16th Meeting of Senior Fellowships Officers of the ... - Development

3 Operational Issues
D. The Concept “One United Nations” and How It Can be Applied in
Inter-Agency Training and Fellowships, by Mr. Alexander Thern-
Svanberg, Senior HR Management Specialist, United Nations
Chief Executives Board for Co-ordination (CEB)
45. Mr. Thern-Svanberg expressed his thankfulness for having the opportunity to attend
the 16th, or as he put it, the 32nd anniversary of the Meeting of Senior Fellowships
Officers of the United Nations system and host country agencies. The Meeting
was a unique forum which promoted harmonization, encouraged discussions among
agencies on issues of mutual interest and enhanced the sharing of information and
exchange of ideas in a remarkable manner.
46. Mr. Thern-Svanberg went through some important milestones in the history of the
fellowships programme. In 1973 the Subcommittee on Education and Training noted
that the growing share of UNDP financial operations identified the existence of
common problems concerning Fellowships and called for an exchange of information
and for a common stand on various questions among agencies. It recommended that
the Administrative Committee on Coordination (ACC) authorized the convocation
of a meeting of Fellowships Officers of the United Nations system. The Meeting took
place at the WHO Headquarters in Geneva in 1974.
47. He stressed that the coordination machinery for Fellowships began in 1976 on the
basis of the recommendations of the Joint Inspection Unit. The Preparatory Committee
had approved the arrangements proposed by the Sub-Committee on Education
and Training concerning the Inter-Secretariat coordination of activities relating
to Fellowships. Those arrangements had provided for the designation of a Secretary
in one organization to serve as a focal point with the following specified functions
a) to promote the exchange of information on matters concerning fellowships, b)
to help identify the interest and needs for further fellowships coordination, c) to
carry out consultations, as required, to deal with specific and urgent problems, d) to
prepare the agenda for regular meetings of Fellowships Officers and e) to ensure that
the reports of these regular meetings were made available to the Sub-Committee on
Education and Training.
48. Mr. Thern-Svanberg recalled that the Meeting had since served as the main framework
for inter-agency coordination on system-wide issues related to the management
of Training and Fellowships. Over the years, it had grown in scope and strength and
had become an all-inclusive forum which comprised the entire spectrum of the United
Nations system organizations as well as major national placement and supervising
agencies. While the first Meeting started out with 16 Agencies, by the current 16th
Meeting the number of participating agencies had almost doubled. The agenda had
evolved from a few selected topics of an organizational and administrative nature to
financial, operational and substantive issues, as well.