A Quick Chat with Esther Guluma

 

Esther Guluma in her chat with Sree Gururaja, reminds former colleagues that there is “a life after UNICEF” and urges us to explore avenues for continued engagement with children and development issues.

In her UNICEF career of over two decades, Esther worked in Liberia, in Kenya, in Programme Division NY Headquarters, and in Benin. She was the Deputy Regional Director for South Asia and retired as the UNICEF Regional Director for West and Central Africa.

Immediately after her retirement Esther was invited to join Fairtrade International.  She describes her experience in Fairtrade after UNICEF as a 'new world' in terms of their approach to ethical trade and development.   As the Chair of the Board of Directors of Fairtrade  and later as the Chair of the Board of Directors of  FLOCERT  for nine years, Esther travelled to many developing countries.  

Esther initially settled in Israel where she served for two years on the first Board of the Israeli National Committee for  UNICEF.  She later moved to Geneva where she could be close to her family.  She is currently a member of  Greycells (greycells.ch), a Geneva- based group of retired UN/ development professionals.   She tells us about the group's interesting collaboration with the Kofi Annan Foundation and the "intergenerational dialogue", which could be relevant in many other locations where we live.

A truly inspiring interview!