The extent to which a UN Agency should centralize or decentralize is one of the most vexing questions in Organizational Design today. Typically UN leaders and staff view it as an ‘either/or’ choice: Should we group an activity together, or should we push it out to the regions and country offices? In truth, it is not a simple, binary answer and the arguements for both sides are persuasive to say the least.
To decentralize or not to decentralise: Is that the question?
