Department of Conferences and Meetings Management

November 30, 2010/AGC

Report on Language Services and Measures to Achieve Savings in the Provision of

Conference Services for OAS Meetings

AG/RES. 1 (XL-E/10) III.A.12.a

12. Conference and meeting services

a) To reiterate to the General Secretariat the need to expand its review of the Organization’s interpretation and translation services to include the whole area of conferences and meetings services, and to present for consideration of the CAAP, progress reports on the current services and needs of the Department of Conferences and Meetings Management, including information on the most efficient and cost-effective means of delivering these services, at headquarters and away from headquarters, taking into consideration member states’ requirements and overall needs and limitations of the Organization in fulfilling its mandates .

Mandate

Language Services SectionDCMM

• Provides in-house translations of 45% of the documents requested by all the areas of the GS/OAS, giving priority to the PC and GA

• Coordinates outside translations of the remaining 55% • Identifies the best translator for each document, based on his or her

experience and specialty• Reviews translations and/or original documents at the request of the

areas• Exercises quality control of all translations• Tests translators before adding them to the roster of freelance translators• Advises the delegations of the member states at Style Committee

meetings• Compiles and updates glossaries and style manuals in order to unify and

preserve OAS vocabulary and style

Language Services SectionDCMM

• Coordinates interpretation services for all GS/OAS meetings at and away from Headquarters

• Advices the areas on the most appropriate and efficient ways of hiring interpreters

• Identifies interpreters certified by professional associations in the member states

• Provides in-house interpretation services for: – Meetings of the Chair of the PC and regional coordinators– Meetings of a highly confidential nature– Missions of ministers and/or ambassadors– Ambassadors’ private and negotiation meetings– Private meetings of the SG and ASG

TRANSLATION

Translation flow chartPermanent Council, General Secretariat and

Technical Areas

Coordination

Freelance translatorsIn-house

translator/reviewers

Proof reading

Printshop

Distribution

Archive

Translation statisticsJanuary – October 2010

*Equivalent to 25,320 source pages requested. The number of words delivered was higher (10,884,499) because the same source document is sometimes translated into more than one target language.

MONTHSPANISH ENGLISH FRENCH PORTUGUESE

IN-HOUSE FREELANCERS IN-HOUSE FREELANCERS IN-HOUSE FREELANCERS IN-HOUSE FREELANCERS

JANUARY 20,774 34,532 95,422 212,460 62,849 58,194 37,861 82,335

FEBRUARY 36,077 53,717 158,284 142,164 86,276 104,620 20,863 174,253

MARCH 52,233 160,153 133,535 528,616 154,134 131,519 112,334 169,270

APRIL 60,817 51,561 186,962 192,689 259,864 151,556 157,756 258,585

MAY 97,289 51,923 579,901 369,600 832,795 150,457 473,984 510,934

JUNE 33,495 4,561 133,371 366,861 123,249 11,045 88,535 44,698

JULY 12,755 17,101 29,560 85,485 27,753 17,848 26,498 12,125

AUGUST 39,623 56,281 67,980 311,300 59,343 98,609 65,514 98,925

SEPTEMBER 44,082 72,787 92,814 276,735 110,515 19,029 100,143 29,072

OCTOBER 44,566 63,077 83,831 645,137 74,653 54,833 58,528 73,034

TOTAL 441,711 565,693 1,561,660 3,131,047 1,791,431 797,710 1,142,016 1,453,231

Requests for translationMONTH REQUESTS

JANUARY 194

FEBRUARY 230

MARCH 416

APRIL 423

MAY 694

JUNE 184

JULY 133

AUGUST 196

SEPTEMBER 231

OCTOBER 280

TOTAL 2,981

CHANGES FROM ONE MONTH TO ANOTHER

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

JANUARY

FEBRUARY

MARCHAPR

ILMAY

JUNE

JULY

AUGUST

SEPTE

MBER

OCTOBER

REQUESTS

In-house vs. freelancers’ translations

TRANSLATION SPANISH %S ENGLISH %E FRENCH %F PORTUGUESE %PIN-HOUSE 441,711 44% 1,561,660 33% 1,791,431 69% 1,142,016 44%

FREELANCERS 565,693 56% 3,131,047 67% 797,710 31% 1,453,231 56% 1,007,404 4,692,707 2,589,141 2,595,247

0

500000

1000000

1500000

2000000

2500000

3000000

3500000

4000000

4500000

5000000

SPANISH ENGLISH FRENCH PORTUGUESE

IN-HOUSEOUT-OF-HOUSE

In-house translators by language

English: 1 translator/reviewer Spanish: 1 translator/reviewer1 translator

Portuguese: 1 in-house translator/reviewer French: 3 translator/reviewers1 translator/reviewer (CPR)

