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4th meeting of IOM Working Group on Budget Reform
Geneva, 22 February 2011
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Chairman’s inaugural remarks
Geneva, 22 February 2011
Distinguished delegates, ladies and gentlemen,
I am pleased to meet with IOM Member State delegations and to chair this fourth meeting of the Working Group on budgetary refom.
I would like to begin by expressing my sincere appreciation to my distinguished predecessor, Ambassador Kitajima of Japan, for the inspiring leadership he provided to this Working Group.
As the leading agency on migration, IOM considers it critical to have an adequately funded core structure to fulfil its mandated activities.
Given the significant growth experienced in all areas of IOM’s work, the Administration brought to the attention of Member States a number of key funding needs which are normally covered by assessed budgetary contributions in other international organizations.
It is suggested in particular that the following needs be reviewed with a view to integrating them into the core budget and be funded in the Administrative Part of budget through the assessed contributions of Member States :
1. Staff security
2. PRISM (Professional Records and Information Services Management)
3. Cluster coordination
4. Statutory increases
5. Other existing and emerging core structural requirements some of which are outlined in the 2011 Programme and Budget.
As you know, the core structure of the Organization is partially funded by the Administrative Part of the Budget (approximately 50 per cent), with the remaining costs covered from Discretionary Incomes. The Administrative Part of the Budget is funded by the assessed contributions, while Discretionary Incomes are derived primarily from two sources :
1. Project-related overhead income, which depends on the level of activities implemented.
2. Miscellaneous income consisting of interest income (influenced by financial markets) and unearmarked contributions (influenced by donors).
Important efforts have been made over the years to optimize the use of IOM resources. However, these efforts do not provide a sustainable solution to the fundamental issue of the funding of IOM’s core structure as seen in the present context of budgetary reform.
The Council and Standing Committee of Programme and Finance sessions dealing with the Organization’s budget continue over the last few years to give rise to stormy debates on the financing of the core structure of the Organization. This is to be expected given the lack of enthusiasm of Member States to accept budgetary reform that would have a significant impact on the level of their assessed contributions, which they are reluctant to accept.
In approving the 2010 Programme and Budget, the Council requested the Administration to engage in a dialogue with Member States on budget reform with a view to addressing the issue of funding of the core structure and to report on the matter to the IOM’s governing bodies.
This has lead in May 2010 to the establishment of this Working Group to examine the question of budget reform and to present appropriate recommendations to the SCPF.
Three meetings of the Working Group were held respectively on 28 June, 28 September and 18 November 2010 under the able Chairmanship of my predecessor who made an excellent and useful progress report on this issue at the 99th session of the Council in November 2010.
The Working Group has successfully defined the terms of reference for its mandate and its agenda and work plan. Three main lines of work have been identified :
1. Define the core structure
2. Define the key “functions”
3. Alternative sources of funding for the core structure
Debates on the 2011 budget within the governing bodies have highlighted the need for accelerating the ongoing discussions of the Working Group.
Building on the discussions which continued at the third meeting of the Working Group on the three main lines of work, we are requested to pursue our efforts in order to achieve substantive progress and formulate workable recommendations.
In order to move forward on substance, I suggest that we continue our discussions on agenda item 5 related to alternative sources of funding for the core structure. We may resume our debate on the definitions of the “core structure” and the “key functions” under agenda items 3 and 4 at the next meetings.
Discussions on the financing of the core structure have so far focused on the Administrative budget. Recent consultations between the Administration and the Chair identified new tracks and ideas, which are submitted to the delegations with the aim to facilitating today’s and future discussions.
The working paper submitted to this end includes the following proposals :
· Adding the assessed contribution of new Member States to the total Administrative Part of the Budget.
· Providing for annual or bi-annual adjustments in the budget to absorb statutory increases in the Administrative Part of the budget.
· Adjusting assessed contributions and Discretionary Incomes.
· Increasing current rates of overhead charged to projects.
· Easing restrictions on the use of Discretionary Incomes.
· Establishing whether the burden of delivering projects is adequately supported by donors instead of being charged to beneficiaries.
· Determining whether IOM’s overhead rate and cost delivery mechanisms are competitive and appropriate compared with those of other agencies.
· Determining the most appropriate methods on the basis of international best practices in the area of cost allocation mechanisms.
· Focusing fund-raising on issues at the forefront of international concern.
· Promoting the awareness of migration and the Organization’s work.
· Encouraging unearmarked contributions to cover the Organization’s core needs.
· Involving private sector in fund-raising initiatives.
· Developing projects that incorporate specific core funding needs.
· Prioritising use of the Web and Internet to expand fund-raising possibilities.
Distinguished delegates,
I look forward to a productive discussion on all these ideas. Before I open the debate, let me start by giving the floor to our Director General for any comments he might wish to make.
Thank you. |
