The first workstream of the UN80 initiative focuses on streamlining administrative functions, both within and across organisations, through shared services. This brief confirms that administrative support reforms can unlock greater efficiency in multilateral organisations and the system as a whole. However, efficiency is not guaranteed by structural change alone. For multilateral organisations, the challenge is to balance ambition with feasibility. Experience to date shows that the efficiency gains from intra- and inter-agency reforms are real but uneven - and often offset by hidden trade-offs such as fragmented oversight, weak quality control and institutional knowledge loss.
While shared services offer significant potential, they must be underpinned by clear mandates, robust governance, and system-wide collaboration. Adequate resources, including through effective cost-recovery mechanisms, and risk mitigation measures are critical. Benefits achieved from consolidation need to be clearly distinguished from those achieved from relocation. Trade-offs need to be considered, and choices duly justified. Aside from consolidation and relocation efforts, a greater focus should be placed on optimising policies and processes to save time and therefore save costs.
In parallel, the UN Secretariat has also announced staff cuts and other UN entities outside the Secretariat are implementing similar cuts. This brief concludes that organisational restructuring and workforce reorganisation can contribute to greater efficiency but require careful planning and well-managed implementation to be effective. A fit-for-purpose organisational structure, aligned with strategic objectives and underpinned by clearly defined roles across all levels, is essential for minimising duplication and reducing unnecessary costs. However, structure alone is not sufficient. Robust human resource planning is critical to ensure that the organisation is equipped with the right capacity to deliver on its mandate, particularly during periods of financial constraint when rightsizing and, where necessary, downsizing must be carefully managed. Short-term decisions should not hamper long-term sustainability. At the same time, restructuring efforts should consider financial realities. Embedding agility in structure, including developing guidance and mechanisms for implementing changes, is key.
While the UN80 focus, including streamlining back-office support, organisational structures, and workforce, is important for enhancing efficiency, other critical dimensions must also be considered to achieve meaningful improvements in multilateral organisations.
Establishing clear definitions, a coherent agenda and better measurement for efficiency is vital to driving progress. At the agency level, gaps persist in the use of reliable indicators and systems to monitor efficiency. At the system-wide level, inconsistent approaches to measuring and reporting administrative efficiency and cost management continue to hinder a unified understanding of performance. There is much room for improvement in consistently embedding efficiency in strategies, policies and processes, including budgeting and project management. Reliable systems to monitor efficiency gains are still lacking, especially in tracking the impact of shared services and project-level improvements.
Although organisations can take meaningful steps to improve efficiency, the way the UN system is funded remains a major source of inefficiency and should be central to any reform discussions. Quality funding is a cornerstone of efficiency. It enables organisations to optimise business processes at both corporate and project levels, ensuring continuity and strategic alignment. In times of funding cuts, providing quality funding becomes even more important. This brief shows that poor quality and sustainability of funding continue to pose significant barriers to efficiency across the system.