WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION EXECUTIVE BOARD 114th Session Provisional agenda item 6.2 EB114/9 8 April 2004
Committees of the Executive Board Merger of committees: terms of reference and options for membership Note by the Secretariat
1. At its 113th session, following agreement that the Administration, Budget and Finance Committee, the Programme Development Committee and the Audit Committee should be merged into a single committee, the Executive Board requested the Secretariat to prepare proposed terms of reference and options for membership for consideration by the Board at its 114th session.1 This note sets out proposed terms of reference, suggests a name for the new committee, and presents options for membership and terms of office.
TERMS OF REFERENCE 2. The following terms of reference are proposed for the new committee: (a) to review and, as appropriate, make recommendations to the Executive Board on: (i) (ii) (iii) the General Programme of Work, the Programme Budget and performance and assessment reports, evaluations,
(iv) the Interim Financial Report, the Financial Report and audited financial statements, together with the report of the External Auditor thereon, (v) the audit plans of the External and Internal Auditors and any reports submitted by them to the Executive Board, (vi) the reports of the Joint Inspection Unit,
(vii) the Secretariat’s responses to matters referred to in subsections (ii) to (vi) above,
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See document EB113/2004/REC/2, summary record of the tenth meeting, section 5.
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(viii) other financial and administrative matters on the proposed agenda for the next session of the Executive Board, (ix) (b) any other matter referred by the Executive Board;
to act on behalf of the Executive Board: (i) to consider the situation of the Members in arrears to an extent that would justify invoking Article 7 of the Constitution, (ii) to examine the Interim Financial Report, the Financial Report and audited financial statements and the report of the External Auditor, (iii) to consider any other programme, administrative, budgetary or financial matter that the Board may deem appropriate, (iv) to make comments or recommendations on all these matters directly to the Health Assembly.
NAME OF COMMITTEE 3. The proposed name of the committee is “Programme, Budget and Administration Committee”.
PERIODICITY OF MEETINGS 4. It is proposed that the committee shall meet twice annually: for up to three days (in budget years) before the January session of the Board, and for up to two days before the Health Assembly. The report of the committee would be presented to the Board early in each session, so that any recommendations contained therein might be fully considered during the Board’s deliberations.
COMPOSITION OF THE COMMITTEE 5. Bearing in mind the need for geographical representation and a reasonably sized committee thus providing a range of perspectives, it is proposed that the committee be composed of 14 members, two from each region selected from among Board members, plus the Chairman and a Vice-Chairman of the Board ex officio.
TERMS OF OFFICE (AND REQUIREMENTS FOR MEMBERSHIP) 6. Committee members should ideally serve for a two-year period, to allow for some continuity. Two office-bearers are proposed: a Chairman and a Vice-Chairman. They would be nominated from among committee members, for a one-year term, or two sessions of the committee, in the first instance (with a possibility of extending for a further year if they were still members of the Board). A practice could eventually be established that the Vice-Chairman would be selected from incoming members, and could then serve as Chairman during the second year in office.
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7. Since it is proposed that there will be more than one member from each region in the newly merged committee, efforts should be made wherever possible to ensure a balance of expertise in the composition of members between those with expertise in programme matters and those with expertise in management, financial and/or audit matters. 8. In this regard, in order to optimize effectiveness in the running of the committee with its enhanced responsibilities and capacity, the Secretariat proposes to provide briefing sessions for new members of the committee, for half a day each year (following the May session of the Board).
OTHER COMMITTEES 9. At its 113th session, the Executive Board adopted resolution EB113.R15, deciding that the WHO/UNICEF/UNFPA Coordinating Committee on Health should be disestablished. In January 2004, similar resolutions were adopted by the Executive Board of UNICEF (Decision 2004/1) and the Joint Executive Board of UNDP/UNFPA (2004/11). The Coordinating Committee on Health is thus disestablished.
ACTION BY THE EXECUTIVE BOARD 10. The Board is invited to comment on the foregoing proposals and suggestions.
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