The cost-sharing proposal was discussed by the CCAQ (now known as the CEB) at its 56th session in March 1982, and had agreed to the idea of distributing among the organizations the replacement cost of the General Secretary of FICSA; it had also been considered that this arrangement might be extended to cover the replacement cost of the President. CCAQ(FB) had been requested to develop an appropriate cost-sharing formula and examine practical arrangements. This was raised again in 1985, 86, 87, 88, and in 1991 the CCAQ had no consensus on such arrangements. At its July 2004 meeting (CEB/2004/HLCM/25, para. 31) the HR Network considered a proposal for financial support to FICSA.

At the HLCM’s 29th session in March 2015, FICSA submitted a document with a proposed cost sharing formula to distribute the annual cost of the two FICSA officers (the President and General Secretary) across all organizations having staff associations/unions which are members of FICSA. A working group was then established, and is now chaired by WHO. After comprehensive consultation and discussion, a draft MOU is now available and is being reviewed by Legal.

How will this impact you and how to participate?

The President and General Secretary of FICSA are nominated from its full members and elected for a two-year term. The position requires a fully-funded full time release, which means the releasing organization will continue to fund the staff costs of the elected officers while they are released to FICSA. 

With the cost-sharing or funding model in place, the staff cost of the two FICSA officers will be shared amongst organizations having staff associations/unions which are members of FICSA, based on their weighted number of staff calculated using FICSA dues methodology.

If your organization is interested to participate in the cost-sharing/funding model agreement, please reach out to the HLCM through the CEB secretariat and/or write to FICSA at ficsa@un.org 

How will this benefit the releasing organization?

Scenario 1 - without participating in the Ad-hoc Working Group on Cost-Sharing/Funding Models for FICSA Elected Officials

• Example - for the position of General Secretary
• The organization will cover the full cost of the full-time release and relocation to FICSA Headquarters in Geneva.
• Recent examples:
  • WIPO and WHO/HQ had covered the full-time release cost for the past and current General Secretaries
  • UNRWA, WIPO and UNAIDS had done the same for the current and past Presidents
• The cost estimate would be staff cost in Geneva plus relocation costs. For example if the elected officer is a G6 staff:
  • Geneva Staff Cost – at G6 grade (100% FTE), inclusive of salary, allowances, benefit such as pension, health insurance etc.: USD 192,000.00 per year
  • Relocation cost – settling-in and relocation grant, estimated at USD 60,874.00 (one time cost, if the elected person is from outside of Geneva)

Scenario 2 – with participation in the Ad-hoc Working Group on Cost-Sharing/Funding Models for FICSA Elected Officials

• The Working Group assumes that the average staff cost of the officers is equivalent to two P4 Step 6, totalling $341,860
• The amount may be higher or lower, depending on whether relocation is needed, and the actual grade of the officers
• The annual cost would be based on the weighted number of staff as per FICSA Dues Calculation 
• For example, if there are 11 organizations participating, the cost would be drastically reduced as per the table below:

History of Staff-Management Relations in the UN Common System

History of the cost-sharing

Read the FICSA proposal paper to the HLCM and the subsequent initial discussion here.