for change across UN structures and programmes
18 September 2025 UN Affairs
The Secretary-General shared a progress report on Thursday on structural reforms and programme realignments under the UN80 Initiative, setting out proposals to make the United Nations more coherent, effective and better equipped to respond to global challenges.
The report, Shifting Paradigms: United to Deliver, outlines possible adjustments in how the UN is structured, how its entities collaborate, and how it operates. It is the third major output of the Initiative, following earlier reports on efficiency measures and on mandate implementation review. Issued just before the General Assembly’s High-Level Week, the document is intended to inform Member States' deliberations.
“This is a work in progress,” Mr Guterres says in the preface. “We look forward to working with Member States – as owners of the process – to realize our common ambition: a United Nations system that is more coherent, more effective, and better equipped to serve ‘We the Peoples’.”
Main areas of focus
The proposals address all three pillars of UN work – peace and security, sustainable development and human rights – as well as humanitarian action, ways to strengthen cross-pillar collaboration and system-wide enablers. It calls for fewer silos, less duplication and more effective collaboration, noting that the UN system, built up over 80 years, must adapt to today’s far more complex challenges.
In peace and security, the report proposes consolidating offices and leadership layers, establishing centres of excellence for peacebuilding and for Women, Peace and Security, and preparing leaner, more integrated peace operations.
A New Humanitarian Compact is proposed to streamline planning, integrate global supply chains, expand common back-office services and strengthen humanitarian diplomacy, with the goal of serving over 100 million people more quickly and effectively.
On sustainable development, the Secretary-General recommends assessing potential mergers of agencies, pooling expertise through new joint knowledge hubs, and reconfiguring regional and country-level operations for greater impact.
In human rights, the report proposes creating a UN Human Rights Group, led by the High Commissioner, to coordinate system-wide action and reduce duplication.
Among the system enablers, the report highlights the creation of a UN System Data Commons, a Technology Accelerator Platform, unified back-office services, streamlined training and research, and reforms to strengthen pooled and core funding.
Next steps
Several proposals in the report lie within the Secretary-General’s authority and can be advanced immediately. Most, however, rest with Member States.
The President of the General Assembly has invited Mr Guterres to brief Member States on the report on 15 October 2025.
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