Behind the Scenes : Ellen Collins

By Ellen Collins

I had the opportunity to work in different offices, and there were more successful milestone undertakings by the offices than I can remember, but a few come to mind.

The Open Forum: From 1980-mid 2000 I worked in Budget Section as Secretary under three different Deputies - Vincent D’Agati, Merrill Cassell (RIP) and Lily Vuong. In 1996, Ellen Yaffe became Director of Division of Financial and Administrative Management (DFAM). Overlap had been evident in budget submissions, which however went unchallenged due to the bureaucratic culture that permeated the Organization in those years. Offices used to submit their budgets as final just before consolidation by the Budget Section for presentation to the UNICEF Executive Board. In other words, nobody knew what anyone else was doing. Ellen Yaffe set out to change that. In the summer of 1997, she tasked the Budget Section, a small army of 16 staff members headed by Lily Vuong, to organize the first ever UNICEF Open Forum. With the backing of Carol Bellamy, directives were issued to all divisions and offices that their budget submissions were to be presented to this forum. The forum was open to all who wished to sit in, to listen and learn what each office was responsible for, what their work plans looked like, the number of posts and proposed additions, upgrades, costs - the whole scenario. Depending on the size of the division or office, two to four presentations were scheduled per day for review, to identify problem areas, propose amendments and do any revisions. The goal was transparency, accountability, a leaner budget and a better chance for the Executive Board to

Fun in the Budget Section

approve the first submission. With new budget guidelines and a demand for oversight by the new Director, the atmosphere in UNICEF changed from one of exclusivity to one of cohesion and openness. Later, UNICEF also instituted annual reviews for the program budget funds.

The Policy and Planning Division: Later I joined the Program Division as assistant to the Deputy Director, Richard Morgan, in the summer of 2000. The office was called SPPME (Strategic Planning, Programme, Monitoring and Evaluation) and later became part of the Division of Policy and Planning (DPP). It seemed that every Board document and guideline and directive either originated in this office, or received their clearance here, typically involving a series of meetings and workshops. Country program guidelines were issued, and country program documents were submitted to this office for review. There were the papers on the Millennium Development Goals, the Millennium Project, UN Reform, the EDAR (Executive Directors Annual Report), the reports on the CRC (Convention on the Rights of the Child) or the WFFC (World Fit for Children) – and countless others. The movers and the shakers can probably give deeper insights into the workings of DPP, but from my humble point of view, it is the policy and programme guidelines that drive UNICEF and our programmes; our dedicated and selfless HQ and field staff are the caretakers.

The Columbia Interns: I am proud of having successfully managed the onboarding of the social work students from Columbia University into the UNICEF internship program. This was an initiative by the former Director, Joe Judd and handed over to my supervisor, Richard Morgan. Every year, Columbia University would nominate ten candidates for consideration. They had to be enrolled in the social work program, had to have some field experience and had to undergo three interviews by UNICEF staff. I was to advise them of their interview, get them to submit all their required papers and transcripts, and request interviews with any head of office interested in taking an intern for one school year. Richard screened the profiles of each candidate and passed the prospects to me to start the interview process. The interested head of office would do a second interview, or a third one by an alternate office for a better match. Once an office agreed to take on an intern, they were required to find office space and equipment. As this never happened, it became my job to collaborate with OAM (Office of Administrative Management) to assign an office, desk, telephone and computer to the incoming interns, in their accepting office. I also had to get their grounds pass and personal telephone codes and explain its usage. Besides my years of comradeship with all my colleagues, our undying team spirit and the many out-of-the-box initiatives we did to get a job done, this is my most cherished and proud accomplishment. I met so many, intelligent and driven young people. They came to us full of hope and aspirations to learn and contribute, and they were usually in the full swing of things within a week. Richard and I held weekly meetings with each to monitor their progress or concerns until we were all satisfied that the match was a fitting one. They were of the best disposition and always tried to show their gratitude when we met in the hallways or the cafeteria. Some continued with UNICEF to this day. One did her field work in my country of Belize, and could talk to me in the local dialect! I admired these young interns greatly and I will always cherish the short time we shared, to help them get ready for the world.

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