Someone said that there was a lot of energy in the room. A lot of conversations were held. Some had a good time. Some felt underwhelmed.
Conversations and reports by the rapporteurs were turned in situ into pieces of art. The conversations were already held 20 years ago. The art is new.
The five artsy outcomes were presented to the UNICEF family during a virtual and global UNICEF townhall meeting on 5th April. You can watch the townhall meeting and new and old UNICEF friends by clicking on this link. If you don't feel the vibes, I suggest to turn up the volume and Let the Good Times Roll (click) instead.
1) Advocacy for child rights: UNICEF as “the advocate for child rights”
Commitment 1: “We must boldly and courageously defend and protect children’s rights.”
(click on any image to enlarge)
2) Partnerships: Leveraging through and beyond the UN system for results
Commitment 2: “We must focus on leveraging with all parties to get results for children.”
3) People: Results, performance, and wellbeing
Commitment 3: “We must lead with our values – with our people, with our partners, and within the contexts/societies we work.”
4) Business model
Commitment 4: “We must adjust our business model to progressively achieve maximum impact for children.”
5) Making tough decisions
Commitment 5: “We are One UNICEF – One Team – working in all contexts and making tough calls with courage.”
How much did this cost?
ReplyDeleteIt is indeed quite colourful although all the jargons remains as they are. The biggest issue in the policy I still see is the continuation of One Size Fit All design without any alternatives.
ReplyDeleteI left UNICEF in 2010. If you had told me that these were from a leadership retreat in that year I would have believed you.
ReplyDeleteIf you'd told me it was from a leadership retreat the year I joined a decade earlier I'd have believed you too.
I like the cup of coffee
ReplyDeleteThanks Detlef for sharing - like you say, I looked for something new- lots of words / slogans, grabbing media attention.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if this lot had read our mission statement or maybe that is
archived? Sree
Have we learned nothing in the last 40 years ?
ReplyDeleteUNICEF was created for the welfare of children, wasn’t it ? The Istanbul Global Leadership Meeting in March appears to have been more about the gizmos/devices to provide that welfare than about the welfare itself.
In around 1992, the then UNICEF Deputy ExDir launched WASAMS (Check out WASAMS Evaluated, Aug 9th, 2022: https://xunicefnewsandviews.blogspot.com/2022/08/wasams-evaluated-ken-gibbs.html) which was supposed to have been the springboard to evaluating water and sanitation projects and programmes the better to deliver UNICEF support to children, globally. It, too, was about the gizmos and devices and was such a catastrophic failure that it was swept under the UNICEF carpet so that future staff could not be allowed to know how to use plain, common sense.
In today’s world, the waste of common sense comes a lot more expensive at US$ 8 billion PER YEAR, each year. It is as if the cost of the catastrophe justifies the actions.
When, oh when, will Members of the UNICEF Board say, “Enough is Enough” ?
it's solace that we looked after ourselves
ReplyDeleteWith its far-flung offices and its growth in size, it seems appropriate for a new Executive Director to meet all the senior managers early in her/his tenure. After all the UNICEF Reps. also personally represent the ED who would want to know firsthand about them. Moreover, the Reps. should have an occasion to meet their new leader and other executives and get an idea of what new priorities/directions the organization is to go. There are many ways this can be done, including a global meeting like the one in Istanbul.
ReplyDeleteIt is difficult for outsiders to fully understand the writings on the 5 panels shown but they are certainly of significant artistic quality. I suggest that they be used as Greeting Cards this next holiday season. Meanwhile, it would be useful to get the opinions of our many XUNICEF artists on the technical aspects of these drawings.
Familiar, so familiar. Too much so. The planet is dying.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting and entertaining. As Omar Abdi stated "the important thing was to get together. Representatives feel lonely - sometimes...". And I loved the performance by Joe Bonamassa "Let the good times role..."Thanks Detlef, as always, for a good outside the bubble discussion.
ReplyDelete