The development of the UNGEGN Strategic Plan and Programme of Work
At the first session of the "new" UNGEGN, convened from 29 April to 3 May 2019 in New York, the Group of Experts adopted the draft session report that included six recommendations and 15 decisions. These recommendations and decisions were adopted by the United Nations Economic and Social Council at its management meeting in July 2019 ( E/2019/99). Recommendation 1 (see E/C.20/2020/17/Add.1) requested that the Bureau of the Group of Experts undertake the development of a draft strategic plan and programme of work for the new UNGEGN, to be presented for consideration at its second session in May 2021.
Recommendation 1Undertake the development of a draft strategic plan and programme of work for the new UNGEGN, to be adopted at its second session, which, among other items, should take into account:
- (a) The mandate and structure of the Group;
- (b) Support for the creation of new national geographical names authorities and strengthening the operation of existing ones;
- (c) The establishment of funding mechanisms (such as a Trust Fund) to support the implementation of the strategic plan;
- (d) Appropriate branding and publicity of UNGEGN;
- (e) The focus and core goals of its parent body, ECOSOC; and,
- (f) A suitable planning time frame.
In pursuance of Recommendation 1, the Bureau and working group convenors of the Group of Experts have been preparing the draft strategic plan and programme of work.
A strategic plan and programme of work are necessary in order to build on the advancements made in modernizing and making the Group of Experts operations efficient, and to strengthen the Groups' alignment with other expert bodies of ECOSOC. In doing this task, the Group is required to take into consideration, rapid technological developments, the priority geographical names standardization requirements of Member States, and support ECOSOC's work on advancing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
The Preparation Process
At the start of the exercise, the Bureau and working group convenors prepared a schedule and outline for the preparation of the UNGEGN draft strategic plan and programme of work. An important element of the exercise is the engagement of Member State representatives, to ensure their contribution and transparency of the process
The first global consultation was carried out between September and December 2019, when Member States were invited to submit their national geographical names standardization issues and propose priority actions to be pursued by the Group of Experts over the period 2021 to 2029. Based on the feedback received from ten Member States, the Bureau and working group convenors prepared the first version of the draft strategic plan which outlined the proposed vision, values, aims and five overall strategies
The second round of global consultations on the draft Strategic Plan was conducted from June to August 2020. With the feedback received from 20 Member States and three international organizations, the Bureau revised the draft strategic plan and prepared an accompanying programme of work. The result of the exercise was a 38-page comprehensive document containing the five strategies with their main achievements, current status and future needs, the action items, responsible parties and outputs and time frames up to 2029.
The third round of global consultations was initiated through letter of STAT421(4-120) dated 17 February 2021, with the accompanying 38-page draft document. Member States were invited to review and provide feedback on the draft document before Thursday 18 March 2021, paying particular attention to each of the five strategies and related action items. Eighteen Member States submitted feedback on the document. In addition to the global consultations, a virtual side event to the 2021 UNGEGN session was held on Thursday 25 March 2021 to provide the UNGEGN community with a clear overview on the contents of its draft Strategic Plan and Programme of Work. The side event was attended by 124 toponymic experts, cartographers, linguists and other stakeholders from around the world. Topics covered during the side event included:- 1) why a strategic plan? What are the benefits? 2) the development process 3) the structure and main contents of the plan and programme of work, 4) financing, implementation, monitoring and updating and 5) the way forward. This was followed by open discussions. Based on the comments received the document was further revised to create the final version which was submitted to the Group of Experts at its second session for adoption.