UN80 Initiative: New Report Charts Proposals for Change Across UN Structures & Programmes
SDG 16: Peace, Justice & Strong Institutions
Institutions: Ministry of External Affairs | NITI Aayog
UN Geneva has published a progress report titled “Shifting Paradigms: United to Deliver” (Workstream 3 Report) under the UN80 Initiative, outlining how the United Nations could be restructured to stay effective and relevant. Its central idea: reduce overlap, break silos, and improve collaboration across the system while staying true to the UN Charter.
Key Areas of Reform
Peace & Security: Streamline multiple offices, cut extra leadership layers, and build specialised hubs for peacebuilding and for women’s participation in peace processes.
Sustainable Development: Explore combining agencies with overlapping roles (such as UNDP with UNOPS, or UNFPA with UN Women), wind down UNAIDS by 2026, and create shared knowledge centres to pool expertise.
Human Rights: Form a UN-wide Human Rights Group under the High Commissioner to weave rights considerations into all UN programmes.
Humanitarian Action: Introduce a Humanitarian Compact to simplify crisis operations and cut red tape.
Enablers for Change
Data & Technology: Propose a UN data commons and a technology accelerator to better link information and modernise tools.
Financing: Rethink pooled funds and core contributions to make them more predictable, flexible, and aligned with collective priorities.
The UN80 Initiative is structured around three tracks: improving internal efficiency, reviewing thousands of mandates that guide the Secretariat’s work, and considering bold structural and programme realignments. Together, these efforts aim to sharpen the UN’s global impact in an era of constrained resources. The UN80 Initiative is organised into three workstreams: Workstream 1: Efficiency & effectiveness improvements inside the UN. Workstream 2: Review of mandates (all the tasks assigned by Member States). Workstream 3: Structural and programmatic realignments.
For India, UN reforms under the UN80 Initiative can influence how multilateral programmes interface with national systems, funding flows, and partnership modalities. A leaner, more coherent UN could streamline engagement, reduce transaction costs, and sharpen focus on country outcomes. At the same time, reform proposals around human rights and development bodies raise questions about sustaining technical assistance and normative engagement for Global South partners.
Follow the full report here: UN Geneva – UN80 Initiative Report