UN80 Moving from ‘Diagnosis to Design’ and Implementation, Secretary-General Tells General Assembly

UN80 Moving from 'Diagnosis to Design' and Implementation, Secretary-General Tells General Assembly

Following are UN Secretary-General António Guterres' remarks to the General Assembly on the UN80 Initiative, in New York today:

Let me begin by thanking you, Madam President, for your leadership throughout the eightieth session. For keeping the UN80 Initiative firmly on the agenda. And for creating regular opportunities for frank, constructive intergovernmental dialogue. As your presidency draws to a close, I want to recognize your stewardship and sustained commitment.

I launched the UN80 Initiative out of a profound sense of responsibility. Responsibility to the people the United Nations serves. Responsibility to future generations. Responsibility to this Assembly, which has entrusted us with mandates of extraordinary importance. And responsibility to this Organization.

The case for UN80 remains clear. The world is demanding more from the United Nations even as conflict is spreading, humanitarian needs are multiplying, development gains are under pressure and trust is being tested. We are answering that call with real change. Strengthening mandate delivery. Reducing fragmentation. Sharpening accountability. And ensuring the resources entrusted to us yield the greatest possible impact for those we serve.

Throughout, the Sustainable Development Goals have remained our North Star and the Pact for the Future our political compass. UN80 is helping us better equip the system to deliver both.

UN80 was launched less than 18 months ago. We have since moved from diagnosis to design and, increasingly, implementation. Not everything is moving at the same speed. Nor should it. Some changes fall within my authority and are already being implemented. Some require decisions by this Assembly or other governing bodies. And some require further analysis and consultation before decisions can be taken. But across the three workstreams of UN80, the direction of travel is increasingly clear.

First, we are changing how the Organization uses its resources and manages its operations. Workstream One began with an urgent task: to find efficiencies and improvements within existing mandates. That work is already reshaping the Secretariat's operating model.

The 2026 changes include a 21 per cent reduction in posts in the Secretariat. Relocation of functions to lower-cost locations. And efforts across the system to consolidate services and eliminate duplication. By spending less on unnecessary administrative and bureaucratic processes, we can do more on what matters most: mandate delivery and impact.

That same logic is driving the move towards shared services. A common administrative platform in New York now serves approximately 6,000 personnel. Payroll functions have been consolidated into a single global team. A digital hub has been launched in Valencia. And in July, we published the Unified Services Roadmap, a framework for examining how operational services can be shared across entities, pillars and locations.

The feasibility analysis foresees efficiencies of 20 to 80 per cent in various back-office services. But these must be made real before the resources, time and capacity they save can be redirected towards delivery.

Technology and data are part of the same transformation. The Technology Accelerator Platform is helping us move from fragmented solutions towards common approaches. The UN System Data Commons has begun bringing data and statistics from across the system into a single platform. With commitments from more than 25 UN entities, it will go live in the coming weeks.

The principle is simple: Where we perform essentially the same function, we should ask whether we truly need separate systems, separate platforms, and separate infrastructure - and we should act accordingly.

Second, we have made important breakthroughs on mandates. For decades, mandates have accumulated faster than they have been systematically managed and reviewed. General Assembly resolution 80/251 gives us a new way to address this challenge, while reaffirming the principle that decisions on mandates are the exclusive prerogative of Member States.

The role of the United Nations is to implement those mandates, delivering on your decisions as effectively and efficiently as possible. But there should be a clear line connecting mandates, resources, implementation, results and review.

This infrastructure is being built to enable Member States to be the most effective and informed custodians of mandates across their life cycle. The mandate registry brings together over 40,000 resolutions and decisions dating back to 1946 - and links them to programmes, budget references and Secretary-General's reports.

We have reviewed more than 600 series of mandated Secretary-General's reports issued over the past three years. New guidance is making them shorter, clearer, more evidence-based and more action-oriented. If fully implemented, the initial changes could reduce reporting by about 700,000 words this year alone.

That's longer than the novel War and Peace. Which means that, in our reports at least, peace is finally winning out.

The significance of these changes goes well beyond word counts. We are also establishing a robust focal point network to assist Member States throughout the resolution process. And developing better digital tools for delegates, including a mobile application to help you navigate meetings, documents and contacts.

This infrastructure provides Member States with better information with which to govern. Clearer mandates. Clearer responsibilities. Clearer links to resources. And clearer evidence of results.

And the work under way in the Ad Hoc Working Group - including on criteria and modalities for reviewing mandates - can help resolution 80/251 serve as a lasting instrument of disciplined governance.

