As deliveredSTATEMENT BY MR. SHASHI THAROOR,
UNDER-SECRETARY-GENERAL FOR COMMUNICATIONS AND PUBLIC INFORMATION,
AT THE OPENING OF THE TWENTY-SEVENTH SESSION
OF THE COMMITTEE ON INFORMATION
18 APRIL 2005
Mr. Chairman,
Distinguished delegates,
Ladies and gentlemen,
It has become an annual pleasure, but nonetheless a rare privilege, for me to address a session of the Committee on Information, and this year the occasion of your twenty-seventh session is particularly special. Taking place in this sixtieth year of the founding of the United Nations, when the Secretary-General has made renewal of the Organization a top priority, the twenty-seventh session of this Committee will act on issues which will have important long-term consequences for the overall work of the Department of Public Information.
Since its establishment in 1978, the Committee on Information has supported the Department of Public Information and helped to steer its work in directions responsive to the rapidly-changing global information environment. The interest that Member States have demonstrated in this regard is also evident from the steady growth in the Committee’s membership: from 67 in 1978 to 107 today, a remarkable 40 per cent increase. Over the years, the Committee has demonstrated a clear commitment to help DPI become an increasingly effective public voice for the Organization, and this partnership has been a key factor in defining DPI’s role. On behalf of my Department and my staff, I should like to acknowledge the positive contribution of this Committee, and to express my appreciation for its continued support.
I would like to take this opportunity to warmly welcome the newly-elected Chairman, His Excellency Mr. Mihnea Ioan Motoc, and the members of the Bureau. I have every confidence that under Ambassador Motoc’s able guidance, this Committee will continue to make steady progress towards accomplishing the goals which the Department has set for itself and you have set for us. I am grateful to you, Mr. Chairman, for your kind and encouraging words addressed to me. I look forward to working closely with you and with other members of the Bureau, not only during this session, but in the months ahead.
I should also like to take this opportunity to pay tribute to the outgoing Chairman, His Excellency Mr. Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury, and the other members of his Bureau, for the support and cooperation they extended to the Department over the past two years. Ambassador Chowdhury chaired the Committee at a time when the Organization faced unprecedented challenges, and the Department undertook a comprehensive reorientation of its work. He was a true friend, sometimes a philosopher and always a guide, he helped steer the Department in new directions. I salute his vigour and commitment, and I will miss his energy and his sense of humour.
Mr. Chairman,
Change, as we have often been told, does not necessarily assure progress, but progress implacably requires change. In the past three years, DPI has undergone structural changes that have produced a new strategic orientation in its work – underpinned for the first time in its history by a clear and coherent mission statement. We know that this alone could not make an operation more effective. We therefore took a hard look at how and why we do what we do. We therefore took steps to devise a new operating model, and to organize ourselves accordingly to make better use of our resources, both human and financial; to set up new mechanisms to be more responsive to, and therefore better serve our clients, particularly you, the Member States. We also reached out proactively to the media and civil society, including through the use of new information and communications technologies, and, in the process, gained the support of “non-traditional” partners in spreading the UN message. We also became the first Department in the Secretariat to train our managers in results-based budgeting and to develop a capacity to measure our performance in a credible and consistent way. In the last few years, the cliché “the culture of communication” has become a widespread reality throughout the Secretariat.
So, while I refrain from referring to DPI’s “accomplishments” over the last three years – since those are really for you to judge – let me say that I firmly believe DPI has made “measurable progress” as a result of its reorientation. I will explain later, why I say measurable. I will also present several examples of this progress across the range of the Department’s work.
