This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

071544Z Jul 06

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 PARIS 004674 
 
SIPDIS 
 
FROM USMISSION UNESCO PARIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
STATE PASS TO DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION FOR ROBIN GILCHRIST AND 
STEPHANIE WHELPLEY 
 
E.O. 12958:N/A 
TAGS: SCUL UNESCO
SUBJECT:  UNESCO: BRIEFING ON EDUCATION SECTOR REFORM 
 
 
¶1.  (SBU) Summary:  Peter Smith, UNESCO's Assistant Director General 
for Education, briefed representatives from the Executive Board's 
Group I countries on his plans for reform of UNESCO's Education 
Sector, July 6 at UNESCO headquarters.  Smith announced that he has 
put the plan into action as of July 3, and said that he is finding 
strong support for his proposed reforms throughout all electoral 
groups.  Mission officers, however, have been told that the 
Ambassador of Benin has questioned whether Smith has the necessary 
mandate from the Executive Board to advance with his reform plans. 
The other problem on the horizon is that the staff unions at UNESCO 
are gearing up to fight the reform plan, having already sent out 
messages to their constituents asking the Director General (DG) to 
suspend the reforms and enter into negotiations with the unions. 
End Summary. 
 
 
¶2.  (U) Smith said that the hard work begins this week, now that the 
plan has been approved by the DG and presented to the personnel of 
the Education Sector.  He asked that all country delegates feel free 
to provide him with "loving criticism," to help improve elements 
where needed.  Smith said that the reform was the result of a 
request by both the Executive Board and General Conference to help 
the Global Action Plan on Education. He highlighted a few key 
elements of the plan and the concerns they are trying to respond to: 
 
 
¶3. (U) Accountable decentralization:  Smith said that today, there 
is not enough accountability by the field offices to headquarters, 
and noted that under current arrangements he does not have the 
authority to hold field directors accountable for how their budgets 
are spent. 
 
¶4. (U) Budget woes:  Smith said that inefficiencies in the system 
translate into a 25-30 percent drop in spending power for the 
Education Sector's budget.  He said that the initial elements of his 
reform plans will have no impact on the current budget, but also 
made it clear that member states, the Executive Board and the 
General Conference can not continue to add more responsibilities if 
they do not provide funding to carry out their requests. 
 
¶5. (U) Deprofessionalization and demotivated staff:  There are not 
enough qualified people in the "right" positions.  His sector is 
currently obliged to cut positions by attrition, not taking into 
account the work the Education Sector is trying to accomplish or 
which employees have the skills to fill the needs. 
 
¶6. (SBU) Decentralization:  The original concept of decentralization 
does not and cannot work the way the system is designed today. 
According to Smith, UNESCO needs to strengthen its regional bureaus, 
sub-regional and national level offices to better use expertise and 
control the situation in the field, supported by regional institutes 
that also will need to be supported better in terms of finances and 
management.   Smith described the current situation as "organized 
mayhem, which is defended by no one."  He said this point is 
"non-negotiable" and that accountability must be absolute. (Note: 
Mission has heard that there was language about the lack of 
accountability in the original reform document that was excised by 
the Deputy Director General.) 
 
¶7. (U) The reform plan's strategy regarding personnel is to bolster 
staff in the field by almost 100 percent.  The plan envisions a 
reduction of 11-12 positions at headquarters and the creation of new 
posts in the field.  The plan calls for abolition of several of the 
Sector's current offices; restructuring the section into several 
basic sections covering:  Pre-K to high school; Vocational/technical 
education; Higher education/tertiary studies; U.I.L. (non-formal 
education) Hamburg and IBE Geneva. Smith also said that a new office 
for Eastern and Emerging Europe would be created based out of the 
CEPES office in Bucharest. Smith noted that regional institutes 
would now report to regional bureaus, and those bureaus would report 
to him. 
 
¶8. (U) Smith said that the new structure of the Education Sector 
would more closely mirror the many Ministries of Education that 
UNESCO works with around the world, making for simpler integration 
between the systems.  Smith said that a new division would be 
created, the Division for UN Priorities, which would cover the 
issues of sustainability, EFA, HIV/AIDS, and Literacy.  This 
division would ensure that UNESCO would have voice in the larger 
crosscutting issues in the larger UN family regarding education. 
He also noted that a section would be created to provide Regional 
Support and Planning, which would coordinate and improve 
communications between field offices, regional bureaus, and 
headquarters. 
 
