Martin Griffiths, the former United Nations emergency relief coordinator, is concerned that the world body is going about its latest reform initiative in the wrong way, prioritizing numerical downsizing targets over forging a clear vision for the future that demonstrates its usefulness.
“The U.N. system gets mired in mandates, and it gets mired in competition. We all know that,” Griffiths said in an interview with Devex on the sidelines of the World Health Assembly in Geneva, Switzerland. But he said the current quest for savings is just “about cuts. That’s not about reform. I think that’s wrong.”
The remarks come less than two weeks after U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres unveiled his UN80 reform plan, which calls for the elimination of 20% of jobs in key U.N. departments, moving back-office staff from New York and Geneva to cheaper cities, abolishing departments, merging U.N. agencies, and reducing the number of mandates, or tasks, it is obliged to carry out.
About the author
Colum Lynch
Colum Lynch is an award-winning reporter and Senior Global Reporter for Devex. He covers the intersection of development, diplomacy, and humanitarian relief at the United Nations and beyond. Prior to Devex, Colum reported on foreign policy and national security for Foreign Policy Magazine and the Washington Post. Colum was awarded the 2011 National Magazine Award for digital reporting for his blog Turtle Bay. He has also won an award for groundbreaking reporting on the U.N.’s failure to protect civilians in Darfur.
