| GB.267/PFA/8/3
267th Session November 1996 |
| Programme, Financial and Administrative Committee | PFA |
EIGHTH ITEM ON THE AGENDA
Preparation of the Programme and Budget
proposals for 1990-99
Proposed rationalization of field structures
for 1998-99
1. At its 265th Session (March 1996) the Governing Body considered a paper on the rationalization of ILO field structures.(1) The study contained information and observations on the organization of the regional departments, on the functions and activities of the ILO's field structures and on their operating costs. It also proposed hypotheses and criteria for rationalizing the field structures. After considering the study, the Governing Body decided to continue its discussion on the matter at its 267th Session (November 1996).
2. Without prejudging the outcome of this discussion, the Director-General is considering including a number of rationalization measures in his Programme and Budget proposals for 1998-99 along the lines described below.
3. The document submitted to the Governing Body in March 1996 envisaged three possible ways of rationalizing the field structures: merging offices, along with a restructuring of their geographical coverage; transforming existing structures; and reducing operating costs in various ways.
4. Merging an area office with a multidisciplinary team (MDT) is a first category of possible measures. The object would be to pool the administrative resources of the area offices and MDTs, to integrate their management functions and to create a single programming and administrative support service. This would not be possible for all area offices and MDTs for reasons connected with the size of their respective area of coverage, the diversity of the countries covered by each structure and their volume of activities. The fact is that merging an area office of MDT does not entail the physical disappearance of one or the other, or the combining of their respective roles and functions, but rather giving them a single decision-making centre and thus improving the compatibility of their activities.
5. The criteria for such mergers are: first, that the two units are in the same country and that their geographical coverage is as far as possible identical; second, that all the functions of the two structures can be directed by a single management. Both the technical capacity and the administrative capacity of the merged structure must be maintained, so as not to lower the quality and speed of the services rendered to the constituents. When both of the units clearly handle a diversified and complex programme of technical cooperation and require a major financial commitment, the idea of merging an area office and an MDT should not be entertained.
6. Restructuring the area covered may mean closing an area office or transferring it to another host country if this is justified on technical or other grounds connected with the execution of the programme. The essential criterion here is to listen to the member States themselves and make sure that the services rendered are both efficient and cost effective.
7. The second type of rationalization measure envisaged is the transformation of existing structures. The study submitted to the Governing Body last March concluded that the diversity of the structures that make up the network of field offices is a reflection of their specialized functions and activities and the economic and social circumstances of the member States. The study suggests maintaining this diversity which is an advantage for the Organization and a source of know-how that helps it to adapt the size and nature of its field structures over the years according to its priority objectives, the changing needs of the constituents and the resources available to it. There are, however, two possible scenarios for transforming field structures: turning an area office into a branch office or national correspondent, and vice versa; or creating an ad hoc structure to carry out certain functions of an area office in liaison with an MDT for a given period so as to meet specific technical assistance and cooperation needs, as in the case of Nepal where the ILO's "principal technical adviser" operates along these lines. This ad hoc structure would report back to an existing area office, and the decision to set it up in a particular country would be taken in conjunction with the constituents concerned and in the light of the Organization's financial possibilities.
8. The third category of rationalization measures comprises various formulas for cutting administrative costs in field offices. One way to do this would be to reduce the size of an area office when its activities declined for a substantial period of time, without changing its functions or coverage. This avoids under-using resources when technical cooperation activities slow down considerably or when the constituents' needs change, but it does not reduce the office's capacity subsequently to extend its programme of activities and respond quickly to requests for services from the Organization's partners. Another possibility is, where possible, to substitute local staff for internationally recruited staff, who are generally more costly. An essential point that must be observed here is that the principles of loyalty and independence of the functions concerned are maintained.
9. A reduction in operating costs can also stem from the desire of the host country of a field office to participate in its expenditure, provided that the form of such aid is compatible with the ILO Constitution and with its administrative and financial regulations. The paper submitted to the Governing Body last March showed that in some countries it would be reasonable for the Organization to consider pursuing a long-term policy of acquisition of its field offices. The choice of countries could be based on a range of criteria such as local safety conditions, and the existence of an open real estate market, the size of the office, the share of the rent in the office's running costs, the comparative cost of renting the space, and the period of amortization of the investment involved. There could also be other criteria, such as the offer of a subsidy from the host government, the guarantee of the loan covering the purchase cost, or the gift of land or of a building to the Organization.
