Working Party on the Strategic Framework and the Programme Budget, 70th session
09 March 2015
Mr. Chair,
Distinguished Delegates,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is my pleasure to welcome you to the seventieth session of the Working Party on the Strategic Framework and the Programme Budget.
Today´s session is special for me for two reasons.
Firstly, it is the last time I have the honour to address you as the Deputy Secretary-General of UNCTAD. Furthermore, the topic we discuss today is interwoven in my trajectory in this institution: as delegate, as President of the Trade and Development Board and then as Deputy Secretary-General.
Some of you may remember that in 2008, during UNCTAD XII, member States requested UNCTAD to develop a Communication Strategy and Publications Policy. Back then, as President of the Board I also chaired the negotiations for the Accra Accord.
And it was in 2009, when I was already Deputy Secretary-General that the TDB unanimously adopted the UNCTAD communication strategy and the UNCTAD publications policy. So, I have had the rare opportunity to oversee the implementation of both programme documents that I had also helped to initiate.
This is the sixth time we report to you on the implementation of our communication strategy and publications policy. The implementation report in front of you, made available in all six languages prior to the meeting, provides an overview of the activities undertaken by the Secretariat and their impact, from January to December 2014. It also covers follow-up action undertaken in response to last year's agreed conclusions.
This session will also consider the Report on the readership survey of UNCTAD's main publications in 2014.
My goal today is to share some of the main accomplishments for the past year, and also put these accomplishments into perspective. Looking back, I believe that we have come a long way from where we started back in 2008.
Let me begin with the progress made regarding our communication strategy.
In response to the agreed conclusions adopted at the last session of the Working Party, we have continued reinforcing our online presence, including through the use of social media.
Throughout 2014, UNCTAD's work to enhance web-based content continued unabated. We further consolidated sub-sites and introduced user-friendly applications, such as the online meeting registration, on-line databases of specialized audiences and dedicated conference sites. We also strengthened our capacity to monitor and evaluate our media and online presence.
Let me give you some examples to illustrate these efforts.
Today, UNCTAD's Twitter account has over 61,000 followers. One year ago we had 25,000. And in 2011, we did not even have an active twitter account. Likewise, our presence on Facebook is also being built up.
Since April 2014, you receive the "What's New" weekly online update that provides you with an overview of the week ahead in the Organization, with links to the calendar, events, documents and activities. And we are working on revamping the delegates' portal to ensure you have access to the information you need, from different devices, mobile phones, tablets and computers.
On the global media front, the landscape is constantly changing with the space allocation on news pages, dedicated to development issues, continuously being reduced.
UNCTAD is adapting to this evolving environment and keeping journalists abreast of our work. We provide information in concise press releases; we have reduced the length of information documents; we provide media alerts with links to press releases and relevant materials. And, we disseminate all our media products to over 2000 subscribed journalists worldwide.
In 2014 UNCTAD issued 64 press releases, resulting in nearly 9000 press clippings, which represents a 50% increase as compared to 2013.
In addition, and as requested by the Working Party last year, we undertook a review of the methodology to collect press clippings. As a result, the UNOG communications offices are now jointly subscribing to a new search service, Factiva.
One of the priorities of Secretary-General Kituyi has been to enhance transparency and outreach. As part of these efforts, there is a dedicated Secretary-General's Twitter account; there are regular updates on the Secretary-General's webpage; and frequent meetings are being organized with member States and UNCTAD staff - in groups and individually. The UNCTAD office in New York was reinforced in 2014, with enhanced ability to reach out to member States, civil society, accredited media and other UN organizations.
In addition, 2014 was a landmark year in terms of internal communications. UNCTAD introduced its new intranet site. The site is not only an improved internal communications' tools, it is also a tool for fostering intra-Divisional cooperation.
Distinguished delegates,
Let me now turn to our communication efforts with the civil society.
A major area of UNCTAD's work is civil society. The Public Symposium is UNCTAD's biggest outreach event, even though civil society organizations are involved in our work throughout the year. In fact, our relationship with civil society has strengthened considerably since we held the first Symposium in 2009. At the 2014 Public Symposium, over 300 representatives participated or contributed to the website and discussed the challenges to the post-2015 development agenda posed by rising global inequality.
The civil society mailing list has now over 3,000 subscribers. Some 30 E-alerts were sent in 2014, on topics of interest to civil society. And we continue expanding our social media outreach and disseminating key messages via Twitter, YouTube, and Flickr.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Throughout 2014, a number of UN and international high-profile events provided opportunities for UNCTAD to enhance its visibility and reinforce its key messages.
The fiftieth anniversary of UNCTAD was central among those. And as most of you witnessed, the institution deployed a house-wide strategy to incorporate this symbolic moment in all its work throughout the year.
In remembrance of the conclusion of UNCTAD I in June 1964, the anniversary was marked with a week-long programme of high-level events, under the title "Fifty Years of UNCTAD: A Celebration". A special session of the Trade and Development Board was addressed by the Secretary-General of the United Nations and the Vice-President of the Swiss Confederation.
