Digital Innovation and Transformation in the UN System. • The importance of digital transformation has been widely recognized by UN entities, and many have ambitious digital strategies in place. • In his vision for a UN 2.0, the UN Secretary-General also highlighted the importance of harnessing digital technology for a future-proof UN system. • Yet, digital innovation and transformation in the UN system brings a range of unique challenges, such as organizational inertia, short-term planning and funding horizons, decentralized and fragmented initiatives leading to lack of scale, as well as lack of digital talent. • In this context, this proposed UN-IGF session aims to discuss the key challenges and spotlight successful approaches - and the learnings - for the wider UN system. • The session thus aims to inspire more digital innovation and transformation in the UN and highlight opportunities for synergies and best practices. The session will be structured on the basis of four presentations, as follows: 1. UNHCR’s Digital Strategy calls for greater digital inclusion for the forcibly displaced and stateless. With this inclusion comes great opportunity to learn, find work and connect with loved ones. However, increased inclusion brings new risks and threats. This may include increased risk of fraud, division of communities through online hate speech, mis and dis information and the risk from the use of emerging technologies in humanitarian settings. These risks are being impacted by the rapid growth in Artificial Intelligence and other technologies. This presentation will focus on how we can address and balance these risks. 2. UNICEF “Digital resilience for impact for children”: In this presentation, UNICEF will showcase how the organization considers digital resilience in its digital programming. Digital resilience includes data protection, information security and responsible use of data for children. With increasing frequency and sophistication of cyberattacks, as well as rapid advancements in digital innovation, maintaining digital resilience is key to ensure that digital solutions supported or used by UNICEF truly benefit children. The presentation will be led by Fui Meng Liew, Chief of the UNICEF’s global Digital Centre of Excellence. 3. UNJSPF: "The adoption of innovative technologies in support of e-Government for the aging population": UNJSPF implemented an innovative solution for supporting the "digital identity" and periodic "proof-of-life" process of the 84,000 UN retirees and beneficiaries residing in more than 192 countries. The UNJSPF solution created a state-of-the-art solution by leveraging blockchain, biometrics/facial recognition, artificial intelligence, and global positioning technologies. This presentation will articulate the UNJSPF lessons learned and best practices for ensuring a secure, efficient, sustainable, and eco-friendly alternative to the traditional paper-based identity, authentication, and proof-of-life methods. 4. UNICC has over 50 years of experience as the largest strategic partner for digital solutions and cybersecurity within the United Nations system. UNICC designs and deploys transformational digital tools and programmes to support over 90 Clients and Partner Organizations in fulfilling their mandates. UNICC is committed to delivering innovative, forward-looking and reliable system-wide solutions in line with the UN Secretary-General’s Strategy on New Technologies, the UN Secretary-General's Roadmap for Digital Cooperation and the Common Agenda. With our world-class Cybersecurity Centre of Excellence, data and analytics practice and an array of platform, software and infrastructure solutions, UNICC serves the entire of the UN family and other international organizations with similar missions and values for the benefit of the world.
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