Support Services

S.1 Management of the Union

The Coordination Committee and the Management Coordination Group continued to meet regularly to discuss strategic issues and to manage ITU's administrative and financial affairs to ensure the most effective use of ITU's resources in the implementation of PP decisions. Further efforts were made to review and develop new policies and methodologies to modernize ITU management practices and to enhance and streamline ITU's business processes and implement results-based budgeting (RBB) and RBM. The Strategic Planning and Membership Department (SPM) continued to take key responsibility for cross-sectoral matters in 2016 and provided overall planning and support services to the Coordination Committee, the Management Coordination Group, and the Inter-sectoral task force.

S.2 Organization of conferences, assemblies, seminars and workshops (including translation and interpretation)

The C&P secretariat provided support for all ITU events. From March 2016 to February 2017, C&P supported a total of 235 events in 50 countries and service was provided in Geneva for 20,730 participants for 138 events and 561 meeting days. Of this total, 56 events were interpreted, resulting in as many as 1,760 interpreter-days. Some 37,885 pages of documentation were processed in the six languages. Paperless meetings, e-participation, and accessibility issues have been pursued, allowing considerable reductions in reproduction costs, as well as enhancing operations, and delivery methods and times.

S.3 Publication services

ITU continued to publish flagship and various other publications in both print and digital/electronic versions. Over the years many publications have been added to the free online access offer to disseminate information and reach out to wider general public. These include major publications such as the Radio Regulations, Recommendations, ITU's Basic Texts, WCIT Final Acts, Council Resolutions and Decisions, and ITU Handbooks.

Sales income for 2016 reached CHF 19.02 million, surpassing the 2016 budgeted income of CHF 18.5 million, and surpassing 2015 actual sales income of CHF 16.72 million. More information can be found in C17/21 and C17/INF/4.

S.4 ICT services

(ISD) Information services were successfully provided for major events including Council-16, ITU World Telecom 2016, WRS-16, WTSA-16, WSIS Forum 2016, and GSR WTIS in Botswana, as well as for the corporate governance, strategy, and communication activities of the Union. Audio and video service improvements in several meeting rooms were implemented.

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Event Management services have been successfully used in the Bureaux and Departments, to prepare, launch, and manage several ITU conferences. Event Management processes covered were: event planning & preparation, communication/marketing, resource mobilization (for sponsorships), online and onsite event registration, and business intelligence and reporting.

ICT Security in the operational environment has been strengthened as part of an ongoing process, and includes improved monitoring and reporting of possible ICT attacks.

The Proposal Management System, a cross-sector Solution (used by, among others, the Conference and Publications Department, Docs Controls, Assistants, Councillors, Focal Points, Editorial Committee, Member States), is now used before, during and after all of the Union's World Conferences or Assemblies.

New Storage Service (SAN) was deployed improving reliability and security, faster access to data, and increased storage capacity.

S.5 Safety and security services

(ISD/SSD) Safety and security planning and services were successfully provided for major events including Council-16, ITU World Telecom 2016, WRS-16, WTSA-16, WSIS Forum 2016, BDT-GET-Kuwait, BDT-GSR-Egypt, BDT-CBS-Kenya, and BDT-WTIS-Botswana, as well as for the corporate governance, strategy, and communication activities of the Union.

Safety and security policies, procedures, audits, and guidelines at headquarters, regional, and area offices were developed, reviewed, and implemented. The efficiency and effectiveness of safety and security functions were reviewed and monitored, and advice was provided on all safety- and security-related matters for headquarters and field offices. Management of the implementation of the security enhancement and modernization project at ITU's HQ premises was initiated, including the convergence of identity management for both physical and logical access to ITU's buildings and systems. More information can be found in C17/63.

S.6 Human resources management

Human resources management comprises both Human Resources and Maintenance and Upgrading of ITU Buildings.

S.6.1 Human Resources (HR) management

During 2016, most of the efforts of the HR Management Department were concentrated on the implementation of decisions taken by the last Council session held in May 2016.

Council 2016 adopted Decision 593 endorsing the elements of the new compensation package approved by the UNGA Resolution 70/244 based on recommendations submitted by the ICSC. The HRM Department worked on the preparation and promulgation of the regulatory framework (amendments to the Staff Regulations and Staff Rules, service orders), through the internal consultative process and, in close collaboration with the Information Service Department on the configuration of the ITU ERP system (SAP-HCM) for the integration of the new compensation elements. Information sessions were organized for the staff in the related categories.

