Support Services

S.1 Management of the Union

From 2015-2017, the Coordination Committee and the Management Coordination Group met 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. Following the JIU Review of ITU Management and Administration in 2015, ITU management accepted the 11 Formal and 47 informal recommendations, and presented several documents to the 2017 session of the Council, including an ITU Risk management framework and ITU Accountability framework which were endorsed. ITU management practices were modernized to streamline ITU’s business processes and implement results-based budgeting (RBB) and results-based management (RBM). The Strategic Planning and Membership Department (SPM) continued to take key responsibility for cross-sectoral matters during this period and provided overall planning and support services to the Coordination Committee, the Management Coordination Group, and the Inter-Sectoral Task Force (ISC-TF).

A new Ethics Officer entered service on 1 November 2016. The new Ethics Officer has engaged in a series of initiatives aimed at: (a) promoting an environment of ethical awareness across the organization; and (b) enhancing the legal/administrative framework to ensure best practices, mindful of the specific context of ITU. Details of these initiatives and of the other activities of the Ethics Office can be found in C18/52.

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

The Conferences and Publications (C&P) secretariat provided support for all ITU events. From January 2015 to June 2018, support was provided in Geneva for 57 435 participants and a total of 472 events and 1 909 meeting days, with some 148 000 pages of documentation were processed in the six languages. Paperless meetings, e participation, and accessibility issues have been pursued, reducing reproduction costs, as well as enhancing operations and improving delivery methods and times.

The interpretation service furnished a total of 8 294 interpreter days in the six official languages for all ITU meetings worldwide. Efforts continued to focus on constant enhancement and innovation in order to improve services to delegates and work more cost-effectively.

ITU continued to implement the language policy endorsed by the Council, and detailed reports were submitted to the Council Working Group on Languages (CWG-LANG) on the ongoing implementation of Resolution 154 (Rev. Busan, 2014), as reflected in CWG-LANG’s report to the Council (Document C18/14). High levels of performance and efficiency were achieved, benchmarked against other UN agency standards.

S.3 Publication services

ITU continued to produce high-quality publications while moving to electronic media and innovative materials. There is now free online access to a growing body of ITU publications, including Recommendations, the Radio Regulations, ITU’s basic texts, WCIT final acts, Council resolutions and Decisions, and ITU handbooks. Sales and marketing efforts have yielded good results with total sales revenues of CHF 19.8 million in 2014.

More publications have been added to the free online access offer to disseminate information and reach out to a wider general public.

A new Strategic Marketing Plan, aimed at building awareness of ITU publications, was finalized. six new resellers were added to the distribution network, and new partnership discussions were initiated with OECD, Harper Collins, Amazon, and Barnes & Noble, through the United Nations, New York, to develop additional distribution platforms.

A new E-Bookshop was also launched, aimed at facilitating the online ordering process. Sales income for 2015 was CHF 16.73 million – close to the budgeted 2015 income of CHF 17.0 million – while biannual 2014-15 actual sales of CHF 36.55 million exceeded the budgeted sales income of CHF 34.0 million by over CHF 2.5 million.

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

In 2018, a new integrated publishing platform has been acquired. It integrates mobile, online and print production in an automated workflow to increase speed and efficiency. New fully accessible formats have been added to ITU eLibrary and many publications are now available for smartphones and tablets, in addition to the traditional pdf and paper formats.

Sales income for 2017 was CHF 19.56 million, surpassing the 2017 budgeted income of CHF 18.5 million and 2016 actual sales income of CHF 19.02 million. More information can be found in C18/21 and C18/INF/2.

S.4 ICT services

Information services were successfully provided for all major events since PP14, including Council meetings, ITU Telecom World, WSIS Forum, GSR and WTIS, as well as WRS-14 and 16, RA-15, WRC-15, WTSA-16 and WTDC-17. At ITU headquarters, audio, video and WiFi service improvements have been made in several meeting rooms to improve support for electronic working methods and remote interventions for meetings held at headquarters. Between January 2014 and December 2017, there were around 2 500 meetings with remote participation service. More than 20 000 remote participants were connected to these meetings from 139 countries and 1 134 cities. Connectivity to ITU regional offices has been improved to facilitate better regional support.

