The United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) is on its way to becoming the first peacekeeping mission to meet an international standard on quality management.  

UNMIK’s Mission Support Division (MSD) took stock of its ambitious three-year roadmap to attain the International Organization for Standardization’s renowned ‘ISO 9001’ certification for its entire mission support operations, launched last November.

Attaining the ISO 9001 standardization builds upon two years of focused efforts on supply chain management, project management and business intelligence.

In preparation for ISO 9001 certification, the management of the Mission Support Division held a quality assurance retreat which focused on three core objectives: accountability, empowerment and continuous improvement.

This was followed by a longer, three-day retreat to review successes and challenges, work to implement the mission’s mandate and SRSG’s vision, and align with the Secretary-General’s management reform. Delegation of authority, key performance indicators (KPIs), business intelligence reports and management dashboards were also reviewed.

Zahir Tanin, Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of UNMIK, opened both retreats and reiterated that his vision for the mission to be a knowledge-based institution was only possible with the vital support of the Mission Support team.

“Don’t accept the status quo, always lead by example and strive towards top performance in establishing best practices,” said Mr. Tanin.

Chief of Mission Support Sandi Arnold congratulated all staff for enthusiastically uniting behind the ISO 9001 certification goal. She said the mission was particularly grateful to Department of Operational Support (DOS) and Department of Management, Strategy, Policy, and Compliance (DMSPC) colleagues for their active participation and welcoming MSD best practices.

“Our aim is to be a centre of excellence,” she said. “Together, let us dream, let us strive, let us be proud.”

The next steps include finalisation of standard operating procedures, KPIs and business intelligence management dashboards to support transparency and accountability. The team also committed to measures to advance the results of a customer satisfaction survey of all UNMIK staff conducted in December 2018, showing an overall 85 per cent satisfaction rating – an improvement from 80 per cent on the previous year.