UNHCR REFORM EFFORTS CULMINATE INTO A NEW WAY OF

UNCLAS GENEVA 000016 TO REFCOORDS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PHUM PREF PREL SUBJECT: UNHCR REFORM EFFORTS CULMINATE INTO A NEW WAY OF DOING BUSINESS REF: A. 09 GENEVA 9 ¶B. 08 GENEVA 1053 ¶1. (U) SUMMARY. The UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) is fundamentally reshaping every aspect of its work to become a streamlined, efficient organization that delivers more robust protection and assistance to its beneficiaries on the ground. UNHCR's new approach harnesses technological advances and involves assessing the full extent of beneficiary needs, shifting to results-based management, adopting a new budget structure, improving UNHCR staff capacity, and modifying UNHCR's organizational structure. UNHCR is also continuing the process of outposting positions to its Global Service Center in Budapest; 216 headquarters posts were eliminated in 2008 and another 81 positions will be eliminated in 2009, bringing UNHCR's Geneva footprint down to 753 from 1,050 two years ago. The impact of all these adjustments could be reduced, however, by lower projected income due to the global financial crisis. As a result, UNHCR is asking its field representatives to conduct more fundraising in the field. Combined with the administrative changes taking place under the UN Transparency and Accountability Initiative (Ref A),UNHCR is on track to become more transparent and accountable to donors like the USG. END SUMMARY. -------------- Out with the Old, and In with the New -------------- ¶2. (U) 2009 is the last year UNHCR will do "business as usual." UNHCR's "2009 Global Appeal Update" provides a basic outlook for its operations targeting 32 million refugees, asylum seekers, stateless people, and internally displaced people around the world. It outlines UNHCR's six Global Strategic Objectives, focusing on: 1) protection; 2) capacity building of national governments; 3) durable solutions; 4) partnerships; 5) external relations; and 6) strengthening UNHCR as an agency. In 2009, UNHCR is appealing for $1.257 billion for its Annual Budget and an initial $682 million for its Supplemental Budget. ¶3. (U) Looking ahead to 2010 and beyond, UNHCR managers are harnessing technological advances and embarking on a series of initiatives that look at the full extent of beneficiary needs (through a Global Needs Assessment),improve UNHCR staff capacity, modify UNHCR's organizational structure, shift to results-based management, and delegate some fundraising activities to the field. UNHCR's most notable technological application is the introduction of "FOCUS," its new results-based management software. Up to now, UNHCR's Country Operations Plans (COPs),budgets, staffing plans, and progress reports have all been drawn up separately and in different documents, making it difficult to get a coherent picture of resources and results. This problem should be eliminated when all elements are brought together with FOCUS. FOCUS simplifies reporting and allows for better information sharing, budgeting, monitoring, and analysis. It links UNHCR's assessments, objectives, activities, and resources (including financial, material and human resources) to results. In January 2009 UNHCR plans to launch the interface between FOCUS and its MSRP (Management Systems Renewal Project) operating system, which has already been used to update the organization's finance and supply chain practices and improved accountability. UNHCR staff were trained on the use of FOCUS throughout 2008. FOCUS will be used by UNHCR teams in the field and at headquarters to submit their 2010-2011 operations plans by March 31, 2009. (COMMENT: UNHCR's FOCUS software will only be useful if complete and accurate information is regularly uploaded and analyzed. It may not meet the many and varied reporting, monitoring and funding needs of the organization. END COMMENT.) -------------- Aiming for Results -------------- ¶4. (U) UNHCR's new "Results Framework" is imbedded into the FOCUS software and forces planners to align their plans with UNHCR's goals and desired impacts. This Results Framework replaces UNHCR's current Global Strategic Objectives (noted above) and tracks ten "goals" in the areas of: 1) emergency response; 2) protection pending durable solutions (a.k.a. care and maintenance); 3) protection and mixed solutions (multi-faceted protection, including assistance and durable solutions for populations of concern); 4) voluntary return; 5) reintegration; 6) integration; 7) resettlement; 8) capacity building; 9) advocacy; and 10) resource mobilization. FOCUS software asks planners to track specific outputs that will lead to the following: favorable protection environments; fair protection processes and documentation; security from violence; the provision of basic needs and essential services; community participation and self-management; durable solutions; strong external relationships; and effective headquarters, regional, and operational support. This Results Framework will be helpful in ensuring that UNHCR focuses its limited resources on its core mandate and on the real needs of their populations of concern. -------------- Needs-Based vs. Resource-Based Planning -------------- ¶5. (U) When seeking voluntary contributions, UNHCR has traditionally crafted its budget appeals to donors to match the amount of money it expected to receive from them (rather than requesting all the funds it believed UNHCR needed). This approach is also