ANNEX 1 . 67 MI 3.1: Organisational structures and staffing ensure that human and financial resources are continuously aligned and adjusted to key functions Score Overall MI Rating Highly satisfactory Overall MI score 3.33 Element 1: Staffing is aligned with, or being reorganized to, requirements set out in the current Strategic Plan Element 2: Resource allocations across functions are aligned to current organisational priorities and goals, as set out in the current Strategic Plan Element 3: Internal restructuring exercises have a clear purpose and intent, aligned to the priorities of the current Strategic Plan MI 3.1 Analysis 3 3 4 Source document UNRWA is committed to ensuring that the capacities and capabilities of UNRWA’s staff are aligned with the Agency’s mandate. In its planning at strategic and operational levels, UNRWA has reviewed staffing requirements in each of its divisions and put forward an action plan to ensure that the staffing resources available are equal to the operational needs. The MTS 2016-21 refers to how Annual Operational Plans will focus on the specific activities that will be undertaken in the course of the year to achieve targets at the output level of UNRWA’s results chain and how these operational plans are aligned with a number of considerations including ‘workforce and recruitment plans’. In the major areas of education and health service provision, UNRWA has ongoing reform efforts to meet evolving needs of the Palestine refugees and to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of services. In education, the reform as focused on developing an organisation-wide strategic direction with the elaboration of a number of strategies and policies, as well as capacity strengthening of staff. These reforms have had a positive effect on both learning outcomes and the efficiency of the system. For health, reform has focused on the introduction of the Family Health Team model and an electronic medical record and appointment system named e-Health, which has simplified reporting 1, 3, 5, 6, 8, 11, 24, 25, and improved available data. The RSS reform is underway and will see reconfigurations of staff 37, 38, 40, 50, 52, 57, and new job descriptions, as well as the professionalisation of social work posts, to be more ‘fit for 60, 61, 64, 65, 79, 84, purpose’, as well as a move to cash assistance. In the face of the current financial crisis, UNRWA has 86, 114, 119, 146, 147, sought to strengthen the Department of External Relations and Communications (ERCD) through the 149 regularisation of contractual modalities for existing temporary contracts to reduce staff turnover, and thereby reducing churn. However, this has been hampered by further funding reductions. Despite these reforms in specific programmes, the current financial crisis (redundancies, recruitment freezes) has meant that in general there is limited movement within the UNRWA staffing structures and limited opportunity for introducing new skills and/ or reconfiguring between staff silos, as well as some posts remaining vacant and unfilled. The agency has an Action Plan on Gender Parity based on the Agency’s Gender Equality Strategy for 2016-2021. Although the agency has achieved 51 per cent female and 49 per cent male employment among the total Area and International staff population, there remain considerably lower percentages of women in senior and leadership positions (in 2018, 26 per cent of Senior Area staff were female). Strengthening UNRWA’s gender architecture has been identified as a priority for the GES. Improvements in female representation at most senior level improved in 2019. Female quotas have been set for the first time in the elections for Areas Staff Unions representatives.