Statement of Results by the Commonwealth Secretary-General to the Executive Committee of the Board of Governors

At this, the last Executive Committee meeting of my term before this year’s Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), I believe it might be useful and appropriate to inform member governments of the initiatives taken and progress achieved in seeking to serve them and the people of the Commonwealth, and to fulfil our mandates.

We have come a long way on many fronts, and I believe the Commonwealth Secretariat is getting better equipped to deal with contemporary challenges and to use opportunities. That has been the theme of my term: equipping the Secretariat and supporting the member states to adapt and benefit in ways that are appropriate to contemporary times. The other theme has been delivery of added value at the national and global levels. As I said when first appointed, the Commonwealth is a great global good, and I have sought to ensure that our contribution – in advocacy, policy, or practically – has been oriented towards advancing shared Commonwealth values,  principles and goals that support our member governments and the communities they represent and that retain our global worth.
 
Fundamental Political Values

I have sought to enhance the Secretariat’s role as a trusted partner working with member states on strengthening democratic culture, institutions and processes.

The 2009 Affirmation of Commonwealth Values and Principles has been a defining advance. It brings together in one place, updates and strengthens the definition of what the Commonwealth stands for. It is a political commitment at the highest level to our highest ambitions. It brings together and raises the bar of the earlier Singapore Declaration and Harare Declaration, and the other statements made over the years. Our definition of who we are at the start of this century is in place.

Converting principle into practice is a Commonwealth trademark. It has been satisfying to see the proposal realised to set up a Commonwealth Network of National Election Management Bodies. The Network was launched in 2010, and seeks to set a ‘gold standard’ for credible elections, which are pivotal to functioning democracies within the Commonwealth and beyond. We have made good progress to establish a future-looking, on-line platform, as well as an association, connecting all Commonwealth election management bodies.

Election observation remains a trademark activity, with the demand growing steadily. We are turning more to systematic follow-up of the recommendations of our observer teams including the role the Network can play. My Good Offices remain much sought after – a measure of the trust in which we are held by our member states.  And I have been pleased over the last two years to start complementing the Secretary-General’s Good Offices for Peace with Good Offices for the Environment.
 
In the area of human rights, we have lifted political advocacy: I have made it a practice to address the high level segment of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, and our collaboration with the UN was formalised in a Memorandum of Understanding signed in 2010. Our practical work has focussed on capacity-building, notably including support for countries with the Universal Periodic Review process in the UN, as well as the development of a network of National Human Rights Institutions and support for them. Many will know that I have been constant in my approach that the Commonwealth must champion its values and in ways that can achieve outcomes. The Commonwealth’s proposition at the political level has continued to be to engage, to offer the helping hand even if we sometimes make clear publicly where we stand.  In the last three years, the staff establishment of the Human Rights Unit has been doubled and the budget increased by more than 50 percent at a time of austerity for other parts of the Secretariat.

In convening the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG), I have supported its goal of attaining a new level of partnership and engagement, in strengthening its role as a body that can engage positively. A report proposing this has now been conveyed to Heads of Government for consideration.

The reform agenda has also been advanced through the Eminent Persons Group, which I established at the direction of Heads of Government to develop options for reform to sharpen the impact, raise the profile and strengthen the networks of the Commonwealth. It is encouraging to me that the Group has proposed a range of recommendations, and that they have paid close attention to the need for balance between the democracy, development and diversity pillars around which our association is built.

Youth

Initiatives to support youth have long been a personal priority, mindful that 60% of our citizens are under 30 years of age.

Pioneering Youth Enterprise Financing projects have been piloted in nine locations in partnership with public sector banks as models. These projects help financially disadvantaged youth to set up micro and small businesses in processing, manufacturing, and the service sectors.

Linked to this is our new work on Sport for Development and Peace (SDP). It is a valuable means of attaining Commonwealth goals including creative social engagement of youth, developing positive attitudes and habits, social cohesion, respect for women, and the realisation of Millennium Development Goals. In both of these areas – youth enterprise and sport for development – we have focussed on breaking fresh ground, including through extra-budgetary support.

We have also completed a review to revitalise the Commonwealth Youth Programme, and have put the building blocks in place to align the CYP’s work coherently with the Commonwealth Secretariat’s work programme, as requested by member governments.    

Women

Another of my particular concerns has been our work with women and on gender equality, especially to promote the economic empowerment of women. I have set this as a special focus for our programmes of assistance for micro, small and medium enterprises.

The Commonwealth theme for 2011, Women as Agents of Change, has shone a spotlight on women’s contribution to development and democracy and the work of the Secretariat in broadening opportunities for women to become involved in every area of social and economic life, as is their right. 

The Commonwealth Chair-in-Office, the Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, has provided strong political leadership and encouragement. The Chair of next month’s CHOGM, the Prime Minister of Australia, is equally supportive. The world is poorer at present for not making full use of half its intelligence and potential.

Small States

This year, beyond the vast body of ongoing work on priority concerns of small states – such as climate change finance – I was delighted to inaugurate the Commonwealth Small States Office in Geneva. The Geneva office goes further than the New York office: it enables countries to establish a diplomatic presence in the region, and will also serve as a small states multilateral hub. An additional resource will be the provision of resident technical experts on trade and human rights.
 
Trade

The Commonwealth’s longstanding involvement with negotiations on international trade has continued, providing advocacy, analysis and advice.

