WHO Director-General's opening remarks at the 35th Meeting of the Programme, Budget and Administration Committee (PBAC) of the Executive Board - 19 January 2022

Honourable Nickolas Steele, Minister of Health, Social Security and International Business of Grenada, and Chair of PBAC,

Excellencies, distinguished colleagues and friends,

Good morning, happy New Year to you all, and welcome once again to Geneva.

It's wonderful to be able to welcome many of you here in person, and greetings to those joining us online.

We are now entering the third year of the COVID-19 pandemic. We have made extraordinary progress against this novel virus, but we still have a long road ahead.

The actions we take this year will determine how quickly we can end the acute phase of this pandemic, how prepared we will be for future health emergencies, and how we realize a new vision for global health and well-being.

The disease itself has taken the lives of more than five million people. The larger impact on physical and mental health, on lives and livelihoods, is far greater.

These are the challenges that Member States face;

These are the challenges that WHO's global workforce is working to address every day;

And these are the challenges that have informed the Programme Budget that you will consider.

As you well know, our Programme Budget for 2020 and 2021 was originally US$5.8 billion. But with the additional emergency operations and appeals needed for the ongoing pandemic response, we implemented a significantly larger budget.

At the same time, amid this unprecedented global emergency, we have continued to support countries to address the myriad health challenges they face

This includes responding to other emergencies, producing normative guidance for communicable and non-communicable diseases, health systems strengthening, vaccination, addressing determinants of health and much more.

In short, we achieved most of what we set out to do, despite the impact of an unprecedentedly large emergency operation.

This was possible thanks to the resources that you, our Member States and other donors, provided, and to the incredible efforts of our workforce around the world.

In this coming budget cycle, we are seeking an increase of US$480 million.

This includes about 430 million dollars for strengthening the WHO Emergencies Programme, and 50 million dollars for our ongoing work on the prevention and response to sexual exploitation, abuse and harassment.

Our priority in the coming years is to ensure that even more resources are directed to delivering an impact in countries, which is at the centre of everything we do.

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Of course, delivering the priorities of this Programme Budget, and of the General Programme of Work, requires the right quantity and quality of funding.

The Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response, the Review Committee of the International Health Regulations, and the Independent Oversight and Advisory Committee of the WHO Health Emergencies Programme all recognized in their reports that the way this Organization is financed is not sustainable and needs to change.

And it's clear that Member States also take the issue of flexible, predictable, and sustainable financing very seriously.

They recognize that the current funding model jeopardizes the quality of the technical and scientific work we are able to deliver, undermines our ability to plan for the long-term, and destabilizes our workforce.

Our experts would far rather be supporting countries, developing guidance and getting the world back on track for the SDGs; instead, they spend a significant portion of their time fundraising and managing awards.

As you know, the Member States Working Group on Sustainable Financing has prepared its report for the WHO Executive Board.

I thank the Working Group and its Chair, Björn Kümmel, for its hard work and its report.

There was strong support from many Member States for the key recommendation in the Bureau's draft report of increasing assessed contributions to at least 50% of WHO's base budget by 2028-29, from less than 20% now.

Although the Working Group did not reach consensus on its report, we are pleased that it included the 50% target as one option for consideration.

We hope that the PBAC and the Executive Board will support this idea. As I have said before, if not now, then when?

Member States have also called for more transparency and oversight of the budget and priority-setting process, and that budgeting processes should be better linked with governance, which we agree with.

The Secretariat recognizes this, and more sustainable finance is important for accomplishing this. It will allow us to invest for the long-term in accountability and oversight.

A stepwise increase to 50% of base budget by the 2028-29 biennium will increase WHO's assessed contributions by US$600 million between 2024 and 2028.

This represents a huge return on investment for all Member States. The quality of the finance and the multiplier effect mean that the benefits will be many times greater than the amount spent.

Reforming and enhancing our funding process will give WHO the stability we need to reliably deliver the high-quality, efficient programming and accountability that Member States demand of us.

A strong WHO keeps us all safer.

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Your Excellencies,

As you know, one of the other major issues on your agenda this week is the prevention of sexual exploitation, abuse and harassment.

The Regional Directors and I have been clear: we have zero tolerance for sexual exploitation and abuse and sexual harassment, and we have zero tolerance for failure to act.

Sexual exploitation, abuse and harassment violate human dignity. They undermine WHO's mission. They are a betrayal of the communities we are committed to serve.

Every effort must be made to prevent all forms of sexual exploitation, abuse and harassment.

When such behaviour does occur, we are committed to responding to it with prompt, fair, and clearly defined protocols and actions.

