REPORT BY THE DIRECTOR-GENERAL ON THE STATE OF PROGRESS OF THE REFORM OF THE FIELD NETWORK SUMMARY

Transcription

1 Executive Board Hundred and ninety-first session 191 EX/24 PARIS, 25 March 213 Original: English Item 24 of the provisional agenda REPORT BY THE DIRECTOR-GENERAL ON THE STATE OF PROGRESS OF THE REFORM OF THE FIELD NETWORK SUMMARY Pursuant to 187 EX/Decision 33 and 19 EX/Decision 31, the Director- presents herein an update of the progress on the implementation of phase one of the field network reform in Africa, as well as an overview of the activities to be completed within the present biennium, in order to ensure full implementation of phase one before 31 December 213. Financial and administrative implications fall within the parameters of the current C/5 document. Action expected of the Executive Board: draft decision proposed in paragraph 13.

2 191 EX/24 INTRODUCTION 1. At its 36th session, the Conference approved a comprehensive reform of UNESCO s field network in order to enhance the quality and the efficiency of the delivery of services to Member States, ensure a more flexible and visible presence at regional and country levels, and improve alignment with the United Nations system-wide coherence. Flexibility, quality improvement and efficiency are the key objectives of the reform, which is an integral part of the Director- s overall reform of the Organization. With a view to securing the financial viability of the field network reform, the Conference also approved the revised implementation plan proposed by the Director- and decided that the implementation of the first phase would focus only on Africa, deferring the implementation of the reform in the Arab States until the budgetary period. 2. At its 187th session, the Executive Board was informed about the outcomes of the consultations that were held with African and Arab Member States. At its 19th session, the Executive Board took note of the progress made on the implementation of phase 1 of the reform and requested the Director- to report to it on further progress at its 191st session. The Director- presents herein her report on actions taken pursuant to these two decisions. Progress report 3. The new field network architecture in Africa provides for five multisectoral regional offices, based in the following locations: Dakar for Sahel/West Africa, Abuja for West Africa, Yaoundé for Central Africa, and Nairobi for East Africa. Consultations and negotiations are still ongoing with regard to the location of the regional office for Southern Africa. 4. Since the 19th session of the Executive Board in October 212, implementation has been completed for the first two of the five African regions, Sahel/West Africa and East Africa. This has been made possible because of the Director- s decision to allocate resources from the Emergency Fund. 5. In Sahel/West Africa, the multisectoral regional office has been established in Dakar covering Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, the Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Niger and Senegal. Negotiations are ongoing with the government of Senegal regarding the move of the regional office to larger premises within the next two years. Consistent with the two-tier principle of the field network architecture, the former cluster office in Bamako has been transformed into a national office for Mali. 6. In East Africa, the multisectoral regional office has been established in Nairobi covering Comoros, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius, Rwanda, Seychelles, Somalia, South Sudan, Uganda, and the United Republic of Tanzania. The former cluster office in Dar-as- Salam has been transformed into a national office for the United Republic of Tanzania. Furthermore a new national office has been established in Juba, South Sudan. This office is now fully operational and attracting the interests of many donors to invest in South Sudan in UNESCO s fields of competence using the Organization as a lead agency. Resources in the amount of US $5 million have already been raised and additional initiatives are in the pipeline representing some $23 million. 7. The coming multisectoral office for Central Africa covering Angola, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and Sao Tome and Principe is under establishment and expected to be operational by 1 June 213. New and larger premises have been given to UNESCO by the Government of Cameroon. The move is foreseen in May. Staff transfers are ongoing. The former cluster office in Libreville will be transformed into a national office for Gabon. The national offices in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo and Brazzaville, Congo will be maintained. In Burundi, the former

3 191 EX/24 page 2 national office has, in collaboration with the government of Burundi, been transformed into a Maison de la Paix. The antenna in Luanda, Angola is under expansion reflecting the major selfbenefitting programme established by the Government of Angola. 8. In West Africa, the new multisectoral regional office will be established in Abuja by July 213. This office will cover Benin, Côte d Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, and Togo. The existing cluster office in Accra will be transformed into a national office for Ghana. Furthermore a new national office is under establishment in Abidjan, Côte d Ivoire. This office is expected to be operational in the immediate future with the assistance of the Government of Côte d Ivoire. 9. Finally, it is anticipated that a decision will be made soon on the location of the multisectoral regional office for Southern Africa. This regional office will cover Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia, and Zimbabwe and is expected to be operational by October 213. Depending on the decision on the location of the regional office in the region, there will be changes to the present status of the existing cluster offices in Harare and Windhoek. The national office for Mozambique in Maputo will be maintained. 1. The Liaison Office with the African Union and the Economic Commission for Africa in Addis Ababa is operational and has been strengthened with additional staff. A new building is currently under construction adjacent to the United Nations ECA building fully paid for by the Ethiopian Government. This new facility will house all UNESCO entities in the country, the Liaison Office, the Regional Support Platform (RSP) and IICBA. 11. The Regional Support Platform was originally foreseen for implementation by the end of 212 but due to the ongoing reform of the AO systems at Headquarters it was decided to postpone implementation until July 213. The RSP will, through delegated authority from corporate and support services at Headquarters (BFM, HRM and BKI), provide administrative, human resource and IT support to all African field offices in order to facilitate programme delivery, while ensuring proper internal control with adequate segregation of duties. 12. In order to prepare for the second phase of the implementation of the field network reform a consultation meeting was held in March with the Arab States Group. Further consultations will be organized in the coming months for the roll-out of the field network reform in the Arab States. A schedule of the present and planned staffing for the regional offices and for the newly established offices in Abidjan and Juba is annexed. Proposed decision 13. The Executive Board may wish to adopt a decision along the following lines: The Executive Board, 1. Recalling document 19 EX/Decision 31, 2. Having examined document 191 EX/24, 3. Takes note of further progress made in the implementation of phase one of the field network reform in Africa; 4. Also takes note of the ongoing consultations towards the implementation of the second phase of the field network reform in the Arab States region during the 37 C/5 biennium; 5. Requests the Director- to report to it at its 194th session on further progress in the implementation of the field network reform.

