Umoja "Go Live Celebration Global Event"

Thank you Mr. Takasu, and thank you for organizing this meeting because it is a wonderful opportunity to say an enormous thank you to all staff members here in Geneva, Bonn, and the Hague, and their families behind the scenes, for their tireless efforts and unwavering dedication to ensuring the successful deployment of Umoja Cluster 4.

Let me specifically acknowledge the hard work and efforts of our local Umoja Site Team here in Geneva, led by Hans Baritt and Sandro Dessi, who are sitting here with me, and Clemens Adams, Director of the Division of Administration. Let me also extend a special thanks to our colleagues at Headquarters in New York, and Ernesto and his team, who have been with us every step of the way, and who have helped bring us across the finish line! And as you can see, we have two of your colleagues with us here, who have just arrived, to make sure that our work is going to be anchored and finalized.

Looking back to the beginning of the Umoja project, it is fair to say that it has been a long journey and not always an easy one. But now we are live and have proven that great things can be accomplished through Umoja, “unity” and teamwork. We all look forward to using the new system and welcome the new way of working that comes with it!

This new tool will help us at UNOG to better serve our 5,500 clients in Geneva, Bonn and The Hague and the many field offices world-wide. We are confident that the improved administrative processes that Umoja brings, will benefit the implementation of our mandates.

I would also like to thank all staff for making a really solid effort to be trained and thus ready to transact in Umoja. I am very happy to report that over 22,000 Computer–Based and Instructor-Led Trainings have been completed at our Training Hub here in Geneva, thus so far achieving a training completion rate of over 62%, and we’re still working on it. We have also put in place an effective support network that will assist staff and managers with their first transactions in the new system.

With Umoja becoming operational, the UN makes a giant stride towards becoming an organization on the cutting edge of business technologies required in the 21st century to meet the expectations of our Member States. In parallel to Umoja, through which the entire UN Secretariat will be overhauling its work practices, we in Geneva will be proceeding with the Strategic Heritage Plan, a comprehensive project to make the Palais des Nations a greener, more efficient and more sustainable work environment for all stakeholders. At the same time, UNOG’s Perception Change Project will continue to showcase the benefits that International Geneva and its activities bring to the Member States.

I have no doubt that all these efforts will be instrumental in making the United Nations proud of its accomplishments, as it reaches future important milestones on its path to peace, human rights and well-being. Today, as we celebrate this tremendous achievement, let me once again thank you all for a job extremely well done!

Thank you very much to all of you.

To see the Global Umoja Go Live Townhal in webcast, click here.