Ban Ki-Moon Meets Heads Of UN Funds And Programmes To Push For More Staff Mobility

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today met with the heads of UN funds and programmes to discuss how to ensure staff mobility between those bodies and the UN Secretariat, as part of his efforts to make the world body’s personnel far more mobile and multi-functional.

Mr. Ban encouraged Executive Heads to respond in kind to his initiative to open a number of positions in his own office to expressions of interests from all UN staff, whether in the Secretariat or in any one of the funds or programmes, according to a statement released by his spokesperson.

The statement added that the Executive Heads welcomed Mr. Ban’s initiative and pledged to examine ways to open positions in their funds and programmes to Secretariat staff.

Today’s meeting follows the Secretary-General’s announcement on Friday that he would set an example for his campaign for greater staff mobility by circulating advertisements on the UN intranet for 12 posts in his own office.

In that announcement Mr. Ban also urged all senior managers in the Secretariat to follow suit and promote staff mobility in a similar fashion.

“I am convinced that for the United Nations to meet the global challenges of the 21st century, we need to build a staff that is truly mobile and multi-functional – a staff better equipped to serve our Member States and uphold the purposes of our Organization,” he said in an open letter to staff accompanying the announcement.

ENDS