Our ‘Hub and Spokes’ programme provided trade negotiating capacity and came to the end of its scheduled project life last year. It has been an outstanding success, roundly applauded and highly valued, and an exemplar of strategic partnership. We have put in place funding for 18 months whilst a successor programme is developed together with our partners, given the demand and the role seen for the Commonwealth Secretariat in adding practical value.

Reform of International Governance and supporting the G20

Within weeks of assuming office, I convened a meeting of a representative group of Heads of Government to consider reform of international institutions. The resulting Marlborough House Statement, endorsed by a special Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in New York in 2008, has since found its principles echoed in the debates and in the reform of the international financial institutions and international environmental governance. We produced a global product.

Similarly, we have sought to contribute to global advocacy in the hallways of the G20. My counterpart in La Francophonie and I had a very productive meeting with the Canadian Prime Minister – at the latter’s welcome initiative. Our message was simple: the G20 must be the T20; it must be a group of Trustees who think and act not only for the 90 percent of global GDP represented at the table, but also the 90 percent of countries not at the table. The high level interaction continued with South Korea, and my Francophonie counterpart and I are to meet the French President next week as the G20 Chair, maintaining the momentum. We will be presenting papers on growth with resilience, trade, financial inclusion and innovative finance for development. Our advocacy has been backed by very strong inputs and participation by us at the policy and analysis levels too, through engagement with the G20’s Working Group on Development.

Digital paradigm of partnership

I am keen to see the Secretariat utilising the many opportunities offered by digital communications technology to strengthen access to information, sharing of best practice, and forging of innovative partnerships between all points in the Commonwealth. A major step forward is the creation of the Commonwealth Connects portal – a Commonwealth-wide internet gateway to a variety of resources and communities of practice (such as the Network of Election Management Bodies). If networks are an intrinsic strength of the Commonwealth, then we simply must use modern technology platforms and enrich them in twenty-first century terms. The portal is being soft-launched in the weeks ahead and then formally at CHOGM.

Strategic Partnerships

I have sought to nurture strategic partnerships between the Secretariat and other intergovernmental organisations and entities to extend our horizon and reach. This has enabled us to promote our values and collaborative potential – the core objective of any strategic partnership – as well as leveraging impact and resources. My exhortation is to focus on the outcome and not our income. We are looking to stronger relations with existing partners (such as the African Union, European Union, United Nations, Pacific Islands Forum, CARICOM and the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance) as well as new partners (such as the Nordic Council).

Corporate Rehabilitation

Running an organisation entails picking up the reform baton from where it was left and carrying it forward. Significant further advances in internal governance and management have been achieved. There is now a pipeline of work, and to help drive this forward a new post of Assistant Secretary-General for Corporate Affairs was created. The budget for both the post and support staff responsible were funded from savings.

Our more recent achievements include the adoption of International Public Sector Accounting Standards, which has placed the Secretariat at the forefront of good practice among international organisations; an updated scale of contributions with thanks to the Board for its work in that regard; the creation of a Legal Counsel post from internal savings to strengthen in–house expertise; a more focussed Strategic Plan, streamlined into 8 from 16 programmes; a more robust biennial planning and budgeting process together with further solid progress on Results Based Management; and, a new budget framework based on best international practice. Only last week, the Audit Committee was roundly positive about our work on procurement, risk management, and our responsiveness to audits pointing to weaknesses in travel and IT security arrangements. 

Appropriate recognition of our human resource needs is a work-in-progress. We are doing what we can internally, including the roll-out of a new competency framework. But we are struggling to recruit and retain international talent. We are paying around 40 percent lower than the UN at professional and diplomatic grades, which is at the low end of the international market.

Our budget was significantly under-spent the year before last for a variety of reasons including structural budget deficiencies which the Board has now addressed.  The result was consequently improved last year: we spent significantly more on assistance programmes than in past years without increasing staff; and we had closer coherence between actual and budgeted expenditure. The gap should be narrowed even further this year as the reforms become embedded. 

Communications

On taking up office, I saw the need for both the internal and external Secretariat websites to be transformed to meet contemporary styles and needs, and work taken in hand. These are our platforms to the world. It is pleasing that a further enhancement – an ‘extranet’ – is to be presented to the Executive Committee which will strengthen accessibility and our accountability to member governments.

I also felt there would be benefit in the Secretariat having a regular printed publication to present its work to a wider audience. The solution was Global, a quarterly private magazine with full editorial independence comprising two-thirds international issues coverage and one-third Commonwealth coverage.

I have made a great effort to visit member states and to be present at meetings of regional organisations. This is essential education for me, and has also raised the profile of the Commonwealth and helped us to work together in promoting a broad range of shared Commonwealth priorities.

This statement has not been a comprehensive summary of progress and results achieved in the last few years. Separately, member governments already have my memorandum to Heads of Government at the CHOGM, which goes into greater detail and breadth; that document underlines how our well motivated if modestly numbered staff (in London and our offices abroad) are making enormous contributions to improve the lives of Commonwealth citizens everywhere. My appreciation goes to their commitment and hard work. I am confident the Secretariat will continue to win the attention and imagination of our citizens and the respect of the wider world, and to serve our member governments in the years ahead.

We will build further on these foundations and I thank my loyal and dedicated staff as well as all governments for their most valued support and encouragement.