XUNICEF News and Views

Related to a recent ReformWorks analysis the 2025 UN staffing cuts this article probes the institutional shocks across the system, driven by sudden donor funding crises rather than strategic planning. As retirees, we know that cutting headcount is not the same as cutting bureaucracy.

UN system staffing dropped 9% in 2025 (130,948 to 120,176), but the cuts are strategically blind.

The recent humanitarian publication addressed the contentious issue of UN salary differences between national and international staff. It would appear that the issue of displacement of international staff is overlooked in the analysis…..much of the past arguments have been overlooked in this article.  Sharing with my ex unicef colleagues as it further contributes to the discussion of UN reform. UN Pay Should Be Based on Merit, Not Passport Shivonne Logan  The New Humanitarian 19 March 2026  Click here for the article   Summary The author, a Yale public policy graduate student, argues that the UN and INGOs must use the current wave of institutional reform — including the UN80 initiative — to dismantle colonial-era salary structures that systematically undervalue national staff.  Drawing on her own experience in Amman, Logan describes a Jordanian colleague with superior qualifications who earned roughly half her remuneration package solely because she held the str...

Rebeca Grynspan Costa Rica Macky Sall Senegal Raphael Gross, Argentina Michel Bachelet, Chileǰ

According to the article, the US will soon make an 'initial payment' of its dues.  Something is better than nothing and we can be pleased to see some movement at long last.  It is also nice to see that Trump views the UN more positively than we thought.  Tom

Dear Marta, I believe this is very wise advice to S-G Guterres, especially coming from a very pro-UN historian, Stephen Schlesinger, the author of “Act of Creation: The Founding of The United Nations,” which won the 2004 Harry S. Truman Book Award. This is one of the finest books I have read on the origins of the UN, and a must-read for all aficionados of the UN. I believe Guterres has much to gain and nothing to lose by reaching out to Donald Trump at this critical juncture for the UN. As Schlesinger says, "Guterres owes it to his constituents, 193 countries, and the entire world to make the call. Trump has publicly invited him to do it. If he doesn’t, he’ll never know whether he could have reversed the UN’s troubled straits. It’s only a few numbers to punch on the keypad to put the call through. He should do it to preserve the institution that he has spent almost 10 years running. It will be his greatest legacy — and, if he does not, his greatest shame". I hope you and Jo...

President Trump Signs Funding Bill Click here for the Linkedin post by Ian Richards Click here for the Better World article "President Trump signs spending bill that restores regular budget funding for international organisations.

Trump says he can solve UN financial problem 'very easily' Sophia Cai Politico February 1, 2026 Click here for the article **Summary** President Trump claimed he could resolve the United Nations' financial crisis but declined to say whether the United States would pay the billions of dollars it owes the international body. 

Many nuggets of wisdom by ED Mathew, a former UN Spokesman & freelance journalist: "The UN is financially wounded and politically bruised, but not irrelevant. It remains the only universal forum where democracies & autocracies still cooperate on humanitarian relief, development finance, global health, peacebuilding", and other matters that are relevant to the whole of humanity - rich and poor, big and small. To survive, the UN must adapt and reform, of course. But no country is an island or a fortress in the 21st century. And no country is indispensable. In an increasingly interconnected and interdependent world, multilateralism is indispensable. Even if the UN were dismantled temporarily, it would have to be reinvented anew. I recall in the 1960s, Indonesia's mercurial leader, Sukarno, quit the UN and tried to form a Conference of the New Emerging Forces (CONEFO) as an alternative. CONEFO did not last very long, as Sukarno's successor Suharto quietly ...

$50B US funding bill a welcome surprise, but will it see light of day? Author: Adva Saldinger Publication: Devex Date: January 16, 2026 Click here for the article Note: Lawmakers explicitly directed that "UNICEF should continue receiving support at past levels." Summary: The House of Representatives approved a $50 billion bipartisan, bicameral compromise appropriations bill this week that restores funding for foreign assistance programs previously cut by the administration. The bill establishes a new baseline for U.S. foreign assistance spending, though at lower levels than before.

Wow, the Charter of the "Board of Peace", supposedly set up to oversee the cease-fire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza/Palestine, has no reference at all to Gaza! Though the UN Security Council approved the US-sponsored resolution for a limited and specific purpose of securing peace and reconstruction of Gaza, it has now been inflated to become Chairman DJT's vanity project that would rival or replace the UN Security Council itself, with its own Charter, peace-making role, and funding. 

 US House of Representatives Restores UN Funding with Conditions Author: Ian Richards Publication: LinkedIn Date: January 2025 URL: Click here for the article Summary The US House of Representatives passed the FY26 National Security, Department of State, and Related Programs bill by a bipartisan vote of 341-79, restoring much of the UN funding that the White House had requested to cut. 

Trump's 'Board of Peace' Seeks Global Mandate with $1 Billion Permanent Membership Fee Al Jazeera Staff, Isabel Kershner, Reuters, and Jerusalem Post Staff January 18, 2026 Click here for the Al Jazeera article | Click here for the New York Times article | Click here for the Jerusalem Post article Summary: President Donald Trump's "Board of Peace," initially unveiled as part of phase two of the Gaza ceasefire to oversee reconstruction and governance in the enclave, appears designed for a significantly broader global mandate, sparking international caution and concerns about undermining the United Nations and acting as a sort of alternative UN Security Council.  Letters and a draft charter sent to approximately 60 countries reveal the board aims to resolve global conflicts beyond Gaza, with Trump serving as chairman for life.  The charter requires member countries to contribute $1 billion in cash for permanent membership beyond a three-year term, though the W...