Mr. Chairman,
At a time when talk of UN reform is on the top of the UN agenda, it is useful to recall that a central element of the Secretary-General’s 2002 reform proposals was to enhance public information. The United Nations has a compelling story to tell, he said, and proposed that this story be told in a manner that would bring to life the Organization’s central role in working for a better world for all. In response to this challenge, and working in accordance with a subsequent General Assembly resolution, the Department undertook a comprehensive review of its work that resulted, as I just mentioned, in the introduction of a new mission statement, a new operating model and a new organizational structure. Quite appropriately, the principal annual report on the work of the Department that it submitted to the Committee on Information, like the one submitted for the consideration of the present session (A/AC.198/2005/2), was titled the “Report of the Secretary-General on the reorientation of United Nations activities in the field of public information and communications”. We have now implemented those aspects of the reform proposals that are within the authority of the Secretary-General and are based on existing General Assembly resolutions and guidance provided by the Committee on Information. (The one exception is the regionalization of UNICs, to which I will return.) So I hope the Member States will consider DPI fully reoriented! Future reports of the Secretary-General on questions relating to the continuing work of DPI will no longer refer to “continuing reorientation”, but will simply be reports of the Secretary-General on UN activities related to public information and communications.
Let me recall here that the General Assembly, in its resolutions 59/126 A and B of 10 December 2004, requested the Secretary-General to report to the twenty-seventh session of the Committee on Information on the activities of the Department and on the implementation of its recommendations on questions relating to public information. Through consultations with the Bureau of the Committee, it was decided that the information requested in the above resolution would be grouped into the five reports listed on your agenda (A/AC.198/2005/1), the most comprehensive of which would be the one dealing with the continuing reorientation of the Department of Public Information. Also, at the request of the Fifth Committee, the report of the Office of Internal Oversight Services on the review of the operations and management of United Nations libraries (A/59/373) has also been included for the Committee’s consideration at this session. We have made every effort to ensure the early availability of these documents for your review.
Having said that the reorientation process has concluded, you might ask: what has been achieved in the course of this process? Is DPI doing its work any better today than it was three years ago?
I would like to take the next few minutes to address this question. Of course, I will not be able to describe all, or even most aspects of the changes introduced and the progress made in the past three years. There will be an opportunity to review this in greater detail at the interactive dialogue scheduled for this afternoon, which will take place in this room from 3:00 to 6:00 p.m. I would encourage all of you to attend and to raise whatever questions are on your mind.
DPI’s task, simply put, is to tell the UN story. The public perception of the United Nations, like the image of any public institution, is the sum-total of views held in the public mind. These views, as Walter Lippmann once said, are somewhat like “pictures in our head.” In the past two years, the pictures in many people’s heads about the United Nations have acquired a negative cast, particularly as the Organization is portrayed in the international media.
Amid continuing allegations of corruption, mismanagement and a lack of transparency and accountability in some of its activities, the UN’s effectiveness and relevance have been publicly and persistently challenged. While the nature of these criticisms has varied widely – from the lingering disapproval over the UN’s role over the war in Iraq, to alleged wrongdoings in the Oil-for-Food Programme, to charges of sexual exploitation in peacekeeping operations - the UN’s image has been badly bruised. A number of polls conducted in the past two years show that support for the Organization and understanding about its global role has significantly faltered in some parts of the world. However, these polls also show that most people around the world want a United Nations which is stronger and more capable of living up to the expectations they have of it.
In other words, people want to see the UN doing more, not less. As London’s daily Guardian recently wrote, the world needs the United Nations “not out of misplaced internationalism but out of hard-headed realism.” Explaining itself, the daily noted there is no alternative to an organization that can coordinate the responses of 60 different donor countries, the military assets of 26 countries, and the efforts of hundreds of aid agencies within days after the tsunami disaster struck in South and Southeast Asia.
That is only one recent example of how the UN serves the people of the world, day in and day out.
However, there is also no denying that some people are unsure whether our 60-year old United Nations is capable of organizing and delivering collective action in support of peace and security for all. Sixty, after all, is the age at which we at the United Nations contemplate retirement. But instead, the Organization is poised for renewal. The Secretary-General, in his recent report, “In larger freedom: Towards development, security and human rights for all”, has presented a clear blueprint for reforming and strengthening the Organization and has urged Member States to take crucial decisions at the September Summit this year.
