183RD UNESCO EXECUTIVE BOARD: DG'S SPEECH

UNCLAS UNESCO PARIS FR 001590

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: SCUL PREL UNESCO
SUBJECT: 183RD UNESCO EXECUTIVE BOARD: DG'S SPEECH


1. (U) Summary: UNESCO's one-day Executive Board, held November 23,
served as the "clean-up" meeting following the biennial General
Conference held last month, and provided the opportunity for newly
installed Director-General, Irina Bokova, to address Board members
and set some direction for the months ahead. Bokova was widely
expected to announce a major restructuring of the Secretariat but
decided in the end not to do so, raising concerns about a slow start
to getting her own team in place. End summary.


2. (U) Having just taken office on November 15, UNESCO's newly
installed Director-General, Irina Bokova, made her first appearance
before the Executive Board, and provided members with an overview of
her plans for the Organization under her new administration.


3. (U) This Executive Board session was primarily devoted to the
nuts and bolts of electing a new Chairman, Vice-Chairmen, and
reinstating the Committees and Commissions of the Executive Board
for the 2009-2011 term (septel).

RESTRUCTURING THE SECRETARIAT


4. (SBU) The other element of business that appeared vital, but
strangely dropped off the agenda at the last minute, was
restructuring the Secretariat to reduce the number of Assistant
Directors-General (ADG's) and generate the savings needed to appoint
two Deputy Directors-General. Although most Member States agreed
that there are too many ADG's and that Bokova should have the right
to restructure the Secretariat, Bokova's staff put a foot wrong at
the end of last week when apparently without her authorization they
sounded out certain delegations about the possibility of abolishing
the post of ADG for Communications and Information (CI) and folding
that sector into the Social and Human Sciences Sector. CI's
supporters led by Denmark protested so strongly to Bokova on Friday,
November 20, that she decided to put the whole idea of restructuring
on hold until the regular spring Executive Board.


5. (SBU) Comment: Bokova now faces a serious problem in taking
control of the Organization and starting her new administration.
She must follow UNESCO's slow hiring procedures to fill the
Organization's top level positions but she has not gotten buy-in
from the member states on what those top positions should even be.
This virtually guarantees that her administration will get off to a
slow start. Bokova will be obliged to extend the contracts of the
ADG's now in place, or find other solutions until her own team is
recruited and put into place. It is possible that Bokova will be
without key personnel until late spring or early summer 2010. (Note:
Former D-G Matsuura launched several task forces prior to taking
office to help him review the structure of the Secretariat. Bokova
has, apparently, decided not to use the same approach. End note).
End Comment.

Program Issues


6. (U) On program topics, Bokova's speech to the Executive Board
echoed the main themes of her major inaugural speech of October 23rd
before the General Conference. She said that her work principle is
to maintain a constant dialogue, and that she will be calling on
each and every colleague and delegate to help her advance UNESCO's
work over the next few years. Bokova stressed that our success as
an organization will be dependent on our ability to provide delivery
of quality programs efficiently and effectively in the many nations
that need UNESCO's help. She said that UNESCO's strategic
orientation and positioning will be among her top concerns.

Priority Africa and Gender Equality


7. (U) Bokova said that Africa will remain a top priority for her
administration and that she will be establishing links with the
African Union and leaders from across the continent. On the subject
of gender equality, Bokova said that the empowerment of women will
be a key element, not only in UNESCO's programs, but in the
Secretariat as well. She said that both of these issues would be
integrated into every UNESCO program, to ensure that we keep moving
in the right direction.

Holistic UNESCO


8. (U) Bokova also promised to create a High Panel for Peace and
Dialogue, bringing together intellectuals, noted personalities, and
others to help define new paths for UNESCO in its work for
tolerance, reconciliation, and pluralism. She added that her goal
is to make "globalization more humane". She said that her vision of
UNESCO is a "holistic" one, and that in all of our work, we must
show solidarity with the most vulnerable of the world.

Education


9. (U) Director-General Bokova noted that education remains, of
course, UNESCO's overriding priority, and mentioned that she will
work to raise the visibility of UNESCO's work in this field in the
coming months both during the COFINTEA conference and in New York
with Secretary-General Ban in January. She also said that she will
be in contact with the World Bank, the FTI (Fast Track Initiative),
the IMF, and OECD to find more money for education. She stressed
that she will campaign to hold member states to pledges made during
the G-8 and G-20 summits on this point. Bokova also said that
UNESCO must find ways to integrate our work into the One UN model in
order to be effective.

Visibility


10. (U) On the subject of visibility, Bokova said that she would be
doing more to bring media attention to UNESCO and, more
specifically, to bring UNESCO's work to the attention of the public
at large. She said that partnerships with foundations,
institutions, business, and private individuals would be explored to
find alternative financing to bring more extra budgetary money to
UNESCO to help fund its programs. Bokova said that her goal is to
make UNESCO more vocal and more visible on the world stage.

Climate Change


11. (U) As a strong advocate for Climate Change, Bokova said that
she will attend the upcoming summit in Copenhagen, and will be
working to maximize bilateral contacts while in Denmark. She also
noted that biodiversity will be a key subject for her, and that she
also plans to develop another High Level Panel for Science during
her administration.

Culture


12. (U) Regarding Culture, Bokova noted that UNESCO is not up to
speed on the "progressive digitalization of culture", and wants to
organize a conference on this subject in the future.

Management


13. (U) Returning to the Secretariat, Bokova stressed that
decentralization and rotation of Secretariat staff is something that
she believes will enrich UNESCO. She also said that she will work
to push RBM (Results Based management) policies at UNESCO to refine
and strengthen the work undertaken by former
D-G Matsuura.


14. (SBU) Comment: Bokova's first interaction with the new
Executive Board was seen by some delegates (including Japan),as a
little "stormy", and by others as disappointing, giving too few
specifics and resorting to too many generalities regarding her
vision for UNESCO. Working closely with the new Board Chairman,
Russia's Eleonora Mitrofanova, it appears likely that the two will
attempt to move the Board away from micromanagement of the
Secretariat, and try to free Bokova's hands on how best to redesign
the Secretariat to tackle the work ahead.

KILLION