Survey on Conference Services provided by the United Nations Office at Geneva Trade and Development Board, fifty-eighth session Geneva, 12-23 September 2011
Contents Survey contents Evaluation criteria across the Survey Results Overview Survey No. 11 Survey database report Overview Results analysis Levels of satisfaction across the surveys conducted Observations from delegations 1
Survey contents 1 How do you rate the following services? 6 Do you have any suggestions or recommendations as to the (a) Meeting scheduling (b) Interpretation (c) Linguistic quality of documents (d) Document distribution (e) Summary records (f) Conference officers (g) Official Document System (ODS) (h) Timeliness of issuance of documents 2 How often do you 7 Comments/Suggestions (a) Attend United Nations meetings and conferences? (j) U se th e Official D ocumen t System (OD S)? 3 How often have you raised concerns about the services provided? 4 How do you rate the response to your concerns? 5 What are the major causes of satisfaction and/or dissatisfaction with our services? Ex cellent Satisfactory Poor Very poor No opinion Ex cellent Satisfactory Poor Very poor No opinion Ex cellent Satisfactory Poor Very poor No opinion Ex cellent Satisfactory Poor Very poor No opinion Ex cellent Satisfactory Poor Very poor No opinion Ex cellent Satisfactory Poor Very poor No opinion Ex cellent Satisfactory Poor Ex cellent Satisfactory Poor Very poor No opinion Very poor No opinion Regularly Occasionally Rarely Never Regularly Occasionally Rarely Never Regularly Occasionally Rarely Never Ex cellent Satisfactory Poor Very poor No opinion quality of our services, staff, facilities and products? Biennium 2010-2011 Replies Distributed Survey No. 1 21/06 02/07/2010 Annual session 2010 of the Executive Board of UNDP/UNFPA 24 74 Survey No. 2 13/09 01/10/2010 15th session of the Human Rights Council 21 43 Survey No. 3 01/11 11/11/2010 9th session of the Universal Periodic Review working group 11 100 Survey No. 4 08/11 12/11/2010 UNCTAD 6th UN Review Conference 6 100 Survey No. 5 22/11 26/11/2010 The Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons 15 100 Survey No. 6 29/11 07/12/2010 Sub-Committee of Experts on the Transport of Dangerous s 20 68 Survey No. 7 30/05 17/06/2011 Committee on the Rights of the Child, 6 100 Survey No. 8 06/06 17/06/2011 of the UNFCCC Convention Subsidiary Bodies 9 200 Survey No. 9 04/07 27/07/2011 Economic and Social Council Substantive Session 2011 26 200 Survey No.10 04/07 12/08/2011 International Law Commission 2011, - 2nd Part 6 40 Survey No.11 12/09 23/09/2011 Trade and Development Board, fifty-eighth session 15 85 2
Evaluation criteria across the Survey In the survey, multiple-choice answers are evaluated on a scale of 1 to 5: Answers: Points Interval Modal interval Very poor 1 0.8 >1.0-1.8 Poor 2 0.8 >1.8-2.6 Satisfactory 3 0.8 >2.6-3.4 4 0.8 >3.4-4.2 Excellent 5 0.8 >4.2-5.0 In the survey, multiple-choice answers are evaluated on a scale of 1 to 4: Answers: Points Interval Modal interval Regularly 1 0.75 >1.00-1.75 Occasionally 2 0.75 >1.75-2.50 Rarely 3 0.75 >2.50-3.25 Never 4 0.75 >3.25-0 3
Trade and Development Board, fifty-eighth session Action Points for the client: Les documents ne sont pas souvent disponibles en Français si non jamais. Ne pas distribuer les documents et publications s'ils ne sont pas disponibles dans toutes les langues officielles du système des Nations-Unies. At least drinking water facility to be provided in the meeting rooms. Appreciation Areas for improvement The participants are generally happy and satisfied with all services covered by the survey and consider them as good. The conference officers, the meeting scheduling and the interpretation are much appreciated by the delegates and show that they are mostly satisfied with them while the issuance of the documents and the document distribution leave much to be desired with an overall rating of satisfactory or good. The consistent levels of satisfaction across the surveys conducted (5 in Biennium 2004-2005, 12 in Biennium 2006-2007, 6 in Biennium 2008-2009 and 11 surveys in Biennium 2010-2011). The survey shows a good response rate by the Conference Management to the concerns raised by the participants regarding the conference services. The areas of concern are the issuance