Governance reform

The evolution of WHO’s work and the increasing number of entities associated with global health has necessitated changes in the way WHO is governed, and the way WHO engages with external stakeholders. In this regard, WHO’s governance reform aims to strengthen both the internal governance of WHO by Member States, as well as the role of WHO in global health governance.

The proposals for change in respect of internal governance focus on improving the work of the governing bodies – the World Health Assembly, the Executive Board and the Regional Committees – including strengthening global-regional linkages. The fundamental objectives for the internal governance reforms are to foster a more strategic and disciplined approach to priority setting, to enhance the oversight of the programmatic and financial aspects of the Organization, and to improve the efficiency and inclusivity of intergovernmental consensus-building.

In relation to WHO’s engagement with external stakeholders, WHO is exploring ways to more effectively collaborate with relevant stakeholders including nongovernmental organizations, partnerships, the private sector, foundations, and other relevant stakeholders with a view to promoting greater coherence in global health. The challenge here is to determine how WHO can engage with a wider range of players without undermining its intergovernmental nature or opening itself to influence by those with vested interests. Moreover, governance reforms aim to strengthen the multilateral role of WHO and to capitalize more effectively on WHO’s leadership position in global health.

Reference documents

134th Executive Board, January 2014

• Study on existing Member State commitments in World Health Assembly resolutions 2004–2013
  xlsx, 898kb
• Public web consultation on WHO’s engagement with non-State actors
  WHO Secretariat held a web consultation on several issues related to WHO’s engagement with non-State actors from 6–24th March 2013.
• Options for improved decision-making by the governing bodies
  EB134/6 Add.1
  pdf, 30kb
• Streamlining national reporting and communication with Member States
  EB134/7
  pdf, 35kb
• Framework of engagement with non-State actors
  EB134/8
  pdf, 200kb

132nd Executive Board, January 2013

• WHO’s arrangements for hosting health partnerships and proposals for harmonizing WHO’s work with hosted partnerships
  EB132/5 Add.1
  pdf, 132kb
• Key issues for the development of a policy on engagement with nongovernmental organizations
  EB132/5 Add.2
  pdf, 51kb
• Streamlining of the work of the governing bodies and harmonization and alignment of the work of regional committees
  EB132/5 Add.3
  pdf, 62kb
• Options to streamline the reporting of and communication with Member States
  EB132/5 Add.4
  pdf, 42kb
• WHO’s role in global health governance
  EB132/5 Add.5
  pdf, 51kb
• Implementation of WHO reform, 2012 - Report by the Director-General
  EB132/5 Add.8
  pdf, 86kb
• Implementation of WHO reform, 2012 - High-level implementation plan
  EB132/INF./3
  pdf, 99kb

Consultation with nongovernmental organizations, October 2012

The Sixty-fifth World Health Assembly requested WHO Secretariat to present a draft policy paper on WHO’s engagement with nongovernmental organizations to the Executive Board at its 132nd session in January 2013 (WHA65(9)). As a step in developing this draft policy WHO consulted NGOs on issues concerning consultation, collaboration and accreditation

• Draft agenda
  pdf, 152kb
• Issues paper
  pdf, 253kb
  Issues to consider in the formulation of a policy.
• Towards a new policy of WHO engagement with NGOs
  pdf, 905kb
  Presentation to NGOs
• WHO Director-General addresses NGO community
  Speech of Dr Margaret Chan, Director-General of WHO
• Report on consultation with NGOs, 18 October 2012
  pdf, 1.48Mb
• Comments submitted during consultation period

131st Executive Board, May 2012

• Revised terms of reference for the Programme, Budget and Administration Committee of the Executive Board (EB131/10)
  Proposal to strengthen the Programme, Budget and Administration Committee's role with regard to overseeing the monitoring and evaluation of programmatic and financial implementation at the three levels of the Organization.
  pdf, 30kb
• Decisions and list of resolutions (EB131/DIV/2)
  131st Executive Board decision and list of resolutions - reform decision is EB131(10).
  pdf, 86kb

Sixty-fifth World Health Assembly, May 2012

• WHO reform: Consolidated report by the Director-General (A65/5)
  Consolidated report covering the three areas of the WHO reform, providing an update on developments over the past 12 months (April 2012).
  pdf, 163kb
• WHO reform: Independent evaluation report: stage one (A65/5 Add.2)
  Report of the External Auditor, 27 February to 30 March 2012, on the first stage of an evaluation to provide input into the reform process.
  pdf, 312kb
• WHO reform: High-level implementation and monitoring framework (A65/INF.DOC./6)
  Implementation and monitoring framework for the programme of reform with milestones.
  pdf, 801kb
• Decisions and list of resolutions (A65/DIV/3)
  Compiled list of decisions and resolutions from WHA65 - reform decision is WHA65(9).
  pdf, 99kb

130th Executive Board, January 2012

• WHO reform: Governance (EB130/5 Add.3)
  This document covers proposals for revised terms of reference for the Programme, Budget and Administration Committee, increasing linkages and alignment between Regional Committees, Executive Board and World Health Assembly, the meeting schedule of governing bodies and streamlining national reporting.
  pdf, 178kb
• WHO reform: Governance: promoting engagement with other stakeholders and involvement with and oversight of partnerships (EB130/5 Add.4)
  This document provides information on the following: proposals to promote engagement with other stakeholders; modalities to improve Member State involvement with and oversight of partnerships including the possible expansion of the mandate of the Standing Committee on Nongovernmental Organizations.
  pdf, 144kb
• Decisions and list of resolutions (EB130(6))
  Compiled list of decisions and resolutions from EB130 (reform decision is (EB130(6)).
  pdf, 203kb

Special session of the Executive Board, November 2011

• WHO reforms for a healthy future (EBSS/2/2)
  Consolidated report covering the three areas of the WHO reform prepared by the Secretariat for the special session of the Executive Board.
  pdf, 409kb
• Governance: introductory remarks by the Director-General
  Director-General's introductory remarks for opening the session on governance reform at the special session of the Executive Board.
  pdf, 28kb
• Decisions: Executive Board special session on reform (EBSS/2/Div/2)
  Decisions in the three areas of reform.
  pdf, 40kb

129th Executive Board, May 2011

• Executive Board decisions (EB129/DIV/2)
  Mandate for reform - WHO reform is decision EB129 (8).
  pdf, 81kb

Sixty-fourth World Health Assembly, May 2011

• The future of financing for WHO - (A64/4)
  Paper proposing a series of reforms for the consideration of WHA64.
  pdf, 89kb
• The future of financing for WHO - reforms for a healthy future: development plan (A64/INF.DOC./5)
  Development plan to provide with more detail on the reform and give an indication of the expected outcomes and outputs from the areas of reform.
  pdf, 36kb
• World Health Assembly resolution - WHO reform for a healthy future (A64.2)
  Mandate for reform.
  pdf, 8kb