To strengthen transparency around the election of the next World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Director for the South-East Asia, a live forum of candidates will be held from 11:30h New Delhi time on Wednesday, 18 October 2023. The forum was agreed by WHO’s Member States in the Region, and it will be chaired in person by Honourable Minister of Health Bhutan Dasho Dechen Wangmo.
The two candidates, who are expected to attend virtually the forum are:
- Ms Saima Wazed, proposed by Bangladesh
- Dr Shambhu Prasad Acharya, proposed by Nepal
The candidates will each give a presentation of no more than 20 minutes on their experience and expertise and present the vision for what they hope to achieve as Regional Director to deliver on the core mandates of WHO in the South-East Asia.
In addition, the candidates will answer questions from Member States who will be connected virtually. This will provide a further opportunity for Member States to acquaint themselves with the candidates and assess their suitability for the role.
Selection of questions
Each Member State joining the virtual forum may ask questions if it so wishes. Member States are invited to indicate the candidate(s) to whom they wish to ask a question by writing to the Regional Office at the email address serdelect@who.int no later than Monday, 16 October 2023, at 16:00 New Delhi time. The tokens bearing the names of the Member States wishing to ask questions will be put in the relevant receptacles (one for each candidate). Member States that nominated candidates are expected not to ask questions of candidates they nominated.
After each candidate has made an oral presentation, the Chairperson will pull the tokens one-by-one, on a random basis, until the time available is exhausted. After each token is drawn, the corresponding Member State will be invited to ask a question and the candidate invited to provide an answer.
Questions and answers
Member States will have up to one minute to ask one question only. Questions with multiple parts will not be permitted. Candidates will have up to three minutes to respond to each question. Each interview will conclude when the 40 minutes for the interview have elapsed, even if there are still questions pending. However, a candidate will be permitted to complete their answer to the question being addressed if the 40 minutes elapse.
Timekeeping
A clock displayed on the screen will likely be used to assist participants in keeping within time limits during both parts of the interview.
How to watch
The forum will be livestreamed on this page and social media accounts –
- YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/user/whosoutheastasia - Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/WHOSEARO - X (Twitter)
https://twitter.com/WHOSEARO