of the documents and the document distribution with a satisfactory and good rating. The issuance of the documents is perceived as needing the most improvement. It is necessary to submit documents for translation, to translate and to distribute them in all languages in good time for the meeting to improve the corresponding indicators. The survey response rate with 18% of the distributed surveys is slightly ascending and could be further improved. Communication of the survey should be improved to increase the participation rate. 66.7% of the respondents use the Official Document System (ODS) and their comments indicate that its userfriendliness could be further improved. 4
Survey database report Overview 5
Results analysis, Trade and Development Board, fifty-eighth session Trade and Development Board, fifty-eighth session How do you rate the following services? Meeting scheduling: Interpretation: Linguistic quality of documents: Document distribution: Summary records: Conference officers: Official Document System (ODS): Timeliness of issuance of documents: Satisfactory 3.11 Survey No. 11 12/09-23/09/2011 3.46 3.69 3.68 3.73 3.80 3.80 3.98 2.75 0 3.25 0 3.75 0 4.25 The survey demonstrates a good quality of work provided by all services. The average rate is good with an overall point rate average of 3.66. The conference officers, the meeting scheduling and the interpretation are much appreciated by the delegates and show that they are mostly satisfied with them unlike the issuance of the documents and the document distribution. How often do you? Attend United Nations meetings and conferences? Use the Official Document System (ODS)? 100 80 60 40 20 0 100 80 64.3% 60 35.7% 40 20 40.0% 26.7% 33.3% 0.0% 0.0% 0 0.0% Regularly Occasionally Rarely Never Regularly Occasionally Rarely Never The survey demonstrates a regular attendance at the United Nations meetings and conferences (100.0%) as well as an average percentage (66.7%) among the survey respondents who use the official document system (ODS) both regularly and occasionally. How often have you raised concerns about the services provided? How do you rate the response to your concerns? 100 80 60 40 20 0 35.7% 14.3% 28.6% 21.4% Regularly Occasionally Rarely Never 100 80 60 40 20 0 0.0% Excellent 33.3% 33.3% 16.7% 16..7% Satisfactory Poor Very poor The survey demonstrates a good response to the concerns about the services provided, independent of the frequency of their raising concerns. The rate of response to the concerns is good with the average remarks expressing a satisfaction amounting to 66.7%. 6
Consistent levels of satisfaction in the survey conducted Meeting scheduling: Meeting Scheduling... 5.0 4.5 3.86 3.80 3.49 9 4.20 3.80 During the last 3 biennia the service was homogenous. The average rate was good in comparison with the previous surveys conducted resulting with an overall point of 3.80 This trend remains in 2011.The trend is stable and almost equable with the previous surveys conducted. Interpretation: Interpretation... 5.0 4.5 3.96 3.64 3.89 4.10 7 3.80 During the last 3 biennia, the service was very equable and stable with the very good grading and as result the overall point average was 3.80. The trend shows a stable rate in comparison with the previous survey. The trend is stable and shows a descending rate in comparison with the previous surveys conducted. The evaluation point is very good. Linguistic quality of documents: Linguistic quality of documents... 4.6 4.1 3.6 3.1 2.6 3.91 0 3.60 4.30 3.93 3.69 During the last 3 biennia the service was very equable. The evaluation point of 3.69 shows a slight decrease in comparison with the previous survey conducted. The trend shows a stable linguistic quality of documents and the average rate is good. Document distribution: Document distribution... 5.0 4.5 3.82 3.48 3.80 3.83 4.33 3.46 This service is closely linked to the timeliness of the issuance of the documents and depends on it. The average rate is good resulting with an overall point of 3.46. The trend shows descending rate in comparison with the previous survey conducted. 7
