The Common Back Office (CBO) initiative proposes to streamline key operational areas of participating agencies by harmonizing procedures and consolidating support services into one facility at the country level. This consolidation is expected to reduce duplication of functions and administrative and transaction costs, while the harmonized procedures are expected to, at the same time, increase the quality and effectiveness of these services.
The CBO unit will provide common identified services in Common Procurement, Common Logistics, Common Human Resources, Common ICT, Common Finance and Common Administration (including Facility Management) to the United Nations participating entities. Additional services could be included as per agreement between the participating entities and the CBO unit through the hosting entity. The CBO day-to-day operations and decisions are managed by the CBO Manager who reports to the host entity for administrative matters.
The CBO Country Governance Board will provide strategic guidance with a view to ensuring the quality of services provided by the CBO, through a participative coordination meeting, where all participating entities have the same representativity and all opinions shall be taken into consideration. The CBO Manager reports directly to the Head of Hosting Entity in the country and through him/her to the Country Governance Board (CGB) consisting of Heads of participating UN entities, under the leadership of the Resident Coordinator, being the CGB the “clients” governance mechanism responsible for the overall service performance of the CBO.
The CBO has its own annual budget and staff dedicated to the management and delivery of services to its clients.
