At its 36th session in October 2018, HLCM approved the Terms of Reference for a Cross-Functional Task Force on Risk Management. The Task Force was established to improve the overall harmony of risk management processes and practices in the UN system. Under the first phase of its work, the Task force developed a reference risk management maturity model which was endorsed by HLCM in April 2019 to be used as a management and communication tool to help UN organizations identify (i) their current maturity stage (ii) their target maturity stage; and (iii) to provide a basis for continual improvement. The second phase of the work of the Task Force commenced in May 2019, to develop guidance on how a UN system organization may approach the establishment of key organizational risk management approaches, covering best practices for establishing risk appetite, embedding risk management, integrating with internal control management and establishing an organizational structure that supports robust risk assurance.