In view of the endorsement by Council in is Decision 594, of the extension as at 1 January 2018 of the mandatory age of retirement at 65 to staff members recruited before 1 January 2014 and who would be in service on 1 January 2018, the HRM Department managed the implementation of a voluntary separation program launched for mitigating the financial implications of that decision on the budget to be established for the biennium 2018-2019.

The Department also concentrated its efforts on activities that had been endorsed by the ITU management and which, for some of them, were supported by the JIU in its formal and informal recommendations in its report on the Administration of ITU, such as:

development of a new performance appraisal system: the call for bids had been completed and a service provider selected. The configuration of the new system will start at the beginning of February with a go-live objective for May-June 2017;
development of an action plan in the areas of gender balance, geographical distribution, and training and staff development activities;
management of the health insurance scheme for ensuring compliance with the social obligation of the ITU as an employer.

HRMD continued its work within the framework of the modernization of HR functions in view of improving the delivery of services in recruitment, organization structure management, and job classification, training, HR policies, and legal matters.

In the area of social benefits, focus was dedicated on the management of the medical insurance scheme (CMIP) administered by Cigna and the continuation, through the Management Committee, of the overall review of the scheme, including its premium structure, deductible scheme and benefits description, taking into account the demography and needs of the insured population while establishing a short and long-term financial sustainability of the system. The functions of the Executive-Secretary and the CMIP secretariat are assumed by members of the Department, who continued to supervise the transition from SHIF, mainly related historic SHIF data and its transfer to the new provider Cigna. The SHIF reconciliation exercise completed in 2016.

The secretariat liaised with the administrator, Cigna, on issues mainly related to the application of the benefits plan. A particular focus was put on improved communications, with the publication of information notes under the guidance of the Management Committee and in collaboration with Cigna.

In the area of well-being and preventive care, the secretariat, along with WIPO and with the support of Cigna, continued to organize joint preventive actions and information sessions on well-being issues, such as the influenza vaccination campaign for retirees.

Further information on HRMD can be found in C17/53.

S.6.2 Maintenance and upgrading of ITU buildings

During 2016, the Facilities Management Division (FMD) through its Buildings and Technical Installations Service and Logistics Service has completed the following major projects: replacement of the hot-water boilers for the Tower; assessment of the presence of hidden materials in Tower and Varembé that would result in extra demolition or renovation costs; renovation of the maintenance cradle for the Tower exterior walls; doubling of the provision of delegate electronic locker storage in Montbrillant; doubling of bicycle storage at HQ; replacement of Montbrillant cafeteria heating circuit; replacement of SG meeting room cooling system; improvements to Popov control room cooling and reprography area fume extraction. FMD has also collaborated on the buildings aspects of the ITU Access Control project. Other logistic management and prudent maintenance work has continued as normal.

Concerning the issue of a long-term solution for ITU headquarters premises, FMD has led the secretariat work and produced supporting materials for the project, through a successful completion of CWG-HQP and Council-16 Decision to authorize a new building to replace Varembé and the Tower, to the successful grant of the first loan from the Host Country for funding an architectural competition and the consequent study works. This activity included collaboration with other Geneva-based organizations to find best practices.

ITU has continued to reduce its own operational environmental footprint. For the consolidated UN "Greening the Blue Report 2016", pertaining to 2015 final data, ITU's overall worldwide operational footprint was 3.56 tCO2e per capita according to UN standard reporting protocols. This is 54% better (lower) than the average for all reporting UN organizations, and places ITU being in the best quintile of the 66 organizations reporting. ITU's net reduction of emissions per capita from 2010 to the latest (2015) data is 7% per annum. ITU is now climate-neutral worldwide and is certified as such by UNFCCC for the reporting year 2015.

S.7 Financial resources management

The Financial Resources Management Department (FRMD) monitored the 2016 Union's budget implementation, involving activities such as budget management and control, accounting, cost accounting, assets management, procurement and travel management. The financial activities of FRMD for the fiscal year ending 31 December 2016 will be completed by the first quarter of 2017 and is presented to Council 2017 (see document C17/42). FRMD managed the Union's accounts, produced statutory financial reports and other financial information, and cooperated with oversight and financial control entities such as external and internal auditors, the Independent Management Advisory Committee (IMAC) and the Joint Inspection Unit (JIU).

For the 6th consecutive year, ITU received an unqualified audit opinion for its IPSAS-compliant Financial Operating Report. The ASHI obligation as well as the health insurance scheme are being closely monitored and a full actuarial study on these two topics was produced at the end of 2016 (see document C17/46).