¶9. (U) Smith complained about his inability to provide accurate 
budget estimates given the existing budget system for his sector. 
He also said that the current Planning and Information software is 
flawed beyond recovery and will be dismantled. He said that he would 
be pushing the idea of a standardized international platform at an 
upcoming meeting with the other ADGs to improve bottom-up planning 
and program cycles. 
 
¶10. (U) Smith then took questions from the floor:  The Belgian 
Ambassador asked about how progress is monitored.  Smith said that a 
new monitoring and evaluation program would be created, as it is 
critical to measure success or failure of the programs.  Another 
question was asked about measuring capacity development.  Smith said 
that the way it is done today is hit or miss, with no team, no plan, 
and no common assumptions.  He said that it is vital to be able to 
measure all of the programs put into place to determine how well 
they are doing. 
¶11. (SBU) The British Ambassador asked how the Education Sector 
reform plan fit into the overall United Nations reform plan now 
being studied.  Smith said that the Education Sector's reform plan 
does fit into the larger UN plan.  The Ambassador followed up with a 
comment that decentralization, for example, has implications for the 
rest of UNESCO, and asked if the Education Sector is an experiment 
to test how it works.  Smith replied that he saw the Education 
Sector reform plan as a test case, and that this is an opportunity 
to move the pendulum for all of UNESCO quite quickly.  At the same 
time, he said, he will have to find a balance, so as to not lose 
focus and drive by trying to solve the problems of "big UNESCO" when 
his responsibility is reforming the education sector. 
 
¶12. (U) Smith then talked about establishing budget and human 
resources positions within the education sector and temporarily 
finding a human resources specialist to help during the transition. 
 
¶13. (SBU) The Norwegian representative commented that he supported 
Smith's plan, and said that he didn't believe it was proper for the 
Executive Board or member states to micro-manage the implementation 
of the Education Sector reform plan.  (Note:  His comment stands in 
contrast to a report we have heard that the Beninese ambassador, who 
sits on the Executive Board, believes that the plan should not be 
implemented until blessed by the board.  In contrast, the UK deputy 
has told us that most delegations believe that Smith was empowered 
to carry out his reform by the General Conference and the Executive 
Board has no say.) 
 
¶14. (U) The Dutch Ambassador spoke briefly, expressing support for 
Smith's work so far, and said that the reform he has outlined makes 
a lot of sense.  There was then a question about the IICBA 
(International Institute for Capacity Building in Africa), and the 
fact that it is currently without a director, no office, nor 
necessary materials.  Smith answered saying that the situation is 
better than what people report.  He mentioned that he will be 
interviewing candidates for the IICBA after the G-8 Summit, and also 
said that the government of Ethiopia has proposed a plot of land in 
Addis for a future facility.  Smith said that he hopes that IICBA 
will soon be able to concentrate on its key role, which is teacher 
training. 
 
¶15. (U) Smith then raised, again, the subject of financing.  He said 
that lack of money continues to be a major problem, as member states 
demand more and more services, whether it be a new institute, or a 
new program, but don't provide the necessary finances to support 
them.  Smith said that extra budgetary funding is not the answer, 
unless it comes with a 15-year commitment. 
 
¶16. (U) US Mission Charge asked about reactions from the Education 
Sector staff after they were briefed on the reforms.  Smith said 
that extensive consultations were held, and estimated that some 20 
percent of the staff was intensively involved in the reform 
planning.  He said that there were a handful of disgruntled 
employees, perhaps seven or eight, who were not happy about how the 
reforms would affect them. 
 
¶17. (U) Over the past week, at least two of UNESCO's staff unions 
have come out forcefully against Smith's reform plans.  One union 
has called for a freeze of the reform and wants to open direct 
negotiations with the Director General.  The unions claim that 
Smith's plans has abolished sections, is forcing long-time employees 
close to retirement to accept positions in foreign posts, or is 
obliging others to take early retirement against their wills.  It is 
highly probable that the unions will be a major thorn in Smith's 
side as the reform plans move forward.