United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization Executive Board

Transcription

1 ex United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization Executive Board Hundred and fifty-fifth Session Item 5.2 of the provisional agenda 155 EX/18 PARIS, 31 August 1998 Original: English REPORT ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF 151 EX/DECISION 6.3 CONCERNING UNESCO FIELD OFFICES IN ASIA AND THE PACIFIC SUMMARY This document is submitted to the Executive Board in compliance with 151 EX/Decision 6.3, paragraph 8. It presents trends of staff and financial resources decentralized to UNESCO offices in the Asia-Pacific region, Member States support to the field offices as well as initiatives to foster co-operation between these offices, regional co-ordinating mechanisms and National Commissions. Decision proposed: paragraph 23.

2 155 EX/18 Introduction 1. The Executive Board at its 151st session (May-June 1997) examined document 151 EX/47, Report on the evaluation of UNESCO field offices in Asia and the Pacific. Stressing the importance of further strengthening the activities and structure of all the UNESCO offices in the region, the Board invited in decision 6.3 the Director-General in conformity with the guidelines on decentralization provided by the Medium-Term Strategy, as expressed in document 28 C/4 Approved, paragraphs 201 and 248 to 255, to take appropriate measures to reinforce the human, financial and technical resources in all the UNESCO offices in the region as well as to strengthen their capacity for programme implementation. In paragraphs 5 to 7 of this decision the Board formulated specific recommendations to this effect. Information is provided concerning the follow-up action taken by the Secretariat (points 5 and 6) as well as by the Member States (point 7), as follows: 5.(a) the transfer of posts, financial resources and qualified staff from Headquarters to all the UNESCO offices in the region should be developed on an intersectoral basis 2. As at 10 July 1998, the situation concerning the staffing of field offices in this region was as follows: 71 staff in 88 established posts in the Professional category and above and 85 General Service staff in 90 established posts, the difference being vacant posts. Figures in brackets show changes in comparison to August Table 1: Staff and posts in UNESCO field offices in Asia/Pacific (including staff in posts financed from extrabudgetary resources, as at 10 July 1998) Professional category and above General Service category Total posts staff posts staff posts staff (-2) (+12) (+10) Some of the medium-sized offices like Jakarta, New Delhi and Beijing were slightly reduced while some small offices were slightly enlarged (details for each office are given in Annex I, Table 1). 3. The Organization continued its efforts to rotate staff regularly between the field and Headquarters. Rotations during the biennium showed a balance in favour of field offices with a net transfer of 16 staff members decentralized from Headquarters to all field offices and a net gain of five staff members for the offices in Asia and the Pacific (see Table 2):

3 155 EX/18 - page 2 Table 2: Movement of staff within the organization during the biennium From Headquarters to the field From field to Headquarters Within the field Organization as a whole Field offices in Asia/Pacific Regular programme funds allocated to the field offices by sector according to work plans and in comparison to the previous biennium are indicated in Annex I, Table 2. Budgetary resources give a better indication than staff data about the intersectoral character of field offices because part of the activities might be implemented mainly by nationals, consultants or seconded staff which would not show in the list of Professional staff. All offices (except the most recent one, Kathmandu) implement programmes in several sectors and there is a clear trend towards increasing intersectorality. The changes are the most pronounced in larger offices like New Delhi or Jakarta which were formerly focusing on the science sector, and in small offices like UNESCO Tashkent or Dhaka which started off with activities in one sector and diversified rapidly. 5.(b) any posts which fall vacant in UNESCO offices in the region should be advertised and recruited without delay in close consultation with these offices 5. Measures were taken to speed up appointments on posts that became vacant. This was done either through the transfer of qualified staff from Headquarters (see above) or through the accelerated and more rigorous recruitment process. Furthermore, the Director-General has given instructions that posts in field offices have priority and are not to suffer from the efforts to balance the staff cost budget. 6. Particular efforts have been made to fill vacancies of heads/directors of field offices in Beijing, Dhaka, Islamabad, Kuala Lumpur and New Delhi through transfers of staff from Headquarters to the field or between field offices in the region. Overall, during the biennium there were 15 new appointments to various posts falling vacant. 7. Except for cases of transfer to field offices of qualified staff members, professional posts are advertised and the selection process is competitive. Both staff members and external candidates are compared to each other with the result that the most qualified candidate is selected. The evaluation process is improved through pre-selection by the Secretariat units and the field office concerned as well as the Bureau of Personnel (PER). The rules governing recruitment authorize the head of a field office to carry out the recruitment process for staff in the General Service category while for National Professional Officers (NPOs) the authority to recruit is only partly delegated. 8. Normally posts are advertised for a duration of three months, and under the accelerated procedure one month. The period between the closing date for applications and the review of candidates by the Personnel Advisory Board (PAB) varied between one and nine months. The strict limitations of UNESCO s budget for staff costs (a lapse factor of 5 per cent having been