The Draft Budget for 2018-2019 was presented to the Council Working Group on Financial and Human Resources at its 7th meeting held from 30 January to 1 February 2017. It amounts to CHF 320.1 million and is a balanced budget with no withdrawal from the Reserve Account foreseen. It is submitted to Council 2017 in document C17/10.

ITU has adopted a voluntary separation programme to compensate the costs of the adoption of the retirement age at 65. FRMD was closely involved in the process and incorporated the results in the draft Budget for 2018-2019.

Pursuant to the adoption of Resolution 152 (Rev. Busan, 2014), FRMD has devoted significant efforts in the area of reduction of debts. It has had a positive impact on the payment of contributions as the collection rate for 2016 was +97% reflecting an improvement compared to previous years and a consequent reduction in the debts of Sector Members and Associates. Additionally, FRMD has continued to monitor the efficiency gains and cost-saving measures with a view to ensuring the most effective and economical use of ITU's resources (see document C17/45).

Finally, FRMD has further reviewed the rules governing official travel, leading to noteworthy improvement in the processing of travel requests and contributing to the reduction in travel costs for the Union (see document C17/45).

S.8 Legal services

The Legal Affairs Unit (JUR) has provided general legal support and advice to WTSA-16, Council, Council Working Groups, and IMAC, and participated in the resolution of sensitive political issues. JUR continued to act as the secretariat of the TSB Director's Ad hoc Group on Intellectual Property Rights. JUR is also deeply involved in the new building project.

S.9 Internal audit

Internal Audit continued to perform the follow-up of recommendations of previous years and reported further progress on this to IMAC. Several assurance engagement audits were conducted in 2016. The objectives of the assurance engagements were to assess whether ITU internal controls, governance, and risk management processes are functioning. The priority of the recommendations resulting from the audit work is classified according to the impact and likelihood of the deficiency (critical, high, medium, low). The Secretary-General also transmits to the Council for its consideration an annual report on internal audit activities. This report may be found in Council document C17/44.

S.10 Engagement with the membership and external stakeholders (including UN)

In 2016, the total number of ITU Sector Members, Associates, and Academia was stable compared to 2015, reaching a total of 832 (+5 Members), accounting for 1,158 Memberships. This can be attributed mainly to 28 new Academia members, which offset a decrease of 22 Sector Members (mostly in ITU-T and ITU-D). Following increased outreach to universities in 2016, ITU finished the year with Academia in 53 Member States. Asia-Pacific and Americas continued to recruitment the most new Academia. Most new Academia in 2016 were from developing countries. The consolidation of memberships (denunciations and reductions of multiple memberships) from some long-standing industry members (including Alcatel-Lucent, Nokia, Telecom Italia Sparkle, Airbus, Microsoft, Hewlett Packard, Millicom, SFR, Motorola), the exclusion of 19 Sector Members for non-payment, and the relative shift from Sector membership to lower-fee categories (Associates and Academia) led to a decrease in revenues. The acquisition of new members occurred both from ITU's traditional base (including Monaco Telecom, BICS, VimpelCom Group, Kuwait Telecommunication Company – Viva, Plintron, Videotron, Nagravision/ Kudelski) as well as from widening participation among new industry stakeholders (including Alibaba, Hyundai, PT Bank Rayat Indonesia, and Future Cities Catapult).

S.11 Communication services (audio/visual services, Press release services, Social media, management of the web, branding, speechwriting, ICT Discovery)

ITU continues to adapt its communications activities to the fast-paced digital media environment and is increasingly integrating and mainstreaming digital and social media tools into its overall communications mix, with particular attention paid to the merging content and engagement fields of social, video, audio and graphic design.

Highlights of communication activities in 2016 are:

New #ICT4SDG campaign launched for ITU members and stakeholders
Full ITU News digital transition and development of new digital products
60% year-on-year growth for ITU Blog
Successful completion of first phase of ITU's new Visual Identity exercise
Record number of ITU events supported in Geneva and internationally
Contributed to designing solutions for multi-lingual content on the web
Regular inter-sectoral and inter-agency communications coordination
New cost-effective Audio-Visual production procedures in place for 2017
Published six Opinion Pieces in editorial sections of tier one media
Achieved year-on-year growth in all ITU social media channels

ITU News – full digital transition and new digital products:
ITU News Magazine was revamped into a dedicated digital product. For detailed information see section I.3-1.

ITU Audio-Visual Production
ITU produced 477 videos for the ITU YouTube Channel last year as well as numerous podcasts and video messages.

