1. WHO Africa

38th Regional Programme Meeting Ends, Adopts recommendations and action points

38th Regional Programme Meeting Ends, Adopts recommendations and action points

Brazzaville, 17 April 2007 -- The 38th session of the Regional Programme Meeting of the WHO African Region ended Tuesday with the adoption of recommendations and points for immediate action. 

The meeting recommended that WHO should continue to be proactive regarding the ongoing reforms in the United Nations system, and that the Regional Office should document experiences in four pilot countries - Cape Verde, Mozambique, Tanzania and Rwanda – where the reforms are being undertaken in the region. 

It was agreed that missions to countries be coordinated between WRs of benefiting countries and the coordinators of the Inter Country Support Teams. 

They also recommended that staff work plans should be internally peer-reviewed before submission to the Director of Programme management. 

The points on which participants agreed to take immediate action are:
  • Divisions and WHO country offices should make efforts to comply with guidelines and business rules in addition to meeting deadlines proposed for work plans
  • Interactions for joint planning process should actively continue between WCOs, the Regional Office and WHO Headquarters in order to come up with realistic work plans
  • Country Cooperation Strategies should be re-aligned with the WHO managerial process and harmonized with United Nations Country Team and Government planning cycles
  • Re-profiling should continue alongside the development of the work plans for 2008 – 2009, and WRs should take decisions based on the advice of the Regional Personnel Officer
  • Work plans should be submitted for approval by 30 October 2007
  • The Regional Personnel Officer should share with WCOs relevant information on the implementation of contractual reforms

Closing the meeting, the Regional Director, Dr Luis Sambo, thanked the WRs for the work they were doing in countries and re-iterated that the centralization of WHO operations in the region was designed to bring technical resources closer to the countries; ensure the delegation of authority and the strengthening of accountability, and bring about a quantitative and qualitative flow of human and financial resources to enable WHO achieve its objectives.

The Regional Programme Meeting, one of WHO’s managerial organs in the African Region, comprises the Regional Director, the Director of Programme Management, Divisional Directors, all WRs, Regional Advisers and Area of Work Focal Points.

This year’s programme meeting was unique because it was the first to be attended by a WHO Director General. The Director-General, Dr Margaret Chan used the occasion of the meeting to address and meet with WHO staff at the Regional and country offices in Brazzaville.


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