4 191 EX/24 Annex Annex ABIDJAN National Office Function P5 P4 P3 P1/P2 NOD NOC NOB NOA L7 L6 L5 L4 L3 Total Management 1 3 Education Culture Communication Administration Total Juba National Office Function P5 P4 P3 P1/P2 NOD NOC NOB NOA L7 L6 L5 L4 L3 L2 Total Management 1 4 Education Culture 2 Communication Administration Regional Administrative Platform Total

5 191 EX/24 Annex page 2 ADDIS ABABA Liaison Office and Regional Administrative Platform Function D1 P5 P4 P3 P1/P2 NOD NOC NOB NOA L7 L6 L5 L4 L3 Total Management 4 Education Culture 2 Communication Administration Regional Administrative Platform Total Multisectoral Regional Office in DAKAR Function D2 P5 P4 P3 P1/P2 NOD NOC NOB NOA L7 L6 L5 L4 L3 L2 L1 Total Management Education Culture 2 Communication ED platform for 2 2 coordination and communication for Africa Cross-Sectoral 3 Administration Total The posts will be transferred from Headquarters.

6 191 EX/24 Annex page 3 Multisectoral Regional Office in NAIROBI Function D1 P5 P4 P3 P1/P2 NOD NOC NOB NOA L7 L6 L5 L4 L3 L2 Total Management 1 3 Education Culture 2 Communication Cross-Sectoral Administration Total Multisectoral Regional Office in YAOUNDE Function D1 P5 P4 P3 P1/P2 NOD NOC NOB NOA L7 L6 L5 L4 L3 L2 Total Management 1 3 Education Culture 2 Communication Cross-Sectoral Administration 2 4 Total The posts will be transferred from Headquarters. The posts will be transferred from Headquarters.

7 191 EX/24 Annex page 4 Multisectoral Regional Office in ABUJA Function D1 P5 P4 P3 P1/P2 NOD NOC NOB NOA L7 L6 L5 L4 L3 Total Management 1 3 Education Culture 2 Communication 2 Cross-Sectoral Administration 4 Total Multisectoral Regional Office in SOUTHERN AFRICA Function D1 P5 P4 P3 P1/P2 NOD NOC NOB NOA L7 L6 L5 L4 L3 Total Management 1 3 Education Culture 2 Communication Cross-Sectoral Administration Total The posts will be transferred from Headquarters. The posts will be transferred from Headquarters. Printed on recycled paper

8 Executive Board Hundred and ninety-first session 191 EX/24 Corr. PARIS, 4 April 213 Original: English Item 24 of the provisional agenda REPORT BY THE DIRECTOR-GENERAL ON THE STATE OF PROGRESS OF THE REFORM OF THE FIELD NETWORK CORRIGENDUM In the Annex, the table relating to the Juba national office should read as follows: Juba National Office Function P5 P4 P3 P1/P2 NOD NOC NOB NOA L7 L6 L5 L4 L3 Total Management 1 3 Education Culture Communication Administration Total Printed on recycled paper

9 Executive Board Hundred and ninety-first session 191 EX/24 Add. PARIS, 18 April 213 Original: French Item 24 of the agenda REPORT BY THE DIRECTOR-GENERAL ON THE STATE OF PROGRESS OF THE REFORM OF THE FIELD NETWORK ADDENDUM COMMENTS BY ISAU ON THE REPORT BY THE DIRECTOR-GENERAL ON THE STATE OF PROGRESS OF THE REFORM OF THE FIELD NETWORK SUMMARY In accordance with Item of the UNESCO Resources Manual, the International Staff Association of UNESCO (ISAU) comments on the report by the Director- on the state of progress of the reform of the field network. Since the launch of the field network reform process, staff members have shown their attachment to the stated principles underlying the reform, namely: the reinforcement of the efficiency and impact of the Organization s action in the field in terms both of quality and quantity. Staff members have since reiterated their readiness and commitment to fully play their role in the implementation of this aspect of the strategic reform of the Organization. At present, however, this strategic reform raises a certain number of concerns and questions for staff members. Even though the issue of human resources is central to this reform, staff members are not included, consulted, nor even regularly informed of progress in its implementation. Likewise, in addition to a lack of transparency in decisions regarding staff assignments, appointments and/or transfers to the field, there are unclear reporting lines between and among field offices and Headquarters units. Furthermore, certain inconsistencies are noted in the field network in terms of staffing levels at different offices on the same level, and in the ratio of Professional to support staff. ISAU would also like to point out, as noted in the Annual Report 212 of the Internal Oversight Service (IOS): the challenges of complex and unclear reporting lines between and among

10 191 EX/24 Add. page 2 UNESCO field offices and Headquarters units continue to impair control monitoring, the setting of objectives and performance management (Document 191 EX/22, para.6). In short, to satisfy in full the desire of Member States, particularly African Member States, to have access to sound expertise in the field as a result of this reform, the aforementioned staff movements should have been based on criteria and terms of reference defined and agreed beforehand. Therefore, ISAU recommends that an assessment of the impact of this reform on both the and on staff be carried out before it is extended to other regions. For the Executive, Sidiki Coulibaly President of ISAU Printed on recycled paper