Module 1: The UN Development System Reform

Video Transcript: Common Premises

Lesson 3: The UN Development System Business Operations Reform

My name is Vedna Ramsaha and I'm the lead for Common Premises in the Development
Coordination Office. I'll start by explaining the concept of common premises. Common
premise, as the name suggests, is a premise, which is common to a few agencies and by
definition, it should have at least two or more agencies. We also have a parallel concept
which of a one UN house. It would be the UN presence known in the country. It is a
common premise with the office of the Resident Coordinator. Today, globally, we have
464 common premises, which represent 19% of the pie of global premises.

We have 305 single premises that cannot be consolidated meaning that they are either
in some cities by themselves or by nature of the work that is carried out there, they can
they have to be stand alone and this represent 13% of the pie. We also have 1618 single
premises representing 68% of the pie that can be consolidated into common premises.
Well, Common Premises is one of the pillars of the one UN agenda. Now that agencies
are delivering as one, one of the things that come on premises enhances is efficiencies,
efficiencies in the amount of time that staff spends commuting from one place to the
other, efficiencies in facilities management where there are huge cost savings in security,
in facilities, even in the IT.

And the third one is quality related. Quality meaning that staff from different agencies no
longer work in silos, they actually see each other every day and in a way it enhances the
quality of their work. The second part of Common Premises is in itself is important, but
then Common Premises is the platform for the other operational efficiencies that can be
gained. For example, in the case of the business operation strategy, having the
procurement division of several agencies in one place will only make the work of the
procurement line services and bringing them together under one contract much easier.
The same goes for the Common Back Office. If you have common premise where you
have several agencies,there is an easier way to set up Common Back Office. There are a
few options when we look at Common Premises that are possible. One of the options
that is low budget and easy is consolidating within existing premises.

So wherever we are now, especially in where agencies have been given right for premises
by the government, we are asking them to look at their space and look at possibilities of
accommodating other agencies, maybe smaller agencies in that same building. The
second option we'll look at is government given premises. We already have those one UN
houses in many countries and currently we have a few governments that have
undertaken as part of the SG's agenda to provide the UN with a building. The third option
is consolidated rental. So instead of working into different smaller buildings, the UN
agencies go together and rent a bigger building increasing efficiencies in rental rates. And
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Module 1: The UN Development System Reform

the fourth option is the UN building builds its own building through a developer on the
on land that is provided by the government and through the government. So these are
your menu items. So what are we asking countries to do is to put together a country
common premises plan. The country common premises plan looks holistically at what
the country what is going to be the blueprint of the country in terms of projects. So they
look at their space needs, they look at what they have now, and they look at potential
projects. When they have a they have a list of projects per city, they can look at cost
benefit analysis, they can look at resources and so on, but at least they have a holistic
blueprint of what they need.

I'll end this by saying that common premises in is an opportunity for the UN to showcase
the SDG goals of environmental sustainability, accessibility and saving water. Because
these are features that can be implemented in any refurbishment in any new building, in
any new space reprogramming that can be achieved through common premises.

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