4 155 EX/18 - page 3 decided by the governing bodies 1 ) and the interest to search for highly qualified candidates explain that the recruitment process can be long. 5.(c) newly established offices should be staffed by qualified staff and provided with adequate financial and technical resources without any detriment to posts and financial/technical resources in existing offices in the region 9. While new offices often start off with a minimum of staff and programme resources, they grow over time as their activities expand. In some cases, transfer of staff from other field offices helped to overcome shortages of qualified staff with good knowledge of the region. Regular programme staff alone, however, is not a good measure of the size and efficiency of an office. Instead so-called one-person offices strengthen their working capacity with NPOs, consultants, associate experts, seconded personnel, United Nations volunteers, etc. 10. As overall funding to the field offices in the region has been substantially increased (see next para.) existing offices have not suffered from a reduction of financial resources as a consequence of the creation of new offices. In fact, all larger and long-established offices have had an increase of allocations in the current compared to the previous biennium (Apia per cent, Bangkok per cent, Beijing +4.6 per cent, Jakarta per cent, New Delhi per cent). The allocations to more recent offices have been covered by an overall increase of allocations to offices in the region to the order of 18.1 per cent (see Annex I, Table 2). 6.(a) (The Executive Board) further invites the Director-General to ensure that the overall level of funding in the region is further strengthened in view of the size of the population as well as the complexity and diversity of the region 11. During the biennium, some $6,441,424 of regular programme funds, were allocated to field offices in the region. The amount allocated to offices in the region during the current biennium is $7,608,254 which represents an increase of 18.1 per cent over that of the previous biennium (for details, see Annex I, Table 2). 12. In 1997, the amount of expenditure by field offices in the region on activities financed from extrabudgetary resources was $9,238,000, which constitutes a significant increase of $1.5 million (19.4 per cent) over that of 1996 ($7,703,000). The implementation rate increased to 71 per cent (55 per cent in 1996). 13. The growing role that field offices are expected to play with regard to projects funded from extrabudgetary resources, is also demonstrated in the increasing regular budget provision foreseen to support co-operation for development activities. A total of more than $1 million has been earmarked in document 29 C/5 for decentralization to field offices in the region to facilitate the generation of extrabudgetary resources. 1. In 1995 the lapse factor was reduced to 3 per cent, which represents a lapse of approximately 66 posts and an amount of circa $8.8 million.

5 155 EX/18 - page 4 6.(b) to work more closely with regional co-ordinating mechanisms such as the Regional Committee on Education in Asia and the Pacific (EDCOM) with a view to further promoting regional co-operation as well as defining a clear role and function for all the UNESCO offices in the region 14. Some of the field offices in the region have been designated as focal points for the further development of relations with regional and subregional organizations of an intergovernmental nature maintaining relations with UNESCO (see the list in Annex II). This has in several cases resulted in improving working relations, for example with the Asian Development Bank (ADB). UNESCO Bangkok which acts in this case as focal point shared the experiences made concerning mobilization of extrabudgetary resources and implementation of projects financed by ADB with the other offices thus facilitating their contacts with this important donor agency. Complete data on co-operation with each of these regional and subregional organizations is available and is periodically updated. 15. The intergovernmental Regional Committee on Education in Asia and the Pacific (EDCOM) has been mandated to advise, as well as to follow up on the decisions of MINEDAP. The second EDCOM is planned to be held in Bangkok in November this year (the first EDCOM was held in 1996). 16. Moreover, the UNESCO Bangkok Office is sending quarterly letters to Ministers of Education in the region to keep them abreast of UNESCO programmes and major activities for the benefit of Asia and the Pacific. Whenever the occasion arises, a small number of Ministers of Education are invited to spend a day or two reflecting together on issues of common concern at an informal ministerial caucus. A minister from another region is normally invited to participate to provide a different perspective for the purpose of cross insemination of ideas. 17. Being well aware of the importance of co-ordination at the regional level, field directors as well as other field staff keep one another informed. More significantly, field directors try to hold a consultation at least once every biennium, the most recent one having been held on 13 June 1998 in Bangkok to discuss field offices collaboration and co-operation. Representatives of BPE, BER/DON and BRX/NAC were also present. Programme specialists from the Education and the Culture Sectors have held their own regional planning sessions. 18. The methods of regional co-operation are not confined to co-operation among UNESCO field offices and regional organizations as mentioned above. Networks such as APEID, APPEAL, APNIEVE and UNEVOC have proven their strength. UNESCO New Delhi and UNESCO Jakarta are actively supporting networks of scientists in various disciplines throughout the region. The same is done in their respective fields by the regional advisers for social science and culture in UNESCO Bangkok. UNESCO Kuala Lumpur promotes communication networks and implements a flagship project ASIAPAC-21-Communication in the Asia-Pacific region towards the twenty-first century which is designed to result in a region-wide communication media development programme. UNESCO Apia leads, in the context of Focus on the Pacific (FOP), a major intersectoral special project called Human development for sustainable living in the Pacific. All these activities show that UNESCO offices in the region have increased their co-operation with regional co-ordinating mechanisms and networks and with each other within the framework of their defined role and function.

