Outcome LAC_O_4

Nurturing an empowered Workforce and advancing an inclusive UN Women culture

UN Women ACRO has demonstrated significant progress in strengthening its organizational capacity and effectiveness through comprehensive staff development initiatives throughout 2024. The office has implemented a structured approach to building a high-performing, diverse and empowered workforce that embodies UN values, reaching approximately 100 members. With an average recruitment process time of 18 weeks - RO developed a platform to monitor the average time for recruitment and to help identify bottlenecks in recruitments. A cornerstone of this effort has been the implementation of an extensive learning program that combines structured training and collaborative learning opportunities. The office achieved a 86% completion rate for mandatory corporate learning courses by the end of 2024, marking a notable improvements from mid-year. This improvement reflects the office's commitment to continuous professional development and compliance with organizational standards. The RO fostered an inclusive learning environment through its comprehensive trainings all personnel, covering critical operational areas including finance, procurement, travel, human resources, cost recovers, PM etc. Weekly learning sessions have been institutionalized to ensure ongoing skill development and knowledge sharing, while individual coaching sessions have addressed specific needs of staff across different geographical locations, demonstrating a commitment to leaving no one behind in professional development opportunities. A significant milestone in nurturing our workforce and creating inclusive culture was two-day staff retreat held in Cordoba, Argentina in May 2024. This gathering brought together all personnel from across all units, creating a participatory space for sharing lessons learnt, capability building, and team strengthening. Performance management has shown steady improvement, with the office achieving a 73% compliance rate in Performance Management and Development (PMD) by the end of 2024, with 90.7% completion of 2023 PMD goals, 73% completion of 2023 PMD completion. These initiatives collectively demonstrate UN Women ACRO's commitment to empowering its workforce and building transformative culture through a human rights-based approach that prioritizes capacity building, inclusive participation, and continuous improvement. The office has created a supportive environment that enables staff to contribute effectively to UN Women's mandate while developing their professional capabilities and advancing gender-responsive organizational culture.

Nurturing an empowered Workforce and advancing an inclusive UN Women culture

During the reporting year, the Regional Office implemented several initiatives to empower, engage and nurture team members to strengthen an inclusive environment. The Regional Office supported personnel in the Americas and Caribbean region with the implementation of Quantum platform to enhance personnel capacity and ensure continuous operation and delivery rates are maintained. Throughout the year, virtual and classroom sessions were conducted on all areas of operations and programme to raise capacity and enable colleagues to have hands-on practice, clarify doubts and collaborate to develop best practices. Procedure, workflow, and technical issues were raised and solved with the support of the Regional Office. Additionally, workplace mental health and wellness sessions were conducted to support the workforce in managing stress, cope with anxiety, provide orientation on work life balance and implement practical tips for a healthy life. The RO approved throughout the year several developmental opportunities such as virtual deployments, detail assignments, temporary assignments, CIPS certification, PPM training and encouraged the completion of the Leadership & Management Blueline online leadership courses to nurture and empower personnel. Focal Points for PSEA and SH were appointed and orientation sessions were provided to build capacity, clarify role, procedures and tools to carry out their role. Follow-up meetings conducted to assess the environment in the region. Monthly sessions to build capacity and empower the HR Focal Points in the region were conducted to introduce new initiatives, clarify doubts, share best practices and raise concerns for a regional approach. The Regional Office lead, supported and monitored the post establishment and recruitment process of 53 new positions in the region funded with unspent allocation, fund W0007.

Nurturing an empowered Workforce and advancing an inclusive UN Women culture

UN Women ACRO has demonstrated significant progress in strengthening its organizational capacity and effectiveness through comprehensive staff development initiatives throughout 2025. The office has implemented a structured approach to building a high-performing, diverse and empowered workforce that embodies UN values, reaching approximately 100 members. ACRO implemented the PPSA modality - transitioning of SC to NPSA contracts for over 100 personnels whereby the regional office coordinated and collaborated closely with all CO and NPPs by providing training, guidance and advice on the personnel transitions. Overall, the PPSA contract modality offers improved benefits and entitlements for personnel. In addition, RO actively recruited senior management positions including 6 Country Representative positions . In addition, there was an actively promotion of the use of UNV online volunteers and higher leverage on fully funded volunteers from Spain and Korea. Although the average recruitment process time increased from 18 weeks (2024) to 23.99 weeks (2025) due to the staff transitions within Human Resources and the Regional Director role, there is prioritization of recruitment activities in 2026. The RO continues to monitor the average time for recruitment and to help identify bottlenecks in the recruitment process. A secondary HR Tracker has been developed to track the recruitment timelines for affiliate workforce providing further empowerment and accountability. A cornerstone of this effort has been the implementation of an extensive learning program that combines structured training and collaborative learning opportunities. The office achieved a 100% completion rate for mandatory corporate learning courses by the end of 2025, marking a notable improvement from 2024. This improvement reflects the office's commitment to continuous professional development and compliance with organizational standards. The RO fostered an inclusive learning environment through its comprehensive trainings all personnel, covering critical operational areas including finance, procurement, travel, human resources, cost recovers, PM etc. Weekly learning sessions have been institutionalized to ensure ongoing skill development and knowledge sharing, while individual coaching sessions have addressed specific needs of staff across different geographical locations, demonstrating a commitment to leaving no one behind in professional development opportunities. Due to cost containment measure, 2 hybrid retreats instead of in-person were organized in efforts to nurture our workforce and creating inclusive culture was held on April and follow-up on the findings in May 2025. This gathering brought together personnel from across all units, creating a participatory space for sharing lessons learnt, capability building, and team strengthening. Performance management has shown steady improvement, with the office achieving an 82% compliance rate in Performance Management and Development (PMD) by the end of 2025. In addition, with the new Regional Director on board in Q4, a RACI assessment was conducted to assess organizational environment, staff well-being, work arrangement that included review of the work and functional processes and procedures, workflows, roles and responsibilities and team dynamics. In addition, the ACRO conducted another dynamic survey to better understand service delivery and possible direct project cost (DPC). These initiatives collectively demonstrate UN Women ACRO's commitment to empowering its workforce and building transformative culture through a human rights-based approach that prioritizes capacity building, inclusive participation, and continuous improvement. The office has created a supportive environment that enables staff to contribute effectively to UN Women's mandate while developing their professional capabilities and advancing gender-responsive organizational culture.