1

2

3

2

Spanish

English

French

Portuguese

Translation requests by language

Language of the source document

80%

18%

1%

1%

Spanish

English

French

Portuguese

Target language

9%

35%

28%

28%

Spanish

English

French

Spanish

Translation requests by GS/OAS area

1429

334

218

210

164

130

96

59

59

58

50

33

30

28

15

15

12

10

10

10

5

4

2

0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600

Permanent Council

General Assembly

CEPCIDI

CIDH

CITEL

Legal Affairs

CIM

CICAD

CIDI

Secretary General

SEDI

CICTE

CIP

UPD

Administrative Tribunal

Assistant Secretary General

Summits

External Relations

Human Resources

Staff Association

Public Security

Inspector General

Financial Services

In-house translations = Savings for the area

485383.83

164447.12

66075.09

41234.52

38108.39

15093.96

13371.01

10503.45

10157.16

9699.35

6126.8

5182.96

2977.72

2801.94

1714.79

1542.58

1324.81

1109.25

989.23

956.76

493

0 100000 200000 300000 400000 500000 600000

Permanent Council

General Assembly

CEPCIDI

Administrative Tribunal

CIDI

CITEL

Legal Affairs

CIM

SEDI

CICTE

CIP

CIDH

Assistant Secretary General

Secretary General

CICAD

Staff Association

Human Resources

UPD

Public Security

External Relations

Financial Services

Total savings $879,293.72

INTERPRETATION

Interpretation flow chart

Areas/secretariats schedule the meeting

through OASCAL

Languages Section is notified of the day, time,

and interpretation services requested

After consulting the availability calendar , the

best interpreters are selected, based on

language combination and specialty

The team is re-evaluated and altered

to match confirmation of availability

At 3:00 p.m. of the day prior to the meeting, the

Languages Section requests confirmation of

the meeting

At 5:00 p.m. of the day prior to the meeting, interpreters

receive a contractually binding confirmation,

together with reference material sent by the area/

secretariatConsultation with area/secretariat regarding

possibility of combining meetings and the scope of the interpretation needed

with a view to saving resources

Meetings with interpretation (month)

MONTH MEETINGS

JANUARY 25

FEBRUARY 36

MARCH 79

APRIL 65

MAY 78

JUNE 16

JULY 21

AUGUST 11

SEPTEMBER 60

OCTOBER 45

TOTAL 436

NUMBER OF EVENTS STAFFED BY MONTH

25

36

79

65

78

11

60

45

16

21

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

JANUARY

FEBRUARY

MARCH

APRILM

AYJU

NEJU

LY

AUGUST

SEPTEMBER

OCTOBER

Meetings with interpretation (area)

218

52

32

23

23

22

18

18

10

5

4

3

3

3

1

1

0 50 100 150 200 250

Consejo Permanente

CEPCIDI

CIDH

Secretario General

Relaciones Externas

SEDI

MESICIC

EXTRA

CIM

CICTE

CIDI

REMJA

CITEL

SAP

IICA

CICAD

Types of service used in CP/CEPCIDIEvents Staffed by Language Combination

58

11

130

7

23

149

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

2 LANGUAGES 3 LANGUAGES 4 LANGUAGES BIDIRECTIONAL

CP

CEPCIDI

Types of interpretation servicesLanguages spoken at the meeting (SOURCE)

Number of interpreters TARGET languages

English, Spanish, French, Portuguese(Full team)

8 English, Spanish, French, Portuguese

English, Spanish, French, Portuguese 4 English, Spanish

English, Spanish, French, Portuguese 6 English, Spanish, French/ Portuguese

English, Spanish(Two-way)

2 English, Spanish

English, Spanish(Two-way)

3 English, Spanish

Regional Program to Expand the Number of Interpreters and Translators

• Objective:• To identify qualified translators and

interpreters in the member states in order to reduce the cost of providing translation and interpretation services at meetings away from headquarters and to comply with requests by governments to hire local professionals.

