XUNICEF News and Views

 Second Quarter June 2018  See PDF copy here XUNICEF NEWS & VIEWS A Quarterly Newsletter written by and for former UNICEF staff - June 2018 Note that this newsletter uses links and is intended for online reading. If you choose to print it for reading, the links will not work. In this issue: (Click on any line to go directly to that page). In this edition Click on a link below to go directly to that page. Links within articles should take you to the referenced document. Let us know please, if you find a broken link. RECENT NEWS Kids, parents and the border The UN Oath? Those were the good old days Kul Gautam - global citizen, 2018 Looking for a new DED Back to work at UNICEF Mauritania gets a new Minister of Foreign Affairs India retirees Do we have a UNICEF Culture? Getting together - the November Reunion All quiet on Baquer WRITING(S) AND READING(S) Boudewijn Mohr Fouad Kronfol Innocenti Kul Gautam Leila Bisharat Others LIFE AFTER UNICEF Horst Cerni Karin Sh

See PDF copy here XUNICEF NEWS & VIEWS A Quarterly Newsletter written by and for former UNICEF staff - June 2018 Note that this newsletter uses links and is intended for online reading. If you choose to print it for reading, the links will not work. In this issue: (Click on any line to go directly to that page). In this edition Click on a link below to go directly to that page. Links within articles should take you to the referenced document. Let us know please, if you find a broken link. RECENT NEWS Kids, parents and the border The UN Oath? Those were the good old days Kul Gautam - global citizen, 2018 Looking for a new DED Back to work at UNICEF Mauritania gets a new Minister of Foreign Affairs India retirees Do we have a UNICEF Culture? Getting together - the November Reunion All quiet on Baquer WRITING(S) AND READING(S) Boudewijn Mohr Fouad Kronfol Innocenti Kul Gautam Leila Bisharat Others LIFE AFTER UNICEF Horst Cerni Karin Sham Poo Neill McKee FEATURE ARTICLES Our Guns and o

 Paulo Coelho contributed the following short story to UNICEF’s “ Tiny Stories”. See other contributions by well-known authors there. https://sites.unicef.org/tinystories/ A boy was watching his grandmother write a letter. At one point he asked: ‘Are you writing a story about what we’ve done? Is it a story about me?’ His grandmother stopped writing her letter and said to her grandson: I am writing about you, actually, but more important than the words is the pencil I’m using. I hope you will be like this pencil when you grow up.’ Intrigued, the boy looked at the pencil. It didn’t seem very special. ‘But it’s just like any other pencil I’ve ever seen!’ ‘That depends on how you look at things. It has five qualities which, if you manage to hang on to them, will make you a person who is always at peace with the world.’ ‘First quality: you are capable of great things, but you must never forget that there is a hand guiding your steps. We call that hand God, and He always guides us according

Chebeague Island, Maine Are you ready to kick back and make your personal list for favorites to read over the summer? Your XUNICEF colleagues have a wide range of suggestions. Here are some links for building your own list. Start with Fuad Kronfol’s comprehensive and expanding bibliography of reflections from your XUNICEF colleagues. Its extent and breadth are quite extraordinary, reflecting the continued dedication of many staff members, including Fuad himself, to the wellbeing of children. Your recent contributions have been added. Are you looking for a recent book reflecting on UNICEF under Jim Grant’s leadership? Check out Adam Fifield’s (2015) A Mighty Purpose: How Jim Grant Sold the World on Saving its Children. Let’s hear your take on his account. If you are looking for the larger picture of the United Nations as a whole, its history aspirations and ideas, you need go no farther than Richard Jolly’s UN Ideas that Changed the World , co-authored with Louis Emmerij and Thomas Weis

  Henrietta Fore took up her leadership of UNICEF earlier this year facing a major challenge within her own Executive Office, the resignation of Deputy Director Justin Forsyth over allegations that he behaved inappropriately toward female staff members during his time as chief executive at Save the Children. Following extensive discussion among staff and consultation with other agencies, Ms. Fore recently took a major step forward in announcing formation of an Independent Task Force to review and provide recommendations on how best UNICEF can systematically prevent and redress workplace gender related discrimination, harassment and abuse of power. Read about the mandate, composition and TOR of the Independent Task Force here . The ED also announced that UNICEF has become the first UN agency to be certified at the second level of EDGE (Economic Dividends for Gender Equality) - a three-tiered business certification standard for gender equality. See the report here. We should note that UN

Washington, D.C.   A mutual acquaintance suggested to Henrietta Fore that I would be a good person to tell her about UNICEF’s history. In response to this unexpected invitation I wrote giving her some thoughts on UNICEF 's past and on the importance of continuing a history project in UNICEF. Yet when we spoke by phone a few days later, Henrietta’s first words were not about our history, but instead about the present. She expressed her deep concern for Baquer Namazi and his family. In addition to keeping in touch with Baquer’s wife and son, Henrietta continues to follow his situation closely through our office in Tehran. She expressed her admiration for the efforts of xunicefers to win Baquer’s freedom. We went on to talk about the passion for the cause of children which is shared both by staff and retirees. I asked how UNICEF might utilize the experience of retirees in the days ahead. She asked if we had an association. I explained a bit about XUNICEF and the networking underway, a