Onchocerciasis Control Programme in West Africa: Committee of Sponsoring Agencies, report of the forty-sixth session, Paris, 17 – 18 October 1990

RESTRICTED ocP/csA/46 ENGLISH ONLY ONCHOCERCIASIS CONTROL PROGRAIUME IN WEST AFRICA COIUMITTEE OF SPONSORINC AGENCIES Report of the forty-sixth session Paris, 17-18 Oc tober 199O " ocP/csA.46page 2 CONTENTS OPENING OF THE SESS]ON ADOPTION OF THE AGENDA APPROVAL 0F THE REPORT 0F CSA.45 MATTERS ARISTNC FROIU THE REPORT 0F CSA.45 EXTERNAL REVIEI,i OF OCP PREPARATIONS FOR PHASE ]V FUTURE OF OCT ARRANGEMENTS FOR JPC. 11 SOCIOECONOIUIC DEVELOPMENT ANY OTHER BUSINESS DATES AND PLACES OF CSA NIEETINGS IN 1991 ANNEX I: PARTICIPANTS A B D E F Ll H I J K Page 3 3 3 3 3 4 4 4 4 5 6 7 A. OPEN]NG OF THE SESSION 1. The forty-sixth session of the Committee o hel-d in the World Bank Office, paris, on J-l-1 chairmansl-rip of Mr Florent Agueh. OCP/CSA.46 page 3 ponsoring Agencies (CSA) was ctober 1!!0 under the fS BO B. ADOPTION OF THE AGENDA 2. The agenda, as presented in the contents list of tl-re report, rdas adopted. c. APPROVAL 0F THE REPORT 0F CSA.45 l. After minor editorial change, the report of CSA.45 was formally adopted D. IUATTERS ARISING FROM THE REPORT OF CSA.45 4. rdHO Re ional Office for Africa ( item D.5): The Committee discussed the respective authorities of the t\rHO Regional Office for Africa and of theProgramure, lvith reference being made to the Regional Director's delegation of aut.hor-ity to the Programme Director for the technical irnpJ-ementati,on of t1-rePrograntme. The Committee was a]so provided r,uith additional cl-arj.fication on therespective r-esponsibilities of the Regional Director and the Programrne Directortr'ith regar-d to administratj-ve rnatters. fn the light of tl-ris clar-i-flcation and acknorvledging the unique institutional- structure of the Progranrme, tl-re Cournrittee urged the parties concerned to address administrative j.ssues in a spirit ofconsultation and col-l-aboratj-on so as to avoid elements of ambiguity and misunders tanding. E. EXTERNAL REVIEW OF OCP l' The Committee reviewed a revised draft report of the External- Review Team andnoted that the authors of the report had adequately refl-ected the comments nadeby the CSA during its previous (45th) session. As the final- repor.t of theExternal Revier,'r Team would be an official working document for JpC.11, theCommittee decided that the most appropriate medium for it to present its comments to the JPC, was through its "reflections" presentation. This woul_d,inter alia focus upon the External Revi,ew's fi-ndings and recornmendations withregard to the proposed PIan of Operations for the fourth Financial- phase. 5. tdith the aim of coordinating presentations to JPC.1-L, the committee rnet rvit.hthe Team Leader of the External- Review, and, with the Chairman and a lrlember. ofthe Expert Advisory Committee (EAC) for an informal exchange of views on theconclusions dratun by the External Revier,u Team. It r.uas concluded from thediscussions that the information and vj-ews provided by the EAC and OCp staff tothe Ext.erna1 Review Team had been well represented in the report. The Committee was aLso pleased to note that the External Revj-ew supported the programme,sfuture strategy as formulated over the last year or so and as endorsed by theEAC during its l-1th session in June 1990. OcP/csA.45 page 4 F. PREPARATIONS FOR PHASE IV /. The Cotttmittee considered a ner,u draf t Plarr of' Operations for tl-re fourtl-rFinancial Phase (1992-1997) which had been prepared in the light of conrments made by the Committee during its 4!th session (August 1990). In particuJ-ar., thenel draft presented up-dated budget estimates separately in r-espect to baselinecosts and to price conti-ngencies. 