A Roadmap for UN Reform: Proposals for Accountability and Effectiveness

Making the UN Work for "We The Peoples"

Does the United Nations truly serve the interests of its member states and their citizens? At DOGE-UN, we believe the UN can be a compelling and valuable resource for international cooperation, but it urgently needs significant reform to boost its effectiveness and efficiency.

Our goal is to identify and promote measures that right-size the UN, improve its culture, and retool its processes to better support all its members.

This is an evolving list of key areas we are reviewing and proposing action on:

The Core Problems: Lack of Oversight & Rogue Bureaucracy

  • Poor Stewardship: For too long, member states—including major contributors—haven't actively supervised the UN's internal operations. This crucial oversight has often been neglected.

  • An Unaccountable "Deep State": This lack of vigilance has allowed the UN Secretariat (its bureaucracy) to become overly powerful, often acting without sufficient accountability to the member states it's meant to serve. This inefficiency and lack of transparency has diminished the UN's value and made it vulnerable to exploitation.

Key Proposals for UN Reform

We are focusing on actionable steps that can be taken now:

1. Strengthening Oversight and Accountability

  • Link Reform to 2026 Secretary-General Selection: Use the upcoming selection process to demand candidates with strong administrative skills and a commitment to reform. Push for a more transparent, less secretive selection process.

  • Establish an Independent Inspector General: Ensure genuine, independent oversight of UN operations, free from internal influence.

  • Demand Better Performance Reporting: The Secretary-General must provide detailed, results-based reports on administrative and budgetary performance, not just discuss world problems and ask for more money. Major donors should insist on this.

  • Conduct Rigorous Audits: Initiate thorough financial and performance audits, starting with high-profile cases like UNRWA (UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees), to uncover waste and ensure accountability across all UN funds and programs.

  • Form an Independent Commission of Inquiry: Create a commission to investigate and expose potential fraud, waste, and abuse within UN administration and programs.

2. Improving Efficiency and Cutting Waste

  • Radically Improve Procurement: Overhaul the UN's multi-billion dollar procurement system to ensure competitive bidding, transparency, and an end to potential corruption and waste.

  • Cut Costs via Decentralization: Move some UN entities (like UNDP Headquarters) out of expensive locations like New York to relevant developing countries (e.g., India, Brazil). This saves significant costs, slims bureaucracy, and increases relevance. Consider relocating support services like interpretation staff.

  • Streamline Conferences & Agendas: Reduce the number of costly global UN conferences by utilizing existing General Assembly facilities. Eliminate redundant or obsolete agenda items and ensure programs have clear end dates ("sunset clauses"). Consolidate discussions on overlapping topics.

  • Mandate Return-to-Office & End Loopholes: Require UN staff to return to full-time office work, ending remote work from lower-cost locations while receiving high New York cost-of-living allowances, and curb year-end spending sprees.

3. Reforming Structure and Culture

  • Empower Member States via the General Assembly (GA): Restore the appropriate balance of power, ensuring the democratically elected President of the General Assembly has supremacy over the appointed Secretary-General and adequate resources ($5M+ budget, not the current $250k) to represent "We The Peoples" effectively. Return the President's office to a place of prominence.

  • Develop Staff Through Merit: Implement true merit-based hiring and promotion. End interference and ensure staff development aligns with the UN Charter's core principles of fairness, human rights, and dignity – recognizing that diversity, inclusion, and equity are already embedded in the Charter's foundation.

  • Revitalize the General Assembly: Actively support and expand the GA's own "Revitalization" efforts, focusing on strengthening the President's office and improving the Secretary-General selection process.

  • Enliven the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC): Transform ECOSOC into an effective coordinator that encourages collaboration and resource-sharing ("sharing economy" model) among the vast network of UN agencies, breaking down bureaucratic silos.

  • Repurpose the Trusteeship Council: Explore using this dormant council as a neutral body to manage disputed territories (like in Ukraine or Syria) or regions facing state failure, providing a space for resolution ("escrowing" conflicts).

4. Fairer Funding: Recalibrating Dues

  • Adopt Purchasing Power Parity (PPP): Change the formula for calculating member state dues. Instead of just using GDP in US dollars, use PPP, which reflects the relative wealth and cost of living between countries more accurately (as the IMF and World Bank already do). This could lead to a more equitable distribution of the financial burden, potentially lowering the US share while increasing it for rapidly growing economies like China and India. (Note: Requires General Assembly agreement).

The Path Forward: Engaged Stewardship

Driving these reforms requires active leadership, particularly from major contributors like the United States, acting as the UN's "best friend and best critic." Effective stewardship of international organizations is vital for national and international security.

A reformed UN—accountable, efficient, and true to its Charter—can better serve the values and interests of all its member states. The time for demanding total accountability is now.

Get Involved

We invite all stakeholders who believe in the potential of a reformed United Nations to support this crucial effort.

Please revisit this page for ongoing updates to our proposals.