The Soliloquy of a Postage Stamp #18: GOBI-FFF and CSDR; a New Alphabet Soup for Survival: Fouad Kronfol

As we leave behind the triumphs of the International Year of the Child and the end of Henry Labouisse's tenure, we see a fundamental change in UNICEF policies, strategies and programmes.While the "Basic Services" programmes were being implemented in most developing countries, the new UNICEF leadership under Jim Grant was already developing the new organizational focus on "child survival". This novel approach is based on a number of simple and inexpensive actions that have a direct effect on reducing infant and child mortality and morbidity: growth monitoring, oral rehydration therapy, breast feeding and immunization Thus was born GOBI to which were added three F's ; child feeding , female literacy and family planning.The promotion of this new programme approach was accompanied by widespread" social mobilization" which led to the birth of CSDR, the Child Survivial & Development Revolution

During the mid to end 1980's other important milestones of UNICEF converged, including the 40th Anniversary in 1986, the launch of the Universal Child Immunization(UCI) campaign 1985-1990, the promulgation of the Convention on Rights of the Child (CRC) in 1989 and finally the World Summit on Children in 1990.All these events and milestones accounted for a bonanza in the issuance of philatelic materials to commemorate UNICEF and its activities. This week we start featuring stamps and covers related to all these

The Caribbean island of Anguilla issued this set of a stamp and a souvenir sheet to feature UNICEF and children playing soccer and at the beach. As with all British colonies the Royal Crown and the initials of Elizabeth II are in the right hand top corners of both. The souvenir sheet consists of a stamp showing two boys playing soccer and is surrounded by images of four other boys in soccer outfits.The UNICEF logo is on top left of both..What is unusual is that Anguilla is celebrating UNICEF's 35th anniversary, one of the very rare countries to do so for this occasion.

Here we have a stamp issued by Cuba in 1984 which shows a mother nursing her newborn in what looks like a hospital room. The inscription at the bottom refers to "maternal breastfeeding and child health". The other inscription next to the UNICEF logo refers to " The Technical Revolution for the Survival of Children". It is evident that for a country like Cuba, the word revolution has a political significance, and so they call the UNICEF and children's one a "technical revolution".

 

The Republic of Mali issued this set of two stamps in 1984 to commemorate UNICEF and CSDR..The inscription refers to "A Campaign for a Revolution; the Survival of the Child.. One stamp shows the UNICEF logo within a heart, surrounded by other hearts and a child holding a white heart in his hand. The other stamp has the UNICEF logo within a medallion and two children next to it.

The Islamic Republic of Mauritania issued this set of three stamps in 1984 to commemorate UNICEF and the CSDR. However only three of the four GOBI elements are shown; oral rehydration (a father and mother with their child drinking a liquid), breast feeding showing a mother and her child ,and growth monitoring with the weighing of a child and a graph next to it.

From Viet Nam we have this stamp, which is one of a series of five, commemorating UNICEF and showing a group of Hmong minority youngsters playing a traditional game. This is one of my favourite stamps because during my tenure as UNICEF Representative in Hanoi I had urged the government to issue stamps to celebrate our emergency relief and programme cooperation. The set finally came out on 7 December 1984 but after I had left on transfer to NYHQ. The painting is by the well known artist Nguyen Phan Chanh which we saw in the National Museum in Hanoi. We purchased a modern reproduction of the painting on silk screen and have it in our apartment.

Here we have a First Day Cover with two stamps issued by the UN Postal Administration in 1985 commemorating the CSDR .The stamps show a mother and child in one and a father and child in the other., both parents feeding the child.The cachet is a drawing of an African woman nursing her child. The post mark is dated 22 November 1985 from New York, but the cachet and inscriptions are in German, presumably because the cover came out in the HQ location of Vienna, Austria.

This First Day Cover is from Uganda. It has four stamps representing the GOBI interventions. It is postmarked 29 July 1985 from Kampala.The cachet is a reproduction of the stamp showing a nurse administering oral polio vaccine to a child.

From the Malagasy Republic (Madagascar) we have this Imperforate stamp issued in 1984 which commemorates school children and their well being. It is not directly related to CSDR, but child education. The stamp shows four children from different ethnic backgrounds sitting in school bag from which are protruding some food stuffs and drinks. This was part of the governmeent's efforts to improve primary education and school feeding on a national scale.

Bangladesh has issued these two stamps to commemorate UNICEF and Child Survival. One stamp shows a mother nursing her child with an inscription that reads "Mother's Milk is Best", while the other shows a healthy child in front of a weight monitoring chart, with the inscription " Children's Health, Tomorrow's Wealth".The UNICEF logo is in the upper left of both stamps.

This two stamp set from Brazil is in "tete beche" format (attaching two different designs together). One depicts a mother nursing her child although it is not very clear if she is not in fact bottle feeding as she is seen holding a receptacle in her hand. The other stamp shows a hand dropping oral polio ? vaccine on top of five small children. The inscription in the margins is " Survival and Development of Children". Both stamps were designed by Izabel Persijn.

My last item is a set of four stamps issued by the Central African Republic in 1984 to commemorate UNICEF and the CSDR. The four stamps' designs reflect different health and nutrition interventions including growth monitoring; immunization.oral rehydration therapy and proper weaning . It is noted that breast feeding is not shown in this series. All the stamps are inscribed " For the Health of your Child". and have the UNICEF.

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