Transforming for impact: WHO’s organizational reform continues
The response to COVID-19 has shown that rapid change is both necessary and possible for the World Health Organization.
But WHO was already changing well before the pandemic struck.
In the past three-and-a-half years, WHO has pursued the most deep-rooted transformation in the Organization’s history — focused on country-level impact and practical results, as well as technical and normative leadership.
At the resumed 73rd World Health Assembly (WHA73), the Director-General will present a progress report on WHO’s Tranformation Agenda.
These are a few highlights.
Delivering measurable impact
Two years ago, the World Health Assembly approved the most ambitious strategic plan in WHO’s history — the 13th General Programme of Work (GPW).
All 150 country offices have since developed plans to support Member States’ health priorities, and every WHO staff member links their day-to-day work to the GPW as part of their performance management.
WHO is now aligned from top to bottom in support of a single strategy with measurable results.
Our new division for Data, Analytics and Delivery for Impact is making WHO a modern, data-driven organization that supports Member States with timely, reliable and actionable data to drive impact.
WHO’s impact measurement framework has been piloted in 34 countries and will be considered at the WHA73.
The “triple billion” dashboard provides the world with up-to-date information on progress towards the “triple billion” targets and the health-related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
More efficient and effective processes
Our new Science Division established a fast-track review mechanism to ensure the timeliness, coherence and quality of all WHO guidance, beginning with COVID-19, providing approval or critique within 48 hours.
And based on the GPW, more than 300 global public health goods have now been defined, giving Member States the technical and normative tools they need to meet their biggest health challenges.
A new aligned operating model
Our new operating model, which for the first time clearly differentiates the role of headquarters, regional and country offices, and aligns our structures, is enabling us to work more seamlessly to deliver results.
To improve coordination we’ve developed delivery teams involving staff at headquarters, regional and country offices to work more closely together on delivering the outputs and outcomes of the GPW.
We have flattened our structures to reduce the layers of hierarchy and make us more agile and nimble.
And we’ve developed three-level delivery teams, involving staff at headquarters, regional and country offices to work together more closely on delivering the outputs and outcomes of the GPW, based on country priorities.
A new approach to partnerships
The Global Action Plan on Health and Well-Being for All is bringing together 12 international health partners to support countries to accelerate towards the SDGs.
We’ve entered new partnerships with FIFA, Google Fit and the International Olympic Committee to promote physical activity.
We’ve engaged with the private sector through the world’s leading business associations.
Innovative partnerships with Facebook, Twitter, Google, Rakuten Viber, the Wikimedia Foundation and others have helped to counter misinformation about the pandemic and brought reliable information to more than 2 billion people in more than 50 languages.
Innovation for learning
The OpenWHO.org learning platform has provided free online training in 17 different topics, in 41 languages, and has attracted more than 4.5 million user registrations from around the world.
In May, the WHO Academy launched a new COVID-19 mobile learning application for health workers, which now has more than 73,000 users from all countries.
WHO has established a new Department of Digital Health, and developed a Global Digital Health Strategy, which is on the WHA73 agenda this week.
A motivated and diverse workforce
Two years ago, 2700 staff engaged helped to draft our first values charter, published last year, which outlines five values: service, excellence, integrity, collaboration, and compassion.
We’ve improved conditions and opportunities for interns, national professional officers and general service staff.
And we’ve reduced the time it takes to recruit staff by 20% and we aim to reduce it by half.
Predictable and sustainable funding
In 2020, WHO launched its investment case for 2019–2023 and held the inaugural WHO Partners Forum.
The Executive Board also approved a new resource mobilization strategy.
This year saw a generous and unprecedented response to our COVID-19 Strategic Preparedness and Response Plan — with US$1.6 billion raised so far.
As part of that, the innovative COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund raised almost US$240 million from almost 650,000 individuals, companies and philanthropies, providing powerful proof of concept for the potential of the new WHO Foundation.
But Member States can do more to provide adequate and flexible funding for WHO. Most voluntary contributions still come from a handful of donors.
For WHO to truly fulfill its mission and mandate, it must be funded predictably and sustainably — a global public good for the whole world.