The number of views has remained steady around the 200,000 mark (217,233 for 2016) for the last five years from a jump of more than doubling the 2011 figures (97,448), and now approx. 1.5 million total views since the channel launch in 2008. This could be an indication that this is the most that can be achieved in numbers of views with the kind of videos that are being produced, but it may also reflect the fact that videos are being disseminated through a wider range of channels such as ITU Facebook, as well as re-versioned videos as podcasts on ITU SoundCloud, which are not reflected here. There is room for growth here if production is focused on videos that appeal to wider audiences and that are more shareable, i.e. shorter, punchier, more targeted story–led videos based around topics of current interest, which require devoted resources and planning. Subscriber figures continue to rise steadily, with 928 new subscribers in 2016 to a current total of around 4,800.

All things considered, both in actual facts and figures and from the feedback received, current production output is on track. However, to evolve ITU's communication products to keep in step with the fast-evolving multi-social-media landscape, this will mean a shift to producing content that is tailored for social media specifically, rather than adapted for it.

Media relations and press releases:
Communication services included also media relations and press releases (production and distribution). In 2016 there were 62 press releases, 24 communiques, and 20 media advisories. ITU aims to explore new channels and formats so the number of press releases can be reduced keeping them focused on newsworthy topics alone.

Social Media:
2016 achievements:

Gained control of a 'rogue' ITU LinkedIn account and started posting at the beginning of 2016 and has grown from less than 1k members to over 6k.
Joined the Facebook momentum for livestreaming video with a Girls in ICT Day Facebook Live report from ITU HQ and GEM-Tech awards event from ITU Telecom BKK.
Ranked in Top 10 Social Media Index out of 43 international organizations.

#ICT4SDG – New Campaign to promote role of ICTs to achieve SDGs
Building on the success of membership-oriented campaign for ITU150, a similar approach is being used to support membership in their communications and advocacy promoting the role of ICTs in achieving progress in the SDGs. Examples of outcomes of this work by the end of 2016 are the Toolkit on Trello with existing ITU4SDG collaterals for all stakeholders and the ITU SDG mapping tool.

Visual Identity and Branding:
The ITU Visual Identify Exercise was a predominant communications activity during 2016 and included 58 interviews conducted with staff, more than 4,000 graphic files produced to test a range of possible designs and use scenarios; more than 20 logo proposals created and tested; 10+ presentations given (to other UN agencies, to external agency, to SPM and C&P, to EOs), and 22 pages of guidelines presented.

The new Visual Identity roadmap, including branding guidelines, new workflows, and an evolution of the ITU's look and feel, were presented to senior management (MCG) in December 2016 and fully supported and approved. 2017 will see the roll out of these recommendations which will continue to require resources and investment, both new and re-allocated.

ICT Discovery:
ISD/Library and Archives developed new procedures for handling visits to ICT Discovery in response to reduced staff and in preparation for upcoming changes to ITU buildings. Library and Archives also continued to maintain the History of ITU Portal which provides access to key historical ITU documents. Significant new content was added during 2016.

S.12 Protocol services

In 2016, the ITU Protocol Service received members of royal families, Heads of State and Government, Ministers and CEOs at the ITU World Telecom event in Bangkok, Thailand and at WTSA-16 in Hammamet, Tunisia, as well as during conferences and events in Geneva. Several Ambassadors' meetings were organized with the aim of keeping the diplomatic community apprised of all future activities of ITU. In order to keep the ITU colleagues aware of the services provided by the Protocol Service to the Union an 'ITU Talk' was given at headquarters, which was also webcast to all staff members around the globe. The Protocol Service is also one of the main drivers of the activities of the Broadband Commission for Sustainable Development, and to this end organized two meetings, one in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, on the margins of the Global Education & Skills Forum (GESF) and the other at the Yale Club in New York on the eve of the United Nations General Assembly. The Protocol Service officially took on the new responsibility of the organization of Special Events for ITU as of October 2016.

S.13 Facilitation of the work of Governing bodies (PP, Council, Council working groups)

The Governing Bodies Secretariat (GBS) led, managed, and supervised the substantive preparation and organization of the Council, as well as the Council Working Group (CWG) meetings in October 2016 and January-February 2017. It directed, coordinated, and oversaw the preparation of the reports to the Council and continued to monitor the implementation of all PP and Council decisions. It also provided expert advice and support to the Council Chairman, as well as Chairmen and secretaries of Council Working Groups.

Preparation for PP-18 has already begun, the details of which may be found in C17/5.