Africa
10. At present the network of field offices in Africa consists of 18 units: 12 area offices, five MDTs and one regional office. The geographical coverage of these various units must take into account the continent's political, economic and language situation and ensure the most efficient and economical operating facilities.
11. It is proposed to create a new MDT at Yaoundé to service central Africa. In this way, the countries that continue to be covered by the team in Abidjan will form a more homogenous group. The new MDT will be merged with the area office in Yaoundé, which will then cover Congo and Zaire. Meanwhile, Burundi and Rwanda will be serviced by the area office in Dar es Salaam, and therefore by the Addis Ababa MDT for technical activities. The extended geographical coverage of these area offices would result in the closure of the office in Kinshasa, where it is proposed, if necessary, to establish a post of principal technical adviser if this is justified by the needs and scope of the programmes in the country. As to Mauritius and the Seychelles, which are currently serviced by the MDT in Addis Ababa, they will now be covered by the MDT in Harare.
12. The field structures in North Africa need to be rationalized. At present the Organization has two area offices, in Algiers and Cairo, and a small MDT in Cairo covering just Egypt and Sudan, while the Magreb countries are covered by the MDT in Dakar. The six North African countries would be better served by a single MDT based at an area office in a city than can offer satisfactory operating conditions and communications and cover Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Sudan and Tunisia.
Americas
13. The rationalization plan for the Americas would entail minor adjustments to the existing structure. On the one hand, the coverage of the area offices in San José and Port of Spain would be redefined, so as to have Belize and the Dominican Republic serviced by the former. The MDT based in San José would thus serve Belize, just as it is already doing for the Dominican Republic.
14. Furthermore, since the area office and the MDT in Lima cover the same Andean countries, they would be merged and the technical staff of the team reinforced. The MDT in Santiago will in future serve as the area office in the host country (Chile), thus taking over this responsibility from the Lima Office.
Arab States
15. The field network in this region consists of a regional office and an MDT, both based in Beirut (Lebanon). The Organization is also represented in Kuwait by a member of the Beirut MDT for the development and implementation of a vast programme of human resource development. The Government of Kuwait recently informed the Director-General of its offer to contribute to the financing of the office of an ILO representative in Kuwait, and its implications are currently being studied.
16. In Palestine the first peace agreements gave rise to a broad programme of technical cooperation, especially in human resource training, employment, enterprise development, working conditions and social security. The implementation of the ILO's programme of action for Palestine already comprises some 30 projects worth nearly $100 million in all and requires the presence of the ILO alongside the UNDP to manage and coordinate our activities in the area. The nature of this presence will be determined by the needs that are identified with the constituents concerned.
Asia and the Pacific
17. In Asia the rationalization of the ILO's field structures essentially involves better balancing the geographical coverage in the South-East subregion and enhancing the region's technical capability by expanding the range of technical skills. The rapid and complex changes that are taking place in Viet Nam, in particular, mean that we must restructure our means of action in this region as well as our regional resources. We therefore propose to create a post of "principal technical adviser" of the ILO in Hanoi in 1998-99 to provide support for the country's development programme.
18. For historical reasons South Asia has four area offices (New Delhi, Dhaka, Colombo and Islamabad), plus a technical adviser in Kathmandu since the last biennium. Given both the Organization's financial circumstances and the demands of productivity, the regional resources have to be redistributed. The existing structures in Kathmandu (Nepal) and Colombo (Sri Lanka) will be maintained in the form of light structures (technical advisers). The conversion of the Colombo area office into an adviser post is because of the recent trend in the volume of activities in the country. It is planned to reduce the size of the Dhaka and Manilla area offices by doing away with the post of Deputy-Director and thus to cut their operating costs. The savings will be used to strengthen the technical capability of the MDTs in the region; for 1998-99 this will mean adding three new experts to the Manilla MDT and transferring a post from the Bangkok team to the New Delhi team. The nature of the latter post will be determined by the needs that are identified, including the formulation of country objectives.
19. Given the considerable disparity between the geographical coverage of the area offices and the MDTs, it is not at this point recommended that these structures in Asia be merged, but the opportuneness of doing so will continue to be studied.