The implementation of the Organization’s corporate Customer Relationship Management (CRM) project has helped eliminate a number of fragmented systems and now provides ITU with a platform for more efficient and secure methods of managing membership accounts, user accounts, meetings/conferences (including invitations and registration), communication campaigns (approximately 9 million e-mails were sent in 2016 and 2017 through the CRM solution), and support services for Sector Members.

Between January 2014 and December 2017, the Library and Archives Service added almost 520 000 scanned pages of historic documents to the History of ITU Portal (www.itu.int/history), bringing the total number of pages of material available through the Portal to over 1.8 million. The Library and Archives Service provided support for the 150th anniversary in 2015.

S.5 Safety and security services

ITU Safety and Security Services (IS/SSD) continues to provide effective operational services for the main ITU events (15) both within and outside Switzerland.

The other security enhancement projects and processes currently managed by IS/SSD are as follows:

a) Discussions with the host country authority (FIPOI) on anti-hostile vehicle and anti-hostile pedestrian perimeter barriers for the new ITU headquarters building have been undertaken and appropriate mitigation measures have been incorporated into the design stage.

b) Installation of shatter-resistant film at ITU headquarters was completed in November 2017.

c) The need to raise ITU’s security profile/posture to align it with neighbouring UN agencies has been addressed. An armed security presence will be introduced and security screening of visitors by uniformed security personnel will be implemented in 2018 on ITU premises.

d) In November 2017, work was begun by the ITU administration to develop a duty-of-care foundation, based on planning in accordance with an Organizational Resilience Management System (ORMS) for business continuity and disaster recovery for headquarters and for Regional and Area Offices.

e) Facility safety and security audits at the Regional and Area Offices continued during 2017.

More detailed information can be found in documents C16/72, C16/70, C17/63, and C17/140.

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 2017, the Human Resources Management Department (HRMD) completed the implementation of the new compensation package approved by UNGA Resolution 70/244, based on recommendations submitted by the International Civil Service Commission (ICSC) and endorsed by Council 2016 in Decision 593.

In view of the endorsement by the Council, in its Decision 594, of the new mandatory age of retirement of 65 years as from 1 January 2018, HRMD completed the implementation of a voluntary separation programme intended to mitigate the financial implications of that decision for the 2018-2019 biennium budget.

The Department also concentrated its efforts on activities that had been endorsed by ITU management and which, in some cases, were supported by the JIU in the formal and informal recommendations. These included the following:

Development of a new performance management and development system (PMDS), with an identified service provider, Cornerstone on-Demand. This project started at the beginning of 2017 and was launched for all ITU staff in 2018.
Establishment of an ITU Learning and Development Policy and Catalogue. Resolution 48 (Rev. Busan 2014) considers the value of the Union’s human resources in terms of achieving its goals as well as the importance of maintaining a well-trained, geographically equitable and gender-balanced workforce, within budget constraints. HRMD helped draft the new ITU Learning and Development Policy and Catalogue, providing ITU staff with a listing and summaries of all programmes on offer in the course of the 2018 performance cycle .

HRMD continued to modernize HR functions with a view to improving the delivery of services in recruitment, organization structure management, job classification, training, HR policies, and legal matters.

In the area of social benefits, the medical insurance scheme (CMIP) administered by Cigna was reviewed, including its premium structure, deductibles scheme and description of benefits, taking into account the demography and needs of the insured population while ensuring the system’s short- and long-term financial sustainability.

Further information can be found in document C15/44, C16/53, C17/53, and C18/24 related to the implementation of Resolution 48 (Rev. Busan, 2014).

S.6.2 Maintenance and upgrading of ITU buildings

Between July 2014 and June 2018, the Facilities Management Division (FMD) carried out upgrading and maintenance of all ITU buildings.

In accordance with PP Resolution 194 (Busan, 2014), on the basis of the analysis of the replacement, renovation, rental and relocation options for HQ premises, FMD acted as secretariat for the Council Working Group on headquarters premises (CWG-HQP), which finished its work in a report to Council 2016. This report recommended demolition of the Varembé building and its replacement with a new building. ITU applied to the Host Country and received the first of two interest-free loans, for the period 2017-2019. In 2017, an international, two-round, doubly anonymous architecture competition was launched to all ITU Member States. In November 2017, an international jury selected a winner, for the negotiation and award of a contract to design the new building and (at ITU’s option) to manage the demolition/construction process.

