[Check against delivery]

Mr. President, 

Distinguished Members of the Executive Board, 

Colleagues, partners and friends, 

It is an honour to address you today. 

We gather at a moment of profound global turbulence. 

Daily realities for millions of people around the world are challenging shared values, commitments to peace, prosperity and development.

Needs are rapidly increasing as inequity, conflicts and crises deepen and spread.   

Instead of more support for multilateralism and the work of the United Nations, there is the absolute dangerous opposite: dwindling, if not - in many cases- eroding support. 

Our world is more violent than at any point since the second world war. Climate-related natural disasters are intensifying, with severe consequences for people’s lives and livelihoods around the world. Only in the past few months, we witnessed a trail of devastation from Hurricane Mellisa in Jamaica, cyclones and floods in south-east Asia, wildfires in California, and most recently floods in Mozambique.

Poverty continues to undermine human dignity, with one in ten people living in extreme poverty:  less than US$3 a day.

Progress towards reaching the Sustainable Development Goals - our commitment for a better future for all- is seriously off track. 

Fragility does not come out of a vacuum. Food insecurity, natural disasters, economic crises  combined are the perfect recipe for hindering progress.   

Take for example the recent floods in Mozambique. They have devastated communities and increased disease and malnutrition risks, further straining conditions for a nation reeling from years of conflict.  

These are not just figures, numbers, or at best news headlines. 

These are people - mothers and fathers, children and older people  - whose lives have been turned upside down, often overnight. 

This Board knows well that words don’t feed hungry children, nor do they rebuild shattered communities. 

It’s time for action: delivery at scale, timely results, practical and coordinated response that serves communities. 

Yet, huge gaps remain between policy, financing and implementation. Development and climate funds continue to go to where it’s the easiest, not for those most in need. And even when funds and policies are in place - implementation lags. 

So the urgent question for all of us is - are our current approaches to development working? I believe they are not. It is time to rethink and develop models that respond to the complexities of the seismic moment we face. 

This is the spirit that guides the work of UNOPS including in our “Strategic Plan 2026-29” - endorsed by this Board. We are determined to scale up and speed up impact through practical solutions. The lives of people hanging by a thread cannot wait. 

And it is the spirit with which we embrace reforms and the UN80 initiative, so that together we can build a UN that delivers more effectively and more coherently. 

Today, the UN is needed more than ever before, and here are a few examples on why. . 

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UNOPS brings practical solutions to respond to needs, where they are the greatest. 

UNOPS is dedicated to action. While we do not have a programmatic or policy mandate, we  expand the implementation capacity of our partners. 

Around the world, through our expertise in infrastructure, procurement and project management, we enable the work of our partners across development, humanitarian and peace efforts.

UNOPS enables the implementation of global multilateral partnerships, supporting over a dozen multilateral initiatives - working across a range of areas in health and nutrition, climate and energy, and sustainable development across 130+ countries and territories.

UNOPS is about taking risks often on behalf of others: in a safe, transparent and effective manner.  

We receive no core funding. We are fully self-financed through cost-recovery for projects we deliver on behalf of our partners. This means that for every project we implement, we agree upfront with our partners on delivery time, cost, and quality. Charging a minimum management fee to cover oversight and institutional costs at just over four per cent , this remains one of the lowest average fees across the UN. 

The recent MOPAN (Multilateral Performance Network) review recognises that the business model of UNOPS is unique and demand-driven and the organisation  makes efficiency and performance a necessity, not a luxury. 

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Allow me to share a few examples of the work that UNOPS does with partners to bring impact for communities. 

In Ukraine, where relentless attacks on civilian infrastructure continue against the backdrop of extreme cold weather, leaving thousands without electricity, heating and water, we continue to work with partners to restore basic services. We have purchased and delivered over US$ 45 million worth of heating equipment last year, helping municipal workers keep the heating on for hundreds of thousands of families in conflict-affected regions. Last month, our EU-funded school repairs project completed repairs at 21 war-damaged schools in the north eastern Kharkiv region, allowing in-person classes to resume for thousands of children. In parallel, my colleagues in the war-torn country work hard to support communities with water towers, school buses, firefighting equipment, demining solutions and medical supplies. 

In the Gaza Strip, we provide critical operational support to humanitarian partners. Procuring, delivering and distributing fuel for humanitarian operations, running the UN2720 Mechanism to facilitate, streamline and accelerate the delivery of aid, supporting explosive threat management together with UNMAS, emergency procurement, and facilitating aid personnel movement in and out of Gaza . I have  just returned from my third visit to Gaza since the war began.  The scale of devastation is unimaginable. The people of Gaza need every ounce of our support as they recover and overcome destruction and trauma. 

In Myanmar, we work with partners to improve health, livelihoods, rural development and agriculture. UNOPS manages some of the largest development  projects in livelihoods, health and food security. My colleagues also support humanitarian efforts to reduce the risk posed by mines. 

In Sierra Leone, we continue our work to expand access to sustainable energy in communities across the country, together with the government, the European Union and Sustainable Energy for All. 

And in Afghanistan, a semi-forgotten crisis, we work with our partners and communities to address urgent needs and create livelihood opportunities. One example is the Afghanistan Community Resilience and Livelihoods Project, funded by the World Bank and the Afghanistan Resilience Trust Fund, which has so far improved access to essential services for over 15 million people, half of them women. Most of this is done through a cash-for-work programme, providing small income to communities. 

