VZCZCXYZ0020
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHFR #0568/01 0861354
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 261354Z MAR 08
FM AMEMBASSY PARIS
TO SECSTATE WASHDC 2388

UNCLAS PARIS 000568 
 
SIPDIS 
 
FROM US MISSION UNESCO PARIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: UNESCO SCUL
SUBJECT:  UNESCO - DECENTRALIZATION AND THE ONE UN 
 
¶1.  Summary:  Briefing Member States on UNESCO's progress regarding 
decentralization and the "One UN", D-G Matsuura indicated he is 
pleased with the efforts made to date to integrate UNESCO into the 
concept, and that he will work to improve issues of concern like 
staff rotation and program coordination in order to ensure UNESCO's 
"place at the UN table" in country.  End summary. 
 
¶2.  Director General Matsuura held an information meeting on 19 
March 2008 to bring Member States up to date on UNESCO's work 
regarding the "One UN" reforms and UNESCO's decentralization 
efforts.  The meeting was well attended with many ambassadors and 
the D-G's top level staff present. 
 
¶3.  Matsuura said that he was very pleased with the evolution of 
UNESCO's role in connection with the "One UN" reforms, noting that 
UNESCO has had a "positive influence" on UN reform in the 
"delivering as one" process.  He mentioned that the next high-level 
meeting on the subject would be held in Bern at the end of April. 
 
¶4.  He noted that the eight pilot programs being carried out have 
been very successful, though there has been some frustration, as 
some believe the pilots take too long to reach conclusions, and that 
informal stock taking permits all concerned to make early 
identification of key issues, and draw some lessons for future use. 
 
¶5.  The main objective, according to Matsuura is finding best ways 
for UN agencies to work together to design joint programming based 
on joint reflection and joint prioritization.  He added that it is 
already clear from the pilot projects that "one size does not fit 
all", though lessons learned from the initial projects will help 
guide future rollout of new pilots. 
 
¶6.  Matsuura said that there are many issues that have yet to be 
resolved, including how to best integrate civil society and NGO's, 
Bretton-Woods institutions like the World Bank, and humanitarian 
agencies into the program.  Matsuura said that he has earmarked two 
percent of regular program resources for country level programming 
exercises. 
 
¶7.  The Director-General said that while UNESCO has a physical 
presence in 51 Member States and two liaison offices (New York and 
Geneva), it is impossible to be present in all countries.  He also 
said that UNESCO is stretched thin as our mandate in five major 
fields makes it difficult to cover everything, as we would like to. 
He then mentioned that UNESCO's One UN task force had suggested the 
use of "mobile teams" that would potentially intervene for a limited 
time in a country. 
 
¶8.  Matsuura also spoke at length about the need for UNESCO to 
maximize our use of "UNESCO's larger family", noting that Category 
II centers, university chairs, National Commissions, Associated 
schools, goodwill ambassadors, NGO's, etc. must be better used as 
advocates for UNESCO's work overseas. 
 
¶9.  Matsuura raised concerns about increased costs associated with 
UNESCO's new role in "One UN", noting that where in many cases we 
had previously been housed free of charge by the member states, we 
would now be obliged to share common costs in the UN country 
headquarters.  He said that security concerns would also raise 
costs, as some UN sites have recently been the target of violent 
attacks. 
 
¶10.  During the question and answer session that followed, the 
Tanzanian ambassador said that the development of civil society is 
not level in all countries, and noted that in Tanzania, 
foreign-based NGO's are a particular presence that must be 
considered.  He then asked whether the UN should participate in 
capacity building for civil society, adding a second question as to 
whether involving civil society will slow down "One UN" decision 
making. The D-G responded by saying that international civil society 
representatives have been actively participating in all of the 
high-level meetings. 
 
¶11. Several comments on UNESCO staff rotation came up, with 
particular focus on the perception among Paris-based staff that 
working in the field offices is still considered punishment.  The 
D-G replied that while there has been some progress made on 
rotation, and that all new employees are obliged to sign contracts 
indicating their worldwide availability, there is still a lot of 
work to be done on the question of staff mobility. 
 
¶12. Another question came up on the possibility of cost savings by 
"outsourcing" back-office services to countries where costs are 
cheaper.  The D-G replied that he had not yet looked carefully at 
the question, but said that it should be examined more closely, 
noting that the Secretariat had been concentrating more on 
developing and introducing new technologies like the SISTER database 
to improve efficiency. 
 
¶13. The Senegalese ambassador then spoke, saying that it is often 
difficult to coordinate field office activities with the government 
"line ministers" in country, leading to weaknesses in implementation 
of programs.  The D-G acknowledged that this is an area that will 
require greater coordination. 
 
¶14. In response to a question by the Czech ambassador, the D-G noted 
that there are 30 UN specialized agencies, and that it is not 
acceptable that they can act as "free radicals" in country.  He 
stressed that there must be coordination of the UN activities in 
country. 
 
¶15. When asked about the chances of UNESCO staffers being named as 
resident country coordinators, the D-G agreed that UNDP seemed to be 
favored, but seemed hopeful that in the future, UNESCO staff could 
lead the UN offices in country. 
 
¶16.  Overall, the D-G stressed that UNESCO must remain flexible as 
the "One UN" program develops, and to see how UNESCO can best take 
part, in order to raise its visibility, improve its effectiveness, 
and make its place as a player seated at the UN table.  OLIVER