Fwd: JIM GRANT - IN LIVING MEMORY 1995-2020

Dear colleagues and friends  of XUNICEF, 


Here's my humble annual message on the 25th Anniversary of Jim's demise.

Warmest regards an love from Guatemala

Juan Aguilar

IN LIVING MEMORY 1995-2020

"We cannot allow the largest generation of children ever to occupy the earth to grow up malnourished,

unhealthy and uneducated in order to become the parents of another generation of malnourished,

unhealthy and uneducated and more numerous children.

Instead we must accord our children – and their future children – the priority they deserve".

Jim Grant, UNICEF Annual Report 1981

Quoted in "Jim Grant in his own words – selections by Shiela Barry Tacon"

In: Jim Grant UNICEF Visionary.

Jim Mohan

Juan, many thanks for your very thoughtful message to honor the life of a remarkable human being whom we had the privilege to know and the leadership to follow in improving the lives of children everywhere. His spirit is always with us. 

Jim Mohan....on the road in Argentina


Maria Teresa Hevia

Many thanks dear Juancho for sharing with us your annual message inviting us to keep in our memory the lessons learnt from Jim Grant’s legacy...
Hoping we are able to make a difference in favor of children where we currently live as retirees, receive dear Juancho my warm greetings.
Big hug to all,

 MTH, Santiago de Chile




Kul Gautam

My dear Juan,


Thank you again for always remembering and reminding us all of our dear JPG on the anniversary of his passing away.

You should know that Jim Grant's sons - Bill and Jamie, and a small group of his colleagues and admirers both ex-UNICEF and outside UNICEF - are trying to organize a series of events to commemorate his vision and applicability of his approaches to today's development priorities as reflected in the SDGs.

I attach a couple of concept notes and plans in the making, more to come later...

May JPG's memory continue to inspire us...

Savita Varda-Naqvi
Thank you very much for sharing this beautiful message about Jim Grant. I joined UNICEF after his passing, but what I read and heard of him has always inspired me to work with and for children. I join all of you in paying homage to our visionary leader.

Savita, on the road from Vancouver




Stephen Umemoto

Juan, Thanks so much for the reminder.

Jim Grant and the Evolution of UNICEF

It may be difficult for any one of us to step back and try, after twenty five years to assess the impact that Jim Grant had on UNICEF and on the ways in which institutions, public and private, national and international, support and promote the needs and rights of children.

However, collectively, it might be possible for some of those who worked most closely with Jim over his years of UNICEF leadership to craft some consensus of how he influenced the character and operation of UNICEF. How did he build on the UNICEF crafted by such as Pate, Labouisse and Heyward, and influenced by the likes of Ahmed Bokhari, Zena Harmon, Nils Thedin and others?

To me, at least, it seemed that Jim did not seek to reorganize the governance of UNICEF, or even in any major way, its operating structure. Rather his was impact on ideas, on thinking, on priorities, on advocacy and on operations on the front line. Perhaps two critical questions, are ... How was UNICEF different from 1990 onward as a result of Jim's leadership; and How is it different today.

Perhaps there are still a few with us who have major insight into all this -- Richard, Kul, Jon, Peter, Baquer, Mary, Shahida, Mehr, Farid, Steve W .... and others.

Why craft such a set of perspectives and perhaps conclusions? Would a set of presentations to current UNICEF staff at HQ, and perhaps also elsewhere ... Geneva, Bangkok, Panama, Kathmandu, Nairobi, etc. help infuse a new generation of the organization with some of the values and enthusiasm of UNICEF of the 1980's Such presentations of course, probably should not be presented in the "this is how we used to do it" mode, but rather "this is some of our shared history", and how we got to where we are today.

Would this be a way of moving the memory and legacy of Jim forward for the future?

Steve



Agop Kayayan

I have news for my friends and colleagues at UNICEF A documentary producer and I have prepared a project for a documentary about the cease fires in El Salvador first imagined by Jim Grant.

When the cease-fires were working out he asked me if I was taking notes. We hardly had time for all the training, negotiations, getting the ice and vaccines to the right places and training the the health staff.

Jim said to me “This is the first time in the history of humanity that a war is stopped because of children”. Much later I realized that this wAS true.

So now I decided to produce a documentary to train young activists ( not so young ones too) in conflict situations. I am convinced that we will succeed. If any of you have suggestions about the documentary and its uses, I would be very thankful. I would also appreciate suggestions about potential funding sources.

Good luck and my very best wishes for a Peaceful and Just New Year.


Guy Scandlen

You may also want to look at Sri Lanka - the brief periods when there were "corridors of peace" for all immunisations, as well as the transporting, to and from, of O and A - level exams, the examination periods themselves. The question was: how can a society stop conflict for health and education reasons but not for other reasons? What social norms were at work? Do societies "of the book" have things in common that could be broadened for conflict resolution activities?

Good luck on your documentary. I would love to see it.

Madan Arora


Jim was not only a EYE-OPENER for the various Governments but also to every staff member of UNICEF.

After having served UNICEF for about 25 years, it was Jim Grant who gave me the true meaning of UNICEF and why my work was so important.

I had my golden era with his direct contact when I was posted in China.

Best regards, Madan Arora