Regional Program to Expand the Number of Interpreters and Translators

• Results:• PeruPeru Interpreters, June 2009: 10• BrazilBrazil Interpreters, December 2009: 12• ColombiaColombia Interpreters, July 2010: 7• ColombiaColombia Translators CITEL, November 2010: 5• MexicoMexico Translators and interpreters, November

2010: currently being evaluated• EcuadorEcuador Translators and interpreters, February

2011: currently being organized

Conference Services

983

13

1034

5

1022

1907

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

1400

2008 2009 2010 (Jan-Oct)

Department of Conferences and MeetingsNumber of Meetings from 2008-2010

Meetings at Headquarters Projected Nov-Dec 2010 Meetings in Member States

996 meetings 1,039 meetings

1,219 meetings

3,600,000.0

1,400,000

165,500

-

500,000.0

1,000,000.0

1,500,000.0

2,000,000.0

2,500,000.0

3,000,000.0

3,500,000.0

4,000,000.0

2008 2009 2010 (Jan-Oct)

Paper Used at Headquarters Processed by the Document's SectionNumber of Pages Used 2008 - 2010

0

800

1,695

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

1400

1600

1800

2008 2009 2010 (Jan-Oct)

Documents Distributed through CDsNumber of CDs from 2008-2010

9,747 9,924

5,397

-

2,000

4,000

6,000

8,000

10,000

2008 2009 2010 (Jan-Oct)

Documents Distributed via Email by the Document SectionNumber of Documents from 2008-2010

Measures to enhance efficiency in the provision of conference services

Green meetings

• Promotion of a “Paper Light Policy,” to reduce the use of paper by distributing documents electronically.

• Promotion of a “Printing on Demand" policy and printing on both sides of the paper.

• Minimizing the quantity of participants’ supplies (notebooks, print-outs, pencils, folders, etc.)

• Use of biodegradable or Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)-approved materials.

Measures to enhance efficiency in the provision of conference services

Green meetings

• Implementation of separate waste collection, recycling or re-use practices wherever meetings are held.

• Setting the air conditioning systems in meeting rooms at levels at which they consume as little energy as possible.

• Promoting the use of tools, such as social media (Twitter, Facebook, Youtube or RSS) to access meetings.

• Greater use of technology as a support tool (document links, websites for each meeting, laptops for each participant).

• Involve participants directly and promote their role as multipliers of this effort to generate greater environmental awareness.

Measures to enhance efficiency in the provision of conference services

Videoconferences 2009 – 2010Sir Arthur Lewis Multimedia Room

Number of videoconferences

Attendance at headquarters

Estimated airfare savings

Per diem savings Total savings(ROI)

2009 40 * 319 $ 90,700.00 $ 114,624.00 $ 205,324.00

2010 50 ** 415 $ 161,870.00 $ 140,909.00 $ 302,779.00

* Since April 2009, when the Sir Arthur Lewis Room was inaugurated.** Until October 15, 2010.

Note:The savings calculation is based on a conservative estimate of four airfares per videoconference and an estimated maximum of a three day stay per videoconference.When more than one country is involved, the calculation has been based on the country with the lowest costs.

DCMM budget allocationsin 2008, 2009, 2010, and 2011

$5,947.2 $5,999.9$5,654.2 $5,363.6

$0.0

$1,000.0

$2,000.0

$3,000.0

$4,000.0

$5,000.0

$6,000.0

Thousands

2008 2009 2010 2011 Propuesto

Comparison of allocations: approved for 2008-2010 / 2011 proposedPersonnel and Non-personnel

DCMM personnelin 2008, 2009, 2010, and 2011

Professional staff General Services staff

Year D2 D1 P5 P4 P3 P2 P1 Sub-Total

G7 G6 G5 G4 G3 G2 G1 Sub-Total

Total

2008 1 15 4 2 22 3 8 10 1 22 44

2009 1 15 4 2 22 3 8 9 1 21 43

2010 1 13 2 3 1 20 3 6 6 15 35

2011 1 13 2 2 1 19 3 6 6 15 34

Measures to enhance efficiency in the provision of conference services

New videoconferencing capacity in the Simón Bolívar Room

Joint effort by DOITS and DCMMNew capabilities include:

Video / Teleconference (VTC) with capacity for up to 5 simultaneous connections• Six cameras in the room• Each delegate can speak from his/her own microphone• Visualization of the other parties on all screens and monitors in the room• IP (via Internet) and ISDN (via telephone line) connections

Audio Teleconferencing (ATC) Control panels for video – teleconferences and local presentations Recording Local presentation capabilities

Proposals• Update Resolution 872: “Update of the Costs of Conferences and Meetings”

• Limit the number of pages per report: 15 -20 pages: A common practice in international organizationsTranslation costs: 10 pp. = 2,500 words = US$425

15 pp. = 3,750 words = US$637.50