6 155 EX/18 - page 5 7. (The Executive Board) invites the Member States to continue to give their full attention to the programme of all the UNESCO offices in the region and facilitate their co-operation, in particular with a view to mobilizing human and financial resources and strengthening the endogenous capacity of the Member States of the Asia and the Pacific region 19. UNESCO National Commissions must be given due credit as long-time partners in all co-operation endeavours. The regular consultations with them in the context of the preparations of the Medium-Term Strategy (C/4) and the draft programmes and budgets (C/5), including the most recent one from 8 to 12 June 1998 in Ayutthaya, Thailand, have always been beneficial. 20. A good example for subregional co-operation has been the meeting of five National Commissions in the East Asia subregion. The meeting was organized by the Chinese National Commission for UNESCO, in joint collaboration with the UNESCO Beijing Office, and was held in Beijing in March 1998 bringing together Secretaries-General of China, Mongolia, Democratic People s Republic of Korea, Japan and the Republic of Korea. This was the very first meeting of National Commissions that has ever been held in this subregion, and was significant particularly in promoting culture of peace between North and South Korea. 21. Included in the figures mentioned above for staff in established posts in field offices in the region are two associate experts financed from one Member State in the region and 13 from various European countries. Moreover, some Professional and General Service staff are seconded by governments of host countries. This contribution adds strength to the offices, particularly the more recent ones, and provides more flexibility in accomplishing their tasks. 22. In the host country agreements signed between Member States in the region and UNESCO, the host country s contributions in cash and in kind are specified. They vary from country to country and are difficult to quantify as they take multiple forms. For document 28 C/5 an attempt was made to establish Member States contributions to the running costs of field offices (28 C/5, Appendix VI). For the offices in Asia and the Pacific a figure of $185,100 for contributions in cash was calculated, supplemented by contributions in kind to the order of $1,187,500. In addition, Member States provide regularly support for the organization of programme activities, such as transport and hotel accommodation as well as translation and other services. 23. The Executive Board might wish to adopt the following draft decision: The Executive Board, 1. Having examined document 155 EX/18, 2. Notes with satisfaction the progress realized in further decentralizing staff and financial resources to UNESCO offices in the Asia Pacific region; 3. Appreciates the co-operation developed with regional co-ordinating mechanisms and networks as well as with National Commissions; 4. Welcomes the support given by Member States to the UNESCO offices in providing national or seconded staff and associate experts as well as voluntary financial contributions and various forms of host country support;

7 155 EX/18 - page 6 5. Invites Member States to continue and expand their support to the programmes of the UNESCO offices in the region; 6. Invites also the Director-General to keep it regularly informed about the further development of UNESCO offices in Asia and the Pacific as well as in other regions.

