UN General Assembly and Secretary-General take important steps to enable ICT

The General Assembly (A/RES/69/262) endorsed the United Nations Revised Information and Communications Technology Strategy (A/69/517). Its approval establishes the unity of purpose for all ICT programmes, and represents an opportunity to establish the global ICT structures that will best support the core work of the UN. The strategy will harmonize ICT programmes in the UN and ensure ICT act together with clear central control balanced with day-to-day operational freedom.

The Report notes:

"The Secretary-General recognizes the enormous potential of information and communications technology to strengthen the decision-making and delivery capacity of the Secretariat. It is of paramount importance to the Secretary-General to ensure that the technology environment, for which the Chief Information Technology Officer is responsible, fully supports the work of the United Nations in the areas of peace and security, development, human rights and international law, among other mandates. That requires continued focus on successfully delivering existing priority initiatives (such as the enterprise resource planning project, Umoja), as well as a fundamental shift in the approach to, and structure of, information and communications technology systems throughout the Organization. In the past, technology has been regarded as a utility which is separate from substantive business. However, technology and business are not mutually exclusive, they are inextricably linked.

The purpose of the strategy is to strengthen, and provide a common vision for, the delivery of information and communications technology in the United Nations through modernization, transformation and innovation and by providing a framework for improved governance, strong leadership and optimal use of information and communications technology resources."

Assistant Secretary-General and Chief Information and Communication Technology Officer (@UN_CITO) Ms. Atefeh Riazi and the Office of Information Communications Technology are responsible for leading the implementation of all the elements in the new strategy.