Consistent levels of satisfaction in the survey conducted Summary records: Summary records 5.0 4.5 3.86 3.80 3.80 3.77 4.20 3.68 During the last 3 biennia the service was homogenous. The average rate is good in comparison with the previous surveys conducted resulting with an overall point of 3.68. This trend remains in 2011.The trend is stable and almost equable with the previous surveys conducted. Conference officers: 5.0 4.5 4.15 3.64 4.10 8 4.60 3.98 Conference officers During the last 3 biennia the service was homogenous with the best marks and as result the overall point was 3.98. The trend shows a stable rate and very good services provided by the DCM Conferences officers. This trend remains in 2011 and shows a stable, very good rate. Official Document System (ODS): 5.0 Official Document System (ODS) 4.5 3.80 3.64 3 3.73 4.12 3.73 The evaluation is good in comparison with the previous surveys conducted resulting with an overall point of 3.73. The trend is stable and shows slightly descending rate in comparison with the previous surveys conducted. Timeliness of issuance of documents: Timeliness of issuance of documents... 2.5 2.0 3.34 2.40 0 3.46 3.96 3.11 During the last 3 biennia, the issuance of the documents has been perceived as the weakest point in the survey. The average evaluation is satisfactory resulting with an overall point of 3.11. The trend shows a descending rate in comparison with the previously conducted surveys. 8
Observations from delegations MEETINGS PLANNING L'organisation et le service de conférence sont, à mon avis, de la grande qualité. Programmes respectées! TRANSLATION Les documents disponibles sont claire bien élabores avec un bon résume, mais nous constations que la plupart des documents sont en anglais et non traduit en français. Il faut remédier à ce problème surtout pour le compterendu. Le français doit être traité au même titre que l'anglais. INTERPRETATION Le problème majeur, c'est l'indisponibilité des documents et publications en français, ainsi que l'absence d'interprétation durant, certaines réunions. The interpretation services were very impressive. ODS What is ODS? 9
Observations from delegations TIMELINESS OF ISSUANCE OF DOCUMENTS/DOCUMENTS DISTRIBUTION Les documents disponibles sont claire bien élabores avec un bon résume, mais nous constations que la plupart des documents sont en anglais et non traduit en français. Il faut remédier à ce problème surtout pour le compterendu. Le problème majeur, c'est l'indisponibilité des documents et publications en français, ainsi que l'absence d'interprétation durant, certaines réunions. Ne pas distribuer les documents et publications s'ils ne sont pas disponibles dans toutes les langues officielles du système des Nations-Unies. Au niveau de la traduction de documents phares, comme le rapport sur le commerce et le développement, je pense qu'elle est trop tardive en français et en espagnol. Je pense qu'il serait important de faire venir plus d'auteurs francophones du sud. Les documents ne sont pas souvent disponibles en Français si non jamais. Est-ce qu il n ya pas d effets francophones qui pouvez faire des études ni les rapports en Française? Nous aimerions avoir à disposition la documentation en Français. Les rapports, études et autres documents renferment beaucoup de données importantes et précieuses sauf qu elles ne sont pas souvent disponibles en français dans les délais. Nous assistons à des débats autour de rapports que nous ne les expliquer et que nous ne pouvons critiquer. Estce que la langue officielle de l'onu est seulement l'anglais? Presque tous les documents sont en anglais, ceux en français sont tous en arrivent tardivement. Fournis les documents en Français en temps! Respecter les délais de parution des documents! 10
Observations from delegations CONFERENCE ROOM ASSISTANCE Most of the time, conference services staff are quite helpful, but there are some! Conference service staff is helpful and cooperation from the concerned desk is moderate and need to be improved. Improve security in the conference rooms. The act of theft of the personal property took place in the room. SERVICES PROVIDED L'organisation et le service de conférence sont, à mon avis, de la grande qualité. The cooperation from the concerned desk is moderate and need to be improved. Programmes respectées! OTHERS At least drinking water facility to be provided in the meeting rooms. Improve security in the conference rooms. The act of theft of the personal property took place in the room. 11