UN80 Initiative: new report charts proposals for change across UN structures and programmes
On September 18, 2025, the Secretary-General shared with Member States a progress report on structural reforms and programme realignments under the third workstream of the UN80 Initiative. This document, released prior to the General Assembly's High-Level Week, aims to guide Member State deliberations on ways to strengthen the UN system, proposing paradigm-shifting changes in the Organization’s structure, in the way its entities collaborate, and in how it operates.
The report outlines proposals to improve the UN’s effectiveness across all three pillars of its work – peace and security, sustainable development and human rights – while also strengthening cross-pillar collaboration. For peace and security, it proposes consolidating offices and leadership layers, establishing centres of excellence and preparing more integrated peace operations. In sustainable development, the Secretary-General recommends evaluating potential mergers of agencies, pooling expertise through new joint knowledge hubs, and reconfiguring regional and country-level operations for greater impact. Lastly, regarding human rights the report envisions the creation of a UN Human Rights Group, led by the High Commissioner, to coordinate system-wide action.
The report also addresses humanitarian action, proposing a New Humanitarian Compact to streamline bureaucracy, integrate global supply chains and strengthen humanitarian diplomacy. Additionally, it addresses ways to strengthen system-wide enablers by creating a UN System Data Commons and a Technology Accelerator Platform to drive the modernization of the system, recognizing that the UN system, built up over 80 years, must adapt to today’s far more complex challenges.
As the Secretary General emphasized, this is a work in progress aimed at realizing the common ambition of a more coherent, effective United Nations system better equipped to serve "We the Peoples".