XUNICEF News and Views

Bob Ledogar brought a lightness of being and utter dependability to my years in New York during the heady aftermath of the World Summit for Children. I arrived from the Middle East and North Africa Region to take on the role of Director of Planning and Coordination for UNICEF, new to UN Headquarters and an outsider.

Check out AIChat powered by ChatGPT. It promises to perform all the functions of UNICEF staff, except connect face-to-face with real human beings. It does not listen, empathize, or interact with them directly on the ground. Will this be forthcoming in the next update? AI claims to speak any language, write and tell a story. Just ask AIChatbot’s Smart Assistant how to design a national immunization program, turn your messages into “pics” in any language. You are off and running with a presentation for a head of state. Simple, right there at your fingertips or voice command. In fact, forget the running. With the right connections you can have it on their breakfast tray first thing in the morning. No listening needed, no time wasted with mothers at home or with local health staff. Oh, but if you want to bother doing this, we have a new interactive upgrade ready to roll out shortly. Subscribe at no extra cost and you’ll be among the first users to try out our next version, with the latest ...

Chebeague Island, Maine Are you ready to kick back and make your personal list for favorites to read over the summer? Your XUNICEF colleagues have a wide range of suggestions. Here are some links for building your own list. Start with Fuad Kronfol’s comprehensive and expanding bibliography of reflections from your XUNICEF colleagues. Its extent and breadth are quite extraordinary, reflecting the continued dedication of many staff members, including Fuad himself, to the wellbeing of children. Your recent contributions have been added. Are you looking for a recent book reflecting on UNICEF under Jim Grant’s leadership? Check out Adam Fifield’s (2015) A Mighty Purpose: How Jim Grant Sold the World on Saving its Children. Let’s hear your take on his account. If you are looking for the larger picture of the United Nations as a whole, its history aspirations and ideas, you need go no farther than Richard Jolly’s UN Ideas that Changed the World , co-authored with Louis Emmerij and Thomas Weis...