by Detlef Palm
You do not have to be a member of a secret club to know what is going on in UNICEF, or what the future of UNICEF is going to be. It is all out there, in the bright light of the day.
Forget about the headlines of the UNICEF website. I recommend to look at the footer of UNICEF.org:
The Data Portal is my champion among the UNICEF sites: The latest indisputable and comprehensive statistical data on children’s rights and wellbeing. You can assemble your own specific datasets, or download ready-made tables and graphs. Pure facts, and tons of useful information, not only for UNICEF staff members but anyone working in the relevant sectors. In most years, UNICEF still prepares the State of the World’s Children Report, and all SOWCs are here from the beginnings.
I can’t vouch for the idea behind the Transparency Portal, but it has somehow to do with what resources were provided to UNICEF and what results were achieved. You can reach the Portal also through the Transparency and Accountability site. The Portal is meant to be the go-to place for figuring out What UNICEF Does, untainted by spin-doctors and sweet-talk. Unfortunately, to the untrained eye, figures do not always add up, and the site appears garbled. It has a map of the world, and you can drill down to the country of your interest to the often-ominous result statements, funds available and funds spent, past and almost current expenditures, the latest country office annual report, and more. For example, did you know that one country office (Yemen) spent as much money in 2020, as the entire organization spent twenty years ago? Given that it is for public consumption, I find the Portal rather bewildering. Have a good look, if only to marvel at how all of this adds up to actual results.
There are also other – for the general public only mildly interesting – sites. Among them Research and Publications, and Internal Audit reports. The Evaluation page is an animal on its own. I do like evaluations, although I only read the executive summaries. As I write this, a report is being peddled about: IAHE on Gender and Review on mainstreaming gender in the H-D-P nexus - Gaps, best practices and recommendations for further mainstreaming GEEWG in humanitarian action. Perhaps someone will soon commission an evaluation on best practices in presenting evaluation findings.
I can’t vouch for the idea behind the Transparency Portal, but it has somehow to do with what resources were provided to UNICEF and what results were achieved. You can reach the Portal also through the Transparency and Accountability site. The Portal is meant to be the go-to place for figuring out What UNICEF Does, untainted by spin-doctors and sweet-talk. Unfortunately, to the untrained eye, figures do not always add up, and the site appears garbled. It has a map of the world, and you can drill down to the country of your interest to the often-ominous result statements, funds available and funds spent, past and almost current expenditures, the latest country office annual report, and more. For example, did you know that one country office (Yemen) spent as much money in 2020, as the entire organization spent twenty years ago? Given that it is for public consumption, I find the Portal rather bewildering. Have a good look, if only to marvel at how all of this adds up to actual results.
There are also other – for the general public only mildly interesting – sites. Among them Research and Publications, and Internal Audit reports. The Evaluation page is an animal on its own. I do like evaluations, although I only read the executive summaries. As I write this, a report is being peddled about: IAHE on Gender and Review on mainstreaming gender in the H-D-P nexus - Gaps, best practices and recommendations for further mainstreaming GEEWG in humanitarian action. Perhaps someone will soon commission an evaluation on best practices in presenting evaluation findings.
Some say there are no such thing as best practices in part due the importance of context, yet people can agree on good practices/
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