Administrative Centres

The Manila and Panama Administrative Centres were established to contain the cost of the Organization’s growth by providing financial and administrative support services from low-cost locations, and this continues to be one of the important efficiency measures undertaken by the Administration. The focus of the administrative centres is to provide labour-intensive functions that support the Organization’s global network of field offices. As the number of programmes and offices increases, IOM’s core support functions in the key areas of ICT, legal, audit, finance, human resources, migration health, staff safety and security, procurement, project monitoring, online communications and administrative services have come under mounting pressure, struggling to keep pace with the growth of the Organization within existing financial resources. With IOM membership and programmes expected to continue to increase, the Administration is constantly reviewing opportunities to establish and transfer functions from Headquarters and other expensive locations to the administrative centres or to increase the support provided by the centres for functions still carried out at Headquarters. This is an ongoing process used to manage the Organization’s growth within the limits of available funding.