Abuja, 04 July 2014- The 2-day biannual meeting with Administrative support staff conducted from 2nd - 3rd July, 2014 has ended in Abuja   and was attended by the administrative, finance and operations staff from the central level as well as the 37 field offices. 

Delivering the keynote address at the meeting, the WHO Representative in Nigeria, Dr. Rui Gama Vaz, underscored the importance of the meeting due largely to the central role that the programme support staff play in the work of WHO which according to him is even more critical now ‘with increased programmatic expectations, worsening security situation and the need for continued diligence in proper management of donor resources’. 

Dr. Vaz who challenged the facilitators and participants to assess current performance, discuss operational challenges and collectively agree on the way forward, reiterated that staff members should continue to be very vigilant in the wake of the deteriorating security situation in the country.  He assured that ‘staff safety and security is my second-to-none priority’ and further mentioned that the office is exerting a lot of effort to mobilize the resources required to implement the risk mitigation measures particularly in security compromised States.

The WR also asserted that he will uphold the full implementation of the accountability framework using the dashboard as additional instrument in ensuring that staff are assessed objectively and the appropriate management action for motivation or sanction are duly taken.

Consequently, the participants discussed and agreed on the key performance indicators for State office management dashboard during the course of the meeting. The tool which was introduced in January 2014 will monitor the administrative and financial performance of the state office.  The dashboard will also be revised periodically based on important contributions from the participants to make it more specific and relevant to their areas of responsibilities. 

At the end, it was evident that the objective of the meeting was met with the provision of updates to the participants on the status of implementation of the action points from the last meeting in December 2013, the current security advisory, the latest programme management issues as well as those on financial, administrative policies and procedures.

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Charity Warigon, Communication Officer.
Email: warigonc [at] who.int" target="_blank">warigonc [at] who.int