Improving the Management and Coordination of Reviews, Inspections, and Evaluations in the U.N. System

Ways in which management and coordination of reviews, inspections, and evaluations in the United Nations (U.N.) system can be improved are discussed. The primary methods of improvement must be through member governments and through increased support of the Joint Inspection Unit by the Department of State.

A number of actions were taken to improve the external and internal auditing and evaluations of U.N. activities. The creation of the Joint Inspection Unit (JIU) was one such improvement. The aim of JIU was to improve management and coordination in the U.N. system. The JIU had broad investigative powers covering all U.N. operations but had no specific evaluation responsibilities. Congress amended the Foreign Assistance Act in 1973 at the suggestion of GAO. Instead of creating a new U.N. investigative body, the Department of State decided to urge the strengthening of JIU. With the change in the Foreign Assistance Act, JIU increased the number of inspectors and expanded its scope, but more can be done. GAO noted that the General Assembly is not always aware of the qualifications of inspector candidates. There is often a duplication of reviews and each group is not always aware of what others are working on.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

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