ITU remains an exemplary agency in its operational environmental performance, as coordinated by FMD. The annual environmental performance inventory based on 2016 data (the last full year’s results available before PP 18) showed an environmental footprint of 3.8 tCO2e (tonnes CO2 equivalent) per person under management, 47% better (i.e. lower) than the UN’s overall average according to UN data, and reflecting a net annual reduction of emissions per capita since 2010 of 4.6%. In 2015, ITU declared itself climate-neutral in its worldwide operations. ITU adheres to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the support of UNEP under a standard UN process to implement this policy, in order to offset unavoidable greenhouse gas emissions from operations and travel and to include participation in the UNFCCC Adaptation Fund.

S.7 Financial resources management

Following the adoption of ITU Council Decision 550 to implement International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS), IPSAS compliance has been certified since 2011. The closure of the 2014 accounts in 2015 followed the same IPSAS requirements. The Financial Regulations and Financial Rules were revised to reflect a results-based presentation of the budget (“RBB”). In line with Resolution 151 (Rev. Busan, 2014), ITU presented the biennial budget to the Council in an RBB format. The draft ITU budget included resource allocations for each of the Union’s Goals and Objectives (Resolution 71 (Rev. Busan, 2014)).The 2016-2017 budget was approved by the Council at its 2015 session (Resolution 1375).

In 2016, the budget was developed with a view to ensuring the most effective and economical use of ITU’s resources (see Document C16/45). In its Resolution 1375, the Council instructed the Secretary-General to withdraw CHF 1 million from the Reserve Account on 1 January 2016 to set up the After-Service Health Insurance (ASHI) fund as a step towards addressing ITU’s unfunded long-term liabilities. Travel costs continued to be optimized through the use of non-flexible air tickets, and early travel requests.

Regarding procurement, ITU introduced an electronic tendering system in 2015. All major tenders in 2017 were published on the United Nations Global Marketplace.

The Financial Resources Management Department (FRMD) monitored the Union’s 2017 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 were presented to Council 2017 (see document C17/42). For the sixth 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 were closely monitored and a full actuarial study on these two topics was produced at the end of 2016 (see document C17/46).

FRMD managed the Union’s accounts, produced statutory financial reports and other financial information, and cooperated with oversight and financial control entities such as the external and internal Auditors, the Independent Management Advisory Committee (IMAC) and the Joint Inspection Unit (JIU).

The 2018-2019 budget was approved by the Council at its 2017 session (Resolution 1387).

ITU has adopted a voluntary separation programme to compensate for the costs of adopting the new mandatory retirement age of 65. Pursuant to the adoption of Resolution 152 (Rev. Busan, 2014), FRMD has devoted significant efforts in the area of debt reduction. This has had a positive impact on the payment of contributions as the collection rate for 2016 was more than 97%, reflecting an improvement compared to previous years and a consequent reduction in the debts of Sector Members and Associates.

The 2017 budget was implemented with a view to ensuring the most efficient use of ITU’s resources (see document C17/45). Cooperation with the Common Procurement Activities Group (CPAG), which is leading efforts to simplify and harmonize procurement practices with a view to greater efficiency and effectiveness, has helped optimize the use of ITU’s finances.

The Financial Resources Management Department (FRMD) monitored the Union’s 2018 budget implementation closely. The draft financial plan for 2020 2023 was presented to the Council Working Group on Financial and Human Resources (CWG-FHR) at its eighth meeting in January 2018 and will also be presented to the Council at its 2018 session for review and further transmittal to the Plenipotentiary Conference.

The financial activities of FRMD for the fiscal year ending 31 December 2017 will be completed by the end of the first quarter of 2018 and the non-audited financial operating report will be presented to Council 2018 (see document C18/42). The audited accounts will be presented in Dubai during the last meeting of the 2018 Council session held the day before the Plenipotentiary Conference.

The ASHI obligation as well as the health insurance scheme continue to be closely monitored, with a full actuarial study produced at the end of 2017 (see document C18/46) to review and improve the plan’s long-term sustainability and reduce ITU’s long term liability.

