A/HRC/4/94 page 4 5. At the twenty-fifth session, the Board welcomed two new members: Monica Pinto (Argentina) and William A. Schabas (Canada). Mary Chinery-Hesse (Ghana) was elected as the Chairperson of the Board. The other members are Vitit Muntarbhorn (Thailand) and Viacheslav Bakhmin (Russian Federation). The following reflects the discussions of the Board of Trustees at the twenty-fifth session. III. UPDATE ON RECENT DEVELOPMENTS AT THE OFFICE OF THE HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS 6. The High Commissioner’s Strategic Management Plan 2006-2007 (SMP) and the May 2005 Plan of Action have set the direction and priorities for the current biennium and beyond. The Board of Trustees joined OHCHR field colleagues at the Africa regional consultations for a discussion on progress to date, problems encountered, and next steps in the implementation of SMP and the Plan of Action. Colleagues from the field pointed to the challenge of measuring and analysing the impact of human rights work. It was pointed out that work on indicators was work-in-progress at the Office and was particularly challenging for the first SMP, where baseline benchmarks would have to be established. 7. The OHCHR mid-year review had focused on the implementation of the major tasks under each of the five focus areas of SMP (country engagement, leadership, partnership, United Nations human rights bodies, and management and planning) as well as the recruitment process and financial situation. While concrete progress has been made in each of these areas, challenges would have to be overcome to achieve the objective of SMP 2006-2007, that is, to help bridge gaps in implementation (knowledge, capacity, commitment and security) at the national level. Major challenges ahead included ensuring a single approach by the Office to common priorities and enhancing thematic expertise in a sustainable and field-oriented way. The end-of-the-year review would provide another opportunity to look comprehensively at progress made and measures required to achieve the stated objective. A report on the implementation of SMP during 2006 would then be published. 8. The Board joined the concluding meeting of the regional consultations of the European, North American and Central Asian region. Rapporteurs of the meeting reported on the discussions held on the operation of regional offices, the review of country assessment development, and a broad outline of a strategy for 2008-2009. The Board supported the vision of the Office that after the 2006-2007 expansion period, OHCHR would see the next biennium (2008-2009) focusing on consolidation and follow-through on key initiatives. IV. COUNTRY ENGAGEMENT, INCLUDING CRITERIA FOR VARIOUS FORMS OF FIELD PRESENCES AND IMPLICATIONS FOR THE TECHNICAL COOPERATION PROGRAMME 9. Country engagement was one of the five focus areas of the Plan of Action. The purpose of country engagement was to analyse the obstacles standing in the way of the implementation of human rights and work towards overcoming them. The Board of Trustees discussed the concept of country engagement and progress made to date since the launch of the Plan of Action in May 2005.