Mr Ebrima Ceesay, Director for Mission Support (DMS) at United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) is the incoming Chairperson of the RSCE Client Board and Ms Uchenna Odenigbo, Chief of Mission Support (CMS) at United Nations Integrated Transition Assistance Mission in Sudan (UNITAMS) is Deputy Chairperson.

This was decided by digital ballot at the Regional Service Centre Entebbe (RSCE) Client Board meeting that took place from 29 to 30 November at the Regional Training and Conference Centre (RTCC) after almost two years of virtual meetings due to COVID-19.

The 10th Client Board meeting, which was chaired by outgoing Chairperson, Ms Maria Costa, DMS for United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) and hosted by Paulin Djomo, Director a.i RSCE, updated the Client Board members on the Centre’s operations and the impact of COVID-19 on RSCE among other issues.

The Client Board members from all missions supported by RSCE reviewed and discussed important client recommendations and agreed on the way forward on strengthening RSCE’s client centred approach in providing services to its clients.

One key recommendation was to formalize the operationalization and implementation of the UN Secretary-General's Data Strategy in the Field by recruiting the right talent, building data and analytics capabilities, and incorporating these initiatives in the Mission budget and structure.

The meeting also agreed to review current Service Level Agreements to align with recent changes in the guidelines, Delegation of Authority, and decide on the roles of Missions, RSCE, and UNHQ in relevant end-to-end Key Performance Indicators.

The RSCE used the Client Board meeting as an opportunity to introduce the new ienduulu app developed for the Center by the UNGSS team in Brindisi. The app is mobile-based and is targeted at environmental awareness for all. Users can use the app to raise alerts on environmental issues at the Entebbe Support Base in real-time and these issues can then be attended to in a timely fashion. The meeting applauded the RSCE Environment team on great innovation and discussed expanding the scope to include security and other issues that may need real-time reporting.

The Client Board that is comprised of the DMS and CMS of large peace keeping missions in Africa was led on a tour of the Client Service Delivery Pillar (CSDP) where they were given a demonstration on the dashboard the CSDP utilizes to keep track of client queries and work orders in realtime. The board was given a clearer picture of the journey of the Client Service Delivery Model (CSDM) that has greatly improved on service delivery and contributed to the 75.2% satisfaction rate reported in the last Client Satisfaction Survey.

The Board also visited the Onboarding and Separation Service Line (OSSL). They commended the team on the great job they do despite the unpredictable delays that arise as they do their job, like visa processing and availability of accommodation in some missions. Despite these setbacks, the Board was appreciative of the results and understanding of the team's pressures.