| Abstract: | The study was entitled “Assessment of Business Continuity Management in United Nations Office to the African Union (UNOAU)”. Business Continuity Management (BCM) can enable the continuation of key business processes, whatever the cause of the disruption or crisis or catastrophe, through its holistic approach. Following reports by Ivan postal (2011), The UN (2013), Posta and Wynes (2011) and Zawya (2009), it was indicated that many of the organization especially in the UNOAU are still in their infancy stages of implementing BCM. This had exposed them to several risks including natural, artificial, financial, social and political among others (McAndrew, 2013). This study was initiated to assess the level of implementation of BCM in the UNOAU and the specific objective were to assess the level of awareness and preparedness of importance of BCM, to assess considerations and factors followed by UNOAU when planning an initial BCM programs or modifying an existing one and to identify potential benefits, challenges, strength and weaknesses, risks and opportunities that are either addressed or exploited while. Implementing BCM in the UNOAU programs. A qualitative research method was adopted with a view to establish UNOAU have handled business continuity management (BCM). With a study Population of 68 selected using both purposive sampling and data was collected using a questionnaire. A CVI of 0.8 was obtained and data was analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Scientists (SPSS) to generate descriptive statistics such as frequency counts, percentages, means, and standard deviations.. The key findings were UNOAU were aware and prepared for BCM although it is still in infancy stages and shaky preparations in case of a disaster to guarantee continuity. Several factors were considered while planning for BCM notably knowledge regarding business continuity operations, BCM policies, needs, probability of occurrence and regulations in place. BCM was faced with Benefits, Challenges, Strength and Weaknesses, Risks and Opportunities. The benefits realized were that BCM had helped UNOAU to detect and address inefficiencies and mitigate and prevent losses ahead of time, there was support from government and securing a permanent seat for Africa in the UN Security Council was a great opportunity for BCM for UNOAU in Ethiopia. The study
recommends among others information about BCM from UNOAU to effectively reach key stakeholders, increased funding, Staff Awareness of BCM, in UNOAU, secure ICT systems, all departments in UNOAU need to be included in the BCM programs. disaster has occurred. It also involves defining potential risks including fire, flood, or cyber-attacks. |