changing. On December 22, 2008, UNHCR headquarters issued guidelines to all of its regional and field offices instructing them to conduct Global Needs Assessments (GNAs) for the 2010-2011 budget cycle. This new GNA methodology involves comprehensively assessing the total needs of UNHCR's beneficiaries, planning activities and budgets to meet all these needs, and asking donors for the full amount of money needed. In 2008, UNHCR launched a GNA pilot program in eight countries (Cameroon, Ecuador, Georgia, Rwanda, Tanzania, Thailand, Yemen, and Zambia). The unmet needs discovered during these assessments resulted in UNHCR's request for an additional $63.5 million in 2009. If we extrapolate these results, we can expect UNHCR's budget for 2010 to be significantly greater than its budget in 2009. (COMMENT: UNHCR's GNA initiative may yield inconsistent results at first (depending upon the operation and the region). Also, the scale of unmet needs identified might surpass UNHCR's ability to implement programs addressing all of them, even if it received the funding. To address these problems, UNHCR headquarters will need to ensure consistency across regions and enforce its prioritization criteria (see para 7). END COMMENT.) -------------- A New Budget Structure -------------- ¶6. (U) For years UNHCR's planning system was based upon populations of concern, but its budget structure was not. A new UNHCR budget structure was formally approved in 2008 by the UNHCR Executive Committee to address this gap. It consists of four distinct pillars: 1) Global Refugee Programs; 2) Global Stateless Programs; 3) Global Reintegration Projects; and 4) Global Projects for Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs). Activities that support refugees and stateless persons ) beneficiaries who explicitly fall under UNHCR's core mandate ) will be funded on the basis of "program funding" (as is currently the case with the Annual Budget). Donors can support refugee and stateless programs by contributing earmarked and unearmarked funds to a single program fund that is prioritized by UNHCR. Activities that support reintegration and IDPs would operate on the basis of "project" funding (as is currently the case with Supplementary Budgets). Each project is separately funded and managed, and funded only when donors explicitly contribute to them. The new budget structure will also be linked to the Results Framework, allowing UNHCR to demonstrate how the costs of its activities can be directly linked to results. UNHCR should, for example, be able to illustrate the direct consequences to refugees and others of concern when it does not receive requested funds. (COMMENT. UNHCR is still unsure how it will distinguish between the activities budgeted under the Refugee Pillar 1 and the activities under the Reintegration Pillar 3. In addition to seeking clarity on this issue, we have also expressed concerns to UNHCR that the new structure could unintentionally de-prioritize reintegration and IDP activities and encourage donor earmarking for these activities. END COMMENT.) -------------- Feeling the Pinch: The Impact of the Global Financial Crisis -------------- ¶7. (U) At the same time UNHCR is embarking on an initiative to address the total needs of its beneficiaries, it is concerned that donors, hampered by the global financial crisis, will have difficulty maintaining current levels of contributions, let alone be able to respond to the significant new financial requirements uncovered by the GNA. Therefore, in addition to "comprehensive plans" for 2010 and 2011 based on Global Needs Assessments, field operations are required to prepare "prioritized plans" for 2010 based upon headquarters-issued income estimates. At the beginning of 2010, field operations will only be authorized to spend funds budgeted in the prioritized plans' budget sections for Pillar 1 (refugees) and Pillar 2 (stateless persons); funds for Pillar 3 (reintegration) and Pillar 4 (IDPs) will only be authorized after contributions are assured. UNHCR Headquarters' Division for Donor Relations and Resource Management (DRRM) has traditionally done most - if not all - of UNHCR's fundraising. Given today's difficult financial climate, DRRM has drafted a 2009 Integrated Resource Mobilization Strategy that tasks field staff to solicit funds from traditional donors, pooled humanitarian funds, development and transition funds, and the private sector in the field. -------------- Investing in UNHCR's Key Asset: Staff -------------- ¶8. (U) UNHCR staff's job descriptions and employee evaluation reviews will now be linked to the organization's new Results Framework. UNHCR managers are currently reviewing rotation, posting and promotion policies to see how UNHCR can improve the retention of UNHCR professional staff, including those who are unable to work in the deep field when they have small children. This could involve increasing secondment opportunities to other UN agencies, but it must also address the current lack of a mechanism to re-absorb secondees. UNHCR managers hope that progress in the area of retention will lead to greater gender parity within the organization. On the training front, in April and May 2009 UNHCR will begin consolidating its seven existing training programs into a new Global Learning Center. Negotiations are underway for this Center to be located in the first two floors of UNHCR's Global Services Center building in Budapest. Training will especially target new UNHCR managers and