Europe
20. The present network in Europe consists of 16 units: one regional office, two area offices, one MDT, five branch offices, one liaison office and six national correspondents. The gradual reorganization of the network which began in the 1994-95 biennium will continue in 1998-99 in order better to respond to the increase of activities in the transitional member States.
21. The MDT in Budapest is not in a position to handle satisfactorily the requests for technical services from the constituents in all the countries in the region. The creation of a new MDT will be proposed, which could be set up in Moscow in order to take advantage of the area office's administrative resources in the city. The new MDT will consist of five experts and will cover ten countries, including eight Central Asian and Trans-Caucasian States that the Budapest team is at present unable to service.(2) In future the Budapest MDT will also serve as area office for the countries it covers. In Moscow the existing area office will be merged with the new MDT and placed under the same management. This restructuring will breathe new life into the partnership with the constituents in the region and facilitate the coordination of the programmes of activities carried out there. The ILO's presence in Central Asia will be strengthened by the creation of two national correspondent posts in Kazakstan and Uzbekistan.
Branch offices
22. Branch offices differ from area offices in their approach to their relations and cooperation with the constituents. The branch offices, which are generally established in industrialized countries, focus on information and political dialogue in order to provide guidelines for the Organization's objectives and to support its technical cooperation in developing countries. Unlike area offices, they are headed by nationals of the host country who are nevertheless required to exhibit discretion and independence in the exercise of their functions. In area offices technical cooperation is a major function, and it is exercised through dialogue with the constituents and through an analysis of their needs in order to define the objectives and formulate the programmes of activities or to promote tripartism and the values of the Organization.
23. It may be in the interests of a host country, in the light of its changing political, economic and social circumstances, to have an area office transformed into a branch office in order to pursue its partnership with the Organization along new lines. The decisive factor in such a decision is the relative importance of technical cooperation activities in the ILO's dialogue and programme with the country. It is for this reason that the transformation of the Ankara area office into a branch office will be proposed; it could well be that similar transformations might interest other countries such as Argentina, Brazil and Mexico, where the ILO's activities have evolved to a point where new forms of cooperation can be entertained. In this event, these area offices' current services to the other countries would continue to be provided by an appropriate arrangement.
24. The rationalization of the branch offices in the industrialized countries has already been discussed in the Governing Body.(3) The process must continue in order to strengthen the dialogue with the constituents in these countries. The reforms envisaged for the branch offices in Western Europe, Washington and Tokyo are designed to implement a new strategy of relations and partnership with the constituents and institutions in the countries concerned. The strategy seeks to enhance these offices' capacity to give the ILO's activities in the industrialized countries a higher profile and to encourage the industrialized countries to cooperate more in the objectives pursued in the developing countries. Among other things, this will mean developing the capability of these offices to engage in an active dialogue with the constituents in the industrialized countries on the social, political and technical aspects of the issues of concern to them. A similar dialogue will be pursued with the regional institutions and international cooperation agencies that are established there.
25. The functions and role of these offices will accordingly be redefined in order to encourage the creation of think-tanks with national counterparts, the provision of more specific ILO information to the constituents and national institutions on the fields in which they are interested, the organization of debates on the current problems of the world of work, and more extensive public relations. Finally, a special effort will be made to bring the directors of technical research at headquarters and the national experts who are interested in benefiting from or contributing to that research closer together.
Conclusion
26. These proposals constitute one stage in the process of rationalization of the field structures. Other measures may prove necessary to enable the Office better to serve its constituents and to ensure that the latter benefit as much as possible from the Office's activities. With a view to strengthening the active partnership policy, therefore, the Office will continue to study how it can improve the links and relations between the ILO and the industrialized countries where the Organization has no representation.
27. The implementation of the proposals contained in this paper will begin only once the Programme and Budget has been adopted, prior to which appropriate consultations will be held with the constituents of the countries concerned.
Geneva, 22 October 1996.
1 Document GB265/3/2: Study on the rationalization of ILO field structures, Geneva, March 1996.
2 The countries covered by the new MDT will be decided in consultation with the constituents concerned but could include: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russian Federation, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.
3 Documents GB.264/PFA/R.3 and GB.265/PFA/9, November 1995.