Since the last session of this Committee, the Department has faced an unprecedented challenge in mobilizing resources to engage with public opinion on so many fronts. We were quick to strengthen our monitoring of the media around the world and to reinforce our media outreach capacity. No charge went unanswered: we unleashed a blizzard of public information initiatives to counter attacks in the media, and a crisis communications team was mobilized, which included senior staff from the Office of the Secretary-General, the Spokesman's Office and DPI. The team set a daily strategy, not only on how best to respond to particular media coverage, but also on proactive and preventive action. Guided by this strategy, arrangements were made daily for senior spokespersons to appear on major television outlets and to make our views known through opinion (“op-ed”) articles, interviews and letters in high-impact print media. Similar media placements by supportive third-party spokespeople were also arranged by various civil society groups and foundations, in close coordination with our strategy team.
The network of UN information centres has also been instrumental in placing opinion articles in local media in the countries they serve. To keep staff informed of these efforts -- both to boost morale and to share talking points that staff themselves can use in defending the Organization in their own sphere of influence -- a website entitled "Hot Issues, Cold Facts" has been launched on the UN’s intranet. Despite all these efforts, we would acknowledge that the UN’s standing in many countries has never been lower. At a time when we are more conscious than ever before of the impact of our work, this is sobering news.
Monsieur le Président,
J’ai évoqué tout à l’heure les changements que nous avons effectués pour que nos efforts de réorganisation soient couronnés de succès. Comme vous le savez, nous avons préparé cette démarche avec soin. Celle-ci a comporté de fréquentes consultations avec les Etats membres et une coordination plus étroite avec les partenaires du système des Nations Unies. Notre mission est claire: il s’agit de satisfaire les objectifs de fond de l’Organisation par la promotion stratégique des activités des Nations Unies, de manière à sensibiliser le plus large public. Pour relever ce défi, il nous a fallu aller bien au-delà de simples retouches apportées aux structures existantes et à la manière de travailler. Il nous a fallu procéder à un véritable bouleversement.
Ce faisant, nous avons clairement défini les quatre orientations stratégiques suivantes:
Permettez-moi à présent d’illustrer la manière dont ces nouveaux choix stratégiques ont infléchi le travail du DPI et donné des résultats satisfaisants.
Le nouveau schéma de fonctionnement repose clairement sur la notion que la production thématique relève des autres Départements et Services du Secrétariat, ainsi que des autres institutions des Nations Unies. Pour sa part, DPI a pour mission de promouvoir et de diffuser cette production, de formuler les messages, de manier les outils d’information et d’élaborer les stratégies nécessaires à la présentation des positions de l’ONU au reste du monde. De ce fait, de nouvelles relations de travail ont été établies entre les Départements du Secrétariat, lesquels, en tant que clients, définissent leurs priorités et donnent au DPI des directives politiques précises, et le Département de l’information, qui, en tant que « prestataire de services », se charge de promouvoir ces priorités à travers le monde.
Deux ans après l’adoption de ce schéma, la nouvelle interaction qui en a résulté s’avère, à notre avis, fonctionnelle et efficace. Elle a facilité en effet un rapprochement sans précédent du DPI de ses clients. La multiplication de ses contacts avec les clients des autres Départements a en outre permis au DPI de mieux saisir les occasions de communiquer et la manière de le faire, et d’avoir des attentes plus réalistes quant à la place que réservent les médias aux informations que nous diffusons. Plus d’une douzaine de stratégies de l’information, élaborées en collaboration avec les autres Départements et ayant pour objet la promotion de questions et d’événements prioritaires, ont été réalisées pendant cette période. Et plus de 80% de nos clients, qui ont répondu à un sondage en règle destiné à mesurer l’indice de satisfaction avec la qualité de nos services, ont exprimé leur « très grande satisfaction » à l’égard du travail accompli par DPI. Les formulaires de cette enquête ont été insérés dans de toutes les études de projet.
Un excellent exemple de la manière dont se manifeste cette interaction est le partenariat noué entre le DPI et le Département des opérations de maintien de la paix.
