Sound and Fury : Ken Gibbs

Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player.
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing. (Macbeth, Act V Sc V)

Every time I travelled to a new duty station or, later, went on a consultancy to another destination, I kept a diary or, better still, wrote letters to my wife. In terms of keeping the ‘little grey cells’ fully functional, these records have been invaluable.

“Why should I say this”, you ask ? That’s easy. I can go back to the appropriate record and compare what I remember, and what actually happened. As the two diverge with advancing age, I am able to gauge how far my dementia has progressed, providing, that is, that I haven’t forgotten what it is I am supposed to be comparing. That comes in the later stages.
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Recently, I was having a fascinating – for me – discussion with an XUNICEF colleague who is a little younger than me, and who spent time in the Balkans where I, too, had spent some time. We compared notes. I had been there as a consultant while he had been there as a UNICEF staff member.

First and foremost, while I had been there some 6 to 8 years before his time, the changes were profound. When I had been there, it was a bit like the Wild West; but when he had been there, some degree of order had emerged. Surprisingly, most of the changes were for the better because the area had been trapped in communism for many years, and shedding the shadows of dictatorship could only improve matters.

Enter UNICEF into this equation, which had occurred a few years before I arrived on the scene as a consultant here, not even paid by UNICEF, but provided by UNICEF with desk space, normal admin support and with transport provided which meant that I had a tame translator/chauffeur for the duration. My XUNICEF colleague, however, followed the more normal route by being rotated to this duty station by UNICEF.

In this instance, we were discussing IDD (iodine deficiency disease for the uninitiated) which was widespread in the area. As my Terms of Reference focused on the local population who had been affected by the influx of a neighboring country’s displaced population and their access to water, sanitation, basic health and schooling, one of the items on the agenda was the incidence of IDD and how it affected the population. During my consultancy (1999), UNICEF was aware of the problem but may not have been very active in monitoring whether their support to government was being effective.

My XUNICEF colleague told me of measures that were being implemented during his time, but it was clear that the priorities that were given to – for instance – CRC (Convention of the Rights of the Child) were given far more attention than practical actions to eliminate un-iodised salt. I think that both of us voiced considerable frustration at this skewed view, since both of us were of the opinion that actions should be more important than words. Shakespeare’s words spoken by Macbeth encapsulate my feeling – precisely.
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During my consultancy, when something came into the office that was WASH related, it was passed on to me despite the fact that I wasn’t employed by them. An example from my records:

“Friday evening: There are times when I want to scream. Then I wonder why I bother even to raise my blood pressure. I ask myself whether my 'passion' will make any difference to anyone and then, realising that it probably won't, I go off and take a beer.

Now the latest emergency buzz-word has just arrived from New York. I was asked to fill in a questionnaire about the WES - CCCs. Wonderful. Water, Environment and Sanitation - Core Corporate Commitments. In English, the emergency things UNICEF undertakes to do as an agency, central to its operation, in WES. And here's what they are:

1. To find out where bleach, water containers, nappies + tampax or equivalent and spades are available locally, and how much they cost, for an emergency. (Not to buy any, not to sign any contracts, just to know, forgetting that these things have a habit of sky-rocketing in price during an emergency);

2. To develop the sort of public information messages one needs for any anticipated emergency; to put them together and field test them; then produce and laminate them in plastic (so they don't go soggy in a flood) in numbers possibly needed for the first two weeks of an emergency (this is actually a good idea, I think); and

3. Then hope that there will be an immediately available, flexible budget to buy the items listed in 1) above. (Here, they were shy and avoided being specific in the WES - CCC document).”

“These are to be core to UNICEF activities ? I was a good boy. I was asked to make any observations that might be relevant, so I did:

A. How much money ? The document was silent on this and useful to know, I thought;
B. How to over-ride the computer accounting system during an emergency because if we don't, UNICEF just freezes and there will be no bleach, no water containers, no nappies nor spades;
C. What about stockpiling some wind-up radios; and
D. Why plan by sector ? What happened to health ? And how will the budget be split between WES and health ?”

“The comments have to go out via the 'boss'. My question about over-riding the computer accounting systems is deleted. I point out that, since 1985, UNICEF has never had a single year when the systems have functioned properly throughout the year since they were first introduced. Also that we have just come through a five week period here in (Country name redacted) when local staff were not paid - because the computer wouldn't allow it. And computers have this nasty habit of malfunctioning just when they are needed most - like in an emergency.

The comment stays out.”

So, in an emergency, if you need bleach and spades, go to an NGO, not UNICEF. And to think that UNICEF was wanting to become an Emergency operator ?

Patently, whoever thought up these ideas can never have been anywhere near an emergency; and it probably indicated that recruitment and promotion systems were due for a serious overhaul, and this was in the year when the Management Excellence Exercise went ‘Mainstream’ ?

It appears that William Shakespeare foresaw UNICEF 1999 by almost 400 years.
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