8 155 EX/18 Annex I ANNEX I Table 1: Staff in posts in UNESCO field offices in Asia/Pacific (including staff in posts financed from extrabudgetary resources) as at 10 July 1998 compared to August Professional staff General Service Total number of staff Bangladesh (Dhaka) 2 (+1) 1 (+1) 3 (+2) Cambodia (Phnom Penh) (+11) 17 (+11) China (Beijing) 4 (-1) - 4 (-1) Fiji (Suva) India (New Delhi) 6 (-1) (-1) Indonesia (Jakarta) 10 (-3) 12 (-1) 22 (-4) Iran (Teheran) 1-1 Kazakhstan (Almaty) 3 (+2) 2 (+1) 5 (+3) Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur) 2 (+1) 1 3 (+1) Nepal (Kathmandu) 2 (-1) - 2 (-1) Pakistan (Islamabad) 5 4 (+2) 9 (+2) Samoa (Apia) Thailand (Bangkok) 24 (+1) 39 (-2) 63 (-1) Uzbekistan (Tashkent) 1 (-1) - 1 (-1) Total 71 (-2) 85 (+12) 156 (+10) 1. Figures in brackets show changes in comparison to August The increase of General Service staff in the Phnom Penh Office is mainly due to the regularization of previous temporary contracts. 3. Only extrabudgetary (UNFPA).

9 Table 2 Decentralized regular programme cost by sector according to work plans (Allocations as at 23 July 1998) Sector Almaty Apia Bangkok Beijing Dhaka Islamabad Jakarta Kathmandu Kuala Lumpur New Delhi Phnom Penh Tashkent Teheran Total $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ ED % 17.4% 55.1% 28.6% 70.0% 66.1% 8.9% 100.0% 4.8% 32.3% 36.7% 17.8% 38.3% SC % 19.8% 41.7% 72.3% 46.6% 21.1% 13.6% 33.0% CLT % 14.4% 22.7% 3.0% 15.8% 1.5% 4.5% 28.2% 62.6% 28.6% SHS % 26.6% 11.9% 5.2% 21.9% 18.1% 3.5% 3.0% 10.5% 5.9% C I I % 14.9% 5.8% 95.2% 9.6% EPD % 3.2% 7.4% 5.1% 2.6% 3.5% CPP % 0.7% 5.2% 0.4% 3.5% TOTAL % +43.9% +10.9% +4.6% % -23.4% +10.1% not appl % +24.4% +18.3% +76.0% -67.4% +18.1% Decentralized regular programme cost by sector according to work plans (Allocations as at July 1996) Sector Almaty Apia Bangkok Beijing Dhaka Islamabad Jakarta Kathmandu Kuala Lumpur New Delhi Phnom Penh Tashkent Teheran Total $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ ED % 28.4% 53.6% 46.5% 100.0% 27.0% 5.3% 14.4% 5.0% 62.4% SC % 35.7% 78.3% 61.0% 61.7% SHS % 7.3% 13.7% CLT % 27.0% 9.2% 5.9% 38.8% 4.8% 10.2% 12.5% 100.0% 37.6% C I I % 17.3% 12.9% 9.4% 100.0% 10.3% 20.1% EPD % 4.6% 2.1% 4.0% CPP % 11.5% 20.5% TOTAL

10 155 EX/18 Annex II ANNEX II INTERGOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS MAINTAINING RELATIONS WITH UNESCO ASIA AND THE PACIFIC Name and location of organization Interregional Afro-Asian Rural Reconstruction Organization (AARRO), New Delhi, India Islamic Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI), Karachi, lslamabad Focal point in the region UNESCO New Delhi UNESCO Islamabad Regional/Subregional South Pacific Commission (SPC), Noumea, New Caledonia South Pacific Forum secretariat (SPF), Suva, Fiji South Pacific Applied Geoscience Commission (SOPAC), Suva, Fiji South Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP), Apia, Samoa South Pacific Board for Educational Assessment (SPBEA), Suva, Fiji University of the South Pacific/Institute of Education (USP/IOE), Suva, Fiji South-East Asian Ministers of Education Organization (SEAMEO), Bangkok, Thailand Committee for Co-ordination of Joint Prospecting for Mineral Resources in Asian Offshore Areas (CCOP), Bangkok, Thailand Asian Development Bank (ADB), Manila, Philippines Colombo Plan Bureau for Co-operative Economic and Social Development, Colombo, Sri Lanka South Asian Association for Regional Co-operation (SAARC), Kathmandu, Nepal Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation Council (APEC), Singapore Association of South-East Asia Nations (ASEAN), Jakarta, Indonesia Economic Co-operation Organization (ECO) UNESCO Apia UNESCO Bangkok UNESCO New Delhi UNESCO Kathmandu UNESCO Jakarta UNESCO Teheran