Pursuant to the adoption of Resolution 152 (Rev. Busan, 2014), FRMD has put the emphasis on follow-up of debts of Members, Sector Members and Associates. The positive impacts already registered the previous year were confirmed in 2017, with a collection rate for 2017 of more than 97 per cent.

Further information can be found in Documents C18/21 and C18/INF/1. FRMD has as before monitored the 2018 budget implementation (see document C18/45).

S.8 Legal services

The Legal Affairs Unit (JUR) provided general legal support to the three Bureaux and legal advice to WRC-15, WTSA-16 and WTDC-17, as well as the Council and Council Working Groups. JUR also actively participated in the resolution of sensitive political issues. It drafted and negotiated agreements for the hosting of conferences and other important meetings of the Union as well as for ITU’s regional and area offices. It continued to act as the secretariat of the TSB Director’s Ad Hoc Group on Intellectual Property Rights and remains deeply involved in the new building project.

S.9 Internal audit

Internal Audit carried out extensive follow-up on recommendations made in previous years and reported good progress on this to IMAC at its various meetings.

Several assurance engagement audits were conducted in 2015, 2016 and 2017, and will continue into 2018. The Secretary General transmits an annual report on internal audit activities to the Council for its consideration. These reports may be found in Council Documents C15/43, C16/10 and C17/44, as well as in the C18 series of documents. ITU Council 2015 instructed the Secretary-General to facilitate such access, and Member States or their designated representatives can now request access online via the ITU Council website.

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

The 2014 Plenipotentiary Conference took important decisions related to Sector Membership in deciding to continue the Academia category of participation and to allow Academia to participate in all three Sectors for a single fee. PP-14 also instructed Council to continue to review Sector Membership, including fees and benefits, as well as the criteria for fee exemption, and participation for non-profit organizations, including NGOs.

The total number of ITU Sector Members, Associates and Academia members was strengthened by an increase in ITU-R, due largely to the high level of interest and participation in the World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC). Major industry players from outside ITU’s traditional base, including Facebook, Google, Netflix, Disney and MasterCard, joined as Sector Members in 2015.

In 2016, the total number of ITU Sector Members, Associates, and Academia members remained stable compared to 2015, despite decreases and consolidation among traditional members. The consolidation of memberships from some long-standing industry members (including Alcatel-Lucent, Nokia, Telecom Italia Sparkle, Airbus, Microsoft, Hewlett Packard, Millicom, SFR, and Motorola), the exclusion of 19 Sector Members for non-payment, and the relative shift from Sector membership to lower fee categories (Associate and Academia), all contributed 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) and from widening participation among new members.

In 2017, despite pressures of consolidation among ITU’s traditional industry membership base, the total number of ITU Sector Members, Associates and Academia members grew slightly, reaching a total of about 820 members. Some 70 new memberships were confirmed in 2017, driven mainly by growth in ITU-T. ITU’s membership continues to diversify beyond its traditional telecom and satellite core to include leading and niche players in IoT/Internet, tower companies (including the two top players in the world, China Tower and American Tower), mobile virtual network operators, finance (e.g. eCurrency), consulting (e.g. Deloitte) and the automotive industry (e.g. Hyundai).

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

The major communications priority in 2015 was WRC-15. ITU has launched dedicated social media and branding campaigns. During 2015, there was a 22% increase in Twitter followers and a 26% increase in Facebook followers. In mainstream media, ITU achieved more than 21 000 unique media clips over 2015.

ITU News remains a vital outreach tool in terms of brand, membership communications and provision of expert content and analysis. ITU News launched a multi-year digital transformation to boost key stakeholder engagement on a suite of digital-only platforms and to reduce printing and distribution costs, with more than CHF 200 000 in savings annually.

In 2016, ITU continued to adapt its communications activities to the fast-paced digital media environment. The Management Coordination Group (MCG) approved the Digital Content Strategy to use more timely, relevant content to drive increased stakeholder engagement across ITU digital platforms.

2016 saw the launch of a new #ICT4SDG campaign launched for ITU membership and stakeholders.

New cost-effective audio-visual production procedures were put in place for 2017, with six opinion pieces published in editorial sections of tier one media. ITU was ranked in Top 10 Social Media Index out of 43 international organizations.

