In 1999, the UN ‘Competencies for the Future’ was launched with a view of enabling “staff to contribute to their maximum potential”. For twenty years, these competencies have provided the Organization with the base on which to define its organizational culture. The ‘UN Values and Behaviours Framework’ builds on their strength and transforms them to better reflect the goals of the organization for the next decade. It considers the constantly changing world and renews our commitment to the people we serve.
The 'UN Values and Behaviours Framework' forms the basis of an organizational culture that is both current and aspirational. Its nine elements, the result of a co-creation process involving nearly 4,500 staff, should guide how we build relationships, perform our jobs, and experience the organization daily. As such, they will also inform human resources processes, such as workforce planning, recruitment, learning, and performance management.
Culture
We are inclusive. Our culture is one in which everyone can bring their whole selves to work. We value and respect differences and diversity, and we actively oppose bias and discrimination of all types. We do this because we are committed to social justice for all and know that diverse inputs make for better outcomes. We work better when we work together, we are more than the sum of our parts.
We have integrity. We uphold the standards of conduct of the United Nations in all we do because what we say and how we act affects our credibility and trust with each other and with those whom we serve. This matters because we need to trust each other, and we need others to trust us to deliver for the people and causes that we serve.
We act with humility. We value each other's skills, knowledge, and experience, recognizing that no one individual has all the right answers. We see humility not as a sign of weakness but of self-awareness, which allows us to support each other and the people we serve.
We demonstrate humanity in everything we do. We are committed to upholding human rights and dignity for all. We care for each other and for those we serve. Our humanity makes us courageous, and it is what defines and distinguishes us.
We take a collaborative approach in all we do. We invest time and effort in building trusted partnerships with each other and our teams, stakeholders, and those we serve. We work as One UN.
We take time to analyze and plan our approach. We draw on data from a wide range of sources whenever we can to ensure all our work is informed by a robust evidence base. We are analytical and reflective because the alternative - basing action on assumptions and guesswork - rarely proves effective.
We deliver results, but not just any results. We deliver results that make a positive difference to the people and causes that we serve. We hold ourselves accountable for doing so. We are true to our word, and able to rely on each other. We want the people we serve to be able to rely on us too.
We value learning, and continuously seek to develop ourselves and support the development of others. We make mistakes, and we learn from them. We are curious and generous in sharing our insights, skills and experiences. Our continuous learning is what will help keep us relevant for the future.
We are adaptive and we innovate. We welcome new ideas. We don't fear the complexity and uncertainty of our work; we embrace it. We value differences in people, skills, education and experience because these all contribute to diverse thinking and better solutions. We don't stand still. Our adaptability and capacity to innovate mean we are resilient, able to thrive in the most complex and challenging circumstances.