Bien que chaque département qui bénéficie des services du DPI soit considéré à part, nos clients sont en fait regroupés en subdivisions. DPI traite directement avec plusieurs d’entre eux au sein d’un même département, selon leurs propres besoins. Voici un exemple:
En juin 2004, les missions de maintien de la paix ont été invitées à se prononcer sur la qualité du travail de communication accompli par le DPI en appui à ces opérations. Sur la douzaine de missions complexes disposant de cellules d’information qui ont été sollicitées à cette occasion, sept ont répondu. Dans l’ensemble les réactions ont été entièrement positives.
Mr. Chairman,
The introduction of new information and communications technologies, and their incorporation into the global communications infrastructure, has produced significant change in the production, promotion and distribution of publicly available information. While developed countries have been the main beneficiaries of the communications revolution, developing countries have embraced the new technologies and are making a concerted effort to adapt them gradually to national and regional needs. To compete in today’s rapidly-evolving communications environment, DPI’s own strategic decision was to use the most appropriate communications technologies and tools to secure speed, innovation and variety in its work. The results have been impressive.
Nowhere has this innovation been more dramatic than with the Internet. In less than ten years since its introduction by DPI in 1995, the United Nations web site has become the leading tool for reaching target audiences such as Member States, media, non-governmental organizations and academia, as well as an increasing number of people directly, in all parts of the world. Consider the following facts:
Pas moins appréciable est l’aptitude croissante du Département à offrir, par le truchement de l’Internet, des informations tant attendues dans les six langues officielles des Nations Unies. Le Centre de Nouvelles de l’ONU, portail qui permet un accès facile aux nouvelles les plus récentes et aux moyens d’information concernant les activités du système des Nations Unies, est désormais pleinement multilingue. A mesure que se multiplie la quantité d’informations affichées dans d’autres langues que l’anglais et le français, un nombre croissant d’internautes se tournent vers le site Web comme source d’information dans toutes les langues officielles. J’en tire personnellement une satisfaction particulière, en ma qualité de Coordinateur des questions de multilinguisme à l’ONU.
Un autre sujet de satisfaction est la capacité des Centres d’information de l’ONU à accueillir des sites Web dans d’autres langues. C’est ainsi, par exemple, que le Centre régional d’information, ou RUNIC, à Bruxelles, fournit désormais des informations sur son site Web dans la plupart des langues de l’Europe occidentale. On trouve également sur les sites Web des Centres d’information de la documentation dans des langues aussi variées que le bengali, le tchèque, le farsi, le kiswahili, le malgache, le thaïlandais, et j’en passe. A l’instar d’un merveilleux kaléidoscope de langues, l’Internet offre à mon Département la possibilité de relier de nombreuses cultures avec une vision commune. Nous sommes persuadés qu’une fois que des ressources suffisantes auront été dégagées, les Centres d’information seront capables d’accueillir des sites Web dans la plupart des principales langues des régions où ils se oeuvrent.
Pourtant, malgré les progrès considérables en matière de multilinguisme, force est de constater - et je suis le premier à le faire - qu’il reste du chemin à parcourir pour que la parité linguistique sur le Web devienne réalité. En effet, l’anglais continue d’y être la langue prédominante, suivi du français. Il est important de noter à ce sujet que c’est aux services du Secrétariat chargés de l’ensemble de la production thématique qu’il appartient de fournir de la documentation dans toutes les langues officielles sur le site Web. Le rapport du Secrétaire général sur le multilinguisme (A/58/363) souligne à ce propos que le manque de ressources constitue le principal obstacle à la production multilingue, car s’il est toujours possible de trouver le financement nécessaire à la traduction des documents de conférence dans les six langues officielles, il n’en va pas de même pour les publications. Par ailleurs, l’entretien des sites Web dans les différentes langues est assurée en grande partie « dans la limite des ressources existantes ». Ce qui explique que les Départements du Secrétariat ont mis au point leurs sites de langues officielles d’une manière sélective, pour ce qui est du choix du matériel et celui des langues. Pour sa part, le Département de l’information, en tant que gestionnaire du site Web, continuera d’inciter les autres Départements à produire de la documentation dans toutes les langues officielles et les aidera dans cette tâche.