8. It ru'as agreed that the draft Pfan of Operations containing budgetaryforecasts tot L))2-1997 totalling us $185 million including price contingencies,be presented to the JPC in December 1!!0. Subsequent to Jpc.11 the plan ofOperations and its budget might need to be adjusted to take into account theJPC's approval or othert,rise of the recommendations of the Externar Revierv Teanrand their other comments. C. FUTURE OF OCT 9. Having revier,ued the OCT report to JPC.11, the Committee felt that there wasinsufficient detail in the proposed OCT budgets for the fourth Flnancia] phase.The Programme Director t,ras therefore requested to obtain detailed budgetforecasts and justifications for the years t992-1,g97 from the ocT }lanager, rvhichcouLd be annexed to the Pfan of Operations for the fourth Financiar phase. H. ARRANGEIIENTS FOR JPC.11 10' The Committee was informed that on two occasions, programme staf'f hadvisited Conakry to collaborate wlth the Guinean national authorities in makingthe appropriate arrangelnents for JPC.11. Within the programme, pr.eparations forthe distribution of working documents to JPC participants were proceeding asscheduled, with the aim of despatching them blfore the end of October 1990. I. SOCIOECONOMIC DEVELOPIIENT Land SettLement Revier,u 11' The Programme Di'rector provided the committee with an account of a jointryorganized FA0/uNDp/0cp/ldorld Bank seminar on l_and settlement inonchocerciasis-controlled areas which was held in OCp Headquarters on 25-27September 1990' The seminar had been well- attended by representatives of theParticipating countries and the Sponsoring Agencies and rvas recognj-zed by. allconcerned as having been very worthwhile. 1-2' The main objective of the seminar was to discuss the findings andrecommendations of a Land Settl-ement Revierv (LSR) prepar-ed by tie rnstitute for.Development Anthropology, United States of Arnerica; a study of settlementexperi'ences in the eleven Participating Countries rvith the objective ofdetermining the factors that have contributed to sustainable settfement,-relateddevelopment in areas covered by the ocP. Seminar participants agreed that l-andsettlenent in oncho-controlled areas \das a vital- developmlnt toplc and that theLSR had provided Participating Countries with useful- recommendations. Thecompte rendu of the seminar wourd be distributed to JpC.L1 participants as anannex to the cSA progress Report on Socioeconomic Devel0pment. La OcP/csA.46 page 5 Future role of the CSA in socioeconomic development 13. tdhile agreeing that it had fu1fi1led its commi-tments to the JpC in respectto socioecomic development, the CSA acknowl-edged that there was stil1 nruch to bedone on the ground which was the prime responsibility of the ParticipatingCountries either singly or in concert. The CSA therefore considered its continuing role as supporting the efforts of the Participating Countries, bykeeping abreast of socioeconomic developments, by encouraging the Governments ofthe Participating Countries to proceed, with developnent programrnes, projects and processes, and, whenever necessary, by providing the link with specialized organizations/institutions concerned with settlement and the broad environmentalimpact of area development. 14. In the light of the recommendations of the Land Settlement Review seminar.(see paras 11 and 12), the Sponsoring Agencies would consul-t to identify a suitable mechanism which would draw both on a specific support project and upor1the relevant activities and experLize of the various development agencies working in the Programme area. The guiding principles would be to support theParticipating Countries in their national development efforts and to strengtheninter-country coor.dination. J. ANY OTHER BUSINESS Non-Gover-nmental Or.ganiz ati ons (NGO's ) /Pri vate Vo}.lntar.y Orqanizations(PVO's) 1,5. The Contmittee was informed that in the Senate Report to the United StatesCongress, US $5 million ofl the appropriatlon of US $135 million to the Agencyfor International Development (AID) for liscal year 7991, had been earmarked for onchocerciasis control. At the same time, the Senate Commit,tee, recognizlngthat PVO's will have an important role to play after OCP's invofvement ends, encouraged AID to make appropriate funds availabl-e for PVO's to begin to developexpertize in combatting onchocerciasis. A proportion of the US $5 millionall-ocated to USA]D could be made avairabre to support pvo's in 1991. 