WHO Transformation

“Our goal is clear - a modern WHO, working seamlessly to make a measurable difference in people’s health at country level.”

Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General, Executive Board, January 2018

In mid-2017, WHO embarked on what has become most ambitious and far-reaching transformation of WHO since our organization was established over 70 years ago.

Our mission – to promote health, keep the world safe, and serve the vulnerable – is at the heart of our Transformation.

Our WHO Transformation reflects the ambitions and ideas of WHO’s workforce who, together, have shaped the major initiatives, new ways of engaging, working and communicating.

And throughout, our Member States have provided direction on our strategic priorities, goals and shifts needed to deliver on our mission.

Our Transformation approach

WHO Transformation is designed around 3 strategic objectives and supported by 7 major areas of work.

First, we are focusing WHO's work on driving impact at country level and embedding our mission and strategy in our day-to-day work and organizational culture. This work includes the workstreams focused on establishing and operationalizing an impact-focused, data-driven strategy and a new results-focused, collaborative culture.

Second, we are establishing a fit-for-purpose organization to deliver our mission and strategy, anchored in new ways of working that are enabled by “best-in-class” processes and an aligned, 3-level operating model.

And third, we are leveraging our partners and the global community to drive health outcomes, including through new partnership and resource mobilization initiatives.

Underpinning all of these objectives is our work to ensure that we have a diverse, motivated and fit-for-purpose workforce.

The WHO Transformation Agenda is being rolled out in 4 phases, with the 4^th phase focused on implementation and continuous improvement. This reflects our approach to regularly adopt new ideas, monitor, adapt and act on feedback. As a result, Transformation will continuously evolve as we incorporate new learnings to ensure we stay ‘ahead of the curve’ and provide the best possible service in support of our Member States.

To learn more, the additional publications, documents and reports on this page provide a chronological documentation of the WHO Transformation journey and highlight how this work is being taken forward in WHO regions.