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Report on Geographic and Gender Representation at the General Secretariat

Report on Geographic and Gender Representation at the General Secretariat. February, 2008. Table of Contents . Mandates Purpose of the Presentation Assumptions for this Analysis Geographic Representation at the General Secretariat

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Report on Geographic and Gender Representation at the General Secretariat

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  1. Report on Geographic and Gender Representation at the General Secretariat February, 2008

  2. Table of Contents • Mandates • Purpose of the Presentation • Assumptions for this Analysis • Geographic Representation at the General Secretariat • Methodologies for Determining Equitable Geographic Representation • Applying the Methodologies to the General Secretariat • Gender Representation within the General Secretariat • Conclusions

  3. Mandates “... Develop, with technical support from the Department of Human Resources and all individuals involved in the hiring and selection process, a human resource policy that fully takes into account the principle of geographic representation in accordance with Article 120 of the Charter of the Organization of American States …” Resolution 2353, paragraph III(A)(1)(iv) “… Achieve the objective of having women occupy 50 percent of posts in each grade level in the OAS organs, agencies, and entities, in particular at the P-5 grade level and above, and to attain gender balance at all levels of the OAS, bearing in mind the criterion of geographic representation.” Resolution 2353, paragraph III(A)(1)(v) 2

  4. Purpose of the presentation • Describe the current geographic and gender representation at the General Secretariat. • Consider methodologies for determining equitable geographic representation and gender balance. 3

  5. Assumptions for this Analysis

  6. Groupings by Geographic Regions: 5

  7. Groupings of Staff within the General Secretariat: • Office of the Secretary General (SG) • Office of the Assistant Secretary General- Headquarters (ASG HQ) • Office of the Assistant Secretary General- National Offices (ASG Nat Off.) • Secretariat for Administration and Finance (SAF) • Secretariat for Political Affairs (SPA) • Secretariat for Multidimensional Security (SMS) • Executive Secretariat for Integral Development (SEDI) • Department of International Legal Affairs (DILA) • Autonomous and/or Decentralized Organs, Agencies, Entities and Dependencies (ADA) 6

  8. Statistical Base: • Headcount Report as of December 31, 2007: 711 staff members, of whom 530 are financed by the Regular Fund and 181 by Specific Funds[1]. • Nationality of the staff member as of the date of initial hire was used (per UN practice). [1]Includes 10 Associates, a category that has not been adequately reported in prior years, and excludes 12 members of the Trust for the Americas who are not staff of the GS/OAS. 7

  9. Geographic Representationat the General Secretariat

  10. Geographic Representation within the General Secretariat: * RF= Regular Fund; SF= Specific Funds 9

  11. Geographic Representation within the Secretariats of the GS/OAS: 711 staff members 10

  12. Senior Executives by Geographic Region: 44 staff members The senior executives are composed of the SG, ASG, Assistant Secretaries and Department/Office Directors. 11

  13. Methodology for Determining Equitable Geographic Representation

  14. The OAS currently does not have a methodology for determining equitable geographic representation. • SAF analyzed several methodologies used by comparable organizations with the goal of providing options to Management and the Member States. For this analysis, we consider two: United Nations and Food and Agriculture Organization. • All methodologies take into consideration a combination of four elements: • Citizenship: all use citizenship as of the date of initial hiring; • Membership: number of posts for each Member State; • Contribution: annual quota of each Member State; • Population: number of inhabitants per country. 13

  15. Formula used by the United Nations (UN): • This formula attempts to calculate geographic balance using three variables. • The weight used by UN for the three variables is: • 55% for Quota Contribution • 40% for Membership • 5% for Population (based on UN data) • The UN includes only professionals in its calculations because the inclusion of general services personnel located in field offices (mostly citizens of one country) may alter the results. 14

  16. Formula used by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations(FAO): • This formula calculates equitable geographic representation of each Member State by taking into consideration not only the number of filled posts but also the corresponding grade level of each. • The higher-level posts are assigned a higher number of points. Each country’s corresponding share is expressed in total number of points and not in total number of posts. The point system is as follows: 15

  17. Formula used by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) (cont.): • After determining the number of points, FAO utilizes the same variables as the UN to distribute the points among the Member States: • Quota (55%) • Membership (40%) • Population (5%) • The total number of points is indicative and used to consider equitable hiring decisions. • Compared to the UN, the FAO formula is more flexible in that it considers both number of staff and position grade levels. 16

  18. Formula used by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) (cont.): • The margins of flexibility used by FAO in determining equitable geographic representation are as follows: • For Member States with quotas greater than 20% total contribution: • Margin of flexibility = from 75% to 100% of obtained points • For Member States with quotas between 10% and 20% of total contribution: • Margin of flexibility = from 75% to 125% of obtained points • For Member States with quotas below 10% of total contribution: • Margin of flexibility = from 75% to 150% of obtained points • Geographic representation is considered equitable for a Member State if it is within the established margins. 17

  19. Applying the Methodologiesto the General Secretariat

  20. UNMethodology • This exercise uses the Regular Fund Budget for 2008, which projects 539 staff members. • We included in the UN formula not only professionals but also general services. • The actual and indicative geographic representation would be: 19

  21. FAO Methodology Following the parameters of this methodology, the geographic representation of the General Secretariat as of December 31, 2007 is: 20

  22. Gender Representation within the General Secretariat

  23. Gender Representation within the General Secretariat by Region: PROFESSIONALS GENERAL SERVICES 458 staff members 253staff members 711 staff members in the General Secretariat 22

  24. Gender Representation within the General Secretariat by Grade: 458 Professionals 253General Services 711 staff members in the General Secretariat 23

  25. Gender Representation by Grade Level - Central America: PROFESSIONALS GENERAL SERVICES 47staff members 33 staff members 80 staff members in Central America Females are more represented in both professional and general services. 24

  26. Gender Representation by Grade Level -North America: PROFESSIONALS GENERAL SERVICES 116 staff members 33 staff members 149 staff members in North America There is gender balance in high positions in the professional category, while females dominate the lower professional positions and general services. 25

  27. Gender Representation by Grade Level- South America: PROFESSIONALS GENERAL SERVICES 247 staff members 138 staff members 385 staff members in South America Male staff members are overrepresented at the P-5 and P-4 level, while females are well represented in the lower level professional positions and general services. 26

  28. Gender Representation by Grade Level –CARICOM: PROFESSIONALS GENERAL SERVICES 34 staff members 49 staff members 83 staff members from the countries of CARICOM Female staff members account for 48% of the professionals. The general services has significantly higher female representation. 27

  29. Conclusions

  30. Conclusions • Equitable geographic representation among the staff members of the General Secretariat continues to be an area of management attention. • The current General Secretariat geographic representation does not reflect significant imbalances for Central America and CARICOM, when using either of the two methodologies considered. Nevertheless, it reflects an imbalance in favor of South America versus North America, condition that has persisted for many years. • Gender parity is notable at the global level. Nevertheless, women are underrepresented at the P-5 level. • The General Secretariat will continue to take into consideration the need to maintain geographic and gender balances in its personnel recruitment decisions. CP19546E01 29

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