Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1946- (Creation)
Level of description
Subfonds
Extent and medium
Context area
Name of creator
Administrative history
As an organizational unit of UNESCO, the Office of the Director-General has in certain periods been considered to include the Director-General, the Deputy-Director General, the Executive Office and any services that report directly to the Director-General as opposed to an Assistant-Director General in charge of a sector. However, based on the status described in the Constitution, the Director-General is not a staff member of UNESCO, and so cannot be considered a part of any organizational unit. The Deputy Director-General, while periodically considered to be included in the Office of the Director-General, has also existed structurally within a separate Office of the Deputy Director-General. The idea of a Directorate has existed since 1959 when it was the unit within ODG which included the Executive Officer, Executive Secretary and other staff supporting the activities of the Director-General. This incarnation of the Directorate was renamed the Executive Office of the Director-General in 1962. The term Directorate, or ‘la Direction Générale,’ was then reintroduced in 1975 to describe the grouping of the Director-General, Deputy-Director General, as well as any special advisers and personal support staff. In 1982, the concept of the Directorate was expanded to include the Assistant Director-Generals and supporting staff were grouped into a unit called the Secretariat of the Director-General. By 1985, the term Directorate was used to refer to the Director-General, Deputy Director-General, their support staff, and the Executive Office of the Director-General and the units attached to the Executive Office. The Directorate (DRG) was most distinctly separate from the ODG in the period 1990-1999. During this period, the ODG referred to a smaller office supporting the Director-General. The Directorate was the larger body encompassing the units attached to two Deputy Director-Generals (for Programme and Management) from 1990 to 1993. The Directorate was overseen by an Assistant Director-General (ADG) beginning in 1994 and some of the services that formerly reported directly to the Director-General, then reported to the ADG/DRG. In 1999, the post of ADG/DRG was eliminated and the services attached to the Director-General were moved to appropriate programme sectors or central services.
The Executive Office of the Director-General (ODG), or ‘le Cabinet’ (CAB) in French, continues now to support the Director-General and the Deputy Director-General in the execution of their duties and to coordinate the central services of the Organization which report directly to the Director-General. ODG is led by an Executive Director.
ODG has had the following heads: Director René Maheu 1949-1953; Director Mahdi Elmandjra 1963-1965; Director Manuel Jimenez 1966-1969; Director Gérard Bolla 1969-1971; Director Pierre Henri Coeytaux 1972-1974; Director José Blat Gimeno 1975-1976?; Acting Director Chikh Bekri 1976; Director Chikh Bekri 1976-1986; Assistant Director-General Ernesto Melo Antunes 1986-1987; Director Luis Marques 1989- 1991; Director Georges Malempré 1992-1994, Assistant Director-General for Directorate and Director CAB Daniel Janicot 1994; Director Solomon Hailu 1995-1996; Director Georges Malempré 1997-1999; Executive Director/Assistant Director-General Françoise Rivière 2000-2006; Executive Director Elizabeth Longworth 2006-2009; and, Executive Director Ryuhei Hosoya 2010-.
Repository
Archival history
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Direct transfer of all records from the ODG to the Archives.
Content and structure area
Scope and content
Sous-fonds consists of files generated by the Director-General, the Deputy Director-General, and the Executive Office of the Director-General.
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
Accruals
Continuous accruals by transfer from ODG.
System of arrangement
Conditions of access and use area
Conditions governing access
CAB files may include sensitive information and may, therefore, be closed for a period of fifty years as established by the Rules governing access to the archives by outside persons (Administrative Manual 9.5a). See the Conditions governing access note at the series-level for more precise information on whether a series has been entirely closed, is subject to screening and redaction by the archivist, or is open with no restrictions.
Conditions governing reproduction
Language of material
Script of material
Language and script notes
Physical characteristics and technical requirements
Finding aids
Allied materials area
Existence and location of originals
Existence and location of copies
Related units of description
Notes area
Alternative identifier(s)
Access points
Subject access points
Place access points
Name access points
Genre access points
Description control area
Description identifier
Institution identifier
Rules and/or conventions used
Status
Draft