In October, the World Investment Forum was held in Geneva as part of the UNCTAD fiftieth anniversary celebrations. The Forum attracted more than 3,000 participants from 150 countries featuring 500 speakers at 50 events. The Forum partnered with 35 other organizations and leveraged its media communications through partnerships with 11 global media partners. It was widely publicized on social media and the Internet. The conclusion of strategic partnerships also allowed the Forum to be marketed online at no cost and in the print media, as well as on television channels such as CNBC. Additionally, the Forum was publicized through a large advertisement campaign, which helped boost the local audience and communicate the mandate of UNCTAD to the Geneva community.
UNCTAD's fiftieth anniversary also featured a Raul Prebisch Lecture, delivered for the first time by a sitting Head of State, the President of Ecuador. As part of the fiftieth anniversary communication plan, the lecture was conceived and organized to reach as many UNCTAD constituents as possible. Media coverage, especially in Latin America, was high: the well-attended lecture was webcast live and generated much interest on Facebook and Twitter.
In November 2013, the Secretary-General launched the Geneva Dialogue, aimed at providing a "Geneva perspective" into the formulation of the post-2015 development agenda. In 2014, the Secretary-General convened two further sessions of the dialogue. About 300 participants were involved at each of the 2014 Geneva Dialogues. The substance was later relayed by the Secretary-General in follow-up meetings with senior United Nations staff and delegates at Headquarters in New York.
UNCTAD's participation in the first United Nations Geneva-staged TEDx talk on 11 December is a good example of a partnership with global communication initiatives. Beatrice Ayuru, a woman entrepreneur from Uganda and a beneficiary of the UNCTAD Empretec programme, was selected among 11 speakers to address the highly publicized event. The TEDx talk was presented before a live audience of more than 1,900 people and webcast live.
Distinguished delegates,
Let me now turn to the implementation of the Publications Policy.
We have continued streamlining our publications programme, guided by the leading principles of focus, quality and relevance. Back in the biennium of 2008-2009, we had some 225 publications. For the current biennium of 2014-2015, we are planning a total of 180 publications. This illustrates the much desired trend towards consolidation.
In terms of content, in 2014, many of our publications addressed the 50 years of the organization working towards prosperity for all. Our publications continued to emphasize the needs of member States to sustain economic recovery in the aftermath of the global economic and financial crisis, and to promote more inclusive and sustainable growth for development.
Regarding the quality of our publications, I would like to refer to the recent survey, which indicated that readers assess positively our publications, with an average score of 4.2 out of 5. This year 155 people responded to the survey, most of them (38%) academics or researchers and some 12 per cent government or public servants.
In terms of dissemination, I would like to reassure you that we continue to explore different avenues to reach further with our products and messages. And as we reduce printed copies - in consistency with United Nations greening policy - we use more CD-ROMs and flash memory devices, as well as our specialized networks, such as the World Investment Network and the Virtual Institute, to disseminate our work.
I would like to briefly highlight two improvements aimed at further strengthening cooperation in the house and coherence in our messages, thus ensuring higher quality standards.
The first one is the reinforcement of the Publications Committee. The Committee meets nearly every month now and discusses all relevant issues concerning content and strategic decisions for flagship publications. Last year, the committee launched an internal working site which allows its members to share drafts, comments and have access to all relevant information regarding flagship publications. This facilitates intra-Divisional cooperation and coherence in UNCTAD's research and analysis.
The second improvement I would like to highlight is our new policy clearance process. The new procedure streamlines the previous practice and decentralizes to Divisions the clearance process of non-flagship publications. The procedure establishes a set of principles, including peer review processes, as a mechanism to ensure the delivery of coordinated messages and high quality publications.
To conclude my intervention on publications, I am very pleased to inform you that our efforts towards timely preparation of parliamentary documentation have again delivered results. In both 2013 and 2014, UNCTAD prepared and submitted on time all of its pre-session documents for intergovernmental meetings to translation. And we work closely with UNOG Conference Services to ensure that timely prepared documents are translated and delivered to Member States in all languages without delay.
Ladies and gentlemen,
I hope the report is comprehensive enough and provides you with an idea on the progress made in the implementation of the communication strategy and publications policy, as well as the impact of the implementation in terms of outreach and coherence of UNCTAD's messages.
And I also hope you would be able to trace not only the progress made last year, but throughout the last six years, since we started this process.
I believe in the importance of a stronger communication strategy and a publications policy for UNCTAD. It is something that I supported even before I joined this Secretariat. Implementation has not always been simple, not least because it was all done "within existing resources" and you know as well as I do that those have been going down, not up.
The achievements over the last six years are the result of hard work and commitment from you, our member States, and all of our UNCTAD staff. It has been a process of learning by doing, supporting what worked and re-thinking what did not. I would like to recognize everyone responsible for these achievements but above all emphasize that it is a team effort.
I want to thank you, our delegates, for your continuous support, critical feedback and suggestions.
I believe that together, we have come a long way in terms of implementing UNCTAD's communication strategy and publications policy. And having worked throughout these years with all of you, delegates and colleagues, I am confident I leave this institution in good shape, or at least with the certainty that there is nothing wrong in UNCTAD's communication and publications that cannot be fixed with what is right in the strategy and the policy that we have brought to life.
Thank you once again, it has been a privilege. We are, of course ready to listen to your comments and answer your queries.
