External Review of UNICEF Ethics Office Strategic Plan at Mid-Term
Terms of Reference
Background
The Ethics Office of UNICEF was established in December 2007 based on the SecretaryGeneral’s Bulletin on UN System-wide application of ethics (ST/SGB/2007/11). The ultimate
goal of the office is to cultivate and nurture a culture of ethics, integrity and accountability,
and thereby enhance the trust in, and the credibility of the United Nations, both internally and
externally. In order to achieve this goal, the SGB defines the responsibility of the Ethics
Office as follows:
1. Develop standards, training and education on ethics issues, in coordination with the
relevant units in UNICEF as well as the UN Ethics Committee1;
2. Provide guidance to management of UNICEF to ensure that its rules, policies and
procedures, and practices reinforce and promote the standards of integrity called for
under the Charter of the United Nations;
3. Provide confidential advice and guidance to staff of UNICEF on ethical issues;
4. Serve as a focal point for raising staff awareness within UNICEF on ethical standards
and expected behaviour within the context of oversight in UNICEF as well as human
resource development policies, strategies and programmes in close cooperation with
the respective oversight and human resource units;
5. Undertake the responsibility assigned to the Ethics Office in accordance with the
UNICEF policy for the protection of staff against retaliation;
6. Administer the financial disclosure programme2 of UNICEF; and
7. Provide the Executive Director an annual report3 on the activities of the Ethics Office.
In addition to the above responsibilities, the Executive Board through its decision 2010/18
requested that the Ethics Office be responsible for reviewing potential conflicts of interest for
senior appointees who will perform control functions that are not covered by the
appointment-vetting process of the Secretary-General.
It should be noted that, while the accountability for development and maintenance of Ethical
Culture rests with the Office of the Executive Director, supported by the Ethics Office, the
1
The name of this committee was officially changed in 2013 to the Ethics Panel of the United
Nations (ST/SGB/2007/11 amdt 1).
2
This programme is internally known as Conflict of Interest and Financial Disclosure
Programme (CIFDP) in order to emphasize its role in managing Conflict of Interest risk.
3
Executive Board decision 2010/18 requires that the annual report be submitted to the
Executive Board at its annual session, decision 2011/17 looks forward to recommendations to
management, and decision 2014/12 requests recommendations to management that will
strengthen the organizational culture of integrity and compliance.]
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responsibility for implementing many of the strategies to this end rests with all Divisions and
Offices of UNICEF.
In 2013, the Ethics Office conducted a desk-review of the ethics office activities, status of
UNICEF policies guiding staff behaviour, and staff perception based on 2011 Global Staff
Survey results and reports of the Office of the Ombudsmen and Office of Internal Audit and
Investigation.
With the ultimate goal and the prescribed responsibilities of the Ethics Office in mind, and
being informed by the situation analysis, the Ethics Office developed its strategic plan for the
UNICEF Strategic Plan period of 2014-2017. The overarching goal of the Ethics Office
strategic plan 2014-2017 is to strengthen the ethical organizational culture within UNICEF in
order to maximize efficient use of UNICEF resources, increase credibility of UNICEF and
enable UNICEF to better achieve results through:
1. Staff are aware of and align their conduct with the standards of conduct of the
international civil service;
2. Staff can identify real and perceived personal conflicts of interest and know how to
avoid them or mitigate against them;
3. Atmosphere of fear and futility are replaced by atmosphere of respect, safety, agency
and support by the organization;
4. Managers provide leadership in creating and maintaining ethical organizational
culture.
Thus, the activities of the Ethics Office since 2014 have focused on:
i.
ii.
iii.
Fostering ethics awareness in daily decision-making;
Contributing to improved management of conflicts of interest; and
Fostering speak-up culture.
In 2014, the Office of Internal Audit and Investigation (OIAI) conducted an audit of the
management of service contracts in UNICEF’s headquarters divisions. The report was issued
on 2 June 2015 (2015/14). As part of the audit, OIAI reviewed the current operation of the
Conflict of Interest and Financial Disclosure Programme. Based on this review during the
audit of the management of service contract in UNICEF’s headquarter divisions, OIAI
recommended and the Ethics Office agreed conduct an assessment to (1) evaluate the
effectiveness and efficiency of the CIFDP policy so as to determine whether it achieves its
intended objectives and impacts; and identify lessons learnt from the programme
implementation; and to (2) review and clarify the policy criteria for the type of staff to be
included in the programme to ensure that it is risk informed, and that all staff who influence
procurement decisions are considered in the programme.
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Objectives of the External Review
1. The overall objectives of the review are to:
a. Validate that the Ethics Office has correctly fulfilled its mandate.
b. Assess whether the Ethics Office activities are in line with reaching the objectives
of its Strategic Plan 2014-2017
c. Benchmark UNICEF Ethics Office organizational structure, policies and practices
against ethics offices with similar mandates, particularly in the UN system;
d. Specifically, assess the effectiveness and efficiency of the CIFDP policy so as to
determine whether it achieves its intended objectives and impacts; and
e. Provide recommendations for rest of the strategic plan period and revisions, if
necessary, to the CIFDP.
2. The assessment will examine the following functional areas of the Ethics Office:
a. Relevance of ethics training agenda, material and support to offices – especially
field offices;
b. Quality and timeliness of confidential ethics advice
i. To individual staff members
ii. To decision-makers (e.g. Division of Human Resources, managers of
offices)
c. Adequacy and impact of the CIFDP as well as other work on prevention of
personal conflicts of interest.
d. Adequacy of the Office’s work on fostering a speak-up culture, including
promotion and operationalization of the Protection against Retaliation policy.
Key deliverables
The reviewers will provide a short, concise written report (may be in the form of a
PowerPoint presentation), including:
a.
b.
c.
d.
Conceptual framework of the review
Review methodology
Observations and conclusions
Recommendations for the remainder of the 2014-2017 strategic plan period
Prior to starting the review, the reviewer(s) shall submit a work plan with clear phases and
milestones for approval by the Principal Adviser, Ethics and the Deputy Executive Director,
Management.
The reviewer(s) will present their draft report and recommendations during a meeting with
representatives of the senior management at the UNICEF Headquarters in New York.
Depending on situation, a video conference modality may be used. Once finalized, the report
will be the basis of revisions to the Ethics Office strategic plan 2014-2017 as well as the
CIFDP policy and or standard operating procedures as appropriate. The findings,
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recommendations and the revised strategic plan will also be presented to the Audit Advisory
Committee for comments.
Methodology
Two experts from the ethics community of practice will be identified to conduct the review.
One expert would preferably be from the UN community, familiar with UN FDPs. The other
expert could be external. Experience with UN or other international organizations would be
an asset. The Ethics Office will provide necessary support.
In conducting the review and preparing its report, the reviewer(s) may take into account
information from the following main sources:
1. Legal instruments, policy statements, administrative decisions and internal
communications, annual work plans, monitoring documents and other relevant nonconfidential internal documents.
2. Sample Ethics Office work documents, redacted to protected confidentiality.
3. Ethics Office SOPs and other guidelines.
4. Interviews with key stakeholders (via skype or telephone if appropriate)
5. Benchmarks and standards, including the reviewers own experiences.
The review is not expected to exceed 15 work days, including preparation and finalization of
the report. Part of the review can also be done remotely and off-site, including interviews
using skype of other telecommunication methods.)
The reviewer(s) will observe the Ethics Office’s principles of independence, impartiality and
confidentiality. The reviewer(s) will sign confidentiality agreements with UNICEF.
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