SECOND REGULAR SESSION OF UNICEF EXECUTIVE BOARD TO BE HELD AT HEADQUARTERS, 18 - 19 MARCH
Press Release
ICEF/1840*
SECOND REGULAR SESSION OF UNICEF EXECUTIVE BOARD TO BE HELD AT HEADQUARTERS, 18 - 19 MARCH
19970314 Background Release Management Excellence Programme, Maurice Pate Award, Country Programme Mid-term Reviews among Topics to Be Discussed(Reproduced as received.)
NEW YORK, 12 March (UNICEF) -- Members of the Executive Board of the United Nations Childrens Fund (UNICEF), meeting in New York on 18-19 March at their second regular session of 1997, will review the annual report of Executive Director Carol Bellamy to the Economic and Social Council, as well as a report on the Funds ongoing Management Excellence Programme. The Executive Board will also decide upon the recipient of the 1997 UNICEF Maurice Pate award, and will examine country programme mid-term reviews and evaluations.
Annual Report to Economic and Social Council
The Executive Board will examine the Executive Directors annual report to the Economic and Social Council (E/ICEF/1997/10 [Part I]), which has the same format as similar reports of UNDP, UNFPA and WFP. The report discusses measures taken in the implementation of the provisions of the General Assemblys triennial policy review of operational activities for development. Also included is a section on funding of operational activities for development, which has been designated as the theme of the high-level meeting of the operational activities segment of the Councils 1997 substantive session.
In her report, the Executive Director also comments on follow-up to several General Assembly and Council resolutions on operational activities, focusing on capacity-building, field- and regional-level coordination and resources. She also reports on follow-up to all the major international conferences and summits held during the 1990s, and on strengthening collaboration between the United Nations development system and the Bretton Woods institutions.
* Press Release ICEF/1838 of 17 January 1997 should have been designated ICEF/1839.
Management Excellence Programme
The Executive Board will review a progress report on the Management Excellence Programme (E/ICEF/1997/CRP.9).
Since the last report was presented to the Board in January 1997, two internal working groups have completed their work. The first group focused on strengthening the country programme process and on clarifying roles for country, regional and headquarters offices in that process. The second group produced guidelines for the reorganization of the UNICEF Geneva office as focal point for managing relations with the National Committees for UNICEF.
Improved management throughout UNICEF is highlighted in the report, which underlines the importance to UNICEF of higher standards for performance, cost-effectiveness, oversight and supervision. In addition, the streamlining of administrative functions at headquarters has simplified budget processes.
The report contains an annotated organigram describing the status of organizational changes to date, as well as a description of how the Supply Division will be re-organized as an example of a new accountability system within UNICEF.
1997 UNICEF Maurice Pate Award
The Board will be asked to approve the Executive Directors recommendation (E/ICEF/1997/9) that the Maurice Pate Award for 1997 be conferred upon the Legal Assistance Centre of Namibia, and that $25,000 be allocated for this purpose. The Centres nomination is in recognition of its significant contribution in the field of human rights. This includes its work on child rights, where it has played a key role in lobbying for legal reforms, drafting of the Children Care and Protection Act and lobbying for its adoption by the Namibian legislature. The Maurice Pate Award, named in memory of the first UNICEF Executive Director, is presented annually to a person, institution or organization demonstrating exemplary leadership and extraordinary contributions to child survival and development in a developing country. The award presentation will take place during the Executive Boards annual session in June.
Country Programme Mid-term Reviews and Evaluations
The Board will consider mid-term reviews and major evaluations of UNICEF country programmes of cooperation. The reviews and evaluations are presented in a series of regional reports for Eastern and Southern Africa, West and Central Africa, the Americas and the Caribbean, East Asia and the Pacific, South Asia and the Middle East and North Africa (E/ICEF/1997/P/L.11-16).
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Executive Board Composition and Officers
The President of the Executive Board is Mercedes Pulido de Briceño (Venezuela), and its four Vice-Presidents are: Dino Beti (Switzerland), Hazel de Wet (Namibia), Ngo Quang Xuan (Viet Nam), and Fikret Mamedali Pashayev (Azerbaijan).
The 36 members of the Executive Board, whose three-year terms expire on 31 December of the year in parentheses, are as follows: Angola (1997), Azerbaijan (1997), Burundi (1997), India (1997), Japan (1997), Kenya (1997), Morocco (1997), Netherlands (1997), Norway (1997), Pakistan (1997), Republic of Korea (1997), Sweden (1997), Uganda (1997), Venezuela (1997), China (1998), Cuba (1998), Denmark (1998), Namibia (1998), New Zealand (1998), Russian Federation (1998), Suriname (1998), Switzerland (1998), Turkey (1998), Ukraine (1998), Viet Nam (1998), Belgium (1999), Cape Verde (1999), Czech Republic (1999), Germany (1999), Indonesia (1999), Italy (1999), Jamaica (1999), Nicaragua (1999), Nigeria (1999), Oman (1999), United States of America (1999).
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