Cablegate: Unesco: Briefing On Education Sector Reform

This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

071544Z Jul 06

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 PARIS 004674

SIPDIS

FROM USMISSION UNESCO PARIS

SENSITIVE

STATE PASS TO DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION FOR ROBIN GILCHRIST AND
STEPHANIE WHELPLEY

E.O. 12958:N/A
TAGS: SCUL UNESCO
SUBJECT: UNESCO: BRIEFING ON EDUCATION SECTOR REFORM

1. (SBU) Summary: Peter Smith, UNESCO's Assistant Director General
for Education, briefed representatives from the Executive Board's
Group I countries on his plans for reform of UNESCO's Education
Sector, July 6 at UNESCO headquarters. Smith announced that he has
put the plan into action as of July 3, and said that he is finding
strong support for his proposed reforms throughout all electoral
groups. Mission officers, however, have been told that the
Ambassador of Benin has questioned whether Smith has the necessary
mandate from the Executive Board to advance with his reform plans.
The other problem on the horizon is that the staff unions at UNESCO
are gearing up to fight the reform plan, having already sent out
messages to their constituents asking the Director General (DG) to
suspend the reforms and enter into negotiations with the unions.
End Summary.

2. (U) Smith said that the hard work begins this week, now that the
plan has been approved by the DG and presented to the personnel of
the Education Sector. He asked that all country delegates feel free
to provide him with "loving criticism," to help improve elements
where needed. Smith said that the reform was the result of a
request by both the Executive Board and General Conference to help
the Global Action Plan on Education. He highlighted a few key
elements of the plan and the concerns they are trying to respond to:

3. (U) Accountable decentralization: Smith said that today, there
is not enough accountability by the field offices to headquarters,
and noted that under current arrangements he does not have the
authority to hold field directors accountable for how their budgets
are spent.

4. (U) Budget woes: Smith said that inefficiencies in the system
translate into a 25-30 percent drop in spending power for the
Education Sector's budget. He said that the initial elements of his
reform plans will have no impact on the current budget, but also
made it clear that member states, the Executive Board and the
General Conference can not continue to add more responsibilities if
they do not provide funding to carry out their requests.

5. (U) Deprofessionalization and demotivated staff: There are not
enough qualified people in the "right" positions. His sector is
currently obliged to cut positions by attrition, not taking into
account the work the Education Sector is trying to accomplish or
which employees have the skills to fill the needs.

6. (SBU) Decentralization: The original concept of decentralization
does not and cannot work the way the system is designed today.
According to Smith, UNESCO needs to strengthen its regional bureaus,
sub-regional and national level offices to better use expertise and
control the situation in the field, supported by regional institutes
that also will need to be supported better in terms of finances and
management. Smith described the current situation as "organized
mayhem, which is defended by no one." He said this point is
"non-negotiable" and that accountability must be absolute. (Note:
Mission has heard that there was language about the lack of
accountability in the original reform document that was excised by
the Deputy Director General.)

7. (U) The reform plan's strategy regarding personnel is to bolster
staff in the field by almost 100 percent. The plan envisions a
reduction of 11-12 positions at headquarters and the creation of new
posts in the field. The plan calls for abolition of several of the
Sector's current offices; restructuring the section into several
basic sections covering: Pre-K to high school; Vocational/technical
education; Higher education/tertiary studies; U.I.L. (non-formal
education) Hamburg and IBE Geneva. Smith also said that a new office
for Eastern and Emerging Europe would be created based out of the
CEPES office in Bucharest. Smith noted that regional institutes
would now report to regional bureaus, and those bureaus would report
to him.

8. (U) Smith said that the new structure of the Education Sector
would more closely mirror the many Ministries of Education that
UNESCO works with around the world, making for simpler integration
between the systems. Smith said that a new division would be
created, the Division for UN Priorities, which would cover the
issues of sustainability, EFA, HIV/AIDS, and Literacy. This
division would ensure that UNESCO would have voice in the larger
crosscutting issues in the larger UN family regarding education.
He also noted that a section would be created to provide Regional
Support and Planning, which would coordinate and improve
communications between field offices, regional bureaus, and
headquarters.

