. This is being achieved through structural, procedural and other management changes, which were introduced in 1997 and are being improved further during this biennium.

In the field of technological innovation, UNOG has invested heavily in the implementation of information technology in order to provide better services to the Missions of Member States, in particular information services, and to implement technological innovation at all levels of the Secretariat's work to make it more efficient and reduce costs. For example, the increased use of the Optical Disk System (ODS) and printing-on-demand has eliminated high print runs and excessive storage of documentation. UNOG plans to encourage other UN entities in Geneva, as well as European duty stations, to provide information for the ODS, thus enabling the Missions to easily acquire documents from one convenient source. An agreement on this issue has already been signed with the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO).

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