Highlights of JIU Mission to New York (03-05 September 2024)

JIU Chair, Carolina Fernandez Opazo and Executive Secretary Uren Pillay traveled to United Nations Headquarters in New York for a series of meetings including with JIU Focal Points, the Tripartite (with OIOS and the Board of Auditors), the UNDP Administrator and a presentation to the Joint Swiss-UNITAR Briefing on the UN Budgetary Matters.  

The meeting with JIU Focal Points from UNDP, UNFPA, UNICEF, UN-Women, and UN Secretariat provided a forum to discuss general JIU process, including handling draft reports, designing questionnaires/surveys and opportunities for the use of electronic tools. The JIU provided a brief update on the project to replace the Web-Based Tracking System (WBTS) which should be started in 2025 (pending budget approval).  

Discussion also focused on improving the role of Focal Points in facilitating the consideration of JIU reports by legislative organs (LOs) and governing bodies (GBs). Main priorities included timely communication, management of documents following LO/GB sessions, updates to the Web-Based Tracking System (WBTS) following LO/GB sessions, ensuring Executive Board (EB) secretariats notify JIU on the reports under consideration, and to promptly send the EB decisions and resolutions to JIU after finalization.  

The biennial Tripartite meeting of the Office for Internal Oversight Services (OIOS), the Board of Auditors (BOA) and the JIU was chaired and hosted by the BOA.  The agenda for the meeting was an exchange in which each entity discussed the status of implementation of their current year workplan, the progress and challenges as well as results and highlights for the current year and the rate of acceptance and implementation of recommendations – the status, trend and strategies to improve the rates.  Programmes of work and plans for 2025 will be shared in due course.  The Chair of the Tripartite will rotate to the JIU for 2025. 

The JIU also had a constructive and informative meeting with the UNDP Administrator, Achim Steiner, on the topics under consideration by Inspectors for the JIU’s programme of work for 2025, governance and oversight approaches and UNDP-JIU interactions. 

At the Joint Swiss-UNITAR Briefing on the UN Budgetary Matters event, The JIU Chair, Inspector Fernandez Opazo delivered a presentation session on Oversight Mechanisms where she discussed changes in JIU working methods resulting from self-assessment and other factors such as the impact of COVID-19.