16. The Committee further dj-scussed a number of options for an appropriatefiscal intermediary to administer the financing of PVO's from AfD funds, toensure that PVO activities vrere wel-l coordinated with those of the progranme, and requested the trtorl-d Bank to examj.ne them more cIosely. Proqramm e staff situation 1/. The Prograntme's Chief of Administration Services presented to the Committeea detailed report entj-tled "Evolution of ocP staff, phases III and IV" whichprovided detailed descriptions of staff complements and costs over the l-ast! years and predl-ctions for the future. The purpose of this presentatlon r,vas toprovide clarification which would allow a better understanding of why staffcosts continued to rise despite the fact that there \,rere contlnuous staffreductions; an issue of considerable relevance to the Ptan of Action and Budgetfor 1tt1 and the Plan of Operations for the fourth Financial phase. \ OcP/csA.45 page 6 18. It was explained that staff costs for lnternational-ly recruited staffincluded gross salaries, cost-of-living adjustments, statutory allor,,rances andgrants, other emoluments provided for in the ldHO Staff Ru1es, and contributionsto the U.N. Joint Staff Pension Fund (15,8%) and to medical insurance (2,5ii,).ldhat was most important was that the leve1s of these entitlements and contributions, and the rates at which they increased, were dictated by the U.N. Common System of Salaries, A]lowances and Benefits and therefore rvere noL underthe control of the Programme. The decline i,n the value of the US $ r^,,as anotherfactor which exacerbated the disparity between staff numbers and staff costs. 1'9. The Committee noted that substantial reductions in personnel costs could only be achieved if a significant number of staff could be transfered fronrinternational to nationaf contractual terms; a proposal which rvould bepresented to JPC.11 in the context of devolution during the fourth FinancialPhase. Such transfers could lead to annual savings of between US $4.! million(75/. transfer) and US $6 million (1,00% transfler), but would obviousJ-y have ro bephased in. 20. Fina]ly, the Committee requested the Programme to conducL a simil-arpersonnel study of the staff already employed on natj-onaI terms in the WesternExtensj-on countries. Tl-re findings from such a study viewed in refation to thedata which were now availab]e on international- staff would enable an assessmentto be rnade of the overal-l- staff situati-on and of the national contributionsrequired for staff as the devolution process progressed. K. DATES AND PLACES OF CSA IIEETINGS IN 1991 2L. Tl-re Committee tentatively agreed upon the following schedule of meetings: Date Events Location 2 December L990 7t-72 Aprit 199j. 10-11 July 1991 September 1!t1 11 October 1.997 L December 1,991, csA.47 CSA.48 csA.49 csA. 50 csA.51 csA. 52 Conakry Geneva Paris (?) Paris Riyadh I L ocP/csA.45 page 7 ANNEX 1 Secretariat - h'orld Bank - FAO UNDP I'JHO PART]CIPANTS Mr Florent Agueh (Chairnan) Mr Bruce Benton IVr Cyril G. Groom Mr Benjamin A. Gurman Dr Ebrahim M. Samba Dr C.-H. Vignes Dr David Baldry, Chief, ( Secretary ) OCP Liaison Office, I/iHO, Geneva Dr O1e Id. Christensen, OCp Consultant, IJHO, Geneva Itlr Ceorge Koulischer, C. A. M. , OCp, Ouagadougou Dr Bernhard Liese, Director, Hearth Services Department, world Bank,Washington. Prof. G. Webbe, Leader of the External Review I'eam Prof. A.S. Muller, Chairman, Expert Advisory Committee Prof. D.H. Molyneux, Member, Expert. Advisory Committ.ee Members In attendance