UNCTAD will act as the pioneer of a new UN programme for staff management training backed by Mr. Kofi Annan, the UN Secretary-General. Placing greater emphasis on the professional development of staff and changing the management culture are top priorities for UNCTAD, as well as for the United Nations system as a whole.
A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on the programme, financed by the Government of Italy, was signed today in Turin by Mr. Rubens Ricupero, Secretary-General of UNCTAD, and Mr. Jean-François Trémeaud, Director of the Turin Centre of the International Labour Organization. Mr. Annan also attended the signing ceremony.
The pilot management training programme to be launched at UNCTAD this spring will cover internal policy development, training in technical cooperation, and the design of a human resources development policy for the secretariat. Over 200 officials -- approximately three-quarters of the organization´s professional staff -- are expected to participate in a series of seminars and workshops to be held at the UN Staff College in Turin.
UNCTAD´s training programme represents the next step in the far-reaching reform the organization is undergoing, beginning with the reorganization of its secretariat and revamping of the intergovernmental structure in mid-1996. "The changes in our work programme priorities agreed at Midrand -- sharpening our focus -- must be accompanied by matching changes in our own working methods and management culture, to improve our delivery capacity," Mr. Ricupero said, referring to UNCTAD IX in South Africa, last May.
By improving its own effectiveness, UNCTAD will, naturally, also be contributing to the larger goals of UN reform recently laid out by the UN Secretary-General.
The UN Staff College Project, a five-year project initiated in 1996, is based at the ILO´s long-established International Training Centre. According to Mr. Hans Geiser, its director, the Staff College can generate more coherence and coordination in the UN system´s activities, promote a more cohesive management culture, and facilitate the process of change taking place throughout the UN system.
