Newspress

Implementation of the Strategic Plan 2019-2022, approved at the June 2019 Policy Commission and Council sessions, began on 1 July 2019. At that time, the Secretariat committed to providing Members with regular reports on the status of implementation of the Strategic Plan. The idea was to develop a mechanism that would allow for regular follow-up and provide full transparency on the activities undertaken by the WCO. As an action-based document, the Strategic Plan 2019-2022 aims to improve the way the WCO operates over time in the interests of its Members. A proper monitoring and reporting mechanism is therefore necessary to assess the strengths and weaknesses of current WCO operations, by displaying the Organization's performance and promoting decision-making in areas that need to be addressed.

The Strategic Plan monitoring and reporting platform (members only) has been launched today on the WCO website, on the Strategic Plan page. The figures it contains cover all the initiatives conducted from July 2019 to the end of October 2019. Details are provided for all the layers of the Strategic Map, from all-encompassing figures and data right down to specific actions performed under each of the strategic processes. Full details of progress made under the nine priorities of the Strategic Plan are also provided.

This new tool is designed to be used as a reference by Members and WCO staff, with the information contained therein offering valuable insight into the status of various initiatives. In this way, Members can keep up to date with the tasks completed as well as with the tasks in progress or planned for a later stage during the financial year.

The monitoring and reporting mechanism is an unparalleled development for the WCO. During the process of drafting the Strategic Plan 2019-2022, with close involvement by Members, the Secretariat noted that there were high expectations of a document based on concrete actions and activities. The ability to monitor progress with implementation of the Strategic Plan opens the door to qualitative reporting and makes it possible to adapt quickly, without being held back by a strict three-year review process. The monitoring and reporting mechanism is available to Members only on the Strategic Plan page on the WCO Members' website. It will be updated regularly during the three-year implementation of the Strategic Plan 2019-2022. The monitoring mechanism is currently being translated into French and the French version will be made available in due course.