Management and Governance matters: Management performance and Reform in the SEA Region

Abstract

This Agenda item seeks to brief Member States on the initiatives undertaken by the Organization to become more effective and accountable, and in particular, the tangible results achieved by the South-East Asia (‎SEA)‎ Region in strengthening Management and Programmatic performance since 2014. Various initiatives were successfully implemented in the Programmatic, Governance and Managerial categories that greatly improved the overall compliance, accountability and transparency levels in the SEA Region, and strengthened the capacity of the WHO country offices to work with implementing partners to deliver on the country and global public health priorities. This paper outlines the work of the SEA Region in alignment with the Transformation Agenda, and the organizational shifts set out in the Thirteenth General Programme of Work 2019–2023 (‎GPW13)‎. The strong leadership and commitment of the WHO Regional Director for South-East Asia, particularly expressed through the clear directives of the eight Regional Flagships, has allowed the Region to enhance its policies and technical support to Member States and strengthened focus on financing and staffing needs to match priorities and requirements. Accordingly, the SEA Region is very well positioned to contribute to GPW13 and the Director-General’s Transformation Agenda. The attached Working Paper was presented to the High-Level Preparatory (‎HLP)‎ Meeting for noting. The HLP reviewed the paper and made the following recommendations for consideration by the Seventy-first Session of the Regional Committee: Action by WHO  Ensure review by the Secretariat the continued sustainable growth in the achievement of the Regional Flagship targets, taking forward the directions through the GPW13. The Working Paper and the HLP recommendations are submitted to the Seventy-first Session of the WHO Regional Committee for South-East Asia for its consideration.