Staff-In-Between-Assignments (SIBAs). Staff training will be linked to career development. For example, UNHCR staff will not be able to receive postings or promotions until they have successfully completed UNHCR's standard protection training. In addition to on-site training, UNHCR will provide more online training opportunities to benefit more people posted in the deep field. -------------- Trimming the Fat: Right-sizing, Regionalizing and Restructuring -------------- ¶9. (U) Almost one-third of UNHCR's international professional staff is based at its headquarters in Geneva. This is an anomaly for a field-based organization like UNHCR. In 2006 UNHCR launched a change process involving decentralization, right-sizing, regionalization, and restructuring to grapple with the task of slimming down headquarters in a way that brings staff closer to the beneficiaries in the field and saves money. Some positions were outposted to UNHCR's Global Services Center in Budapest. In 2008 alone, UNHCR eliminated 216 headquarters posts (119 general service posts and 97 professional posts). In July 2008 UNHCR hired IBM to recommend ways to streamline its human resource administration; the Canadian Consultancy Management Initiative (CCMI) subsequently funded a similar review of UNHCR,s Division of Information Services and Telecommunications (DIST). The results of these reviews should be delivered to UNHCR in January 2009. With the results of these reviews, efficiencies gained from the introduction of FOCUS software, outposting of training functions to Budapest, and regionalizing some headquarters positions, UNHCR hopes to eliminate another 81 headquarters posts (44 general service posts and 37 professional posts) in ¶2009. ¶10. (U) In August 2008, UNHCR issued a general "Terms of Reference for Regional Offices" to guide its regionalization process and transfer authorities to the regions. In Africa, UNHCR's regional office in Pretoria took on an expanded role in 2008; Dakar and Kinshasa will follow suit in 2009. In the Americas, a regional office headed by a Bureau Deputy Director will be established in Panama (reporting to UNHCR's Americas Bureau Director based in Geneva). In Asia, Almaty and Bangkok assumed increased regional authorities. The Director of the Bureau for Europe will be based in Brussels in 2009, leaving a Deputy Director in Geneva. UNHCR is currently in discussions with the Government of Tunisia to establish an office in Tunis to become the regional office for North Africa. ¶11. (U) In October 2008, UNHCR established a task force to restructure UNHCR's Division for International Protection Services (DIPS),Division for Operational Support (DOS),and the Policy Development and Evaluation Service (PDES). Currently the division of labor between these entities is poorly defined. The task force is seeking to clarify roles and consolidate some functions that are dispersed among the divisions. Each unit is drafting their proposed new structure for the task force's review. One idea is to create three new "Pillars": 1) policy development and advice; 2) protection-based programming and advice; and 3) rapid response capacity. A decision should be made by the end of January 2009. (COMMENT: UNHCR is currently finalizing its Global Accountability Framework, which spells out the roles and responsibilities of UNHCR headquarters vs. regional offices vs. country operations. We have pressed UNHCR headquarters to retain its robust policy-making role. We have also encouraged UNHCR to establish a monitoring and evaluation unit to ensure consistent performance across regions. Finally, the USG has asked that refugee resettlement, which is currently handled by DIPS, maintain its prominence within the new structure. END COMMENT.) -------------- COMMENT: Looking Ahead -------------- ¶12. (U) As UNHCR's largest donor and a major proponent of UN reform, the USG has a stake in seeing UNHCR's transformational efforts succeed. Refugees, stateless persons, IDPs and returnees also have much to potentially gain. That said, we are concerned that UNHCR might be biting off more than it can chew with such an ambitious reform agenda. Mission Geneva will continue to encourage measured UNHCR progress, including during the 2009 USG-UNHCR Framework negotiations and upcoming Donor Missions to the Field. RefCoords are encouraged to monitor and observe how these reforms are impacting upon UNHCR's performance on the ground, including by participating (when appropriate) in UNHCR's Comprehensive Operations Planning meetings. For further information on UNHCR reform efforts, please see our report on the December 1, 2008, USG-UNHCR End of Year Consultation (Ref B) and Ref A's update on UNHCR's progress under the UN Transparency and Accountability Initiative (UNTAI). Ref B notes that UNHCR's most important recent achievement under the UNTAI framework offured in September 2008 when UNHCR's established a fully independent ethics office responsible for whisteblower and financial disclosure programs. UNHCR's 2009 Appeal Update is available on the internet at http://www.unhcr.org/ga09/launch.html. Information on its Global Needs Assessment, including the results of the 2008 pilot GNA assessments in Cameroon, Ecuador, Georgia, Rwanda, Tanzania, Thailand, Yemen, and Zambia can be found at www.unhcr.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/GNA?page=home . For a copy of UNHCR's Results Framework or GNA instructions to the field, contact RMA Attache Melissa Pitotti at PitottiMR@state.gov. TICHENOR