Paris, February 25 {No.2000-15} - Concentration and excellence in programmes, savings, rationalisation and transparency in management have emerged as the key words in UNESCO's reform, presented by the Organization's Director-General, Koïchiro Matsuura in a speech to the Executive Board - chaired by Sonia Mendieta de Badaroux, Ambassador and Permanent Delegate of Honduras to UNESCO - during an information session today.

Opening the session, Ms Mendieta de Badaroux, stressed the importance of dialogue with Member States which helps clarify UNESCO's objectives for the coming years and "obliges us to recognise and accept our differences in the interest of our Organization."

Mr Matsuura described the state of the Organization and the reforms undertaken since he took office last November. He admitted that the situation of UNESCO "has turned out to be much worse" than he had imagined.

The Director-General outlined a six-point diagnosis and spoke of measures already taken, or to be taken. He stressed the need to match staff skills with the requirements of the Secretariat, which should be rejuvenated and urged improved geographical staff distribution. Mr Matsuura also highlighted the need for training - he described the funds allocated to in-service training as "derisory" - and the importance of transparency, "the pre-requisite for sound management."

The reform seeks to adapt policies to available resources and, in this context, a reduction in the number of permanent field offices is being considered. The most important goal, he said, concerns the necessary programme concentration. "The programme itself must be radically reviewed, in terms of a clear vision of UNESCO's specific role within international co-operation," the Director-General declared. He asked for activities to be refocused, notably, so as to prioritise basic and science education, water resource management, the fight against poverty, intangible heritage preservation, cultural diversity, as well as the access of developing nations to the new information technologies.

Insisting that priority that must be given to the follow-up of major international conferences, Mr Matsuura singled out the forthcoming conference on basic education that will take place in Dakar (April 26-28) and called it "a unique occasion to bring to the fore the Organization's own ideas and showcase its competence in promoting new approaches."

Mr Matsuura said: "The work ahead over the next two years to reform our programme and modalities of action is crucial. My ambition is to restore UNESCO's position, its full position, as a specialised institution in the United Nations system. We can no longer claim our fields of competence as a monopoly. It is in the exercise of expertise, of specific know-how in areas shared with many other institutions that we will demonstrate our comparative advantage. UNESCO's specific competence no doubt resides in its role to provide orientation and to identify innovative approaches, to experiment with new solutions, to collect and disseminate successful experiences. This is linked to the need for quality, not to say excellence. It must be present in the development of approaches and solutions, rather than in concrete project execution."