Executive Office
About us
The Executive Office enables the largest department in the Secretariat, the Department for General Assembly and Conference Management, to implement its mandate by providing policy advice in the areas of budget and resource planning, financial management, trust fund management, human resources management, general administration, asset management, programme and oversight support to its clients. The Executive Office is also responsible for the annual budget formulation exercise. The Department’s 2020 budget (both regular and extrabudgetary resources) totals in excess of $351 million.
Consisting of 20 dedicated human resources, administrative and finance staff, the Executive Office administers over 1,100 conference management personnel at Headquarters and coordinates with counterparts in Geneva, Nairobi and Vienna on policy matters concerning more than 2,000 language and conference personnel worldwide. The Executive Office strives to provide an effective support mechanism to the Department, balancing procedural and regulatory compliance with expediency and operational flexibility, in building staffing and resource capacity to support the Department’s extensive programme of work.
The success of the Department depends on the professionalism, dedication and teamwork of its staff, international civil servants who come from all over the world, with diverse ethnic and cultural backgrounds. The staff of the Executive Office work behind the scenes, remaining an essential spoke in the wheel of progress in the innovative work of the Department.
Our work
The core functions of the Executive Office include:
- To assist the Under-Secretary-General and senior staff in the formulation, implementation and monitoring of the Department’s overall planning, including the related financial, personnel and assets components
- To support the preparation of the proposed programme budget by activity, division and duty station, as well as the related performance reporting
- To certify expenditure and the processing of all financial transactions
- To coordinate the full range of staff and human resource management operations, such as recruitment and career development plans, personnel administration and policy advice on performance appraisal, ensuring consistency in the interpretation and application of the Staff Regulations and Rules and related personnel policies and directives
- To represent the Department at meetings of intergovernmental bodies addressing administrative, budgetary and financial matters
- To provide guidance to staff and management on all staffing matters and policy issues
- To ensure a coordinated approach between the Executive Office in New York and the equivalent offices in Geneva, Vienna and Nairobi, specifically concerning policy and compliance to standardize work methods and to implement good practices in budgetary, financial management, personnel, asset management and performance reporting matters
- To coordinate work with other offices of the Secretariat, in particular the Office of Human Resources and the Office of Programme Planning, Finance and Budget, the Procurement Division, the Office of the United Nations Ombudsman and Mediation Services and the Office of Information and Communications Technology
- To enable planning, monitoring, oversight and mandate implementation by applying business analytics and producing management reports for use by the senior management team of the Department
The Executive Office team contributes to defining the character of the Department as a trusted partner, facilitator and service provider.