There is no excuse for inaction.

Last year, in the wake of allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse during the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, we established an independent commission, which hired an external investigator - the first time this approach has been taken in the United Nations, and we hope it will become a model for the future.

We did it this way because we wanted to be transparent, we wanted to prepare ourselves for external scrutiny, and we wanted to do things differently.

After all, it's crazy to keep doing the same thing over and over again and expect different results.

So we initiated several other actions:

These included a new policy on preventing and addressing abusive conduct; establishing an organization-wide task team headed by a full-time director reporting directly to me; and responding to the findings of the Independent Commission.

Within two weeks of the commission's report, we completed a consultation with internal and external stakeholders and developed a unified Management Response Plan that integrates the recommendations of the commission and the Executive Board.

We shared the draft with the Regional Directors, the Assistant Directors-General and all directors, including our country offices, to seek their input and increase ownership.

The management response plan outlines short and medium-term priorities in three areas to be completed by the end of 2022:

First, shifting WHO to a victim and survivor-centred approach;

Second, ensuring the capacity and accountability of the WHO workforce, with special accountability for managers and leaders;

And third, reforming our culture, structures and systems.

We are now implementing the 120 activities outlined in the plan.

A great deal remains to be done. The changes will take time, resources and the combined effort of the whole Organization.

Let me highlight our achievements so far:

First, we have handed over all case files made available to us by the Independent Commission to the UN Investigation services to complete investigations of both sexual exploitation and abuse and alleged professional misconduct by managers;

Second, we have launched, under the oversight of the Independent Expert Oversight Advisory Committee, an audit and review of our accountability functions to examine how sexual exploitation, abuse, and harassment cases have been managed in the past;

Third, we are developing a comprehensive policy framework that aligns WHO policy with the UN and humanitarian systems, and with requirements by donors and Member States.

In the interim, we have issued a new policy directive on protection from sexual exploitation, abuse, and harassment, and clarified grey areas in the interpretation of our policy.

Fourth, I have established core capacities for PRSEAH work across WHO.

This includes the establishment of a dedicated department in my office; the establishment of 12 full time PRSEAH posts in priority countries with ongoing emergencies, as well as six regional coordinators.

I have also appointed an acting Head of Investigations, who is focused on the backlog of SEAH cases and improving how we address new incidents.

We have streamlined our integrity hotline and have scaled up expert capacity for investigations.

We're now using ClearCheck to vet all candidates for employment, and we have begun the process to vet all current members of the WHO workforce.

We are also integrating our efforts into our transformation initiative, our respectful workplace policies, and our work to create greater diversity, equity and inclusion in our workforce.

As you can see, our efforts are both broad and far-reaching. We take this extremely seriously, which is why we are asking for an additional US$50 million in the Programme Budget.

Most of this funding will be directed to our efforts in countries, and for strengthening regional and global capacity to ensure that all our community-facing programmes and emergency response activities are following SEAH protocols.

While we are strengthening prevention activities such as screening all personnel, ensuring mandatory training and continued learning, and piloting sexual exploitation and abuse risk assessments and mitigation activities, we have to acknowledge that sexual misconduct can happen anywhere.

As such, it is imperative that we establish a system that victims and survivors can access safely.

We wanted to provide more support for survivors than is offered through the UN system, because we found it not to be robust, so we added livelihood support that will be offered to every identified victim.

WHO has also provided funds to UNFPA to ensure that all victims and survivors identified by the Independent Commission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo are provided comprehensive care, regardless of the affiliation of the alleged perpetrators.

This support includes the provision of medical, psychosocial, legal and socio-economic rehabilitation, which was funded through the WHO Survivor Assistance Fund I set up last year for this purpose.

Risk assessment tools have been developed for sexual exploitation and abuse, which we are integrating into our internal compliance framework. They will be piloted in the next quarter.

This year, we will prioritize the engagement, capacitation and accountability of all our personnel, regardless of the types of contracts they have, and of our implementing partners.

We will also launch our "No Excuse" campaign and require all personnel to countersign a leadership letter from me and the Regional Directors that will clarify responsibility and accountability, including for myself, the Regional Directors, directors, executive management, and all heads of Country Offices.

My report to the Executive Board provides greater detail on our efforts and what we face going forward.

Thank you once again for your engagement and support.

We look forward to your questions, comments, and guidance as we chart the path ahead.

And I give you my personal assurance that I am more committed than ever to working with you to promote health, keep the world safe and serve the vulnerable.

I thank you. Honourable Chair, back to you.

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