Additionally, GBS and ISD/Library and Archives provided support for the review of the draft ITU Information/document access policy by CWG-FHR and Council-16, and worked together to develop the necessary infrastructure and procedures for implementation of the policy as of 1 January 2017. Further information is available in C17/66.

Further details on the 2016 session of ITU Council and CWGs can be found in sections 8.1 and 8.2.

S.14 Badging production and distribution

The badging system is currently being integrated with CRM and the Identity Management system. CRM is the platform that contains all the contact and account information of people, companies and organizations interacting with ITU. The same CRM platform is intended to be used to invite and register people to ITU meetings and conferences. This set up has been used for ITU World Telecom in 2014, 2015, and 2016, and for ITU-T Study Groups 11 and 13 in 2015. Roll-out to other ITU events started in 2016.

S.15 Resource-mobilization services

PP14 (Res. 158 and Decision 5) requested the Secretary-General to explore options for generating revenues. ITU management set up an internal group chaired by the Deputy Secretary-General and tasked it to study this topic and make proposals. These proposals are included in the annex of a document entitled "Improving the stability and predictability of the financial base of the Union," which was presented to the January 2017 meeting of the CWG-FHR. This document notes that the top priority for Resource Mobilization is ensuring stable assessed contributions from ITU's Members, as this source accounts for almost 70% of the regular budget. These funds are used to support the implementation of the strategic and operational plans of the Union. To complement this source, various options are being considered to increase cost recovery revenues, as well seek extra-budgetary resources from partners outside of ITU's membership, to diversify sources of income. In this vein, the Secretariat is currently exploring the potential for greater support from major foundations for voluntary contributions to support activities not covered by the ITU regular budget. This document also provides the recently approved event-related sponsorship guidelines along with draft principles for Resource Mobilization, both of which are in line with UN best practice.

S.16 Corporate strategic management and planning

Monitoring and reporting: A new web-based reporting tool has been introduced for the ITU Annual Progress Report. This tool has been developed to allow management and membership to track progress on the implementation of the ITU-results framework and further assess monitoring requirements. The process of planning, developing and institutionalizing data collection and reporting is ongoing.

In line with the UN System-wide Action Plan for implementation of the CEB Policy on gender equality and the empowerment of women, the reporting work included the development of the Gender Dashboard, a continuously evolving snapshot of the current situation of women in ITU and ICT Sector.

Intersectoral coordination on corporate management issues: The work of the Inter-Sectoral Coordination Task Force (ISC-TF) continued through 2016 including the following outcomes:

The development of the Draft Risk Management Policy and Risk Appetite Statement, to be presented to the 2017 session of Council. Further implementation of systematic risk management, included also developing and maintaining Risk Registers and dashboards.
The coordination of the follow-up to the JIU recommendations relevant to ITU, including the completion of the updating exercise of acceptance and implementation of the 2006-2014 JIU Recs, and coordination of the Action Plan to implement the JIU Recommendations from the "JIU Review of ITU management and administration".
The coherent elaboration of the Operational Plans 2017-2020: as the Operational Plans for 2017-2020 were developed in a coherent and more concise format, following the Results-based management principles, they included a set of Outcome indicators, as well as indicators for the Enablers. The process to regularly monitor those indicators for all sector and inter-sectoral objectives is now in place.

Supporting the implementation of the 2030 Agenda: The ITU SDG Mapping Tool was introduced as a concept at the 2016 Session of Council and was further developed, aiming to provide a comprehensive visual overview of ITU contributions to the Sustainable Development Goals, by visualizing the mapping and the linkage of the ITU strategic framework, Connect 2020 Agenda, WSIS Action Lines and the SDGs.

In support of the work of the implementation of the ITU Connect 2020 Agenda, two discussion papers were elaborated: the first one on "Working Together to Connect the World by 2020", (1) highlighting the largely positive economic impact of the Internet on economic growth, (2) estimating high-level infrastructure investment requirements of USD 450 billion to connect the next 1.5 billion, and (3) providing evidence of a generally positive link between a progressive enabling and regulatory environment and broadband penetration; while the second one on "Working together to achieve Connect 2020 Agenda Targets" provided greater detail on who and where the unconnected are today, what the key challenges are to meet the Connect 2020 Agenda Targets, and what possible measures can accelerate the connection of the unconnected to achieve those Targets.

ITU also continued to actively participate in the work of the UN Strategic Planning Network (UNSPN), participating in the meeting held in Rome (December 2016), primarily focusing on the process of the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals and the strategic implications for the planning processes of the UN agencies.

Committed to connecting the world