Third, we are beginning to change how the United Nations system is organized to deliver. This is perhaps the most ambitious dimension of UN80.

Under the New Humanitarian Compact, we are testing a new model of humanitarian delivery. And piloting it in some of the world's most demanding operating environments: Afghanistan, Haiti, Somalia, Sudan and the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

Humanitarian planning simplified… Supply chains integrated… Data systems connected… Roles and responsibilities clarified… And Resident and Humanitarian Coordinators given stronger tools to bring teams together around common priorities and accountability.

Their aim is to reach people faster, reduce duplications and use scarce humanitarian resources where needs are greatest.

We are also taking reforms of the UN development system to the next level. Country teams are moving towards configurations more responsive to national needs and priorities. The Economic and Social Council resolution on progress in the implementation of the quadrennial comprehensive policy review provides critical guidance as we advance this work.

The expertise-on-demand mechanism is being developed so countries can draw on capacities from across the system, even if those capacities are not physically present. The mechanism complements, rather than replaces, sustained country presence.

It will bring together a catalogue of expertise, protocols for accessing them easily, and administrative arrangements - building on what already exists, without creating new architecture. This is critical to ensuring the UN's deep technical and normative expertise is available where and when Member States need it, while enabling more tailored and efficient responses to country needs and priorities.

A system-wide expertise catalogue, instruments and protocols are due to launch by the high-level week.

Joint Knowledge Hubs are pooling knowledge on key themes. The Regional Platforms for Integration will bring together capacities across UN pillars and deepen support to the country level. And the Shared Platform Initiative is strengthening the ability of resident and humanitarian coordinators to ensure more coherent support to interrelated humanitarian and development functions.

Ultimately, it will help bring the UN system together around common priorities and results as it responds to specific challenges in countries. The resident coordination system is also pursuing recalibration to ensure it is optimally configured to further deliver on Member States' expectations. This will also be critical to ensure effective delivery of all UN80 measures unfolding at country level.

Together, these improvements can put us on a stronger footing to navigate financial constraints, deliver through 2030 and help shape the sustainable development framework that will carry us beyond it.

We are also strengthening coherence across [the] substantive pillars of our work.

The Human Rights Group is providing a stronger mechanism for UN system-wide coordination.

In peace and security, the recent review of the future of all forms of UN peace operations examines how our toolbox can better match today's conflict landscape. It puts greater emphasis on prevention, political solutions, peacebuilding, more focused mandates, stronger partnerships and more flexible mission models. And calls for the best-equipped entities to perform mandated programmatic tasks, with the corresponding resources.

Across the system, we are looking at whether institutional arrangements remain fit for purpose.

This includes the structural proposals attracting significant attention, including your action earlier today.

I welcome your decision this morning to merge the United Nations System Staff College and the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR). This will bring together complementary capacities to provide stronger training services for Member States and UN system personnel. This decision is an important step forward for the UN80 initiative and I am glad it was approved during the General Assembly's eightieth session.

It is part of the broader consolidation of the UN system's training and research capacities.

An implementation road map for integrating UNRISD, the UN Research Institute for Social Development, into the UN University has been endorsed by the two entities concerned.

This will ensure the continuity of UNRISD's research while bringing it within UNU's institutional framework, establishing UNRISD as a UNU institute.

We also have a clear road map for integrating the UN Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute into UNODC - uniting their complementary strengths to deliver more effective support on crime prevention and justice.

UNITAR and UNU are developing a mechanism to improve coordination of training and research activities across the wider UN system and translate knowledge more effectively into practice for Member States.

The potential benefits of a merger between the UN Development Programme (UNDP) and the UN Office for Project Services (UNOPS) are being discussed in the context of the Executive Board of UNDP/UNFPA/UNOPS, and terms of reference for an independent assessment are being prepared. The two entities are exploring measures to enhance coherence, coordination, and efficiency.

The strategic assessment concerning UN Population Fund (UNFPA) and UN-Women has examined the potential of bringing complementary capacities together to best support women, girls and youth. This could consolidate expertise on gender equality and women's rights with expertise on sexual and reproductive health and rights, population dynamics and young people.

The two Executive Directors have presented detailed analysis to their respective Boards.

And I myself have provided in-depth responses to questions from Member States and the Board about the implications of a possible merger.

We will carefully consider the next steps, taking into account the results obtained by the boards.

Meanwhile, work on progressively transitioning global and country-level functions of UNAIDS to other parts of the UN system is advancing, with concrete decisions expected in October.

An information brief on the internal review of arrangements for the UN system's work on the environment will also be presented to Member States this month.

On every front, we are exploring where deeper integration, programme realignment, or structural change can improve impact and institutional integrity.

