WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION EXECUTIVE BOARD 106th Session Provisional agenda item 7 EB106/5 11 May 2000
Draft terms of reference of the Meetings of Interested Parties Report by the Secretariat
1. In its discussion of the draft policy on extrabudgetary resources1 in January 2000, the Executive Board requested that draft terms of reference for the Meetings of Interested Parties should be submitted to its 106th session in May.2 2. WHO has held annual or biennial meetings to discuss the work of particular programmes for many years. In some cases these meetings were required as part of the modalities for cosponsorship arrangements, such as in the field of tropical disease research. These had more formal status. In other cases, meetings were arranged to facilitate interaction between the programme and interested parties, especially those which contributed voluntary funds. There was, however, no systematic approach. 3. The establishment two years ago of clusters organized to bring together related areas of work has enabled recent Meetings of Interested Parties to be organized along cluster lines, while also taking care to ensure that meetings required as part of a cosponsored programme were held within this arrangement. 4. Based on experience to date, it is WHO’s intention to continue to hold Meetings of Interested Parties in addition to the formal meetings of the cosponsored programmes. The latter will be held in accordance with the memoranda of agreement on which the programmes are based. In the case of the other Meetings of Interested Parties, provisional guidelines have been prepared and are attached as an Annex. They have been drafted to allow some flexibility in the way of working to meet the individual needs of each cluster.
ACTION BY THE EXECUTIVE BOARD 5. The Executive Board is invited to take note of the proposed guidelines for Meetings of Interested Parties.
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Document EB105/9. Decision EB105(2).
EB106/5
ANNEX GUIDELINES
(a) Meetings of Interested Parties are intended to enable Member States and entities that contribute voluntary resources to the work of WHO to exchange their views and evaluations of the usefulness and productivity of a particular part of the Organization’s work. (b) The Meetings represent an opportunity for parties, both contributors and countries receiving funding, to share views and information, and to discuss technical options, managerial issues, value added by WHO, and financial requirements for reaching objectives set by the Executive Board and Health Assembly. (c) Discussions will generally address key issues for each area of work: achievements to date (in the form of progress reports with monitoring and evaluation data); strategic goals (in the form of work plans); accountability (in the form of financial reports); and funding needs. (d) Reports on the Meetings will be communicated regularly to the Executive Board, and the views of the Board thereon in turn made available to the Meetings. (e) Member States, organizations of the United Nations system and development banks will be invited to participate in Meetings. Staff from WHO regional offices and appropriate WHO Representatives will also participate. Other parties invited to attend, on a more limited basis, may be relevant nongovernmental organizations, donor foundations and private sector partners, or representatives of groups of interested parties. (f) The Meetings will normally be held in Geneva, bearing in mind the views of the Member States participating in them, and will, whenever possible, be grouped together.
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