9. (U) Smith complained about his inability to provide accurate
budget estimates given the existing budget system for his sector.
He also said that the current Planning and Information software is
flawed beyond recovery and will be dismantled. He said that he would
be pushing the idea of a standardized international platform at an
upcoming meeting with the other ADGs to improve bottom-up planning
and program cycles.

10. (U) Smith then took questions from the floor: The Belgian
Ambassador asked about how progress is monitored. Smith said that a
new monitoring and evaluation program would be created, as it is
critical to measure success or failure of the programs. Another
question was asked about measuring capacity development. Smith said
that the way it is done today is hit or miss, with no team, no plan,
and no common assumptions. He said that it is vital to be able to
measure all of the programs put into place to determine how well
they are doing.
11. (SBU) The British Ambassador asked how the Education Sector
reform plan fit into the overall United Nations reform plan now
being studied. Smith said that the Education Sector's reform plan
does fit into the larger UN plan. The Ambassador followed up with a
comment that decentralization, for example, has implications for the
rest of UNESCO, and asked if the Education Sector is an experiment
to test how it works. Smith replied that he saw the Education
Sector reform plan as a test case, and that this is an opportunity
to move the pendulum for all of UNESCO quite quickly. At the same
time, he said, he will have to find a balance, so as to not lose
focus and drive by trying to solve the problems of "big UNESCO" when
his responsibility is reforming the education sector.

12. (U) Smith then talked about establishing budget and human
resources positions within the education sector and temporarily
finding a human resources specialist to help during the transition.

13. (SBU) The Norwegian representative commented that he supported
Smith's plan, and said that he didn't believe it was proper for the
Executive Board or member states to micro-manage the implementation
of the Education Sector reform plan. (Note: His comment stands in
contrast to a report we have heard that the Beninese ambassador, who
sits on the Executive Board, believes that the plan should not be
implemented until blessed by the board. In contrast, the UK deputy
has told us that most delegations believe that Smith was empowered
to carry out his reform by the General Conference and the Executive
Board has no say.)

14. (U) The Dutch Ambassador spoke briefly, expressing support for
Smith's work so far, and said that the reform he has outlined makes
a lot of sense. There was then a question about the IICBA
(International Institute for Capacity Building in Africa), and the
fact that it is currently without a director, no office, nor
necessary materials. Smith answered saying that the situation is
better than what people report. He mentioned that he will be
interviewing candidates for the IICBA after the G-8 Summit, and also
said that the government of Ethiopia has proposed a plot of land in
Addis for a future facility. Smith said that he hopes that IICBA
will soon be able to concentrate on its key role, which is teacher
training.

15. (U) Smith then raised, again, the subject of financing. He said
that lack of money continues to be a major problem, as member states
demand more and more services, whether it be a new institute, or a
new program, but don't provide the necessary finances to support
them. Smith said that extra budgetary funding is not the answer,
unless it comes with a 15-year commitment.

16. (U) US Mission Charge asked about reactions from the Education
Sector staff after they were briefed on the reforms. Smith said
that extensive consultations were held, and estimated that some 20
percent of the staff was intensively involved in the reform
planning. He said that there were a handful of disgruntled
employees, perhaps seven or eight, who were not happy about how the
reforms would affect them.

17. (U) Over the past week, at least two of UNESCO's staff unions
have come out forcefully against Smith's reform plans. One union
has called for a freeze of the reform and wants to open direct
negotiations with the Director General. The unions claim that
Smith's plans has abolished sections, is forcing long-time employees
close to retirement to accept positions in foreign posts, or is
obliging others to take early retirement against their wills. It is
highly probable that the unions will be a major thorn in Smith's
side as the reform plans move forward.

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