That is exactly how UN80 should work.

Start with the problem. Follow the evidence. Focus on the mandate. And choose the institutional solution that delivers greatest impact.

The first phase of UN80 was about identifying possibilities. The second was about testing them, building the evidence and defining pathways. We have now entered the third phase, about decisions and implementation.

Moving from pilots to scale. The lessons from the New Humanitarian Compact's five pilot settings must inform wider humanitarian operations. Shared services must move from feasibility studies and road maps to measurable implementation. Country-team reconfiguration, regional platforms for integration, expertise-on-demand, and knowledge hubs must bring changes people and Governments can see and feel and benefit from.

Technology and data platforms must become genuinely shared tools. The work on funding mechanisms must make core and pooled funding more effective and attractive, improve the quality of earmarked funding, and strengthen the Funding Compact. And system-wide results management must strengthen the connection between mandates, resources, and results without creating more bureaucracy.

Above all, Member States will be in the driver's seat.

Many of the decisions ahead do not belong to the Secretary-General.

They belong to you.

That is why coherent actions by the General Assembly and other intergovernmental organs will be decisive.

A shared service concept that is supported in principle but lets entities easily opt out will not produce efficiency.

A country-level model designed around national priorities will not succeed if funding incentives continue to reward separate institutional footprints and projects disconnected from our collective support for country needs.

The principle of national ownership must be fully respected.

And mandates cannot be made more disciplined if each negotiation adds requirements without considering the cumulative ask.

The next phase of UN80 is mainly about changing behaviour - across the Secretariat, across the system and across intergovernmental bodies.

My progress report in May spelled out six asks of Member States.

They are just as relevant today.

First, use resolution 80/251 as a governance tool. Apply it as a strategic instrument across the full mandate lifecycle - from creation, to resourcing, implementation, assessment and review. The Secretariat will provide the tools and information. But only Member States can take decisions on mandates.

Second, support our efforts to deliver on your guidance concerning new country and regional arrangements. Help us ensure that the reconfiguration of UN country teams is delivered in countries, in full consultation with host Governments. Continue to guide the reset of the regional architecture in the General Assembly this fall. And ensure the recalibrated resident coordinator system has the adequate and predictable financing needed to fulfil the role Member States have asked it to perform.

We opened the way with a robust Economic and Social Council resolution. Now you can finish the job.

Third, back us on shared services, technology and data to improve delivery. Help us make joint solutions the default wherever they provide better quality, greater efficiency, and more transparency. Use your role in governing bodies to challenge duplication and support common standards and platforms.

Fourth, consider structural proposals on their merits. Judge merger, consolidation, and transition proposals by the evidence. Ask whether they protect mandates, improve delivery, reduce unnecessary fragmentation and boost impact. Then take decisions through the applicable rules, procedures and governing bodies.

Fifth, align funding practices with UN80 objectives.

Funding choices shape institutional behaviour.

Support adequate core resources, effective pooled funding and higher-quality earmarked funding that encourages collaboration, not competition.

And pay assessed contributions in full and on time, without conditions or delay.

Efficiency can make every dollar work harder. It cannot make an unpaid dollar appear.

Sixth, exercise governance coherently across the United Nations system.

Carry the objectives of UN80 consistently across the General Assembly and other governing bodies.

Because coherent governance is what makes coherent delivery possible.

When I launched UN80, I spoke of responsibility.

I return to that word today because responsibility is ultimately what will determine whether this initiative succeeds.

In the months ahead, I intend to use every day available to me to push this work forward.

To consolidate the changes under way. Advance the reforms still before us. And help ensure that the momentum we have created becomes lasting change.

The true measure of UN80 will be whether, years from now, this Organization works differently because of the choices we are making today.

And above all, whether the people we serve see a United Nations that responds more quickly and efficiently, acts more coherently, and delivers more effectively.

As we head into the eighty-first session, I urge Member States not merely to maintain the momentum of UN80, but to deepen it.

Take the decisions that are ready to be taken.

Use the tools we have created.

Demand evidence of results.

Match mandates with the means to deliver them.

Reward collaboration rather than fragmentation.

And carry these principles consistently across every governing body of this Organization.

Eighty years ago, our predecessors built the United Nations because they understood that a difficult world demanded institutions capable of rising to the moment.

That responsibility now belongs to us.

Our task is to hand on a United Nations stronger than we found it:

More coherent in how it works.

More disciplined in how it uses its resources.

And better equipped to fulfil the promises made in its name.

That is the opportunity before us.

That is the work still ahead.

And together, we must carry it forward.