Our Artist / Muralist of the Week - Patricia Marin
Patricia Marin originally trained in her native Chile as a pediatrician. There, her groundbreaking work in promoting breastfeeding led to her recruitment by UNICEF. She worked with UNICEF in Brasilia and Rio de Janeiro, San Salvador, New York City, and Natal, prior to retiring and returning to Santiago. Patricia has shared some her magnificent mosaics in our past editions. This week Patricia shares many works which we are displaying for the first time. Click here.
From Your Editors
Keep in mind though that the September Quarterly will be coming soon - so get on with your reading - and your writing. We will need your articles for September about UNICEF in the most recent 25 years - 1997 to today.
We tried to serve the different reading preferences of our members by making the June Quarterly available in several formats. Here, again, are the links:
Web - read online
Document - read online or copy and save
PDF - download and save
In case you get lost while reading online (and with 400 pages who could blame you? ), in the web version you will find :
The table of contents here in the web version.
The list of authors (and their articles here in the web version.
Survey - In next week's Digest we plan to include a survey to find out what you liked and did not like in the June Quarterly. This will help us to plan for September. So please have your opinions and comments ready to share.
COVID Vaccinations for UN Retirees
Did you know that COVID-19 vaccines are available to UN retirees - and not just for current UN staff? Back in November 2020 Farid Rahman wrote in News and Views urging XUNICEF and UNICEF to ensure that COVID-19 vaccines would be available for UNICEF retirees in countries where the national systems for procurement were weak. For a very long time nothing much happened, and it seemed that the UN had dropped the ball for both staff and retirees.
Thanks to Anis Salem, we recently learned that UNJSPF is registering retirees and in some cases dependents of retirees to receive vaccination. The programme is limited to countries where vaccine supplies have been difficult to obtain.
We wrote recently to the XUNICEF focal points asking that they check on the availability of vaccines through the UN in their countries. As you will see in the responses, many UN offices seem still unaware of the programme and action has depended on individual UN country teams.
If vaccines are still difficult to obtain in your country, we urge you to push your UNICEF office and UN resident coordinator to take action. Please also be sure to contact any UN retirees who are in need of vaccination and urge them to obtain the vaccines as soon as possible.
Here is the UN information note
Here are the responses so far received from XUNICEF focal points.
Colleagues
Robert Cohen tells us of his chance meeting with a neighbor he had not met before - someone who turned out to be a UNICEF colleague. Click here.
Khin-Sandi Lwin and Kristian Laujberg tell us of a new exercise / sports activity that promotes support for NGOs in Myanmar. Click here,
Sree Gururaja asks, "What's in a Name?" Click here.
Kul Gautam shares his wisdom with the Wisdom Project in Thailand. Click here.
Paula Claycomb asks whether others are - like her - struggling with the Pension Fund's new digital approach to the Certificate of Entitlement. Click here.
Augustine Veliath has begun to add news articles to his long-standing webpage/blog. We plan to add soon a link on the sidebar under News Feeds. See his latest article - A Mystery Human Species
Do you have a website or blog where you post news or opinions that you would like to share with colleagues? Let us know.Recent Reports
UNICEF's 2020 Annual Report - click here
Stolen Childhood - Annual Report of the SG on Girls and Boys in Armed Conflict - click here
Child Marriage / Child Widows - Fatema Khafagy shares a recent report - click here.
Innocenti - Research News - Click here
UNICEF@75
What? Even with the Quarterly, you didn't get your fill of UNICEF history yet? Sorry - we are taking a break again this week while we recover from the Quarterly. We hope to resume our history series soon.
Our Columns and Our Columnists
Sree Gururaja - An Editor's Notebook - What Did You Say Was the Word Limit?Fouad Kronfol - Soliloquy of a Postage Stamp - A Most Unusual Envelope
Nuzhat Shahzadi - Up Close and Personal - Kingdom Near Clouds
Ramesh Shrestha - Today and Tomorrow - Children are Our Future. Really?
Editors' Picks
Do you have an event or meeting you would like to add to the calendar? Let us know by writing to us at xunicef.news.views@gmail.com. Don't forget that we learn of many events after our Weekly Digest has gone out, so please check the calendar during the week to learn of last minute notices.
The Daily Digest - Google has informed us that in July they plan to remove the service which powers our current version of the digest. We have been testing an alternative and the results are positive. Look for details soon. Want a sneak peek? Here is a sample page.
Clusters
A Different UN - This group has not yet formed into a cluster, but it met recently around the topic of UN Reform. Here is a report of their recent online discussion. Interested to join in future discussions? - contact Baquer Namazi and Mary Racelis.
Gender Cluster - met on May 19th. For more information or to join the cluster, contact Niloufar Pourzand.Academics Cluster - the cluster had to reschedule its meeting on Wednesday, June 9th, and has now rescheduled for June 30th at 0900. Click here. Mary Racelis will give a presentation on the subject "Doing Field Research Online Amid COVID-19 Lockdowns". To join the cluster or for more information, contact Mary Racelis.
Violence against Children Cluster - met on Tuesday, June 8th. Action points from the meeting can be found here. For more information or to join the cluster contact Raana Syed.
Climate Cluster - met on April 29th. The minutes are available here. To join the cluster or for more information contact Ramesh Shrestha.
The Week Ahead
We draw your attention in particular to :
28 June - UN Security Council - Children and Armed Conflict30 June - Academics Cluster
Do you have an event or meeting you would like to add to the calendar? Let us know by writing to us at xunicef.news.views@gmail.com. Don't forget that we learn of many events after our Weekly Digest has gone out, so please check the calendar during the week to learn of last minute notices.
Comments from Our Readers
Click here for the comments we received this week. It is easy to add your comments under any article. At the bottom of the article just click on 'Comments', add your name and email address, and enter your comment. If you want to comment or reply to someone else's comment, click on 'Reply'. In either case when you have entered your comment, click on 'Publish'. There is no need to email us.
Finally
We added more new members this month. We will list their names and locations next week. Please help us to continue adding new members. There are many current and former UNICEF staff, consultants, and volunteers who do not yet know about XUNICEF. Let them know.
Remember that membership is open to 'the whole UNICEF family' - regardless of contract type or duration, including former and current natcom personnel and volunteers. All we ask is that the person have a significant relationship to UNICEF and a continuing commitment to UNICEF's mission. The membership form is available on the sidebar or by clicking here.
The Daily Digest - Google has informed us that in July they plan to remove the service which powers our current version of the digest. We have been testing an alternative and the results are positive. Look for details soon. Want a sneak peek? Here is a sample page.
Comments
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