Council Working Group for the Elaboration of the Draft Strategic Plan and the Draft Financial
Plan, 2008-2011
Document: WG-SP-FP-06/07
26 January 2006
English
1 Introduction
The last meeting of the Radiocommunication Advisory Group (31 October – 4 November
2005), in response to the request sent by the Council Working Group on the elaboration of the draft strategic plan, discussed several elements related to the ITU-R part of the draft strategic plan for 2008-2011, as well as the more general issue of linkage between the strategic, operational and financial plans. The RAG elaborated a document containing draft elements for consideration by the Council Working Group. However, time constraints did not allow a full consideration of the relevant material to the draft Strategic Plan and contributions were invited on the ITU-R portion of the draft Strategic Plan for consideration of the Council
Group.
France has carefully reviewed the results of the RAG and proposes to pursue the work initiated by the RAG while focusing on some key elements, such as the linkage between the strategic, financial and operational plans.
2 Analysis
2.1 Draft objectives and associated outputs
In response to the request of the CWG, the RAG reviewed the sections in the 2004-2007
Strategic Plan pertinent to the radiocommunication activities in order to determine their continued relevance. Following this review, the RAG proposed 5 draft objectives and a short mission statement, for input to the 2008-2011 Strategic Plan. The RAG also placed the various ITU-R outputs, as defined in the Results Based Budgeting (RBB) Framework, under these five draft objectives.
In particular, the RAG proposed draft objectives 1 and 3, and the associated outputs, as follows:
Objective 1: Promote, foster, and ensure coordination in maintaining and extending cooperation among all Member States, Sector Members, and Associates, in decision-making on radiocommunication issues, as appropriate, including particularly on radiocommunication services;
Outputs under Objective 1: World Radiocommunication Conferences, Regional
Radiocommunication Conferences, Radio Regulations Board, Radio Assemblies,
Radiocommunication Advisory Group
Objective 3: Produce recommendations on radiocommunication services to achieve connectivity and interoperability, in applying modern information and communications technology;
Outputs under Objective 3: Study Groups, related Working Parties, Task Groups, and Joint
Groups
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These two draft objectives, as shown above, may lead to some difficulties and possibly an inconsistency, as it is considered that there is an overlap in their respective scopes/competences, and it is deemed difficult to separate two outputs that both contribute to the same goal. For instance, Working Parties conduct studies on WRC agenda items (draft objective 1) and elaborate draft Recommendations (draft objective 3); another example is that both Study Groups (output placed under draft objective 3) and Radio Assemblies (output placed under draft objective 1) can approve ITU-R Recommendations.
In order to establish appropriate links between the strategic objectives and the outputs, the linkage with the financial plan, the budget and the operational plan has also to be borne in mind. Placing an output under more than one strategic objective should be avoided , as it would make the linkage more complex and there would be a need to establish the ratio of the output dedicated to each of the objectives it is placed under. It is assumed that, in most cases, the estimation of such ratio would be difficult to produce. For instance, it is difficult to evaluate the time spent by a Working Party on WRC agenda items compared to the time spent by this Working Party on producing draft new/revised Recommendations.
In order to facilitate the linkage between the strategic plan and the financial plan as well as group together all outputs relating to the same objective, it is proposed to merge
Draft objectives 1 and 3 into a single Draft objective 1. To achieve this merger, it is also proposed to use the wording of Goal 2 in the 2004-2007 Strategic Plan (see Annex to this document)
NOTE – the above mentioned difficulty of placing an output under more than one strategic objective is common to all Sectors and the General-Secretariat.
2.2 Outputs of “particularly high priority”
In response to the request by the CWG to identify 4 to 5 outputs that of are of “particularly high priority” (with the exception of intersectoral outputs), the RAG started establishing a list of ITU-R outputs considered of greater importance; however, due to time constraints, it could not manage to finalize a limited list comprising only a few outputs. In fact, discussions showed that the exercise to select only a limited number of ITU-R outputs was not an easy one.
France recognizes that it is a difficult task to select only 4 to 5 ITU-R outputs of “particularly high importance”, as it may be interpreted in a way that those ITU-R activities not selected are depreciated; however, it is considered crucial that only a few outputs should be identified as high priority outputs, in particular to help taking decisions during budgetary discussions, e.g. in case cuts need to be done, which activities should take precedence over which other ones?
