XUNICEF News and Views

As the weather is getting colder in the global north - my time paddling on the water has more or less ended.

Pleased to share my latest book review, published in The Lancet regarding the title: Beyond the Battlefield: War and Global Health Security.

An excellent analytical review of the performance of all WHO Directors over the years according to Kapilla with his own final grading of each.  It is a must read for all who are interested in the evolution of our closest sister Agency to UNICEF and with which there has been a long and close association, with occasional tension and sometimes constructive rivalry. Those of us who have served long years in earlier times remember when every unicef project in the health sector had to have WHO technical approval before presentation to the Executive Board . For many years we also had a resident WHO Adviser at NYHQ to facilitate technical processing of submissions. Closer collaboration was attained with the establishment of the Joint Committee on Health Policy.  On a personal level and after retirement I worked at WHO HQ in Geneva for about one year helping Dr. Fabrizio Bassani set up a new Division of Emergency and Humanitarian activities. This was under the leadership of DG Nakaiji...

My colleagues know that I worked for nearly three decades with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Afghanistan with few short term Assignments in other countries.

Is there a limit? Science & technology, driven by human’s intuitiveness, has landed humanity to the apex of development.

Never having owned a dog, I don't feel compelled to stop and chitchat with the thousands of dog owners (and paid dog walkers) as they stroll with their pets several times a day on NYC streets.

Former UN assistant secretary-general Denis Halliday travelled the world advocating for human rights. Photograph: Dara Mac Dónaill. It is with profound regret that we announce the passing of Denis Halliday. Denis was soft spoken, with a wry sense of humor but had the courage of his convictions, the latter demonstrated by his resigning in protest of "political maneuvers/policies".

Do some of you recall this old blue emergency handbook that could be found in all UNICEF offices and in most of the offices of our NGO partners in the 1980s and 1990s?

Confession number one: I have never before read any memoirs of aid workers. Confession number two: I like this one.

DEMENTIA Rules A special note from an elderly person on the occasion of Dementia Awareness Week.

The Twilight Zone By Horst Max Cerni

Dear XUNICEF colleagues, We are thrilled to share that the XUNICEF blog now boasts over 1.4 million views, 11,000 articles, and 8,700 comments!

Violet-capped Woodnymph Here is some color to brighten up your day.

We recently travelled back to my home in the USA from our Albania base for my 45th high school reunion and to reconnect with friends and family.   While navigating all the polarizing politics was rather tricky - it was more peaceful to discover park benches t hat need more recognition--these oases of peace for sore feet and for gazing at beauty were at the stunning Sarah Duke Botanical Garden at Duke Universitty in Durham, North Carolina:

President Donald Trump points toward U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres, after speaking to the United Nations General Assembly on Sept. 22. | Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP Title: Trump administration opposes all options for new UN chief — and wants new candidatesAuthor: Daniella Cheslow Publication: POLITICO Date: October 9, 2026

Tomorrow we celebrate Canadian Thanksgiving and there was no better way to do so than watching a wonderful documentary film on the incredible story of the young Terry Fox who in 1980 embarked on a project to run across all of this huge country from east to west while having been amputed from one leg because of cancer. 

Francesca Albanese Publishes New Report on Media & Genocide

Jaguars of the Pantanal In August and September I joined a photography tour of the Atlantic Rainforest and the Pantanal in Brazil with Pantanal Photo Tours . The tour had been on my bucket list for some time and it exceeded my expectations.

Al Rasheed When Sanctions Forced Us to Rethink Everything: A Story of Creative Engineering in Crisis - Zaid Jurji In the 1990s, I had the privilege (and the challenge) of serving as Head of the Water and Sanitation Programme for UNICEF in Iraq. It was a delicate and demanding era. The country had just emerged from the first Gulf War and was gripped by severe international sanctions. Every solution had to be custom-built for a context defined by scarcity, restriction, and unpredictability.

What a lovely choice for the Nobel Peace Prize! Little Norway’s Nobel Committee sends a message to the big and mighty: nobody is above the law.

Recent Reader Comments Continously updated

Stockcake Title: Is AI writing UN speeches? Author: Sophia Cai and Ben Johansen Publication: POLITICO Date: September 28, 2026

Photo Illustration by Alma Haser for The New York Times Title: A New World Order Is Coming. We Aren’t Ready Author: Margaret MacMillan Publication: The New York Times Date: September 1, 2026

Interview with Graca Machel.

A health worker treats a child showing symptoms of malnutrition at a therapeutic feeding centre in al-Buraiqa, on the western outskirts of Aden, Yemen, on September 22, 2026 [Abdulnasser Alseddik/AP Photo] Title: How hunger is devastating Yemen's children Author: Not identified in the retrieved article Publication: Al Jazeera Date: 6 October 2026

Newly graduated students from Manba-ul-Jihad madrassa attend their graduation ceremony in Khost. Photo: AFP, 24 January 2025 Title: A Parallel Education System: The Taliban’s madrasa expansion and its implications for gender, society and regional security Author: Timor Sharan Publication: Afghanistan Analysts Network Date: 5 October 2026

You correctly guessed that the new book is about aid.  The title reeled me right in. An aid worker for 30 years, Susan M. Davis expertly sends up the aid industry and pokes fun at the everyday absurdities that seem to happen in the wake of development aid and relief. Being a trained engineer, most of her stories and examples are from the Water and Sanitation (WASH) sector, and the book will have special appeal to former WASH colleagues but it remains a good read for everyone.  Davis mostly writes from the perspective of her work with non-governmental organizations, the “partners" on which UNICEF has come to rely for much of what it does, and which UNICEF increasingly seeks to emulate - if only to conjure up that special grassroots feeling. Damning Assessments The assessment by Davis of the performance and impact of NGOs is absolutely

How We Built a Monitoring & Evaluation System That Passed a UN Security Council Audit

Guterres said there needed to be ‘a recognition, especially by superpowers, that their power isn’t so super. Their power has limits.’ Photograph: Michael M Santiago/Getty Images One of the better statements by the SG that I have heard during his tenure, this one tackled many issues that are usually couched in diplomatic vocabulary and political correctness. Guterres had the guts to speak his views as he has nothing to lose and so the jabs at the world's "powers" enabled him to get things off his chest as he ends his terms. In my view he rates an A for this one! Fouad

Un petit bijou de Simone de Beauvoir (Lisez-le jusqu'au bout) « *LA VIEILLESSE*»

Title: In 1995, Carol Bellamy became the first woman to lead UNICEF Author: Lenni Montiel Publication: LinkedIn

Image: Pexels - Ahmed Akacha Title: An outdated design for a multipolar worldAuthor: Manuel Manrique Castro Publication: Manuel Manrique Castro’s Substack Date: September 29, 2026

An audiobook of Kul Gautam's memoir, 'Global Citizen from Gulmi: My Journey from the Hills of Nepal to the Halls of the United Nations', is now available on Amazon Audible globally and on thuprai.com in Nepal.

It was encouraging to listen to the supportive statements made by about 130 Heads of State or Government at the 81st session of the UN GA. Most Delegations demanded greater efforts for ending armed conflicts and for peaceful negotiations, Will there be constructive follow-up? The President of the Republic of Korea asked in his closing statement “to dream for a better tomorrow.” Dreaming will not suffice. A lot of serious work is needed and a way needs to be found to redesign the Security Council. Everyone dreams, but few dreams result in actions. I usually have no idea what I dreamt. But some dreams are tangible and can inspire you.

On The American Dollar it is Written In God We Trust. But the Question Is: Do we Trust in God, or Must God Put His Faith in the Almighty Dollar* What a difference a Dollar makes.