Administration and finance

ONCHOCERCIASIS CONTROL PROGRAMME IN WEST AFRICA Expert Advisory Committee Twentyfirst session Ouagadougou. June 2000 Briefing session OCP lE AczllBriefing paper N' Original: ENGLISH ADMINISTRATION AND FINANCE 1. Introduction In addition to providing support to technical, scientific and operational activities of OCP, the Admininistration & Finance unit continues to render services to APOC, especially in the fields of personnel, finance, transport and supplies in the form of purchase of capital equipment for projects in the countries. A new Chief of Personnel, Mr G. Silga, has been appointed effective 1't February 2000 . 2. Budget and Finance (a) Budget 2000 The budget situation at 30 April 2000 is as follows: This represents actual disbursements This represents funds obligated but not spent, and includes staff salaries to December 2000, as well as aerial operations and larvicides for the whole year - Balance for operations to 31/12100 $ 1,284,212 (b) Plan of Action and Budget 2001 The first draft of the Plan of Action and Budget for 2001 is nearly completed. It is expected that the Budget for 2001 will be approximately US$ 14,500,000, i.e. 3.2 % lower than the Budget for 2000. 3. Transport and Telecommunications Management (a) The OCP vehicle fleet In this final phase of the Programme, the overall reduction of the fleet continues, because of no more purchases and reform of old vehicles. Guidelines are formulated for handing over some vehicles in good condition to National Teams, in the framework of transfer of residual activities of the Programme to the Participating countries. - Total budget for 2000 - Expenditure to 30/M/00 - Commitrnents to 30/04/00 $ 14,974,000$ 3,513,34 $ 10,176,444 5. 2 (b) The Radio Svstem Expansion of the OCP radio network to cover the capitals of all Participating countries, for use by the National Coordinators, is now completed. Installation of five Codan radios with cc- mail facilities is now working well and covers Ouagadougou and the main bases of the Programme. 4. Supplies and Services (a) Computerisation New material has been purchased and installed in the office in Ouagadougou, pe(nitting a required expansion and modernisation of the internal network . (b) Purchases Purchases of capital equipment are gradually decreasing in this final phase of the Programme. Fuel for vehicles and aircraft remains a major component of operating costs. Purchase of larvicides remains by far the heaviest order in financial terms, and roquires close monitoring from the supplier to the final destination in each country. Personnel As of 1 April 2000 , the number of staff in OCP was 282,94 with WHO/OCP stafi$, and 188 under different arrangements (Special Service Agreements). In addition,259 national staff, working in their own countries and paid by their Governments, with some benefits also amruing from OCP, are under OCP technical and administrative supervision. Training for staff will still be intensified. Some staff members have been trained sirpe the time of the last EAC meeting, in such diverse fields as secretariat, documentation, informatics, vehicle mechanics, finance and laboratory. Such training activities have different purposes : strengthening the quality of work in OCP, development of staff qualifications and - linked to the latter point - give a contribution to the reintegration/assimilation of staff into their netional systems once they leave OCP at the end of the Programme. At this time of phasing out ard with the end of the Programme in sight, Personnel department is also organising information and sensitisation of staff in various ways to help them through this important process of change. Information on Administrative issues OCP is currently made up of 282 employees, 94 of whom are of WHO status, and 188 of the Special Services Agreement (SSA). On the other hand, 259 national employees on local conffacts are working in their own countries as a support to the operations of the Programme, under the technical and administrative supervision of OCP. The Administration unit continued its support to the various operational units, as well as to the APOC Programme, in all areas that are under its responsibility, namely, budget and finance, personnel, supplies and general services, transport and communication. The number of vehicles acquired by the Programme was strictly in line with budgetary purposes. Therefore, vigilance of the highest order is exercised with respect to maintenance and the prevention of accidents, so as to have the maximum number of vehicles in use. 6. The number of vehicles acquired by the O.or.lrr.. was strictly in line with budgetary purposes. Therefore, vigilance of the highest order is exercised with respect ro maintenance and the prevention of accidents, so as to have the maximum number of vehicles in use. A staff sensitisation and support unit has been revamped to help staff members at headquarters and at the bases, to facilitate the re-insertion of staff in normal life, after the final closure of OCp in December 2002. The personnel office is examining the severance paylemoluments that could be proposed for staff members for the closure in20O2. With regard to technical installations, the obsolete computer network has been modernised ; internet services have been introduced on a wider scale in order to further develop gains ; a 300 KVA power plant has been acquired to make up the outages of the electricity company. The telecommunication network has been extended to the entire countries of the zone, and the e- mail system via radio, has been successful since it was set up in 1999.