This contribution proposes a list of ITU-R outputs considered of particularly high priority (see Annex to this document).
3 Proposals
Based on the analysis above, the CWG is invited to consider the following proposals (see text in the Annex):
modifications to the draft objectives established by the RAG (merging Draft
Objectives 1 and 3). NOTE – Revision marks in DRAFT ITU-R OBJECTIVES and
DRAFT ITU-R OUTPUTS RELATED TO OBJECTIVES are against the output text from the 2005 meeting of RAG;
a preliminary list of DRAFT ITU-R OUTPUTS OF PARTICULARLY HIGH
PRIORITY .
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ANNEX
Objective 1: Promote, foster, and ensure coordination in maintaining and extending cooperation among all Member States, Sector Members, and Associates, in decision-making on radiocommunication issues, as appropriate, and facilitate development of fully interconnected and interoperable networks and services to promote global connectivity ;
Reasons: combination of Draft objective 1 and Draft objective 3 and use of the wording in
Goal 2 of the 2004-2007 Strategic Plan.
Objective 2: Meet the requirements of the membership for spectrum and orbit access in application of Article 44 of the ITU Constitution, in light, inter alia , of the accelerating convergence of radiocommunication services;
Reasons: Draft Objective 3 is proposed to be combined with Draft objective 1. The production of Recommendations is not considered an objective as such but a way to achieve connectivity and interoperability.
Objective 3 : Respond to needs of the membership by disseminating information and knowhow on radiocommunication issues by publishing and distributing relevant materials, in coordination and collaboration, as appropriate, with the other Bureau x and the General
Secretariat;
Objective 4 : Provide support and assistance to the membership, mainly to developing countries, in relation to radiocommunication matters, information and communication network infrastructure and applications, and in particular with respect to (a) bridging the digital divide; (b) gaining equitable access to the radio-frequency spectrum and to satellite orbits; and (c) producing relevant training for capacity building.
Under Objective 1:
•
World Radiocommunication Conferences
•
Regional Radiocommunication Conferences
•
Radio Regulations Board
•
Radiocommunication Assemblies
•
Radiocommunication Advisory Group
•
Study Groups, related Working Parties, Task Groups, and Joint Groups
Reasons: combination of Draft Objective 1 and Draft Objective 3
Under Objective 2:
•
Processing of space notices and other related activities
∗
•
Processing of terrestrial notices and other related activities
∗
∗
Applying Plenipotentiary, World Radiocommunication Conference, and Council Decisions, and relevant ITU-R Recommendations
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Objective 3: Produce recommendations on radiocommunication services to achieve connectivity and interoperability, in applying modern information and communications technology;
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Reasons: Draft Objective 3 is proposed to be combined with Draft objective 1
Under Objective 3 :
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ITU-R publications
Under Objective 4 :
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Assistance to, and cooperation with Member States, Sector Members, and Associates, in particular those of developing countries and LDCs
•
Liaison with, and support for development activities
•
Seminars
•
World Radiocommunication Conferences
Reasons: these events are treaty-making conferences that revise the Radio Regulations, which complement the provisions of both the Constitution and the Convention (see CS 31).
Although RRCs are intended to produce binding regional agreements of high importance,such agreements do not concern all the Member States in the ITU and, considering the linkage with the budgetary aspects, these conferences are financed on the basis of cost recovery by the Member States concerned. Besides, other outputs under objective 1 (RRB, RAG, RA) are considered of lesser influence.
•
Study Groups, related Working Parties, Task Groups, and Joint Groups
Reasons: it is considered that the activities of the Study Groups and Subordinate Groups have a major influence on Draft Objective 1, as these fora are where the WRC-related studies are conducted and the ITU-R Recommendations are elaborated and, in general, approved.
•
Processing of space notices and other related activities
•
Processing of terrestrial notices and other related activities
Reasons: it is considered that these two outputs are those which allow the Member States to have access to spectrum and the orbits (Draft Objective 2), together with international recognition.
•
Assistance to, and cooperation with Member States, Sector Members, and Associates, in particular those of developing countries and LDCs
Reasons: it may be considered that this output is the one that fits the most with Draft
Objective 5. The other two outputs (“Liaison with, and support for development activities” and “Seminars”) are still considered important but possibly of a lesser influence within the context of the objective.
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<#>Under Objective 3:¶
Study Groups, related Working Parties,
Task Groups, and Joint Groups
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