Mr. Chairman,
As the “public voice” of the Organization, connecting with the public at large and creating synergies with external partners remain vital for the Department. One of the important changes introduced as a result of DPI’s restructuring was the creation of a new Outreach Division, which is entrusted with the task of taking United Nations messages and information resources to civil society, in particular, non-governmental organizations, educators, students and private sector partners, in an increasingly integrated fashion, using a variety of both established and innovative channels. The integrated nature of our outreach efforts is highlighted in the report of the Secretary-General on the continuing reorientation of UN activities in the field of public information and communications. I would only like to mention a few examples of how, through strengthened UN - civil society partnerships, we have been able to reach targeted audiences with greater effect:
An area where important new directions are being pursued is that of United Nations libraries. UN libraries, through the Steering Committee for the Modernization and Integrated Management of United Nations Libraries, which is chaired by DPI, are redefining their role as independent repositories and are moving from building and maintaining book and periodical collections, to facilitating a knowledge-enabled environment and the exchange of information among stakeholders – moving from collections to connections.
The Dag Hammarskjöld Library itself has undergone a significant change of focus, from looking inward and serving the Secretariat, to reaching out to meet the needs of Missions and the UN's global client base. The Secretary-General’s report on the modernization and integrated management of United Nations libraries: new strategic directions (A/AC.198/2005/4), explains the pursuit of new strategic directions for UN libraries in great detail. The report, the product of discussions and consultations over the past year, points out how this new approach will transform the UN’s library services. Here are a few examples:
Mr. Chairman,
You will recall that, at the beginning of my statement, I had suggested using the term “measurable progress” instead of accomplishments, to describe the changes brought about by the reorientation of DPI. Now, let me explain why. In the past, DPI managers could say that an activity had been carried out with great success. They may still do so, and I hope they will, but they must now also provide concrete evidence of this success.
You must have noticed that in the reports of the Secretary-General submitted for your consideration, and in my own statement, each major DPI activity has been supported by statistics and/or other clearly-defined indicators of achievement. One way of gauging changes in public perception about what we do and how we do it is through opinion surveys. This yardstick has also been used and referred to in my statement.
This has all been part of the new culture of evaluation we have been trying to incorporate across the Department, indeed across the Secretariat. DPI has now entered the final year of its three-year project of collaboration with the Office of Internal Oversight Services, in order to establish an internal mechanism for self-evaluation through the Annual Programme Impact Review (APIR). The emphasis on assessment is not limited to trying to measure the success of our work. This new direction has also underlined the importance of regular feedback from DPI’s diverse audiences on the usefulness, relevance, and quality of our products and services, making us more responsive to their needs.
Our emphasis on performance management also includes the work of the UN information centres. Last year, as part of the Annual Programme Impact Review, we asked our information centres to conduct a comprehensive pilot survey to gauge the usefulness of their library, media and public outreach services, as well as their capacity to raise awareness of the work of the UN amongst local audiences. In response, sixty-three UNICs gave survey forms to their audiences. On average, 80 per cent of those responding expressed satisfaction with the products and services of UNICs. Their briefing programmes were considered to be particularly effective, with nine in ten participants indicating that their knowledge of UN issues had improved as a result.
The fact that DPI staff have readily taken on new responsibilities where evaluation of their work is concerned, should not be underestimated. DPI field staff succeeded in obtaining feedback on the quality of products and activities without sacrificing programme delivery – and they did this without having had access to training programmes in evaluation techniques, which, for the time being, are only available to staff at Headquarters. Therefore, an important priority for us is to provide UNIC staff with the necessary tools, for example through online training modules, to enable them to assess the results of their work.
Mr. Chairman,
Let me turn now turn to the question of the further rationalization of the network of UN information centres, the subject of a report of the Secretary-General now under your consideration (A/AC.198/2005/3). This report takes into account the new realities and presents some new thoughts. Let me give you a quick run-down.
