16 July 2014 - Seattle, USA - The Stop TB Partnership decided today to move its Secretariat from the World Health Organization to the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) early in 2015.
The Stop TB Partnership secretariat has been hosted and administered by the World Health Organization (WHO) since its founding in 2001. The decision to move its administration to UNOPS is the culmination of a process as the Partnership has matured and expanded. The Partnership Board – where WHO is represented – recognizes that the Partnership in its current form will be better able to fulfil its mandate by moving the Secretariat administrative arrangements to UNOPS - a specialized provider of administrative services. The decision is fully supported and facilitated by WHO.
The move will not change the close and complementary collaboration and working relationship between WHO and the Stop TB Partnership as they fulfil their respective mandates. The Stop TB Partnership will continue to lead the global advocacy effort to raise awareness, funding and action against TB, coordinating the efforts of its 1000 partner organizations.
WHO will remain a central partner and will continue to sit on the Partnership’s Coordinating Board and its Executive Committee. The Partnership will draw on WHO’s expertise, use its global data and information as the base for its own advocacy material and will coordinate its actions and initiatives closely with WHO.
WHO will continue its leading role in the fight against tuberculosis, setting global policy and targets, leading work to establish norms and standards, monitoring burden and global response, and providing technical support to Member States.
UNOPS is particularly well equipped to support the grant and procurement procedures required by the Global Drug Facility and TB REACH, two of the Partnership’s key programmes.
The Stop TB Partnership secretariat will remain in Geneva, but will relocate from WHO premises to offices subleased from the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.
After the decision, South Africa’s Minister of Health and Chair of the Stop TB Partnership’s Board, Aaron Motsoaledi, and the Board’s Vice Chair, Joanne Carter, Executive Director of RESULTS, made the following statement:
"Today, the Stop TB Partnership is beginning a new chapter of its existence. By moving the secretariat’s hosting arrangements to a UN agency specialized in providing administrative services, the Partnership can focus its attention and activities on coordinating the global effort against TB and strengthen its advocacy work. The move will make it clear to all how WHO and the Partnership will work both in their respective areas and in collaboration to accelerate the fight against TB. It will allow both institutions to maximise their respective mandates and comparative advantages.
We are excited by the opportunities this change represents and look forward to a close working relationship with UNOPS.
WHO has made tremendous efforts to support the Partnership and enable it to carry out its work. We would like to thank WHO for hosting the secretariat over the past 13 years as well as its collaboration and support throughout that time. We look forward to continuing our close collaboration and mutual support, and will continue to look to WHO for leadership, in the global fight to stop TB."
For all the Board meeting decision points, please see here.
For a Q&A on the transition, please see here.
Read the UNOPS statement here.
Read the WHO statement here.
Read the Global Fund statement here.