United Nations Development Programme and System (Undp) by Stephen Browne

Author:Stephen Browne [Browne, Stephen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: International Relations, General, Political Science, NGOs (Non-Governmental Organizations), Treaties
ISBN: 9781136658273
Google: hD3t6jh2UqIC
Goodreads: 17549888
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2012-06-25T00:00:00+00:00

Source: UNDP Annual Report 2008

Intrusion of politics

Even before he joined UNDP, Malloch Brown’s communications skills had been called upon by Kofi Annan. At the end of 2004, in the midst of the Iraq oil-for-food imbroglio, he was called again across First Avenue, initially to become Chef de Cabinet concurrently with his UNDP job and, in mid-2005, the full-time UN Deputy Secretary-General for the remainder of Annan’s term.

For the first time, there was a global competition for the Administrator’s post and it was won by Kemal Derviş of Turkey, who took up the position in August 2005. He brought an outstanding development CV to the position. He had also had a successful career in the World Bank, holding the vice-presidency successively for the Middle East region and for the Poverty Reduction and Economic Management department. Before joining UNDP, he had been recalled to Turkey in 2001 as Minister of Finance to help see the country through its economic crisis, subsequently becoming a member of the Turkish parliament and chief negotiator on EU accession.

Derviş spoke more languages (four) and knew more economics (and development economists) than any of his predecessors, and he was therefore well-matched with the original, more cerebral aspirations of UNDP, which early pioneers such as I.G. Patel and Arthur Lewis had wished for. He was no less committed to reform than Malloch Brown, but his vision was even broader and more idealistic, encompassing the UN system as a whole. Central to his thinking was the revived proposal for a UN Economic and Social Security Council (UNESC),15 which he described in the book he published just before joining UNDP.16

The UNESC would be the governance umbrella for all specialized economic and social agencies currently in the UN system, such as the ILO, UNDP, UNCTAD, etc., as well as the Bretton Woods institutions and the WTO. The job of the UNESC would be to provide an overall framework of coherence and efficiency to international institutions and cooperation in the economic and social spheres. Derviş’s UNESC was an Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) with sharpened teeth. It would have very high-level country membership and—while not sidestepping the governance arrangements of each individual agency—it would have the authority to appoint the heads of all the UN entities, World Bank, IMF, and WTO, reviewing performance and effectiveness, and helping to mobilize resources.

Derviş did become involved in UN reform, but not on the scale of his own vision. In 2006, a High-level Panel on System-wide Coherence—set up largely at the instigation of Malloch Brown in his new role as UN Deputy Secretary-General—published its report.17 The recommendations had the authority of the three heads of governments who chaired it (Mozambique, Norway, and Pakistan), and a membership that included two former heads of state (Chile and Tanzania) as well as Kemal Derviş in ex officio capacity. Given the time available to the Panel, which had to report within a year and before the expiry of Kofi Annan’s term, its proposals were not all that radical, and they were diluted further by a conservative General Assembly.

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