Last November, at the Fourth Committee, I spoke candidly about the reality facing DPI’s rationalization plan. It is one of insufficient resources and rising costs. The rationale behind regionalization was to consolidate our limited resources into a critical mass in a smaller number of locations, and thereby make a greater impact. But two developments have undermined our original proposals. First, our experience in closing the nine UNICs in Western Europe taught us that it is more costly, at least in the short term, to close centres than to keep them running. In fact, it has so far cost the Department about $3 million to close the above centres, taking into account liquidation requirements and the payment of termination indemnities to staff. To make matters worse, the unexpected decision by the General Assembly to cut nearly 25 per cent of the operational budget of UNICs - $2 million – two years ago, followed by increased expenditures for security in the field, coupled with the fall in the value of the US dollar, has resulted in a situation where the centres, after paying fixed costs for these premises and maintenance, have little money left for outreach and programmatic activities. As a result, consolidating them no longer generates enough funds to create a credible regional centre. Simply put, with its current resource base, DPI is in no position to open fully staffed and resourced new regional hubs.
Our revised plan therefore takes into account these realities and presents some new options. Let me point out a couple of key features:
As you will recall, the raison d’être behind the Secretary-General’s rationalization plan for UNICs was to enhance their effectiveness, thereby strengthening the UN presence at the local and regional levels. Closing centres was never meant as an end in itself. We believe, through these measures to recalibrate these offices, those goals can be met within the constraints you have imposed upon us.
We also hope to learn from RUNIC Brussels how rationalization works and what – if any – adjustments to that model are needed. Although it is still early for a full assessment of its impact, some of the advantages are obvious. RUNIC Brussels has already emerged as a highly desirable launching pad for many UN reports and initiatives. The centre is also able to coordinate directly with regional organizations on a wide range of priority issues. However, the RUNIC experience also serves as a reminder that there is value to maintaining a presence on the ground, particularly where a centre can provide a variety of information services and amplify the UN’s voice at the local level. The fact that several of the Western European governments where centres were closed in 2003 are now providing and funding information staff in their countries to fill the void created by the closure of UNICs, only lends strength to this argument. The case is even stronger in many developing countries, where information centres are housed in rent-free or nominal-cost premises, with modestly-remunerated staff proficient in local languages. We will, as many of you have requested, conduct a fuller review of RUNIC Brussels with a view to drawing conclusions for our approach in the rest of the world.
This is the bare outline of our plan, but of course we want to hear your views on this and other matters and look forward to our consultations during our two-week session. Those of you who are interested in statistics will find enough of them in the report of the Secretary-General. I will be happy to provide additional details and respond to your queries at the interactive dialogue this afternoon.
It should be noted that UN information offices around the world, including RUNIC Brussels, also rely on the support of our civil society partners, especially UNAs (UN Associations), to help deliver a sustained UN message. This has led to initiatives at the national level, where local UNAs – with the substantive support of RUNIC and UNICs – initiate high-profile outreach events or provide translation of key information materials. But there is a long way to go before we can speak of an effective network of UNAs integrated with the UN.
Mr. Chairman,
I really have transgressed on your patience and that of the Committee. I do want to conclude by quoting Confucius who over 2,500 years ago said, “To see what is right and not to do it, is want of courage.” Our decision to embrace sweeping changes in DPI’s structure and operational philosophy was not an act of courage. It was a deliberate move born out of necessity. Three years later, we can say with confidence, it was also the right move.
Today, DPI’s focus is sharper, its target audiences are better defined, and the tools it needs are in place. However, this renewal does not automatically translate into a success story. In one of my previous statements to this Committee, I compared DPI’s reform efforts to a journey. But, as I believe the Japanese like to say, “when you have completed 95 per cent of your journey, you are only halfway through.” In the case of DPI, we have come to the end of the first leg of our journey – and I am sure you will do your own arithmetic to determine the percentage of work done. We know our work has only begun. We have built the foundation, but must continue building the structure above. Throughout this process, we need to remain flexible and keep our options open. The United Nations itself is an evolving story, always confronting new challenges and crafting new responses. DPI, its voice to the world, should also remain ready to adjust itself to the changing realities.
The Committee on Information has been a close partner in this process right from the beginning. We hope it will remain so, in the years to come, as Member States take on the challenge of renewing this vital Organization. And I thank you for your leadership in making this possible.
Thank you.***