There are always occasions where UNICEF staff members have to use their skills at diplomacy with senior government officials. One such occasion was in Ethiopia in 1997. I had only just joined the programme there as WES Programme Chief when, at a high-level planning meeting the Government said that they didn’t want UNICEF in the country any more. Needless to say, we were all shocked and the future of UNICEF in Ethiopia seemed in doubt. A very senior delegation from UNICEF, New York came to discuss the next steps with us. I seem to remember that UNICEFs relation with government was so fragile this delegation stayed in-house to help us to think through the best course of action. The result was that three of us; myself, Kayode Oyegbite and Rama Ramachandran were delegated to meet with Government to find a way out of the situation.
The three of us were quiet in thought as the car drove us up the long hill to planning ministry, for our first meeting. The whole office was relying on us. We didn’t know what the outcome would be. All three of us felt a great sense of responsibility.
That first meeting was frosty, to say the least. The Government’s view was that we should just send the cheque from New York; they didn’t want to see any UNICEF people in the country. We explained that the cheque has some strings attached. Back in the car I said something that rhymes with clucking bell, Kayode said something similar in Yoruba and Rama was making a concerted effort to invoke as many Hindu Gods as he could!
At each meeting we agreed the date for the next meeting. I tried to defuse tension with some one-liners, Rama was very good at UNICEFs programme rules and Kayode kept meticulous notes. We all contributed opinions and ideas when opportune. After a number of meetings, the tension was dissipating and as Kayode was half way through his re-cap of the last meeting, the senior government spokesman said OK, enough with the minutes, lets discuss how our relationship moves on from here. I am happy to say that UNICEF stayed in Ethiopia.
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