EXECUTIVE BOARD 126th Session Provisional agenda item 8.3
EB126/32 8 January 2010
Appointment of the Internal Auditor Report by the Director-General
1. Paragraph 112.2 of Rule XII of the Financial Rules (Internal Audit) requires the DirectorGeneral to consult with the Executive Board before the appointment of the head of the Office of Internal Oversight Services and it requires that the head of the Office be technically qualified. 2. During the 124th session of the Executive Board in January 2009, the Director-General announced that the then holder of the post would retire in October 2009. She proposed a fair and transparent recruitment process for the successor that would include wide advertising and efforts to attract candidates from developing countries. She urged Member States to make the position known nationally. The Board endorsed her proposals.1 3. The Director-General appointed an interview panel comprising senior staff of WHO. The panel engaged the Director of Internal Audit from another United Nations organization to advise on the technical competence of candidates during each phase of the recruitment process. A vacancy notice was issued on 31 March 2009, and, according to normal recruitment procedures, posted on the WHO web site. It was also transmitted by note verbale to Member States with permanent missions in Geneva with a request to circulate it as widely as possible to professional societies within their respective countries. Concurrently, announcements were placed in major newspapers and magazines and the vacancy notice was also posted on appropriate professional Internet sites. The announcement remained open until 15 June 2009 in order to attract a large number of candidates. 4. The panel reviewed 195 applications in order to identify those candidates whose profile best matched the requirements of the post. This review yielded 18 candidatures of interest; these were scrutinized with respect to education, professional qualification, substantive oversight experience and language capabilities. From this group, the panel agreed a short-list of nine candidates. As a screening measure, these candidates were invited to participate in a written examination to test their theoretical knowledge of technical topics related to oversight. Five candidates were then invited to WHO headquarters for interview and a second written examination to test their knowledge of the application of standards with respect to internal audits and evaluation projects. The assessment also substantiated the candidates’ understanding of investigation techniques and confirmed their competency in French and English using a practical exercise. In controlled conditions, the candidates prepared a presentation on an oversight topic, which they then delivered in front of the panel. During the interview, panel members asked questions about the content of the presentation and further competency-based questions that they had formulated in advance.
1
Document EB124/2009/REC/2, summary record of the twelfth meeting, section 3.
EB126/32
5. As a result of this process, the Director-General has decided to select Mr David Webb for the post of Director of the Office of Internal Oversight Services from 1 February 2010.
ACTION BY THE EXECUTIVE BOARD 6. The Executive Board is invited to note this report.
=
=
=
2