With regard to audio-visual coverage, in 2016 a total of 191 videos were uploaded to the ITU YouTube Channel with almost 150 000 total combined views. There were 1 227 plays on the new ITU Podcast channel.

In 2017, ITU News launched the mobile-first website that replaced the corporate blog and newslog and has more than doubled online traffic thanks to timely, relevant content organized by topic. In addition, the ITU News Weekly email has seen more than 650 per cent year-on-year growth in new subscribers, 20% of whom are C-Suite or Director level. Social media metrics rose across all channels with an increasingly data-driven approach to boost not just “reach” and awareness but more importantly, engagement with key influencers and stakeholders, with “click thrus” back to ITU platforms, including ITU News, key reports, and event webpages.

“MyITU”: in partnership with colleagues across ITU, CCD has been helping to advance the “MyITU” project to provide a customized portal that will drive engagement with users based on profile and behaviour, to boost event participation and membership engagement on digital platforms, as well as increasing membership and sponsorship sales.

S.12 Protocol services

In October 2016, a new Protocol and Special Events Division was formed. The Protocol and Special Events Division assumed overall responsibility for protocol services at all major ITU events, receiving Heads of State, ministers and VIP guests around the world as well as at ITU headquarters. In 2015, the ITU Protocol and Special Events Division organized the inauguration of H.E. Mr Luis Guillermo Solís, President of Costa Rica, as ITU Patron for Youth and ICT.

Several ambassadors’ meetings are organized each year to ensure that the diplomatic community in Geneva remains fully apprised of ITU’s future activities.

Some 600 invitations to the Secretary-General to speak and/or participate in events around the world are handled each year by the Division.

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 for the Council session each year, as well as the biannual meetings of the Council Working Groups. 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 to the Council Chairman.

In addition, 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.

S.14 Badging production and distribution

The badging system is currently being integrated with CRM and the Identity Management system.

S.15 Resource-mobilization services

In 2016, a cross-ITU team in the secretariat worked on developing new tools to support improved reporting and coordination of membership outreach and resource mobilization activities.

PP-14 (Resolution 158 and Decision 5) requested the Secretary-General to explore options for generating additional revenues. The proposals of an internal group are included in the annex of a document entitled “Improving the stability and predictability of the financial base of the Union,” presented to the January 2017 meeting of CWG-FHR. Council 2017 approved several of these recommendations, as well as principles for resource mobilization. In these principles, Council confirmed that the top priority for resource mobilization is to ensure stable assessed contributions from ITU’s membership, as this source accounts for almost 70% of the regular budget. Options being considered include: increasing cost-recovery revenues, as well seeking extra-budgetary resources from partners outside ITU’s membership in order to diversify sources of income.

S.16 Corporate strategic management and planning

Monitoring and reporting: annual reports on the implementation of the strategic plan have been made publicly available via a web portal (2015: www.itu.int/en/annual-report-2015/; 2016: www.itu.int/en/annual-report-2016/).

Intersectoral coordination on corporate management issues: Further implementation of systematic risk management, including the development and maintenance of risk registers, has been carried out. The follow-up to the implementation of the JIU Recommendations from the “JIU Review of ITU management and administration” has also been coordinated since 2016.

Supporting the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and Connect 2020 Agenda: The ITU SDG Mapping Tool was introduced as a concept at the 2016 session of Council to provide a comprehensive visual overview of ITU contributions to the SDGs. Supporting the implementation of the ITU Connect 2020 Agenda, two discussion papers were elaborated.

Development of the draft ITU strategic plan for 2020-2023: The process for the development of the draft ITU strategic plan for 2020-2023 was initiated in 2017 so that the plan can be adopted at PP-18. An internal working group coordinated internal ITU inputs, led by the Director of BR Mr François Rancy. Council 2017 established the Council Working Group for Strategic and Financial Plans (CWG SFP), with a mandate to submit to Council the draft proposal for review and refer it to PP-18. The secretariat accordingly supported the work of CWG-SFP to develop further the ITU strategic framework and the draft text of the ITU Strategic Plan 2020-2023, and submit that text for public consultation before its endorsement by ITU Member States. Council 2018 reviewed the draft Strategic Plan which was forwarded for adoption at PP-18.

Committed to connecting the world