SIXT TY-FIFTH WORLD W HEA ALTH ASS SEMBLY Prov visional age enda item 18.1
A65/49 9 1 May 2012 2 21
Human reso ources: annual repo ort Seventh h report of o the Pro ogramme e, Budget and Ad dministra ation Comm mittee of f the Exec cutive Bo oard to th he Six xty-fifth World Health H As ssembly
1. The sixteen nth meeting of the Prog gramme, Bud dget and Adm ministration Committee was held in n Gene eva from 16 to t 18 May 20 012 under the e chairmansh hip of Dr M.A.O. Saíde ( (Mozambiqu ue).1 2. The Comm mittee expressed concern that the doc cument had only o been ma made available on the day y befor re the openin ng of the mee eting. Accor rdingly, mem mbers had not had the opp portunity to fully review w n on non-sta the co ontents. The e expanded format fo was, h however, we elcomed. The e new section aff contracts, , provi ided in respo onse to requests made by y the Execu utive Board at a its 130th s session, which had been n respo onsible for some s of the delay in th he finalizatio on of the document, wou uld form a baseline for r valua able trend analysis in the future. The Comm 3. mittee highlighted the i importance of strategic and operat tional huma an resources s mana agement. Me embers recom mmended th hat WHO en nhance its efforts in this s regard, pa articularly in n relation to more e systematic succession planning. It was note ed that the increase in number of f retire ements forese een over the e next 10 ye ears provided d a significan nt opportuni ity for the Organization. O . Every y effort must t be made to ensure the c continued recruitment of f highly quali lified staff. A Committee e memb ber noted tha at only 0.7% % of positions s in the profe fessional and higher categ gories requir red a nursing g specialty. Diversi ity, over- an nd under-rep presentation, in terms of both sex an nd geographi ical balance, , were seen to be high h prioritie es for WHO in the recru uitment and deployment d of staff. The e Committee e asked d that geogra aphical diver rsity at head dquarters be improved. The T Committ tee also emp phasized that t the O Organization must place renewed stre ess on the re ecruitment of women esp pecially at P.5 P level and d above e where pro ogress had been b relative ely slow to date. There were signif ficant differe ences in the e achie evement of gender g parit ty across W WHO major offices. o In reply r to this s concern, th he Regional l Direc ctors for the e American, , European and Eastern n Mediterran nean Region ns stated their personal l comm mitment to re each gender parity p in thei ir regions. 4. The Comm mittee stresse ed that huma an resources must be at the t heart of a all aspects of o the reform m agend da within WHO. W In resp ponse to que estions, it wa as clarified that t WHO h has initiated a review of f appoi intment policies, includi ing mechanis sms for the reassignmen nt and separa ration of staf ff. Proposals s nsive interna were expected to be made, fol llowing exten al consultatio on, to the Ex xecutive Boar rd in 2013.
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For the list of o participants, see document A A65/44, Annex x.
A65/49
5. The C Committee appreciated a the t innovatio ons in relatio on to data on n the non-sta aff elements in the workforce. This allowed a better un nderstanding g of the role played by th hat particula ar group. Reg gional differences in the use of contract types wer re explored and clarific cation provi ided by Reg gional Directors. O On this issue, and more generally, g the e Committee e noted diffic culties in inte egrating data a from the Region of the Ameri icas. 6. Committee stated s that the Organizati ion must con ntinue to imp prove its supp port to staff in the The C developmen nt of their skills and comp petencies. Th he Committe ee noted that the Organiz zation continu ued to explore new w technologie es and tools to deliver tar argeted training. The curr rent initiative e on the eLea arning platform wa as recognized d. ce of mobili 7. The C Committee underlined u th he importanc ity as a tool to build cap apacity and ensure e knowledge sharing and d transfer ac cross the O Organization. Mobility, while w not be eing cost ne eutral, supported e enhanced pro ogramme deli ivery and dev velopment of o staff expertise. The C 8. Committee asked a that in future repor rts, the Secre etariat should d disaggrega ate the inform mation on longer-te erm contracts to distingu uish between staff holding g fixed-term and continu uing appointm ments. A Member State reque ested inform mation to be provided in n future on the t criteria for conversi ion of appointmen nts from fixed d-term to con ntinuing. 9. In its s discussions s, the Committee emphas sized that the e quality, rat ther than the e quantity of f staff, was crucial l. In this reg gard, there was w a need for a robus st performan nce managem ment system m. The Committee looked forw ward to furthe er informatio on on achieve ements in tha at area over t the coming years. y 10. The C Committee asked a for cla arification on n the fact that, despite th he reduction n in the numb ber of staff, the o overall staffi ing costs ha ad remained d at 50% of f expenditure over the past decade e. The Secretariat e explained th hat this was due, d in large part, to the significant decline d in the e value of WHO’s W currency of f account, the e US dollar.
RECOMM MENDATIO ON TO TH HE HEALT TH ASSEM MBLY 11. The C Committee re ecommended d, on behalf of the Execu utive Board, that the Heal alth Assembly y note the report.
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