A Chat with Henrietta By Sheila Barry

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, as well as our past proposals for closer association with UNICEF itself. I went on to mention the support we had received from Kul Gautam when he was Deputy Executive Director and Richard Bridle, former Director of Human Resources. I also mentioned our meeting with Tony Lake on issues affecting retirees. At that time Adhiratha, Malika and I had proposed several actions, but sadly no actions followed.

Unspoken, but I believe clear, was the message that the dialogue opened earlier through Kul and Richard, had deteriorated in recent years. So shortly after we spoke, I was pleased to learn that Executive Director Fore had offered Nicolas Pron, Secretary of the Executive Board, a year's extension to work with retirees and on preparations for a high-level meeting to celebrate the 30th Anniversary of the CRC in November 2019. The latter is linked to the Youth Agenda priority she presented to the Board.

In later talks with Nicolas I learned he had discussed the retirees/alumni with the Executive Director before the recent Board meeting and suggested she might host some form of a meeting/gathering to discuss a way forward, possibly around the September Board meeting. Nicolas is now on leave. His successor as Secretary of the Executive Board, Ms. Hai Kai Kyung, is already in place. Nicolas and I agreed to meet when he returns to New York in mid-July.

I believe we have established good lines of communication with both Henrietta and Nicolas. Now we need to establish an agenda of issues we in XUNICEF want to take up.