In another example, UNOPS Compass, our latest smart digital product, uses geospatial technology and an AI-powered platform to support decision-making in conflict, disaster, and development contexts. It is enabled by satellite imagery, data analytics, and information management systems, and turns complex data into actionable insights, helping response teams make better decisions in challenging environments.

This is just a drop in the ocean - a few examples of the work of UNOPS in over 130 countries. 

Needless to say that all of this great work would not have been possible without the support and commitment of our partners. 

For 30 years, we have worked with a wide range of partners: The United Nations, governments, intergovernmental, international and regional financial institutions, vertical funds, the private sector and NGOs.  

According to our latest survey, partners trust UNOPS, commend our response and value the effective and unique model of how we work [Last year, 85 percent of our partners expressed satisfaction with us. Nearly 90 per cent said they trust UNOPS and the vast majority said they would work with the organisation again].

Over the past three decades, UNOPS delivery has grown nearly eight times. As we marked our 30th birthday last year, the average annual delivery has been 3 billion every year and that’s only through just over 5,500 people working around the clock to deliver results. We charge one of the lowest average fees across the UN. This same fee covers all our institutional costs, distinguishing our operating model from other parts of the UN that receive core, unearmarked or voluntary contributions.

Honorable members, 

This is a model worth replicating especially amid funding cuts and other key challenges to the UN and the aid and development sector. UNOPS is a flexible organisation. It scales up and down based on demand - and is only present in locations where we have projects, reducing costs, but maintaining impact.. 

As an example, in the wake of Hurricane Melissa last year, UNOPS was quick to work with government and UN partners in Jamaica to help coordinate a fast, efficient and data-driven national response. 

In the context of UN80, discussions on future deployment models, UNOPS agility represents a concrete, proven operational option for the system.

Our teams are the backbone of UNOPS. Their commitment, flexibility and passion to serve, are what enable us to deliver in some of the most challenging environments in the world. Strengthening our organisational culture has therefore been a central part of our reform agenda over the past three years. The results from the 2025 Culture and Engagement Survey show encouraging progress. A clear momentum in culture transformation. Engagement and overall satisfaction continue to improve, with an increase in trust in leadership at the local level, transparency, communication and psychological safety, echoed in personnel feedback. 

Underpinning all these efforts is our continuous commitment to reforms at UNOPS. Let me provide some context here.

Following revelations of financial misconduct in 2022 - UNOPS embarked on a far-reaching reform journey to strengthen governance, accountability and organisational resilience. This included reinforced risk management and internal controls, clearer lines of responsibility and oversight, strengthened ethics and compliance functions, and a renewed focus on organisational culture. At the same time, UNOPS has advanced reforms in planning, performance management and transparency, embedding a stronger results-based and impact-oriented approach aligned with our operational mandate. 

Last year, we completed the Comprehensive Response Plan (CRP) - which had been negotiated with this Board to guide our reforms. Some areas of action are by nature long-term, including the multi-year Process Innovation and Digitalization (PID), which remains central to UNOPS transformation. 

Our reforms however go beyond the recommendations in the CRP. Our objective is clear: to emerge stronger, with systems, culture and governance fit for a complex and high-risk delivery environment, so that we can improve the lives of the people we serve. This is ongoing - and my colleagues Karl Ludwig Soll, the Chief Financial Officer and Hillary Balbuena, the Chief of Staff will provide the latest updates on our PID programme and our broader transformation initiatives. 

I wish to take this opportunity to emphasise the strength of our independent internal oversight functions. I assure you that UNOPS structures are in accordance with United Nations Standards. I am confident that UNOPS has robust integrity and accountability systems in place.

For reforms to deliver lasting impact and tangible results, we  need your support. 

Investing in our  systems and the organisation’s capacity to deliver is key. 

There are only two ways to do that: 

a. Increase the cost of our services- placing an unfair burden on our partners at  a time of dwindling resources , 

or 

b. Allow use of  reserves to advance the Process Innovation and Digitalization programme. 

Our partners need us to deliver fast, effectively and at scale on the ground. 

As the leader of UNOPS, I need to be in a position to invest in our expertise and capacity to deliver. 

Several members have raised questions about the continuation of the temporary measures introduced with the Comprehensive Response Plan. These measures limit my ability to approve  continued institutional investments in the organization and I stand ready to discuss this with Member States.

In closing, 

UNOPS is no stranger to reforms. 

As an organisation, continuous learning and adaptation is in our DNA. We welcome the assessment on the work of UNOPS and UNDP to promote and achieve  sustainable development at this time of grave need, globally. 

We will build on learning from our reforms as we work together with the United Nations and member states to make UN80 meaningful with a focus on tangible results. And we stand ready to build on what works: Preserving and advancing the fee for service model offers a possible pathway for our collective efforts to reform the development system. 

In a world marked by growing uncertainty and complexity, our collective challenge is clear: to adapt, stay focused, and deliver better.

UNOPS remains committed to turning ambition into action -with integrity, accountability and results at the centre of the work we do. 

With your guidance, we will continue strengthening our organisation and contribute to reforms that enable the United Nations to deliver more effectively where it matters most.

This is the minimum we can do for the people we serve. They need and merit a stronger United Nations. 

For more information please contact:

• Juliette Touma, UNOPS Global Director of Communications, +45 53 52 01 27, juliettet@unops.org