Presented at the 64th session of the WHO Regional Committee for Europe, on 15 September 2014.

1. 1 |
STRATEGIC BUDGET SPACE
ALLOCATION

2. 2 |
Background – Working Group
 The 134th session of the Executive Board endorsed the
Director-General’s proposal to establish a working group
on strategic resource allocation.
 The Working Group was established with six Programme,
Budget and Administration Committee (PBAC) members
or their designates.
– It was led by the Chair of PBAC (Belgium).
– Members included Cameroon, Egypt, Malaysia,
the Maldives and Mexico.

3. 3 |
Background
 Key objectives of the Working Group
– Guiding the Secretariat in developing the proposal for a
new methodology for strategic resource allocation
– Facilitating discussion at the PBAC meeting on the final
proposal
 Working Group’s first teleconference (17 February 2014)
and face-to-face meeting (23–24 April, 2014)
 Outcome of the April meeting:
– provisional proposal for scope, principles, criteria and
way forward

4. 4 |
Background
 Working Group’s provisional proposal and recommendations were
discussed at the twentieth meeting of the PBAC and considered by the
Sixty-seventh World Health Assembly.
 Support was expressed for PBAC’s recommendations, including:
– endorsing the proposed way forward; and
– changing the name to the Working Group on Strategic Budget
Space Allocation.
 Executive Board decision EB135(1) endorsed the PBAC’s
recommendation to maintain the Working Group’s current
membership.

5. 5 |
Considerations
Scope
 The methodology for strategic budget space allocation
should be applied:
• to both assessed and voluntary contributions
• in support of the Organization’s one workplan and
one budget (programme budget).

6. 6 |
Considerations
Key principles
1. Based on needs and evidence
2. Results-based management
3. Fairness and equity
4. Accountability and transparency
5. Clear roles and functions at WHO’s three levels
6. Performance improvement

7. 7 |
Four operational segments
1. Technical cooperation at country level: functions and
activities at country level, where individual countries
experience the benefits directly
2. Provision of global and regional public goods: functions
performed by WHO headquarters and regional offices to
benefit all Member States
3. Administration and management required to run the
Organization across all levels (including stewardship,
governance, common services and infrastructure)
4. Response to emergency events such as outbreak and
crisis response.

8. Considerations: criteria for segment 1
 Determine the profile of each country, taking into
8 |
consideration:
– human development index + immunization coverage;
– proxy indicators for technical categories in the General
Programme of Work (GPW) (such as inequity, disability-adjusted
life-years lost to communicable and noncommunicable
diseases, proportion of births attended by skilled health
personnel and capacity to implement the International Health
Regulations);
– weighted by a population factor; and
– aggregated at the regional level.
 Allow the allocation to be distributed across the six WHO
regions, based on the total allocation to the countries in each
Region.

9. Considerations: criteria for segment 1
 Support to technical cooperation at country level will
9 |
then be based on bottom-up planning, taking account of:
– the needs and priorities of the individual country;
– alignment with the country cooperation strategy and national
investment plan;
– the comparative advantages of WHO;
– alignment with the priorities identified in the GPW.

10. Considerations: criteria for segment 2
(i) For mandatory functions or long-term commitments (such as the
10 |
Codex Alimentarius Commission) allocation could:
– be based on current and historical patterns
– take into consideration continuous performance improvement and
cost–efficiency.
(ii) For other functions or priorities, resources could be based on
assessment and identification of global and regional health needs
and priorities, taking account of criteria such as:
– GPW;
– countries’ needs and priorities;
– resolutions of WHO’s governing bodies;
– the comparative advantages of WHO;
– the roles and functions of the three levels of the Organization (with
consideration for efficiency and effectiveness); and
– realistic costing of outputs and deliverables.

11. 11 |
Segments 3 and 4 (issues for future
discussion and consideration)
Segment 3
 Ongoing review and discussion on budgeting and financing of administration
and management costs, including:
– how best to align these costs with programme delivery; and
– how to finance them and how best to build in cost–efficiency measures.
 Working Group’s emphasis on the need to consider:
– minimum requirements for ensuring the effective functioning of the
Organization within its control framework; and
– cost–efficiency and –effectiveness in alignment with audit
recommendations.
Segment 4
 Agreement that the new methodology may not apply to segment 4.

12. 12 |
Working Group’s observations
 Appreciation that developing a new methodology for budget space
allocation in WHO is quite a complex task
 The interdependency of strategic budget space allocation with a number
of current initiatives addressing:
– bottom-up planning
– the identification and costing of outputs and deliverables
– the roles and functions of the three levels of the Organization
– the financing of administrative and management costs
 Importance of ensuring that development of the methodology for strategic
resource allocation is informed by the work of these initiatives, and vice
versa
 Need to ensure that the new methodology for budget space resource
allocation is viable and applicable at all three levels of the Organization

13. 13 |
Current breakdown based on the
programme budget for 2014–2015
Operational
segments
Headquarters
(%)
Regions (%) Country offices
(%)
Total (%)
Technical
cooperation at
country level
0.0 0.0 23.3 23
Global and regional
public goods
20.0 12.6 0.1 33
Administration and
management
10.8 5.8 5.1 22
Response to
emergencies
1.4 1.5 19.2 22
Total 32.3 19.9 47.8 100

14. 14 |
Proposed road map
 Present the revised paper to regional committees for input and
further guidance: September–October 2014
 In parallel, the Secretariat develops different models, by applying
the principles and criteria, for discussion with the Working Group
 Hold a face-to-face meeting of the Working Group to review the
models developed and provide guidance to the Secretariat:
November 2014
 Provide update on the draft proposal to Member States:
mid-December
 The Secretariat presents a draft proposal on the new strategic
budget space allocation to PBAC: January 2015