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What is the purpose of information meetings?

As stipulated in the Annex of 155 EX/Decision 5.4, paragraph 22, information meetings are held between representatives and alternates of the States Members of the Executive Board resident at Headquarters and the Director-General to enable the Board to perform its monitoring functions, particularly on the progress of programme implementation.

Who can participate?

The information meetings are open to all UNESCO's Member States (169 EX/Decision 4.2)

When do they meet?

Since its inception in 1999, one information meeting was held annually, except in 2007 when the Board felt the need to hold such a meeting twice.

How are they prepared?

1. The Chairman fixes the date of each information meeting and sends a letter of invitation to the Board Members and Permanent Delegations of the Member States.
2. Board Members are requested to submit written questions in advance to the Chairman of the Executive Board. A deadline is set for the submission of these questions.
3. All questions submitted to the Chairman are forwarded to the Office of the Director-General. A consolidated list of these questions or subjects, prepared in English and French, is distributed to the Board members before the meeting. This serves as a guideline both for the Director-General's preliminary remarks and for the Board members during the meeting.
4. The Chairman, in consultation with the Director-General, defines beforehand the procedure to be followed particularly during the question-and-answer period, to ensure a the smooth functioning of information meetings. The scenario is either distributed to the Board members before the meeting or, as it is often the case, communicated to the Board members by the Chairperson of the Board through his/her opening remarks.

What sort of questions should be submitted?

To address the concern for a more spontaneous and dynamic dialogue during the meeting, the Member States are invited to submit questions that deal mainly with the progress made by the Secretariat in respect of decisions adopted by the Executive Board at its previous session or with items of direct relevance to its following session. They are also enjoined to raise precise, clear questions on follow-up to past Board decisions and the priorities figuring on the agenda of the following Board session.

Is there a final report?

A report on the proceedings of the information meeting is sent to all Member States in English and French, normally a month after the meeting.