UNESCO. General Conference; 36th; 36 C/5: volume 1: Draft ...

UNESCO is changing. UNESCO has already made important efforts, especially to reduce administrative
costs and I do not believe we can go any further. While I will continue to seek for continuous efficiency
gains in support services, I don’t believe efficiency at the expense of effectiveness should be the major
driver for change. We need to shift gear from efficiency to effectiveness, from doing things right (input
orientation) to doing the right things (outcome / results oriented).
I must emphasize the huge financial efforts made to date including:
▪ Funding of the renovation loan repayment (€13.8 million for the current biennium);
▪ Decision to absorb the cost of field office reform, approximately $20 million over 4 years, provided
we get a Zero Real Growth budget;
▪ Investing some $20 million over the years for FABS/SISTER/STEPS from within the administration
budget;
▪ Paying for retiree contribution of MBF out of current budget (approximately US $7.8 million);
▪ Funding ever increasing security costs, a cost that has increased more than 8 times between 2002 and
2009. Security cost for the field was $1 million in the 2002-2003 budget and went up to $8.3 million
in 2008-2009 and to $8.9 million in the current biennium. It is important to keep in mind that these
security costs for the field as well as those for Headquarters, are financed from the regular budget and
not from additional credits, as is the case elsewhere in the United Nations system. All those expenses
are cutting into our programme, and that situation cannot continue.
Furthermore, we have been among the first agencies in the entire United Nations system to implement
International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS), when most of the others are hoping to do
so between 2011 and 2013, and the UN in 2014, with additional funding from Member States. The
adoption of IPSAS has brought UNESCO into the 21st century in financial reporting.
Reform should be about more than cost reduction. The focus of the reform needs to shift to increasing
our effectiveness, and this is where there is still much to be done on the ground, together with our
Chairs and other civil society and private-sector partners. It is at that level of intervention that a real
scope for progress lies, and it is here we must focus and act.
I am proud to announce that UNESCO will soon be implementing a new field network structure. This
is one of the most important reforms at UNESCO, for which the principles have been agreed upon by
the Executive Board. The result will be an Organization that is more responsive, more closely attuned to
the needs of Member States, and which supports UN reform. We are now engaged in consultations with
all the regional groups to look together at ways of applying these common principles to each situation.
The main purpose of the reform is to improve the quality, effectiveness, efficiency, accountability
and relevance of our field network; this is also why the process implies strengthening of the support
functions at HQ. The field network reform is predicated on the basis of ZRG budget being approved.
Should this not be the case, this major reform will be difficult, if not impossible, to implement.
The 36 C/5 will need to be adopted to the new field structure, as it emerges. The regional network must
be streamlined to align it with the regional UN systems and other regional entities (development banks,
larger political organisations/groupings) and more actively participate in the regional UN activities; as
well as to reinforce regional normative work. The reform and reinforcement of the Field Office network
will be accomplished over the next two biennia and within the overall budget envelope provided by
Member States. Specific measures to begin this implementation are under preparation. Thus, for the
time being, the existing field structure has informed the preparation of the sectoral staffing submissions.
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36 C/5 – Introduction