Thank you Mr Chair,
I am speaking on behalf of the Nordic and Baltic countries, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Iceland
We thank for the update on human resource experiences and lessons learnt in connection to the ebola outbreak.
One such important lesson is the confirmation of the need for a skills inventory in the organization. Such an inventory would have allowed the Organization to more easily identify staff that had the skill sets for immediate deployment. A skills inventory would provide the needed basis for having the right the person at the right place, doing the rights things, both in emergencies and regular work.
We would like to reiterate our support for the new global staff mobility scheme. In our view, introduction of such a policy is a fundamental part of WHO reform and necessary to make the Organization Fit for Purpose.
We note that the new scheme is scheduled for early 2016 and we look forward to its full and timely implementation, with a key role played by staff representatives.
The report lays out two significant benefits of this reform. Firstly, improved staff performance and efficiency and secondly, better alignment of the staff structure. We agree with this and believe that the new policy will enable WHO to become a truly global and not regionalized Organization.
Turning to the update on the implementation of the human resources strategy, we see the harmonization of selection processes as well as the introduction of generic job descriptions including for heads of WHO offices as steps in the right direction. We also welcome the new Performance Management and Development Framework and its policies on rewarding excellence and managing underperformance. These must now be implemented throughout the organization.
As also raised during PBAC21 in January of this year, we are concerned about the slow progress to reach a more balanced gender representation in WHO. We still seek clarity on the active measures undertaken by the secretariat to speed up progress and ask for information in this regard.
Thank you.